Box Scraper Box scraper for hard pack dirt/gravel road

[Taters525]

So looking for box scraper recommendations for maintaining about 1 mile of hardpack dirt/gravel road. There is a lot of traffic on the road with not a lot of maintenance. Will be using a Kubota L4701 to pull it with. Was looking at the 6' land pride bb35. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Hello neighbor. I am not a proficient box blade user, never got the knack of it and haven't yet figured out what to efficiently do when the box is full. Probably (as others will probably say a box blade works better with hyd top and tilt. What little back Blade work I have done I like the casting off to one side of the spoils so they can then be incorporated back into the fill. What I do know is; if you do not rip up the hard areas around pot holes, grade out and re-compact to match the adjacent material you will shortly have more pot holes. Best results for badly pot holed roads is to scarify the whole road , grade and re-compact end to end. Any place that has a soft spot will doon be a new pot hole as traffic beats the loose material out. In our rainy area; anyplace where water accumulates compaction is destroyed and new pot hole. So, grade to drain off one or both sides. 6" compacted crushed (not pit run) gravel compacted to 95+% makes the best long life rut and pot hole free roadway. The average home owners do not understand all this so private drives and roads become axle buster. A good road/driveway cost money to build and maintain. From a lifetime of construction and professional facility management.

Ron

 

[CADplans]

Landplane,,, there is no other answer,,, especially not a box blade,, in my opinion,,,

I had a box blade for 25 years before I built the landplane.

 

[RNeumann]

With a mile of road I'd be looking at the LP HR line if you want LP. I'm thinking the BR line is a little light. I'd also budget for at least a hydraulic top link. Without a top link your control of the BB is severely limited.....severely!!! If that's not in the plans you may want to skip the box and look at the LP grading scraper- not nearly as versatile but it's a set it and drive type of implement.
Often you can find an old Gannon BB floating around used. Those are a good find. BBs last for decades- especially the good ones. Don't skimp- especially with 47hp and a mile of road to maintain.

 

[crazyal]

I'm going to also suggest a land plane. I have a Befco that I use to maintain a little under a mile. It's 6' and weights about 700lbs. I think it's right at the bare minimum for weight. I had been borrowing a boxblade and could do a reasonable job I spent more time trying to get the driveway smooth usually finishing it off by back dragging with my loader. With the land plane it takes me an hour or two to fix the few spots that need it more often than other parts. I don't have a hydraulic top link or the valves for it. But with the land plane it's not really needed. On occasion I'll shorten up the top link to change the angle of the ripping shanks to help them dig into hard packed gravel but otherwise I never adjust it. In the second half of summer the driveway gets really packed hard so I try to do road work after it rains when the driveway is softer. I think a heavier attachment would work better on hard packed gravel but it kind of comes down to how much you want to spend. For me ripping shanks are a must. Without them to break up the hard packed gravel would be all but impossible to do with my tractor.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would recommend a land plane grader scraper that is about half the width of the road. Run up one side and back down the other side. Try to maintain the crown for best run off. You may find you need a rear blade to pull materials back to the center and to maintain the crown.

If your county road department does maintain it infrequently it would be best to use just the landplane to smooth it. Stay out of the center so you don't remove the crown. Let the county maintain the road for the most part.

 

[olPete]

Any ideas/pictures of your landplanes, guys? We use similar looking implements for smoothing out paddocks here. They are all what I'd call I-beam, like girders are made from.. about as long as wide, and the crossmembers are the same but each one is 1/4" below the one in front. Is that the same thing? I need to make something.

 

[TripleR]

If my main use was road maintenance, I'd use a grading scraper like this or equivalent in any brand: GS25 Series Grading Scrapers | Land Pride

I use my box scraper as much for moving dirt etc. as road maintenance and have TnT so my preference is: HR35 & HRL35 Series Box Scrapers | Land Pride

Woods and others make good scrapers as well, my LP dealer is just better at sales and service.

We also use one of these from time to time, but we already owned it: BB45 Series Drag Scrapers | Land Pride

 

[olPete]

If my main use was road maintenance, I'd use a grading scraper like this or equivalent in any brand: GS25 Series Grading Scrapers | Land Pride

I use my box scraper as much for moving dirt etc. as road maintenance and have TnT so my preference is: HR35 & HRL35 Series Box Scrapers | Land Pride

Woods and others make good scrapers as well, my LP dealer is just better at sales and service.

We also use one of these from time to time, but we already owned it: BB45 Series Drag Scrapers | Land Pride

Thanks for the links and the wisdom.

 

[jeff9366]

Looking for box scraper recommendations for maintaining about 1 mile of hardpacked dirt/gravel road. There is a lot of traffic on the road with not a lot of maintenance. Will be using a Kubota L4701 to pull it. Other suggestions appreciated.

You have not revealed whether you have ditching, crown or camber to deal with in your mile.

I too recommend a Land Plane Grading Scraper with scarifiers over a Box Blade as primary gravel or dirt road maintenance implement but if you have ditching, crown or camber to deal with you will probably need to supplement LPGS with a Rear Blade, also known as an Angle Blade.

VIDEO: tractor angle blade road maintenance - YouTube