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

[deezler]

Hey folks. Seeking some TBN wisdom on a land plane.

We built our house in 2015 and ended up with around a 1000' of gravel driveway. I put in most of the driveway base myself by hauling many a dump trailer load of 2-3" crushed concrete, and getting deliveries of similar sized limestone. Since then we've thinly top coated it all a few times with 3/4"-minus, but I prefer CLEAN stone to that with fines in it. Yes, it moves around some, but looks real nice, never pot-holes, and most importantly (to me), never sprays or splashes my vehicles with muddy water.

I usually re-work the gravel a few times per year with my basic rear 6' blade, and manage to do an ok job smoothing it out and re-shaping my crown. But my rear blade can only pull straight when reversed for gentler action (it doesn't have holes for angles in reverse, oy). And the 6' blade doesn't fully cover my tractor tire tracks at full angle. So a new 7' scraper blade is also on the future wish list, but for now I am thinking of how to BEST maintain my gravel driveway. A land-plane seems like the single best tool for this type of work. I think I will go 6' wide to match my tractor (30 HP, ~3600 lbs) and be able to fully cover my driveway width in two passes.

They seem like a simple implement, just a few basic pieces of steel, so I hit the googler and find out.... they START at around a $1000 ?!? And good ones are closer to $2000? oof. I don't have $1000+ to drop right now, at least without some major consternation by the wife. I wish I had a welder and some welding knowledge so that I could try to build one myself, but that's not in the cards right now.

So here's my current thinking. Buy the cheapest 6' land plane I can find. For all my searching, that clearly seems to be the ATV grader made by dirt dog.

Dirt Dog Manufacturing >> ATV Equipment - RGV

Cabellas ATV Road Grader

Cabellas has gift cards on sale for 10% off right now, meaning I could stock up on gift cards, wait until xmas, and buy myself a nice present of a 6' scraper for just ~$555. But of course, this model doesn't have a 3-pt hitch frame. Next brainstorm: just buy a 3-pt carry all (typically available on craigslist every now and then for cheap, theres one for $75 right now) and bolt this ATV scraper onto it.

At just under 400 lbs, it's a bit light. I would probably find a way to add 100-200 more lbs of weights to it also, to ensure a decent bite.

Any thoughts? Hope this doesn't sound too stupid. Yes, I would rather have a heavy duty, purpose built land plane, but if it means waiting until I have $1500 to throw around, it may never happen.

Here's a section of my driveway right after it received a nice layer of 3/4" clean limestone.

My tractor: Yes I have this 6' box blade on hand too, but I have found it a very poor driveway tool. It just picks up and scrapes off all the gravel, or leaves washboards if I try to feather it.

 

[ruffdog]

Do you have access to a long heavy duty wood skid? Depending how you angle them as you drag them, you can move gravel laterally. Experiment with added weight to dig more front/back. Also, change the attachment point to the tractor to pull up or straight.

 

[fried1765]

Hey folks. Seeking some TBN wisdom on a land plane.

We built our house in 2015 and ended up with around a 1000' of gravel driveway. I put in most of the driveway base myself by hauling many a dump trailer load of 2-3" crushed concrete, and getting deliveries of similar sized limestone. Since then we've thinly top coated it all a few times with 3/4"-minus, but I prefer CLEAN stone to that with fines in it. Yes, it moves around some, but looks real nice, never pot-holes, and most importantly (to me), never sprays or splashes my vehicles with muddy water.

I usually re-work the gravel a few times per year with my basic rear 6' blade, and manage to do an ok job smoothing it out and re-shaping my crown. But my rear blade can only pull straight when reversed for gentler action (it doesn't have holes for angles in reverse, oy). And the 6' blade doesn't fully cover my tractor tire tracks at full angle. So a new 7' scraper blade is also on the future wish list, but for now I am thinking of how to BEST maintain my gravel driveway. A land-plane seems like the single best tool for this type of work. I think I will go 6' wide to match my tractor (30 HP, ~3600 lbs) and be able to fully cover my driveway width in two passes.

They seem like a simple implement, just a few basic pieces of steel, so I hit the googler and find out.... they START at around a $1000 ?!? And good ones are closer to $2000? oof. I don't have $1000+ to drop right now, at least without some major consternation by the wife. I wish I had a welder and some welding knowledge so that I could try to build one myself, but that's not in the cards right now.

So here's my current thinking. Buy the cheapest 6' land plane I can find. For all my searching, that clearly seems to be the ATV grader made by dirt dog.

