Befco grader/land plane WOW !!

jenkinsph · Sep 30, 2012

RDrancher said:
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 · Sep 30, 2012

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 · Sep 30, 2012

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 · Sep 30, 2012

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 · Sep 30, 2012

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

Reveal 4-N-1 ｻ Product Overview

Scooby074 · Sep 30, 2012

sparc said:
How would one of these attachments for maintaining an arena work on driveways and[SUB][/SUB] 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 · Sep 30, 2012

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 · Sep 30, 2012

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 · Oct 4, 2012

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 · Oct 4, 2012

lilranch2001 said:
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?

jenkinsph · Oct 4, 2012

RDrancher said:
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.

View attachment 282624 View attachment 282625 View attachment 282626

RDrancher thanks for posting the pics, have to ask how well does the asphalt float work? I assume you need to roll behind it.

RDrancher · Oct 5, 2012

jenkinsph said:
RDrancher thanks for posting the pics, have to ask how well does the asphalt float work? I assume you need to roll behind it.

Yes, you still have to roll behind it. You know, When I lived in socal I remember asphalt guys using the big red float, but I was doing concrete on those jobs and never really payed much attention to how well they worked. For the most part (just like skip loaders) they're a West Coast / Arizona thing. Since they're designed for skip loaders, I'm not really sure if they would work very well without down pressure. Thomas Welding (the company that makes the float) wasn't very informative when I asked them for specs, although they did provide pricing for building a 6'er. There isn't much info online, that's for sure.

RDrancher · Oct 5, 2012

dupe____________

swines · Oct 5, 2012

I have a box blade, rear blade, landplane, and a Harley Rake. While you can make one implement do the work, to some extent, of another - once you learn how to use each for their intended purpose, there is no substitute. In the case of the landplane, I use it on an 1/8 mile drive and a ditch bank walkway.

Over the years, I've used all of the implements listed for surface maintenance of the drive and walkway - and the landplane wins in speed and final surface condition. Because the blades are angled on the landplane, you can use it to level or create a crown depending on the direction you're going for each pass.

lilranch2001 · Oct 5, 2012

94BULLITT said:
Where are the pictures?

You guys are as bad as men in chat rooms wanting to see pics...... :laughing:
I was so anxious to play with the land plane I didnt even think about pics yesterday.
He delivered the last load today, I will snap a pic of it before I start grading and I will take some after photos

CTMassey · Oct 7, 2012

does anybody have any experience with these for grading off topsoil/landscaped areas or is it strictly a "driveway"tool?

Gordon Gould · Oct 7, 2012

Not strickly a driveway tool at all. I am sure you will hear from Steve (jenkinsph) on this one. If not look at some of his posts over the last couple years.

jenkinsph · Oct 7, 2012

CTMassey said:
does anybody have any experience with these for grading off topsoil/landscaped areas or is it strictly a "driveway"tool?

As Gordon eluded to I use landplane grader blades for smoothing on landscape projects frequently. I have found that my need for a boxblade is not as frequent since building the landplanes. You can move enough dirt with a landplane to overcome some large discrepancies on most lawn areas. Here's a few examples of lawn areas where I used the landplanes to smooth. Also handy for smoothing out my new shop pad too.

crazyal · Oct 7, 2012

When i cleaned a lot to build on there were places I didn't spend too much time leveling. Because the land is a little steep, it was the back yard, and I focusing on getting grass to grow in other places it was just too rough to mow and became full of saplings and blackberries bushes. It was the reason I wanted to buy a brush hog. Last summer I used the GS to level it and rip all the brush out of the ground. It's now just part of the lawn and gets mowed and I need to find a new excuse to buy a brush hog.

TBarD · Oct 7, 2012

I'll just second the comment that Befco makes a good product. I have a BGS-84 (about 850lbs), and have been very happy with it. I use it for landscaping and construction (building pads) as well as road building and grading. Does a great job and is easy to use. As others have mentioned you can run it backwards to do a final smoothing. The main issue will be if you have rocks! Any rocks at the surface will likely be dug up and will need to be removed to get a smooth finish. I don't have any pictures of it in action, but here is one of it on the tractor. I have the scarifiers in the up position most of the time.