Box Scraper Land Planes / Grading Scrapers

[milkman636]

I started a project of raising a low area on an acre that has two distinct high areas and a low area. There’s about 6’ of elevation difference between the highest spots and the low one. It’s open land with few trees, but it’s one of only spots on our place that gets ponding in the spring. My goal is to raise the low area above the adjoining treed areas so it will be drier, flatter, and more useable.

I’ve spent a dozen hours or so over the last couple weeks running buckets of dirt down the hill and feathering them out. Ive also dragged hundreds of box blades full of dirt down the hills to deposit in the bottom. Both of these methods are decently effective for grabbing and moving dirt down the hill, but the smoothing and leveling at the bottom is slower than I’d like.

It’s a piecemeal job that will keep me plugging away off and on over the next few weeks, and I like to leave it smooth every time I drive the tractor away in case I don’t get right back to it.

So that has me thinking that a land plane type implement might be the ticket for this job. My thinking is that the land plane would make quicker work out of smoothing out and leveling part of the job and I could get a little more done each night if I had one.

So how about it? Will these things work as slick as advertised? Anyone out there have any advice for me on brands that worked or didn’t work for you? What do I need to look out for?

 

[KennyG]

A land plane should be ideal for finishing. I built my own from scrap angle iron and it leveled very well. I can't link right now but search for "land plane and drag mat" in my posts to see how mine works.

 

[Williy]

I purchased a LS land plane and it works great for me.

willy

 

[jyoutz]

A cheap way to smooth soft loose material is to make a drag. A section of chain link fence with a heavy pipe on both ends works pretty well.

 

[oosik]

I have both a Land Pride LPGS and a home made drag. The LPGS is used with my tractor. The home made drag is used with my ATV. The LPGS is used for big projects. The home made drag for smaller projects.

Both do an excellent job of final smoothing.

The LPGS cost - $2250. The home made drag - next to nothing. It's made from salvaged lumber.

 

[milkman636]

A land plane should be ideal for finishing. I built my own from scrap angle iron and it leveled very well. I can't link right now but search for "land plane and drag mat" in my posts to see how mine works.

That's a unique design that you came up with. One thing I am not blessed with is an abundance of free time to tackle a build though. I will need an "off the shelf' type of solution, and like yours, it will need it to raise and lower so it's not dragging around while I'm grabbing more dirt with the bucket.

 

[milkman636]

I have both a Land Pride LPGS and a home made drag. The LPGS is used with my tractor. The home made drag is used with my ATV. The LPGS is used for big projects. The home made drag for smaller projects.

Both do an excellent job of final smoothing.

The LPGS cost - $2250. The home made drag - next to nothing. It's made from salvaged lumber.

The cost on these grading scrapers does seem high for what they are. And there seems to be a bit of variety in construction like the spacing between the blades, the angles used, scarifiers or no scarifiers. So I a looking for specific feedback from owners. What brand/model do you have? What do you like or dislike about it?

 

[milkman636]

I purchased a LS land plane and it works great for me.

willy

Is there any detail about it that you think could be improved? I'm not trying to bash at all, I just want learn from owners so I can pick a good one.

 

[milkman636]

A cheap way to smooth soft loose material is to make a drag. A section of chain link fence with a heavy pipe on both ends works pretty well.

I really think I need something that lifts and lowers as needed, so it's not dragging around the whole time I'm working.

 

[deezler]

If you can't smooth out loose dirt with either a FEL bucket (back drag) or box blade, then you just aren't experienced enough. Those are both excellent tools for smoothing out and leveling loose dirt.

Yes, a land plane does the job without almost any thinking (just drop it and pull forward), but they are expensive and of limited use otherwise. Plus then you wont have the box blade for pulling dirt with you.

Do you load up the FEL and then also pull the box blade down the hill? I would, double your efforts with each trip.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Overland dirt scoop on wheels will do what you are wanting. I've seen 3 yard and 5 yard scoops. They have smaller ones. We have a yard size. One yard of dirt, maybe two. Spillover, spillover, I can't remember the brand. We also made a 7' land plane that carries 2 1/2 yards at a time, but our tractor is working pulling that much. 6x6x3/4" angle with road grader blades bolted on. Has two blades we can angle each way or opposite to each other. Brother and I built it from a box of scratch. But it will easily dig into a dry, hard gravel parking lot, in the middle of July. I mean right then, you move, it brings up hard clay and gravel. Not much impresses me these days. That rig does some impressing. I needed to move 150 yards of dirt for a project on the farm. Hop on tractor, pulled a bunch of dirt up and left it beside each other kinda like a large terrace. We had one whole dump truck and another truck cut in half with a trailer hitch on it. PTO hooked to another tractor to raise and dump. We had two skid steers to load them. Probably a 3/4 mile haul, that's why we used trucks. Finished by dinner. We just had a steady train of economic development going. Land plane was the integral part in that. It left the ground smooth. Cows eating grass on it now.