Dirt Dog Manufacturing >> ATV Equipment - RGV

Cabellas ATV Road Grader

Cabellas has gift cards on sale for 10% off right now, meaning I could stock up on gift cards, wait until xmas, and buy myself a nice present of a 6' scraper for just ~$555. But of course, this model doesn't have a 3-pt hitch frame. Next brainstorm: just buy a 3-pt carry all (typically available on craigslist every now and then for cheap, theres one for $75 right now) and bolt this ATV scraper onto it.

At just under 400 lbs, it's a bit light. I would probably find a way to add 100-200 more lbs of weights to it also, to ensure a decent bite.

Any thoughts? Hope this doesn't sound too stupid. Yes, I would rather have a heavy duty, purpose built land plane, but if it means waiting until I have $1500 to throw around, it may never happen.

Here's a section of my driveway right after it received a nice layer of 3/4" clean limestone.

My tractor: Yes I have this 6' box blade on hand too, but I have found it a very poor driveway tool. It just picks up and scrapes off all the gravel, or leaves washboards if I try to feather it.

Don't do it !!!!

You NEED a conventional design rear blade!
Anything else will be a cheap, inadequate, POS!

The blade for you is:
The Everything Attachments Deluxe 6-Way Scrape blade, to maintain your crown.
You would likely find the 72" version to be very satisfactory, due to it's off-set capability.
Take a look at the EA online demo video.

I have the EA 72" version,.....after first buying an off brand blade, and then an 84" King Kutter blade.
Don't do as I did, or you will also have 2 unused blades sitting around.

The (72") ETA-6-VALUE-SB sells for $939 incl. shipping, and is worth every penny, when compared to whatever else you can find on the market.

Find a way to raise the cash!
You will thank me for the remainder of your grading days.
I should probably work for EA,.... but I do not!

I pull my 72" EA blade with my 32HP Ford 1920, and it does a beautiful job!
Everything Attachments..... 1-866-581-5818

 

[ruffdog]

But the OP said "I don't have $1000+ to drop right now,....."

 

[deezler]

Thanks RuffDog. Yeah I could experiment with a variety of dragged things behind my tractor, but what I am looking for is a guaranteed way to quickly refresh my gravel, ideally in a single pass, leaving perfectly neat edges on the drive. I'll search for a pic of someone else's results using a land plane to illustrate.

Fried, I do have a rear scraper blade as I mentioned ( I know, my posts are always too wordy). It does do a decent job of reworking my gravel, have had good success with it so far, but a land plane could make it that much more efficient. And I do want the EA 6-way blade. I'll probably buy their 7' version for my next tractor, that I hope to upgrade to eventually (Kioti ck3510 if I can swing it next year).

Here's a crappy pic that I found in a quick search of my photos, to show my rear blade. Is juuuuust barely doesn't clear the tires on one side when angled all the way, which really irks me when clearing snow.

 

[powerstroke444e]

I have a 48" landplain by land pride and it does a great job as I don't mess up the crown and I am able to keep up speed most of the time. With teeth down or wrong angle it will stop my tractor b26tlb with 1,200lbs of foam in tires I still can lose traction. Spend the money get the right tool and don't go to big you will regret it.

 

[deezler]

Gordon Gould and MtnViewRanch probably post the most pics of their roads before/after land plane work. This is what I want to achieve, a single or double pass to get a perfectly neat driveway egde and totally uniform gravel distribution.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/340014-land-leveler-post4174652.html#post4174652

The basic rear scraper blade is a wonderful tool in it's own right. But when using it on loose gravel, what happens? It windrows all your material and you can actually have spillage on both ends of the blade. The most frustrating thing I've encountered in working my gravel is accidentally spilling gravel OUT of the driveway into the grass. That sucks. The beauty of a land plane, it would seem, is that the tall sides contain all your material, and the low blades scrape it up but then toss it right over into an even spread. No finessing required, basically. Just drive forward.

 

[ruffdog]

.... what I am looking for is a guaranteed way to quickly refresh my gravel, ideally in a single pass, leaving perfectly neat edges on the drive.

Yes, land planes or land levelers are great tools to control edge spill-over and to create a center crown, but, to do this with one pass? Most videos will show many passes with scarfiers to loosen the gravel, then, many passes to achieve the final grade.

 

[WranglerX]

I manicure my drive way several times a year with a screen harrow.... It is a 8 foot section of 5 foot wide chain link fence folded over in half with a steel bar across fold and chain to attach to tractor and filled with half dozen large (25 pound) rocks.... It you don't let driveway get to bad it's easy to maintain, been doing it this way for almost 12 years.... Still smooth and easy to navigate, but sadly I may have to add more gravel in near future as it is getting pretty beat down.... Best part of all, everything was free to make harrow....

