48 or 60" Grading Scraper/Land Plane for GC2300? Can both crown the driveway?

[JDKu]

I have a 150 yards of gravel drive to maintain. I've been debating between a GS1560 and a GS1548. Tractor is 22.5 HP at engine, 1367 lbs. I will have the loader on, so I can add weight easily for extra traction.

Based on what I've read, the 48" is the preferred size for this tractor. Is it easy to crown a driveway that is 10' wide with a 4' wide land plane? I haven't found an answer to this yet.

I feel like the 60" might be easier to maintain a crown. Would it be possible to manage the traction/HP issues by adjusting the cutting depth of the blade? Or is the full box of material just too much for this tractor to pull?

I do have a small hill in my back yard that worries me a bit, making me think the 48" is the right path. But I worry about the crown.

 

[JDKu]

To add to the confusion, Woods has a 60" grading scraper and they suggest it is OK for 20 to 45 HP tractors....

 

[MtnViewRanch]

You really are not going to build a crown with any land plane that I know of. Even though the blades are typically angled, they simply do not move the material sideways much at all.
I have tested the side movement of material on my Land planes, (I have 5' & 7' units) by painting the ground and watching-measuring just how much the ground moved sideways. About 1" was all it moved.
So thinking that you are going to actually build a crown is wishful thinking.

Get the 48" unit, it will do a nice job of maintaining the drive.

 

[JDKu]

You really are not going to build a crown with any land plane that I know of. Even though the blades are typically angled, they simply do not move the material sideways much at all.
I have tested the side movement of material on my Land planes, (I have 5' & 7' units) by painting the ground and watching-measuring just how much the ground moved sideways. About 1" was all it moved.
So thinking that you are going to actually build a crown is wishful thinking.

Get the 48" unit, it will do a nice job of maintaining the drive.

Based on your comments, I am guessing you would get the 48" unit, and just grade the drive flat. Thank you.

I had the impression you could crown the road by adjusting the blades to cut deeper on the right side of the unit (looking from behind)? Is that not effective either?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Based on your comments, I am guessing you would get the 48" unit, and just grade the drive flat. Thank you.

I had the impression you could crown the road by adjusting the blades to cut deeper on the right side of the unit (looking from behind)? Is that not effective either?

Not really, you just dig the material unevenly, it still only flows over the blade. It does not in reality move side-side, it still only flows basically straight over the blade.

You want to crown the road, you need a rear blade, and in your case, your tractor is really too light to be rolling material to the center to easily crown a road.

If the road surface is softer, then a lighter blade can do it.
It's not that your tractor can't do it, but you need the right implements and the time to do it.
And yes practice usually makes a person better at what they are doing.

Good luck and don't give up, I started out grading driveways with a Sears SS12 garden tractor with a 36" roll over Gannon. 65" ROBB pictured behind a 32hp tractor.

 

[dicktill]

<snip>

You want to crown the road, you need a rear blade, and in your case, your tractor is really too light to be rolling material to the center to easily crown a road.

<snip>

I second the back blade. I have a Massey Ferguson GC 1723EB, and I use it extensively with a Land Pride RB 1660 rear blade. This model blade has an optional hydraulic rotation kit available, and that in addition to top-n-tilt makes it so much easier to move dirt/gravel where you want. It also has a built-in manual 7-1/2 or 15-degree tilt feature which can be used on either side, especially good if you don't have top-n-tilt. Most back blades can't do that.

 

[JDKu]

Thank you. I didn't realize a land plane wasn't very useful for building a crown......now I'm wondering if it is useful for maintaining an already crowned road? I have a rear blade and I have pulled my road into a crown with it before. I'm wondering now if I can use a 48" land plane for maintenance (several times a year), and every 2 or 3 years use the back blade to re-establish a crown to the road.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

It would be hard to beat a land plane for general maintenance. I have well over a mile of drive to maintain and when I got my land plane, the time spent for general maintenance was cut by more than half. Yes you can keep the crown, it's just not practical to expect to build a crown though. Again, the material basically just flows over the blades and does not really transfer all that much from side-side.

Get the land plane, you will not regret it.

 

[oosik]

I have a mile long gravel driveway. I maintain with my land plane grading scraper( GS2584). The LPGS has scarifiers which allow me to fix all sorts of boo-boos. I crown, clean out the ditches and blade snow with my rear blade. My Land Pride GS2584 will definitely NOT crown the driveway.

 

[oosik]

Post #10 - reported.