Grading Scraper (land plane) - Might be my new favorite attachment

[JRobyn]

jk, I have a question about your before and after pics. My roads in many places are just like your before pic, with vegetation on the sides and center, and the wheel tracks being packed down an inch or so below that. I recently bought your same LPGS, but have been waiting to use it until after I get my rear hydraulics and T&T installed so that I can first aggressively tilt my box blade into the vegetation on the outside edges and cut a bit of a ditch. And loosen the outside edge a bit so that I can drag it back toward the wheel tracks. My thinking was that if I did not cut the edges like this first, the LPGS would just mostly skip along on top of the vegetation and cut/mix/smooth very little.

Your pics make it look like my thinking is wrong! Either that or you secretly had another 3" or 4" of gravel added in between your before and after?!

 

[Gordon Gould]

They cut sod just fine. But you have the clumps to deal with. If you keep working them they will get chewed up but it takes several passes. If you just leave them they look bad but in a couple days will dry up and disappear. I used the keep working them method here until I had just a small pile left.

Before



Working





Done



Sometimes I just push the clump of sod off the road



gg

 

[jk96]

jk, I have a question about your before and after pics. My roads in many places are just like your before pic, with vegetation on the sides and center, and the wheel tracks being packed down an inch or so below that. I recently bought your same LPGS, but have been waiting to use it until after I get my rear hydraulics and T&T installed so that I can first aggressively tilt my box blade into the vegetation on the outside edges and cut a bit of a ditch. And loosen the outside edge a bit so that I can drag it back toward the wheel tracks. My thinking was that if I did not cut the edges like this first, the LPGS would just mostly skip along on top of the vegetation and cut/mix/smooth very little.

Your pics make it look like my thinking is wrong! Either that or you secretly had another 3" or 4" of gravel added in between your before and after?!

No gravel added. I mostly did like Gordon did. Several passes and if the box got full of grass/weeds I just dumped it and pushed it off the road until it was removed enough to work the gravel.

 

[CADplans]

I just checked my material pile,, I have two pieces of 1/2"X12" steel bar, 10 feet long,,,
AND
enough various square tubes and other flat bars over 8 feet long,,,

The weather is supposed to be nice for the next week,,, I guess,,,
I am gonna have to build one of these!! :confused2:

I am thinking six feet long,, and eight feet wide.

If nobody sees me for a week,, send out the dogs to search,,,
I will be in the shed somewhere,,, :laughing:

Dang you guys posting these great attachments,, putting me to work!!

 

[jenkinsph]

I just checked my material pile,, I have two pieces of 1/2"X12" steel bar, 10 feet long,,,
AND
enough various square tubes and other flat bars over 8 feet long,,,

The weather is supposed to be nice for the next week,,, I guess,,,
I am gonna have to build one of these!! :confused2:

I am thinking six feet long,, and eight feet wide.

If nobody sees me for a week,, send out the dogs to search,,,
I will be in the shed somewhere,,, :laughing:

Dang you guys posting these great attachments,, putting me to work!!

Make sure you take some pictures of the build.:thumbsup:

 

[JRobyn]

Thanks guys!

 

[sleepybozo]

I know it depends on the width and weight, but roughly how much HP HP/foot does it take to pull a land plane? Or to ask a different way, I have a JD 240 garden tractor, 14 HP. Would I be able to pull a 4' or maybe even a 3' land plane that was heavy enough to be effective? I currently have a rear blade that does an OK job, but I'm thinking a land plane might be better. I might still need the rear blade to shape things once in a while, but with the driveway smoothed by the land plane, the blade would be easy to get back in shape. Maybe after every 3rd planing.

 

[lostcreekranch]

I know it depends on the width and weight, but roughly how much HP HP/foot does it take to pull a land plane? Or to ask a different way, I have a JD 240 garden tractor, 14 HP. Would I be able to pull a 4' or maybe even a 3' land plane that was heavy enough to be effective? I currently have a rear blade that does an OK job, but I'm thinking a land plane might be better. I might still need the rear blade to shape things once in a while, but with the driveway smoothed by the land plane, the blade would be easy to get back in shape. Maybe after every 3rd planing.

IMHO with 14 hp, and probably turf tires, I think your success would be somewhat limited.

 

[davrow]

IMHO with 14 hp, and probably turf tires, I think your success would be somewhat limited.