Dale

 

[bcp]

Put a tail wheel on your rear blade.

Bruce

 

[deezler]

Yes, land planes or land levelers are great tools to control edge spill-over and to create a center crown, but, to do this with one pass? Most videos will show many passes with scarfiers to loosen the gravel, then, many passes to achieve the final grade.

Yes perhaps the "one pass" idea is somewhat naive, BUT, perhaps plausible on my driveway. Because, I have never added any fines to my gravel mixes, just clean stone. There is a good amount of loose gravel on top and it doesn't tend to get too compacted. I don't plan to use any rippers on it, or even want a land plane with rippers. I still have my box blade with rippers should such aggressive repairs ever be necessary.

 

[powerstroke444e]

The next best tool to a landplain is a large roller to compact or settle the gravel find old asphalt roller and make it a pull behind. Also the one pass idea is great but I have found 2-4 times a cross and it holds up better. Then roll it.

 

[MAD777]

I'm in a similar situation. I have a 7' Everything Attachments 6-way rear blade and love it for plowing snow on my Kioti CK2610HST.
I would call it an economical way to get a jack-of-all-trades attachment. Well it may not be the best tool for any one thing, it has sufficed. I do use it to maintain my four hundred foot long gravel driveway how about this coming spring, I am going to bite the bullet on EA's Landshark land plane.
I'm on a mountain side where there's plenty of leveling to be done and the land plane with scarifiers, in combination with the rear blade can get me to where I need to be.

 

[oosik]

Of all my implements - it's the LPGS about 10% of the time & the rear blade about 90% of the time. My goal - to establish & maintain a reliable driving surface. I have NO desire to create a pool table. My gravel driveway is a mile long. It has a few lumps & bumps. During the rainy season there are a couple puddles. I can live with this.

 

[Rustyiron]

Go find some hardwood 4x6 about 10' long. Cut in half for 2 5' pieces and bolt one to each side plate of your box scraper. Cut a 45* angle on each end (s) and see what you get.
Many years ago on a subdivision job there was a landscaper who did this grading for lawns. This was way before harley rakes and land plains and worked very well. There's a lot of beauty in simplicity and common sense.

 

[fried1765]

But the OP said "I don't have $1000+ to drop right now,....."

I know he did!
I simply suggested that he try to dig deeper (in his pocket)!

 

[rgr33]

Lately I’ve come to appreciate the “buy once, cry once” method of purchasing tools and equipment that I know I value, and will be needing and using on a consistent basis.
I understand the budget factor, but I wonder how happy you will be with less quality. Many of the cheaper substitutes that I have tried in the past, are long gone now, at a substantial discount to the buyer. No money was saved in the long run.

 

[Gordon Gould]

If your surface material is just loose rock and not gravel that packs the back of your rear blade should work pretty good. If you can't turn the blade around 180 you could just drive backwards. With the straight edges you say you want you have to be turned around backwards anyways watching the blade all the time with a hand on the controls making continuous little adjustments. This is 3/4" crushed ledge. Spreads nice with the back of the blade.



Or make a wooden drag like a landplane. RustyIrons idea sounds good too.

gg

 

[RSR]

It appears to me you already own a perfectly adequate solution; the box blade. It seems what is lacking is the technique to use it effectively.

That only costs practice, which is free!

If you aren't happy with the box blade because it's not as effective as a land plane, then I can't see how compromising on the land plane is going to be any better. It's just going to give you two implements you are unhappy with.

 

[pmsmechanic]

Now I'm going to throw a real curve ball into the discussion.

Go to a pick a part. Find a front wheel drive vehicle with a solid rear axle. Bring the axle home complete with rims and tires. Buy about 30' of 2.5x2.5" square tubing. 1/4" wall would be good. Cut the square tubing in to 2 equal length pieces. Attach the tubing to the axle in an "A" shape by bolting/welding, whatever. Attach your box blade in the center of the "A". Make a good swivel hitch that attaches to the 3 point arms. Use the three point to control the depth of cut with your box blade. Now you have a very controllable grader that will level your driveway very nicely. Use differences in rear tire air pressure to angle the blade enough to put a crown in the road. If you bolt the box blade to the "A" frame you can unbolt it to use on the 3 point as originally intended. Chances are that once you have used it as I described you'll like it enough in most situations that you'll rarely go back.

That should fit your budget till you win the lottery.