How to use a Grader Scraper

[workinonit]

We have no idea how to help yopu with using the blade if we don't know what it looks like. It sounds unconventional to me. I just drop mine on gravel, be it a pile or spread out and drag. If I have bumps etc, I do run the draft control. Running one of these is seriously as easy as falling off a rock.

 

[Bendboater]

I guess I must be too dumb to fall off a rock (but then, as a rock climber for years, I guess that must be a good thing).

As per my first post, it's a Rankin Gs-5
Here is their website:

 

[Blue Mule]

I have the same Land Pride grading scraper pictured earlier in this thread. My primary use for it is to maintain 0.5 mile of gravel roadway. The roadway is 20 years old and is shared by seven households. We generally have to put one layer of fresh dense grade gravel on the roadway each year. Once it’s equally compacted by all the traffic, I then use the grading scraper to maintain a smooth surface free of pot holes.

I have found that moisture content in the material is critical. If the surface is too dry, the implement just bounces and bangs over the roadway and sounds like it’s going to dismantle my tractor. If the surface is too wet the blades dig in and actually do more damage than good. I like for the roadway to be slightly damp. Then the scraper does an amazing job. I set it on the ground with ever so slightly little pressure on the 3-point holding it up…in other words 80% of the weight of the implement is on the ground but not 100%. Then I just drive. Implement does amazing job.

If I try to get into material that’s fresh and/or piled up too thick it will do exactly as you describe; it’ll start running over the sides and actually build up tall enough inside the box that it renders the grading scraper useless. I would only recommend using it on material that’s less than 3 inches deep. Anything more and you need to spread it with a box blade or FEL first, then apply the grading scraper magic.

 

[ruffdog]

One thing I have found with a fresh load of 3/4< limestone is it is too soft to work it without a real grader(gauge wheels). All I can do is slowly move the spread load where it needs to be while it is being packed down. At a point it becomes packed enough, my attachment then won't dig in as much and the gravel is more workable. It is at that point that I believe a landplane could START to be used.

 

[scootr]

His attachment picture as requested >
It's very similar to the landpride landplane posted in the beginning of the thread. I'm here to tell this implement is not the best option for loose gravel. You would be better off getting some more practice with the boxscraper. Remember with any rear attachment a flat work area under the tires is important. Sometime you have to work backwards to make that flat surface then pull the gravel in over the flattened area. There are tons of videos on you tube showing box blade tips and tricks.

 

[Skagit]

Land planes are great for ruining a freshly spread gravel road. Absolutely worthless on fresh gravel, you can make them slightly less bad by raising the cutting edges or extending your top link to raise the front of the implement.

A box blade with the top link extended to raise the cutting edge slightly above the rear facing edge does a much better job on fresh gravel. Especially if you have a hydraulic side link on your 3 point that you can adjust as you go to mach the angle of the road. Hydraulic top link makes it even better.

 

[deezler]

I'm late to the party here but wanted to agree with earlier comments to simply adjust the angle with your top link. Set your 3-pt hitch all the way down, then use the top link until the front blade is up off the ground a tiny bit. With less bite on the front blade, you'll pull up far less material but should still do a nice job smoothing with the rear blade.

My 1000' gravel driveway is all loose stone (21A with no fines, a.k.a. 3/4"-minus clean/washed), and my land plane doesn't come anywhere close to overflowing the sides when I pull it down my drive. Maybe you just have too much loose stone on top since it's so fresh. Give it some time driving and mixing with dirt and debris, and it will pack down some and stop overflowing your land plane. Maybe I've just never had this problem because I'm too cheap to buy thousands of dollars of gravel at a time lol.

 

[Bendboater]

BlueMule, RuffDog, and Scootr;
Thank you. Your comments seem to mirror my experience exactly. I do not have a box blade and after purchasing the Grader Scraper I won't be able to get one either (shot my wad on the GS.....based mainly on recommendations from this site).

Went out this morning to "practice" some more and I found that tilting the implement back just a little bit really helps. But, as Blue Mule said, where it's soft, it just digs. And if damp (I had watered the material down last night to help compact it), it digs up "clumps". Holding it up just a little with the three point helps, but then it follows the up/down movements of the tractor (which a box blade would do too).

I suspect that my expectations are a bit high. I hear that it spreads gravel "as smooth as butter", so I expect smooth.....like asphalt. Maybe for an experienced operator, with the right moisture that is true. But, so far, I haven't found that to be the case.....for "too dumb to fall off a rock" me. It's a gravel road so I guess I have to be willing to accept that I won't be able to make it (or keep it) as smooth as (butter) pavement.

