Poor man (ok, cheap sob) wants a land plane grader/scraper

[deezler]

Well this thread has not particularly gone as I expected! Thank to everyone for your contributions, good discussion here.

There seems to be a lot of nuance in regards to driveway maintenance. I've always enjoyed reading everyone else threads where a simple question yields a dozen different opinions on how to best accomplish the job. But somehow I still thought everyone here would support my desires to get a land plane! You guys are telling me not to buy an implement? Weird, haha.

In case it's helpful. My situation:
- Just want to quickly refresh my loose gravel surface periodically. Not to rip up my base, not to fill in any holes (don't have any), not to move a bunch of material. Just "refresh" the surface.
- My drive is already pretty smooth and even, with a nice crown. I just want to keep it looking pretty, haha.

I don't understand how the box blade could be good at this. If you drop it all the way down, it just pulls and scrapes up material until the entire box is full. That's what it's for. Trying to keep it just barely off the ground means any small bumps or undulations in the driveway surface ahead of it make it move up and down with the rest of the tractor, as it is carried on the 3-pt. The beauty of a land plane is that you let it ride the ground, and it can't hold much material - it evenly deposits whatever it scrapes up, with no fussing required.

The basic rear scraper blade does work well for me though, it's what I've used for the last 5 years. I do still need a better rear blade, so maybe this implement upgrade should jump ahead of a land plane on my list.

 

[CoyPatton]

Sounds to me that you want to dress your drive much as I used to dress the infield when I and I my children played softball/baseball.
I used a drag harrow (homemade). It consisted of chainlink fencing. It was attached, when I could get chunks, old electric poles,often I could get these from the local electric company (for little to no cost as a friend’s children also played ball with mine). Some times additional items were added to the fencing to increase aggressive of the drag (usually in spring when grass wanted to take over). Generally it worked well for during season maintenance.

 

[deezler]

^ yes, "dress" could be considered the right verb here.

I have indeed thought about taking a scrap piece of chain link fencing and making a basic drag. However my dilemma is: how do I get it turned around once I get up to the road? Ideally I want something attached to the 3-pt such that I could lift it, back up to the paved road edge and pull towards the house. If I had to keep a drag attached behind the tractor, I would need to take a wide U-turn in the grass adjacent to the driveway, and miss the short part right by the road. And if I weight the fence-drag down with logs/rocks/blocks, I wont be able to manipulate it by hand, only drag it along. Maybe I'm over thinking this.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Here is the frame work to lift the chain.

I think what some people are telling you in not so many words is not to spend very much $$$ on something that is not what you really want-need.

For an interim thing to get by, maybe a few hundred $$$.:confused3: But other than that, you are simply throwing money away.:wink:

Save up and get what you want-need. Don't throw good money away . :thumbdown:

Good luck.

 

[deezler]

Ooh, you just gave me a good idea. A 3-pt carry all frame could also be rigged with chains to suspend a section of chain.

For those of you that have pulled chain-link or drag-harrows over gravel before, how well does it work? Does it accumulate much material, and spill any over the front/sides? Does the chain section squirm and dance around, or stay pretty well planted straight behind?

 

[JethroB]

Ooh, you just gave me a good idea. A 3-pt carry all frame could also be rigged with chains to suspend a section of chain.

?

Maybe hang it from a boom pole? They start under $200 new. Used even better.

 

[bcp]

To just "dress" the driveway simply turn your rear blade backwards and drive forward. Or use your box blade with the top link adjusted long so the front blade doesn't cut.

Bruce

 

[deezler]

To just "dress" the driveway simply turn your rear blade backwards and drive forward. Or use your box blade with the top link adjusted long so the front blade doesn't cut. Bruce

Only problem with the rear blade idea is that even when backwards, I can get spillage of gravel out the ends. Which means I have to stay away from the driveway edge. Hence why I was thinking that a land plane with closed, boxed sides would allow me to run right down the edge for a very clean cut/dress.

My upper 3-pt link is a real bear to adjust, it's all rusty and beat up. Lengthening it enough to get the front box blade at least an inch or two above the rear edge isn't really feasible. Maybe that's another problem I should solve soon.

