Land plane for driveway

[dirt clod]

Thinking about making a land plane. My idea is different than any design I've seen. What is y'all's thoughts on this?

10 foot wide
Angle blades upward in center. Center 2inches higher

My idea is this would be excellent driveway tool.
The width would allow full coverage of driveway
The blades angled upward in middle by 2 inches would crown road for drainage.

Thinking this would allow driveway work to be completed by just dragging the land plane over it

 

[TractorGuy]

Might work. Let us know how it goes.

I prefer a grader blade for road and driveway shaping.

 

[oosik]

I use my rear blade to crown and clear driveway ditches. The LPGS with scarifiers down to smooth out potholes, riffles, etc.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

You can do the job with a box grader. What you describe can only be used for one thing and one thing only. If that was a good idea road graders would be made that way. We built a box grader with adjustment. I was impressed, and I'm hard to impress.

 

[CoyPatton]

You can do the job with a box grader. What you describe can only be used for one thing and one thing only. If that was a good idea road graders would be made that way. We built a box grader with adjustment. I was impressed, and I'm hard to impress.

I agree. This will be a 1 trick pony.
I do not know what your property looks like, but often LPGS are used for more than just grading a driveway. Some examples
•smoothing out an arena
•smoothing out baseball infields
•leveling out gravel parking areas
And the list continues, these are simply for you to think about beside your drive way needs.
If you think it through, and you are ok with the 1 trick pony LPGS, go for it.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I agree. This will be a 1 trick pony.
I do not know what your property looks like, but often LPGS are used for more than just grading a driveway. Some examples
•smoothing out an arena
•smoothing out baseball infields
•leveling out gravel parking areas
And the list continues, these are simply for you to think about beside your drive way needs.
If you think it through, and you are ok with the 1 trick pony LPGS, go for it.

With a hydraulic top link we can move some serious dirt with a tractor. It will carry 2 1/2 yards. Just fill grader up, raise top link just a little so it quits digging, and you are moving dirt. Raise the lift in the same area each time and you build a large berm. Then call the dump trucks. Last time I moved 200 yards in one morning. We had two dump trucks and two skid steers. They had a 2 mile round trip. While they was gone we piled the loose dirt up so it would be faster loading the trucks. It was all off road. So they were driving slow and overloaded.

 

[BackRoad]

It may work, but it seems limiting, like having a very specific, inflexible, single-use tool.

If you try it, might consider raising the center 3 or even 4 inches over the 10 feet.

My experience years ago living in Louisiana was getting high volume, frog choking rains very quickly...suspect you get the same in FL.

2 inches may be on the low end for a center crown with an objective to shed water quickly and not soak the driveway base.

My 7' EA LP can load up my 60hp MX, HST drive tractor. It pulls the LP while going up a measured 7% grade, although it feels the load.

You may be flat, but a 10' LP might limit using your 33 HP Kubota, though it looks like you have a few tractors to pick from.

Like most, I use the 3PH side lift adjustment while working the LP. It's adjustable and makes the crown and grading work tunable and flexible, although my use likely differs from the majority, as I maintain a 1/2 mile private road, 2 cars wide.

 

[Thomas]

Do you have ditches to clean out?

 

[dirt clod]

Sorry I didnt mention the rise on center would be adjustable. Think about a disc harrow how the gangs can be adjusted for different angles. Now think about how the disc gang adjustment would work if you stood the discs up vertical. Now instead of disc gangs it would be flat blades. Also worth mentioning is I have a old set of discs thats not worth repairing along with some other old junk implements. Top links, side links or hydraulic cylinder with lock could move blades.

 

[airbiscuit]

Here's what I made. The rear gauge wheel maintains the crown.

 

[hosspuller]

I would not build the center higher. 10 feet wide is a lot of load. A 7 foot LP requires 4WD or loaded rears for traction (I have 2 Deere 5xxx tractors) Crowning my 10 wide foot road is done in two passes. One to the mailbox and one back. I set the 3 point lift to raise the left side first before the right moves. This slack lets the center of the road build up while the right digs in and moves material to the left.

 

[Doughknob]

I would not build the center higher. 10 feet wide is a lot of load. A 7 foot LP requires 4WD or loaded rears for traction (I have 2 Deere 5xxx tractors) Crowning my 10 wide foot road is done in two passes.....

Lol, i was thinking same thing - better have a big tractor for a 10' plane.

 

[dirt clod]

I would not build the center higher. 10 feet wide is a lot of load. A 7 foot LP requires 4WD or loaded rears for traction (I have 2 Deere 5xxx tractors) Crowning my 10 wide foot road is done in two passes. One to the mailbox and one back. I set the 3 point lift to raise the left side first before the right moves. This slack lets the center of the road build up while the right digs in and moves material to the left.

I have a 4wd 75hp valtra tractor with front end loader, large loaded ag tires, wheel weights, cab and creeper gears. If I made it pull behind I could also use case 580se

 

[dirt clod]

Lol, i was thinking same thing - better have a big tractor for a 10' plane.

Something like this?

 

[dirt clod]

Here's what I made. The rear gauge wheel maintains the crown.
View attachment 715116

Now that's a Good idea.
I

 

[Smokeydog]

Main driveway is 1/2 mile, winding thru the woods with 300’ elevation change. Most slopes to the right going up, some to the left and a little crowned. 6’ EA land plane is about all the 60hp 4x4 tractor can pull at times. Land plane easily and quickly maintains a durable surface that resists traffic and water.

 

[PILOON]

We maintained a 3 mile much travelled gravel road for over a decade using a drag about 2-3 times a year.
It was quite simple.
About 8 ft X 8 ft with but 3 blades.
Front and rear both angled slightly to the left and center to the right with an angle about 2X the other 2 Angles.
Front chops highs , next angled blade moves loose material sideways and fills the voids while the rear blade finishes the job.
Usually 2 passes left a very nice roadbed that lasted a few months of modest traffic.
This basic concept was what the highway department used in rural Quebec back in the 40/50's even using a team of horses early on B4 they adopted trucks.
3 blades was the trick as they kind of established a reference base. Less blades would tend to add to the ups/downs much like the frustration of using a simple back blade on your tractor.

LOL, our drag was bolted wood frame with 3/8 X 3 inch flat stock simply lag bolted to the faces as cutting edges. 2 chains attached to an old Willis jeep provided the power.
Couple of guys, 2 hours and a few cool beverages completed the ritual.
We later on got even fancier as we added a slight platform and hand rope so that a volunteer could ride the drag and steer it by shifting his weight from side to side (not OSIA approved, but it worked) much like riding a surf or wake board.

Now if U wish a super fine finish simply drag a section of chain link fencing.

 

[zzvyb6]

Why make it 10' wide ? You planning a 1 time use and leave it in the main road? I found a landscape rake with 300# of suitcase weights worked the best for me. 8' rake angle 45 degrees. Makes a nice crown after going both directions. If the gravel was too rough or buried, I took my rototiller out there after a rain and was done in an hour. Then the problem becomes a speedway for all the visitors.

 

[sandman2234]

I agree with needing a lot of HP to pull a landplane 10 feet wide. The one I built is 7 foot, 2 blades and when it gets full of dirt, it easily picks up the front wheels on a 6500 pound JD2555 which is 70hp. The M7040SU 4wd will pull it better, but only because of loaded tire weight and FEL and tire design.
The reason for angled blades on a land plane is so that you can control the crown of the road. Lower the front and it cuts one side more, raise it and it flattens out the surface rather than crowning it. The direction you angle the blades makes a huge difference, since you don't want to have to crown a road going against traffic.
David from jax