Befco grader/land plane WOW !!

[jenkinsph]

Congrats on your purchase.

After reading all of the praises for the land plane here on TBN, I figured I must be missing something so I finally bought one. I was impressed when I first used it on gravel, but then realized that it wasn't doing anything that I can't do with a BB. I will say though that I haven't had much time to experiment with blade settings yet or use it on landscape grading, so the jury is still out. For my purposes I'm thinking that I should have purchased a Thomas asphalt float instead.

Interesting that you mention the asphalt float, one of my friends is a large developer here who owned a paving plant for many years. He wants me to try spreading asphalt with mine but I don't want that crap all over my equipment. I would like to hear if the landplane would work for this if yo ever try it..

[RDrancher]

Hey Steve. The asphalt float has sides that resemble an LP but have one adjustable shaving and cutting blade and a "thick steel "smoocher" at the back to smooth out material. The angle of the smoocher acts like a heavy blade when you drive in reverse. An LP with the blades mounted level or above the skids may work ok, but you sure wouldn't want material floating over the blades. A BB works well for asphalt, WITHOUT a floating tailgate. Coating the attachment and bucket with a liberal amount of diesel goes a long way towards keeping the asphalt from sticking. You have to make sure that you get the AC laid right on the first pass. Backing over it to make repairs makes a mess.

Here's a couple photos I've saved (from who knows where) of the asphalt float and a photo of a Gannon spreading AC. The middle photo is an earlier design. Someone here on TBN had some good photos of the float being used by their driveway contractor in Northern Ca, but I can't find them.

[DutchHenryBrown]

Not sure of the brand name on the GS I have but it fits in the big mother of all GS'ers!! I have had mine for a while and am still trying to learn how to use it the correct way on my dirt/rock filled road! I have tried it when the road has been both wet and dry and YES works much better when wet. But I THINK what I really need to do is bring in some gravel if I really want this road to be anything other than a goat trail!!??

[Scooby074]

While trying to find a video of the Befco unit in operation, I came across this thing. Now this is something I like!!! I can scarify, cut a crown, level and cut a ditch all with the same attachment. A true "grader" blade.

[sparc]

How would one of these attachments for maintaining an arena work on driveways and such?

Reveal 4-N-1 ï½» Product Overview

[Scooby074]

How would one of these attachments for maintaining an arena work on driveways and such?

Reveal 4-N-1 ï½» Product Overview

That sounds like its more for the horse ring and light soil than a driveway with gravel. Reveal 4-N-1 » Capabilities

If you had a large tractor, this looks interesting for on the fly maintenance.

[crazyal]

I think Everything Attachments has a video but if it's the one I'm thinking about it's a lighter GS being pulled by a SCUT or small CUT. If I had a way I would make a video and even pictures are hard to get simply because I don't want too long before jumping on the tractor and making the road look like new.

RDrancher, the real difference between it and a BB is that to get the same results with the BB requires the operator to pay attention and make adjustments to the BB. With the GS you can set the blade height and go. For short drives it may not matter much but I can do about 3/4 of a mile in a couple of hours where as when I was using the BB it would take me two days (3 to 4 hours per day) to get it the way I wanted.

[MtnViewRanch]

A box blade is not that good at removing wash boarding that is actually hard. RDrancher is correct, for gravel, no big difference. Put some hard ground under it and or some ruts or gullies, something where the longer side runners and the double blades make a difference and the difference is obvious.

[lilranch2001]

Well I got 140 ton of limestone delivered today, so I put the land plane to work tonight.
The driver wasnt as good at spreading as other drivers I have had in the past so at the joints between the 7 start and stops of all the truck loads he left big humps, I was able to get the barn yard pretty well leveled out and the humps smoothed, this weekend I will try to finish it up, got 2 hours of seat time in before it got dark tonight

[94BULLITT]

Well I got 140 ton of limestone delivered today, so I put the land plane to work tonight.
The driver wasnt as good at spreading as other drivers I have had in the past so at the joints between the 7 start and stops of all the truck loads he left big humps, I was able to get the barn yard pretty well leveled out and the humps smoothed, this weekend I will try to finish it up, got 2 hours of seat time in before it got dark tonight

Where are the pictures?