Box Scraper New land plane setup help needed

[Appyacres]

So I broke down and bought a 6 land plane/road grader for my 1/4 mile shared gravel drive. It is still in the trailer.

My question is how do I set this up to start building a crown on the road?

China model not a name brand. It does have height adjustments for the angled blades on each side; each side can be adjusted separately. Front and rear blades are fixed on each side.

I have added 20 tons of 1-1/2 crushed rock on a 500 foot section of the road in the last 6 months. Potholes appear and rock moves off the tread tracks allowing water to run down the tread tracks. Thus potholes.

I took my 5 box blades down the road a few days ago, rippers down, and made about 10 passes to chew up all the compacted gravel and tear up the potholes. Then Set the box blade on a flat surface and adjust a tilt to the box allowing a right to left tilt, rippers up. I pulled rock from the outside towards the middle in an attempt to get a slight crown. With the PNW rain we have here, it turned to mush and has spots of standing water. Not big ones, but potential pot hole creators.

Now that I have this land plane, I would like to know how to set it up to get the water draining crown effect started. I realize this is going to be a work in progress, but I have time to try various methods. Using my 7 blade and the box scraper hasn’t yielded the desired results.

Any ideas?

 

[/pine]

Did you try adjusting (lowering) the side link? and keep the low side to the outside of the lane...this should develop a pitch...run the opposite direction on the other side to complete the crown...

 

[Egon]

You want a crown & even grade??

Don't unload the trailer, go back to the dealer and get a rear blade with gauge wheels placed in it.

 

[fried1765]

You want a crown & even grade??

Don't unload the trailer, go back to the dealer and get a rear blade with gauge wheels placed in it.

Best advice I have read on TBN in months!

 

[Appyacres]

After numerous phone calls, no rear blade with gauge wheels available within 75 mile radius. Some Landpride rakes have fixed wheels available according to their web site. Lots of home fab units found on forums.

I figured out how to adjust the blades to get a bit of crown built with this unit. Just over an inch left to right is about all I can see at first look.

It’s been raining all afternoon so no roadwork for a few days.

Thanks for the responses. Still open to options.

I wonder if I need to hire a roller after I get this graded???

 

[JRobyn]

I drop mine on a flat, level surface (concrete apron pad) with about a 3/8" or 1/2" strip of wood under the right side skid. Nothing, or at most 1/4" on the left side. Then loosen the "blade carrier frame" and let the blades drop to the concrete, then tighten. In addition, set just a bit of tilt on your 3pt to keep as much of the scraper's weight as possible on that right skid. Drive with the right skid JUST barely off the right side of the road. Be sure your scraper isn't too wide for your road such that the LEFT side skid runs in the left wheel track which will CUT your crown. If this happens, you'll need to set your left side blade carrier or tilt adjustment much higher. Ideally, you want to just skim the center of the road.

Do NOT attempt to grade unless the road material is dried enough to at least be "crumbly". Just very slightly moist works best.

Experiment with your travel speed. Sometimes, some materials, you can move the material and get the best result traveling quite quickly.

Land scrapers/graders are NOT the ideal tool for CREATING any crown, but IMHO, set properly, there can be some slight and gradual transfer from outside to inside. Several passes may be needed the first time or two.

 

[/pine]

The box blade is a more than adequate implement for creating a crown...it will require a tad more work/passes than a rear blade but it do a good job...
The key is just using the side adjustment link on the 3ph...

Having hydraulic top and tilt is the ideal scenario for using any grading attachment IMO...

 

[BrokenTrack]

If you have water running down your tread tracks then even with a scraper, grader, grader blade, etc; you are going to be doing a lot of grading! That means the driveway you are trying to maintain has a grade, and it is not going to take much for the water to run down the depression of a wheel track and not down into the ditch no matter how much crown you put in your road. Water takes the path of least resistance and gravity.

I am not saying do not crown it, but depending upon the grade of the road, you really need a method for diverting water. If it is steep, every 100 feet, but longer spaced apart if it is less steep. There are several ways you can do this; depending on what your drive is used for and if you get snow.

The easiest in a location with no snow, is rubber razors, set at 30 degrees to the roadway, which is nothing more than a 3/8 strip of rubber conveyor belting (used) that is 8 inches wide and bolted to a 2x6 buried in the surface of the road. This upright rubber flap allows water to be diverted to the ditch, but allows cars to roll over it. This has the disadvantage of having some cost for the lumber and rubber belting, but looks and works the best.

Another method is to make water bars, again set at 30 degrees to the road. This is just a shallow dip that allows water a path off the roadway into the ditch. This method (one I use) is free because it just means forming the surface of the road, but small cars can have trouble navigating the dip, and the water bar can be plowed smooth if the road is subjected to being plowed if the location is subject to snow.

There are a few other methods to get the water off the road, but ultimately this is what you need...drainage, drainage, drainage.

You still have to crown your road, and you will still have to grade it smooth, but getting that water off your road in the first place before it gathers speed and runs down the inevitable wheel tracks has to be your first line of defense.

It is kind of hard to see because of the way the gravel blends everything together, but if you look closely at the attached photo, you can see how my road (on a 9% grade) has water bars going across the road. This channels a lot of water off the road and towards the rock check dams in the ditches to prevent erosion of my road, and the ditch.