Land plane for grading lumpy land (not a driveway)

[gstrom99]

A harley rake was designed for just what the Braccet wants to do. It will level / remove clumps and prep the soil for seeding. Renting one would be my first choice. If not then I would use a tiller and turn it into a powder then water and roll it back smooth.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Harley Rake. Just what you need for this (better than my idea of a rototiller). Rent instead of buying, unless you think you'll need it often.

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Buy a land plane, or use your box scraper for the drive.

 

[gstrom99]

Where are you guys renting attachments?

I generally see this as a skid steer attachment. Lots of guys renting out skid steers in my area, i guess i can ask if they could rent an attachment as well

Any good/big rental place should have one. Where are you?

 

[MH8675309]

Interesting, never seen that attachment before.

I'd still be more interested in a land plane if it would work, since I have a gravel drive as well to maintain. Think it would work?

I have a 7 ft Woods land plane that I used to level mounds of dirt pulled off the edge of the pond (to put a shoulder on the edge instead of a drop off) and some of those mounds were 3 feet high. My tractor is 50 hp and weighs about 4500. It did an excellent job leveling the mounds. And they are great for driveways - mine looks like I paid to have gravel brought in when its done

 

[braccet]

Any good/big rental place should have one. Where are you?

I'm up in the country north of DFW. We have Sunbelt rentals around here but they only have a harley rake for skid steers. I'll have to look around.

 

[ruffdog]

Depending on how big the area is, a CTL with a harley rake may be the way to go. Even hiring the job out may be better. They could be in and out before you could really even get started.

 

[ironman1952]

What???

 

[oosik]

Bottom line. I've found that my LPGS does not work well where there are field grasses, weeds or brambles. Works great on plain old dirt( slightly damp is the very best) or gravel and sand.

 

[90cummins]

I've used my box blade to the best of my ability, but our land is still pretty bumpy and puddles badly in rain. We have clay soil here that is unworkable when wet, so have to wait for it to dry out, at which point it becomes as hard as concrete. Would a land plane with scarifiers work to help me get an even surface on this land? My tractor is only 25HP (but weighs 4000lb), so I'm thinking I'd put the scarifiers down only about an inch.

I generally only see these used on driveways, so just wondering if anyone's had luck evening out a lumpy pasture.

The only problem with pasture is breaking up the sod fine enough to grade. If you had a large PTO rototiller to prep for grading you’d be set.
I’ve had a box scrapper for years & also had problems smoothing hi/lo spots. Several years ago adapted the gauge wheels from my PTO rototiller and mounted them 24” behind the blade.
Huge improvement in leveling capability!!
I could set the cut with the top link drop the box and it would cut the high spots. I would slowly adjust the top link as the grade improved.
You have enough tractor to do some serious work.

90cummins

 

[oosik]

Absolutely right - 90cummins. Breaking up the sod is the problem. My LPGS simply does not level out sod wads. It seriously creates them.

If I were seriously going to redo many of my meadows - I'd purchase the heaviest rototiller I could pull with my M6040.

Even then I would need some sort of 3-point rake. There would still be uprooted, dirtless grass clumps everywhere.

It's just a whole lot easier, cheaper to consider that the meadows are level/smooth enough - as is.

 

[Sportsman762]

I have had good luck with completely redoing fields to smooth them out. I started with a moldboard plow, then disked it twice, ran a grain drill over it, then rolled it all in. Makes for a nice smooth field. Had one field that the ground hogs had just destroyed, it was painful spreading manure on it hitting the holes all the time. Plowing and disking made it smooth as could be. Might not be lawn smooth, but it was very good.