Try watching videos of UTVs pulling land planes. Looks to me like all they do is bounce, no smooth grading at all. But it may just be how it looks to me...

 

[jenkinsph]

A 4' lpgs can be a tough pull for a garden tractor with 4x4 and twice the weight of the 240. Don't think you would have enough traction to do it.

 

[fordmantpw]

I pull my 5' LPGS with my JD 2720, and there just isn't enough weight to pull the LPGS loaded with gravel up our driveway. Even with a bucket load of gravel up front, I'm still spinning all 4 tires. It's not the HP, it's the weight, and I think you'd be wasting your time and money with a garden tractor.

 

[k0ua]

People often comment that they do not want loaded tires, and that they will just add the needed weight for traction in the form of a ballast box or carry some other long 3pt implement. BUT when you want to pull a ground engaging implement like the LPGS's as shown on these excellent photographs, you need weight. And if you don't have enough built in weight to the tractor, you can augment that somewhat with loading the tires and/or adding wheel weights. Tractors don't work without weight, and if your tractor is light for its frame size, you have to have weight on board to pull these implements.

 

[sleepybozo]

I do have Ag tires (somewhat worn) that are loaded with WWF, and chains are available. No hydraulics, so no 3 pt. hitch, just a winch operated sleeve hitch, so anything heavy enough to work would probably have to be towed. Maybe I'll have to stick with the grader blade, possibly make some small rippers to loosen up the surface on the early passes. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[joeu235]

I recently made a video of my using a Road Boss land plane. They are great implements. It's 8 feet wide and is the biggest load the 98 HP tractor gets all year.

 

[biodegraded]

To OP, I hear ya. I acquired a 7', 1000 lb lpgs this season, and, wow, it is so good at what it does, it's like magic. For what I mostly do, though, the grapple is still my favorite implement. But the land plane is a close second.

 

[vlcakc]

Finally got use my new Woods 84" grading scraper on the driveway for a short while this evening! Still learning how to best use it, but looks like it will do an awesome job. Presents a real rainbow of colors: Blue tractor, green iMatch quick hitch and bright orange scraper! It was too late to take pictures this evening, but maybe tomorrow. Vic

 

[MHarryE]

My LPGS has frustrated me because it quickly fills with vegetation and I have piles of grassy gravel at each end of my 500 foot driveway. I did reset my front blade to level with the sides and rear blade 1/8" higher which has helped, but in these pics I see similar piles. Is the real method to keep going back and forth until I pulverize everything? I have found that it doesn't work well in damp gravel that will compact after grading, and high travel speed like I see in the video does work better. But when I am done, I do have a good looking driveway.

 

[CADplans]

My LPGS has frustrated me because it quickly fills with vegetation and I have piles of grassy gravel at each end of my 500 foot driveway.

I do not think there is any "magic bullet" for vegetation in a gravel drive. AND grass will be the worst.

So, months before I want to do anything to my driveway, I spray Roundup.
In the spring, when I remember, I apply a heavy dose of 2-4,D.
The 2-4,D will stop seeds from sprouting for a month, or so.
It will even stop grass from sprouting.
Then the weeds/grass will get a late start, and there is little the Roundup has to kill.

No plants, no roots, = nice driveway!! :thumbsup:

 

[fidowanttobe]

While I see that these work well making a smooth roadbed, I can't see them working for me. I have to angle the blade and pull the gravel to the middle while cutting down a bit to get the crown, otherwise I would have to do this every time it rains not even mentioning the spring thaw! I really like how they "re-animate" the gravel tho. That isn't something easily done with a box or angle blade.
Now if only I could train the other drivers NOT to drive in the exact same spot every time and to go AROUND the pot holes!!

 

[coldsteelva]

While I see that these work well making a smooth roadbed, I can't see them working for me. I have to angle the blade and pull the gravel to the middle while cutting down a bit to get the crown, otherwise I would have to do this every time it rains not even mentioning the spring thaw! I really like how they "re-animate" the gravel tho. That isn't something easily done with a box or angle blade.
Now if only I could train the other drivers NOT to drive in the exact same spot every time and to go AROUND the pot holes!!

If you have an LPGS narrow enough to require two passes to cover the full width (like I do), then retrieving the gravel is fairly easy; you just drive on the opposite side and the angle pulls everything to the middle instead of the edge and then you go ahead an adjust your crown in the other direction.