 

[bcp]

A difficult top link isn't worth the aggravation. if you don't buy a tractor-brand replacement from a dealer, they are not expensive.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/top link?

Bruce

 

[RSR]

If you're getting spillage out the sides of your box blade, I would posit you are taking too deep of a cut.

The extremely limited knowledge I have in using a box blade has reinforced to me that going slow and being patient (not overly aggressive) gives the best results and is much faster.

Adjusting the top link correctly for what you are trying to do makes a HUGE difference on results too.

 

[deezler]

If you're getting spillage out the sides of your box blade, I would posit you are taking too deep of a cut.

No, spillage from a straight rear scraper blade. Spillage out the top/sides of a full box blade is some heavy duty scraping. Done it with light, dry dirt but not sure my tractor could do it with gravel.

 

[RSR]

No, spillage from a straight rear scraper blade. Spillage out the top/sides of a full box blade is some heavy duty scraping. Done it with light, dry dirt but not sure my tractor could do it with gravel.

Ahhh, makes sense now. I must have misread the post.

 

[Underdog57]

Deezler: I think you're on the right track, I think a good Land Plane is what you need. And while your at it spend an additional $250. On a hydraulic top link, (money well spent, especially for grading)

 

[deezler]

Deezler: I think you're on the right track, I think a good Land Plane is what you need. And while your at it spend an additional $250. On a hydraulic top link, (money well spent, especially for grading)

Ha, I was just thinking how bad I wanted top and tilt. My tractor doesn't have any hydraulic remotes, though..... next one definitely will.

 

[MF243RedTop]

Sounds like the first thing you need is a new quality top link, make sure it's long enough for letting it out for the box blade.
Then some time on the box blade using the rear blade going forward. It will do a nice job, when adjusted out.
By that time you can save $$$ and hopefully buy a quality landplane. JM2C...

 

[old and tired]

...My tractor doesn't have any hydraulic remotes, though..... next one definitely will.

Why get a new tractor, add the remotes to yours. Have you ask the dealer if they have a kit for 2 rear remotes? If you don't think you can do it, ask him how much to install them... (If I can add them, ANY one should be able to).

Rear blade in reverse and angled to dump excess in the middle... final path after pulling from the 2 edges, is flatten out the middle crown (or just drive over the middle to pack it down). I could not use a land plane, too many large rocks / base material (or not enough top coat).

 

[metalbender]

One pass with a land plane does not complete the job. I usually make four passes on my 1/2 mile gravel drive. The land plane does not carry material, therefore will not fill up. The surface is refreshed by the material flowing over and being redistributed by the low blades. My blades are set about a half inch below the sides.

 

[WranglerX]

Apply the KISS principle ... (Keep It Simple Stupid)..... To surface dress you only need a drag harrowed and you don't even need to lift it with all the fancy booms or forks or what ever on 3PH....

A harrow has been mentioned many times, can be made for FREE or at very little cost, try it first before going expensive or exotic.... Drag harrow has worked for me for 12 years and for first 9-10 years only had a JD riding mower to tow it with....

Dale

 

[deezler]

Thanks for all the recent posts. Solid advice.

And good news! I actually already had another top link laying around that had come along with one of my used 3-pt attachments some years back. It looked kinda bent and rusty so I had tossed it aside in the barn and never gave it another thought until yesterday.

But! After a quick clean up and lube, it spins way nicer than my original one. And luckily, extends to several inches longer. Way beefier overall.

New one installed, old one laying on top for comparison:

I promptly extended it way out to tip my box blade way back. First test:

This is just one pass down each side, done for now!

So using the box blade did slice off a good bit of my crown in the interest of smoothing and dressing everything. Once I get the rear scraper blade put on to handle snow plowing (if winter ever shows up here), I can pull the gravel back to the middle and then feather it back into a crown.

Anyway, I will call this a victory and try not to be sad that I don't get to buy another implement. :laughing:

 

[MF243RedTop]

Looks like it done a great job!