 

[milkman636]

If you can't smooth out loose dirt with either a FEL bucket (back drag) or box blade, then you just aren't experienced enough. Those are both excellent tools for smoothing out and leveling loose dirt.

Yes, a land plane does the job without almost any thinking (just drop it and pull forward), but they are expensive and of limited use otherwise. Plus then you wont have the box blade for pulling dirt with you.

Do you load up the FEL and then also pull the box blade down the hill? I would, double your efforts with each trip.

No, my box blade and my bucket both individually hold about all the weight my tractor wants for one trip down the hill. With the loader full I prefer the box up in the air to keep weight on the back tires. Neither me nor my tractor will benefit from concentrating the all weight on the front axle while driving down.

Plus I'm a guy, I can't do a controlled dump with the loader and a controlled lift of the three point at the same time while I'm depositing dirt where I want it. That sounds as dangerous as texting and driving and less possible than convincing your wife that she is wrong.

 

[jyoutz]

I really think I need something that lifts and lowers as needed, so it's not dragging around the whole time I'm working.

I would do the leveling with a box blade, then hook up the drag to do the final smoothing.

 

[bigtiller]

I use the teeth on my loader bucket to smooth loose dirt.
Dump the bucket of dirt 16" ahead of where you want it, raise the bucket, drive forward, point the teeth towards the ground, put the loader in float and backup. That makes an instant 4" deep flat pile of dirt.

 

[milkman636]

The bucket and box blade do a good job of spreading the loads as I deposit them, but using the bucket to smooth after dumping takes a stop and change of direction to really keep things smooth. The box will do the job on a roll with a controlled lift, but requires low speed to really do it smoothly. It’s not a flat rectangle that I’m working in. My thought with the grading scraper is that it will be faster than either the bucket or box blade at keeping the bottom level and help me to get consistent buildup of dirt in all areas. I figure that I can run dirt down the hill in the bucket and do a controlled dump in medium speed and then drop the grader to smooth areas as I navigate around the bottom and work my way back up top for more dirt. The goal would be to keep the tractor moving at a faster working speed and minimize changes of direction and deadheading, while still having an adequate ballast on the back for the loader work. I’ve avoided buying one for my gravel driveway up until this point, but I think this project may be tipping the value equation to the point of the investment being worthwhile. That’s the purpose of this post. I’d like feedback from other owners that can tell me their experience of owning one. If you have one and it did or did not meet expectations, or if you are an owner of one and think my expectation are off, I’d like to hear about it.

 

[deezler]

I bought my land plane specifically for repairing my 1000' gravel driveway. And I had lost access to my old box blade (it went to my neighbor along with the Cub tractor), so I wanted something with rippers again, for breaking up soil or anything else.

Sounds like you are pretty close to justifying the purchase. My 72" Bad Boy grader scraper was $1400, ouch.

Bad Boy Land Plane

I can scarify with a box blade. If I wanted scarifiers on a LP I'd check fit & move 'em over, but why if I have both? Lotta guys here do more than I do with le$$ equipment and or build/mod stuff as needed. It's not what you have, it's what you can do with it. btw, don't think I'd ask for...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[Smokeydog]

About 7 years bought a EA land plane. Best tool for hillside driveway maintenance. Quickly paid for itself in recovering gravel and making a durable, low maintenance surface.

Areas around barns, lawn, orchards are getting smoother just by occasionally driving around.

Only used rippers once on some yard grade work change.

Grader blade and yardbox are just sitting around.

 

[m5guy]

I have bush hog brand land plane. Works great. My buddy copied it and made one he pulls with his plow truck works great.

 

[cathy liebchen]

The cost on these grading scrapers does seem high for what they are. And there seems to be a bit of variety in construction like the spacing between the blades, the angles used, scarifiers or no scarifiers. So I a looking for specific feedback from owners. What brand/model do you have? What do you like or dislike about it?

Dirt Dog

 

[milkman636]

I bought my land plane specifically for repairing my 1000' gravel driveway. And I had lost access to my old box blade (it went to my neighbor along with the Cub tractor), so I wanted something with rippers again, for breaking up soil or anything else.

Sounds like you are pretty close to justifying the purchase. My 72" Bad Boy grader scraper was $1400, ouch.

Bad Boy Land Plane

I can scarify with a box blade. If I wanted scarifiers on a LP I'd check fit & move 'em over, but why if I have both? Lotta guys here do more than I do with le$$ equipment and or build/mod stuff as needed. It's not what you have, it's what you can do with it. btw, don't think I'd ask for...

www.tractorbynet.com

I see one of the same model you have for $1500 new if I want to drive 2.5 hours to get it. Locally, similar models are listed more in the 1800-2800 range. They seem to be priced pretty high for what they are. If I’m happy with it in ten years I’ll be over the price, but I also don’t want to spend that and get one that doesn’t meet my expectations. It sounds from the thread you linked that you don’t have any buyers remorse. Is that accurate?