Best Attachment for Parking Lot Leveling

LawnSpecialties · Jan 19, 2023

I have a lawn maintenance account that has about an acre of land that tractor trailers use. Part is a long path and the rest is the loading dock area. It was probably started as crusher run many years ago but now it's a little bit of everything. It's extremely hard packed and develops pot holes terribly. They have asked me to help maintain it. I would drag and level it out monthly just to keep things a little easier and smoother for the trucks driving through.

Although money is always an object, it's not my number one priority. I want to get the option that makes the job easier for me. In other words, I don't mind spending extra if it gets me home earlier.

I can get a 6' landscape rake for a little over $600. I can get a 6' box blade for about $1600. I can also get a 6'-7' land grader for a little over $2000. I tried using my 6' scrape blade the other day and it struggled to break through the hard pack. I'm sure that will improve as I maintain this area but I think I need something to really break through that top shell of the ground.

Tractor is a DK5310SE Kioti so it should handle these fine. But I'm not 100% sure how I'd like to proceed. Any opinions? In all honesty, I think the landscape rake would do great used on a monthly basis but I admit, I've never used a land grader. I'm just not 100% sure that's the right thing for this job though.

Wolfy · Jan 19, 2023

A landscape rake will pull up rocks. Not ideal for gravel. I would get a stout box blade with adjustable rippers. Adjusting your top link really changes how much cut you get.

workinonit · Jan 19, 2023

Landplane, hands down.

jeff9366 · Jan 19, 2023

It's extremely hard packed and develops pot holes terribly.

You need an implement with scarifiers that will penetrate to the bottom of the potholes in order to rectify the problem.

Box blade with scarifiers is the "classic" choice. Pretty versatile implement.

Land Plane with scarifiers will be faster but somewhat of a one trick pony.

thclimer · Jan 19, 2023

The land plane and the box blade excel at certain tasks.

The Land plane excels at leveling with little user input because of its skid plates. With scarfiers (which it sounds like you need) it will be as effective as a box blade with scarifiers at digging/ripping down to the depth of the pot holes so that all the material can be compressed evenly, thus eliminating the pot hole. The land plane can also move material but not as efficiently as a box blade.

The box blade excels at moving material. It can also be used for leveling a surface but requires constant user input by either raising or lower the entire implement or adjusting it's top link as the box blade does not have any skid plates and will therefore not float over uneven areas to deposit material making that area level.

Do you have a hydraulic top link? If so, that will make your use of a box blade much easier.

I can imagen at some point in your business both implements would be advantages to have.

I initially purchased a box blade to maintain a 1/3 of mile driveway when I added 120 tons of stone to it. After the second day of constantly fiddling with the box blade trying to level portions of the driveway where stone had been dropped I bought a land plane. The purchase of the land plane cut my leveling time by 80%. I still used the box blade for circumstances where I needed to move a large volume of material because that's what it excels at.

I will admit that I am not an experienced box blade operator, but then you have to ask yourself what is your time worth or how long can you afford to have the driveway or parking area unusable while you learn?

Good luck and let us know what you purchase.

workinonit · Jan 19, 2023

Whether or not you need ripping tines depends on what's on top. If there is enough loose material to move around then a landplane is perfect. I have a crushed asphalt drive that is as hard as concrete but has loose material on top and I just landplane it level every so often. It works great. If you don't have loose material then someone needs to spring for some top dressing. I'm not a fan of ripping tines on something like that or like my drive. When it gets hard packed I don't like disturbing it.

oosik · Jan 19, 2023

I have a mile long driveway. Forty two years ago it was professionally constructed and finished off in crushed rock and sand. Over the years this top layer has become - summertime concrete. Volcanic ash, silt and sand have made it this way. It's hard enough that you can smoke the rear tires on your car and only leave black rubber. Little to no marks on the driveway surface.

I use my Land Pride LPGS GS2584 behind my [AFFILIATE=1, nofollow=true, newwindow=true, title="Kubota"]Kubota[/AFFILIATE] M6040 to make any driveway "corrections". With the scarifiers down it will correct any pothole, riffle or wiffle that needs fixing. It digs deep - smooths out nicely and I pack it down with the big 'ol tractor tires.

hkbirdman · Jan 19, 2023

workinonit said:
Landplane, hands down.

I agree - Landplane, with scarifiers.

nyone · Jan 19, 2023

Since it's getting pot holes you need the ripper teeth of a box blade. Anything else and your just filling in pot holes so they can reform. A land plane, rake or rear blade is not the correct tool to do the repairs needed for what you described.

i7win7 · Jan 19, 2023

LawnSpecialties said:
Although money is always an object, it's not my number one priority. I want to get the option that makes the job easier for me. In other words, I don't mind spending extra if it gets me home earlier.

Something to consider