Land Pride grading scraper

[RDrancher]

Thanks KML.

While narrowing down my selection I have been surprised at a couple of responses I got from manufacturers regarding rippers / scarifiers. I have to have rippers to remove potholes...plain and simple. YMMV, and this is dependent on what type of subsurface you have, but here, just spreading gravel over and into potholes results in them coming back rather quickly. All you have to do is look at how the county road departments "repair" roads and it's pretty obvious that it doesn't work. That's fine for a homeowner that can go out a couple times a year with their own tractor and grader to do touch-ups, but not for paying customers.

Here is my question and response from a local (and well known) manufacturer.

Me - Hey folks. New gravel driveways and restoration of gravel driveways is a large part of my business. I perform these services with a New Holland TC35D. I've been looking at graders / land planes from Land Pride, Dirt Dog and Befco, mainly because they include rippers. Doing without rippers is not an option since I need them to get to the bottom of potholes and have been doing it with my box blade. I'd like to go with a company that's local (I'm in Sanger). Obviously you know our local material conditions, which draws me to your product. Is this an option that you could offer? Thanks, John

The Response - We will come to your location and do a demo. This way you can see that you do not need rippers to fix potholes with our equipment. Please call us to set up a demo. I think you will be impressed. The land plane is a toy compared to the * * grader, let us show you. Please call us at 800-***-****. Thanks, Alan. This demo is no obligation on your part if we can't do what you want it to do we will just load up and go.

 

[beppington]

Here is my question and response from a local (and well known) manufacturer.

Me - Hey folks. New gravel driveways and restoration of gravel driveways is a large part of my business. I perform these services with a New Holland TC35D. I've been looking at graders / land planes from Land Pride, Dirt Dog and Befco, mainly because they include rippers. Doing without rippers is not an option since I need them to get to the bottom of potholes and have been doing it with my box blade. I'd like to go with a company that's local (I'm in Sanger). Obviously you know our local material conditions, which draws me to your product. Is this an option that you could offer? Thanks, John

The Response - We will come to your location and do a demo. This way you can see that you do not need rippers to fix potholes with our equipment. Please call us to set up a demo. I think you will be impressed. The land plane is a toy compared to the * * grader, let us show you. Please call us at 800-***-****. Thanks, Alan. This demo is no obligation on your part if we can't do what you want it to do we will just load up and go.

Seems like you can't beat that offer.

 

[RDrancher]

Seems like you can't beat that offer.

I didn't think so either, until I found out that the price of their model was over double that of the Befco, which is more than the Land Pride! And their front blade will only extend 1.5" below the skids...that's not much of a pothole.

 

[beppington]

I didn't think so either, until I found out that the price of their model was over double that of the Befco, which is more than the Land Pride! And their front blade will only extend 1.5" below the skids...that's not much of a pothole.

Oh! Well, in that case I'd get the $1,400 (what I paid) Land Price GS1572 (or whichever series & width you need), since it has rippers, & go to work :thumbsup:

Oh, & yes the skids are replaceable (not sure if anybody answered that for you).

 

[jenkinsph]

RDrancher,
I would prefer to have a landplane grader with ripper teeth hydraulically actuated for the potholes. Right now when facing this problem I still use my boxblade to rip them out. Then use the landplane/grader to smooth the driveways out. I use a rearblade for crowning and pulling the material back towards the road.

I built a landplane/grader in 2009 because of this very thread and built mine to plane and smooth out lawn areas. It also smoothes the occasional driveway with ease too. Mine weighs about 950 lbs. and has 8' blades set straight which are attached to heavy duty frames that are very ridgid. Cost with new blades and all hardware was about $900. This was a simple build compared to some things so is worth considering as a build your own project.

If I were to do it again or buy one straight up I recommend adjustable blade height independent each side, adjustable angle to aid in crowning, hydraulic rippers such as on a Gannon box blade and longer skids. This would greatly increase the cost but would limit the number of tools needed for maintaining most driveways and farm roads. Sounds like this is what you need to have for commercial work imo.

Here is a pic of the one I built for lawn leveling and pics of the results on my lawn area and a customers. It also works well for most driveway work too.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

All I can say is that if they didn't work, they would all be out of business. So there must be something there that works. Very few have rippers and I think that you will find that only the lighter units have rippers. I don't know if you will find a 1000lb unit that has rippers on it.

 

[Jaylegger]

I see there have been a few comments regarding my post outlining, what I considered, abnormal wear on the blade and teeth of the landpride. Six months and approx 15-18 hours of grader use has accumulated since my previous post on wear so I'll update with photos. The blade is slightly worse for wear with more nicks than I reported back in May but the teeth haven't fared well. The last time I graded a few weeks ago I noticed two of the scarifier tips had rotated upwards on the shank rendering them useless. Further inspection has shown the bottom of tips have completely worn off allowig the tip to swivel around the dimple. The tips themselves have worn down considerably as well therefore all four require replacement.

I'm still estatic with the gader and the wonderful job it does grading roads/driveways but I'm less than impressed with the blade and teeth wear. My previous cheap-***** boxblade had considerably more hours on it with hardly a hint of wear on the blade or teeth so, in my opinion, Landpride has cheaped out on the wear items or perhaps inadvertantly sourced some questionable quality steel parts for the wear items.

Anyone know a good source for good quality scarifier tips?

 

[Tomtint]

my 72" Befco has about 15 hours or so of grading compacted bluestone and gravel. It works better than a rear blade or box blade but the scarifies are ready to be replaced. Both blades and the wear bars still look good but the teeth are a bit soft IMO.

 

[psdx]

Well I have been following this topic for a bit and I have to say that it seems obvious these drag type graders are the tool of choice for driveway maintenance!

I saw some other comments about LandPride graders. I also have a LP GS1560, and can vouch for how well it works on gravel driveways. I used to have a box blade and this is so much better for grading. The long runners and double blades are the key. I've done a dozen driveways and the results are amazing. I have a friend that bought a DR grader and sent it back before assembling it. YMMV

 

[psdx]

Anyone know a good source for good quality scarifier tips?

About any agricultural dealer will have the shank tips available that are a friction fit and just need to be driven on with a 5 pound hammer. I had forgotten that one of mine came off when it was new. The replacement tip was $13. My dealer told me that the tips themselves are meant to be "sacrificial" and pull off if a large object is hit to preserve the more expensive scarifier shank. BTW, I only drop the scarifiers when I'm trying to pull up the base to help repair pot holes. 90% of the time my scarifiers are up and not getting any wear.