How to use a Grader Scraper

[workinonit]

I have no idea what you guys are doing that is different from what I do but I've never used anything better at spreading and leveling dirt and gravel than the landplane that I built. I've never seen one build up and spill over the sides. My blades are angled in opposite directions and material gravitates to the sides and spills over the blades.

 

[Bendboater]

K5lwq
Thank you for the suggestion, I will try that.
Do you drag it without any upward support from the three point?

Gordon Gould
What do you mean by "fix them locally ..."?

 

[ovrszd]

I've never seen one build up and spill over the sides. My blades are angled in opposite directions and material gravitates to the sides and spills over the blades.

I've never saw that either. A picture would be great.

 

[JohnnyMX]

How are you getting gravel up over the side top-rails? The gravel should gather in front of the cutting edges and begin to flow over to the next cutting edge or out the back. This assumes you are spreading reasonably dry crusher or just stone without grass or other debris mixed in that form clumps. I'm trying to picture if you are using this to move a 20-ton load dumped in a giant pile or something.

Landplances still need the gravel semi-spread out or at least in spaced piles that can be spread to an even thickness. You can move stone further in a box blade, but final leveling takes a bit more finesse. I've done it both ways.

I actually have a home-made (not by me) gravel spreader that I will make a couple passes (1/2 mile drive) that makes it really smooth when starting from larger piles, spaced piles, or if the stone was tailgated with a "whoops" pile somewhere in the middle. It won't fix a rutted driveway for anything, but it spreads new gravel like butter.

 

[ovrszd]

How are you getting gravel up over the side top-rails? The gravel should gather in front of the cutting edges and begin to flow over to the next cutting edge or out the back. This assumes you are spreading reasonably dry crusher or just stone without grass or other debris mixed in that form clumps. I'm trying to picture if you are using this to move a 20-ton load dumped in a giant pile or something.

Landplances still need the gravel semi-spread out or at least in spaced piles that can be spread to an even thickness. You can move stone further in a box blade, but final leveling takes a bit more finesse. I've done it both ways.

I actually have a home-made (not by me) gravel spreader that I will make a couple passes (1/2 mile drive) that makes it really smooth when starting from larger piles, spaced piles, or if the stone was tailgated with a "whoops" pile somewhere in the middle. It won't fix a rutted driveway for anything, but it spreads new gravel like butter.

Pictures of your spreader please? Thanks!!!

 

[JohnnyMX]

I'll grab a shot. It is a clever design as it reclaims gravel from the sides of the road which is great in the spring, brings it all back to where you need it and has the capacity to spread a lot of gravel. It is made out of an old I beam and scrap and attaches to the top link via a chain so you don't get the dips and bumps from the tractor going up and down.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

When you say it fills up and flows over the sides, you must mean over the cutting blades? Which is the intent. To prevent stockpiling at the pavement you may have to change the tilt of the blade and do one side at a time pulling away from the pavement. Practice makes perfect. Would love to see pics.

Ours will boil dirt over sides.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

After almost three years of "thinking about it", I finally purchased a Rankin GS-5 Grader Scraper (aka; Landplane) for my Kubota L2501.
Yes, it is a lot easier than trying to use the bucket or rear blade. However, it isn't quite as easy as I had anticipated. But maybe I am not using it correctly. So I was hoping I could get some "tips" here.

My primary use is for gravel on my driveway. Indeed, I just had a load of gravel delivered today and I am in the process of spreading and leveling it out. I purchased the device because I was of the understanding that, without hydraulic top and tilt, it's easier to use than a box blade. So, I went with this far more expensive option.

My understanding is that I want the implement level front to back so that both blades equally engage the material.

I thought that it was meant to be "dropped and dragged". But when I do that, I just load it up with material (like it's flowing over the sides). So I have been ever so slightly holding it up. But then, whenever the tractor goes over a bump or dip, the Grader Scraper goes down or up respectively....just like my rear blade does. Rankin says (in their instructions) that the blades are set down 1/4" from the factory....which they seem to be.

I do not want a crown on the road (so I don't cut it off in the winter when plowing with my rear blade) so I set one side higher than the other and have been attempting to work the material out to each side. Seems to be getting there, but it's taking a lot of passes (many dozens).

I am unsure which way the blades should run. I sort of assumed that they should be angled off to the side of the road. But, because my gravel road turns into pavement at the end, if I keep dragging it the same direction I then get a pile of gravel at that one end, on one side. So, after a dozen or so passes, I then tilt the implement the other way and go the other direction so I can drag the material away from the paved road.

I enjoy tractor time, but it just seems to be taking way, way, too long to work this short (less than 200') section of road.

Maybe I am expecting too much from the tool (or gravel for that matter), but I sure would appreciate suggestions on how to use this (supposedly simple) implement.

Thanks

Set that lift where it gets a little dirt and leave your hand off the lift handle. Road grader drivers do not constantly fiddle with adjusting the blade. Set it and forget it.

 

[ovrszd]

Set that lift where it gets a little dirt and leave your hand off the lift handle. Road grader drivers do not constantly fiddle with adjusting the blade. Set it and forget it.

I've ran a road grader since 1987. There's no "set it and forget it". Constantly adjusting.

 

[Bendboater]

Roustabout; By "set the lift", do you mean that I should hold the implement up a little with the three point and not let it ride on the ground?

To all who have asked for pictures; I have finished the first round (thanks to a hand rake) so if I go out there and screw with it again to get a picture, I'll screw up all my hand raking......

More gravel to spread on top of the first load and over the remainder of the driveway and parking area will arrive in a couple days, so it would be really helpful if I was armed with some hints as to how to use this thing before that.

So far I have heard:
- Raise the front up a little
- And (not verified yet) to hold it up off the ground a little....which is what I was doing but that causes bumps to turn into dips and visa-versa.

So if someone who is a long time user of one of these implements could write out how they use it, I would sure appreciate it (YouTube videos are not clear and show all sorts of different set ups....the people on those videos mainly just yak.)

Thank you.