I have concluded (from my own, limited, experiences as well as comments here) that the use of a Grader Scraper is a bit of black magic and not as simple as "drop and drag".

Tomorrow, I have another 20 yard load coming out to be a top coat over what I already have down and for the remainder of the driveway. I plan to do the best I can with the Grader Scraper.....because that's what I have. On Friday, I have a roller reserved so I'll compact it more then (I already have somewhat compacted what I have already put down by running my truck over it a dozen or more times). "Maybe" super lightly go over it again with the GS held up some after I compact.....but not sure if I dare as I don't want to screw up what I do with the compactor.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.

 

[deezler]

Land planes are great for ruining a freshly spread gravel road. Absolutely worthless on fresh gravel, you can make them slightly less bad by raising the cutting edges or extending your top link to raise the front of the implement.

A box blade with the top link extended to raise the cutting edge slightly above the rear facing edge does a much better job on fresh gravel. Especially if you have a hydraulic side link on your 3 point that you can adjust as you go to mach the angle of the road. Hydraulic top link makes it even better.

Nonsense, haha. The land plane is the implement literally designed to smooth and evenly spread loose material, as such it works great on gravel.

I got decent results from tilting my box blade way back on my gravel drive, but the land plane just does it so much easier. Just drop it and go, without all the angular fussing that the box blade required just to keep it from either A) filling up and pulling all my top gravel off the base layer, or B) doing nothing.

 

[deezler]

Tomorrow, I have another 20 yard load coming out to be a top coat over what I already have down and for the remainder of the driveway. I plan to do the best I can with the Grader Scraper.....because that's what I have. On Friday, I have a roller reserved so I'll compact it more then (I already have somewhat compacted what I have already put down by running my truck over it a dozen or more times). "Maybe" super lightly go over it again with the GS held up some after I compact.....but not sure if I dare as I don't want to screw up what I do with the compactor.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.

You're putting 20 more yards onto a 200' section of road?!? You have way too much loose gravel, me thinks. You can't expect to easily smooth out a big bowl of mush. Post some pics for us.

What did you use for the bottom layer(s) ? I constructed my driveway with a well crowned/raised bed of sand (my local soil type), packed as well as my tractor tires would do under a fully loaded machine (heavy rear attachment, full bucket of material on front loader). Then a mixture of 3"-minus gravel and crushed concrete, whichever one was more conveniently available and affordable for me. I let the semi trucks and concrete trucks compact this for my during my home's construction (concrete trucks are the ultimate road compaction!). Only after this point did I start putting 3/4"-minus over top, and I really only have a few inches of it at most.

 

[scootr]

Me thinks 20 tons will make a wide lane 200 ft x 3-4 inches deep

 

[scootr]

And sometimes you have to cheat. I put the final finish grade on 320 tons of 3/4 and fines on my road with a 12ft 2x8 held captive under the gannon in front of the cutting edge.

 

[civilian]

I have a small Landpride grader scraper. The cutting edges, (non adjustable) are set below the bottom of the side runners. And like the OP, I was having trouble. But I was using the front bucket to spread 3/4 to fines the thickness I wanted. After 6 or 7 buckets full, I would pull the land plane forward over the loose material. And yes because I had set the plane dead flat while on a concrete floor, I ended up over filling the land plane sides when I dropped and dragged. So ended picking landplane up just a tad to keep it from cutting so much. Better but I then picked land plane up at the end of the material, pulled forward to be out of the pile left, and dropped land plane all the way down and backed over the same path. That smoothed it out nicely. Now my BX2230 only has a 4ft bucket to put material down, and my land plane is 5ft wide. Three bucket wide over the drive width and planed 3 passes. Yes for me I thought it would be drop and go, but it didn't work that way at first. I have only used the one time with about 20cyd of 3/4 to fine. More next year. Just my observations with my conditions. Jon

 

[Bendboater]

Deezler; The first 10 yards was just to raise a low spot I had. I doubt the next 20 yards will be enough to raise the driveway and parking area much more than 1.5".

 

[Bendboater]

Jon, Good suggestion to drag away from the pile rather than through it when possible. Thanks.

 

[ljjhouser]

I probably should know better and not say anything because I have not used a Land Pride land plane. I always used a box blade.
That said, it seems to me that it might be better to use the loader bucket to distribute the load of material. Then the land plane should do a nice job of leveling the material. ( maybe with several passes). If you use the land plane to pull material off the pile, it will start and remain overloaded.

It is designed to distribute gravel and cut and fill high and low places. Spread the material. Then, with a section smoothed via the loader (drag the bucket backwords, locked in float if possible). Then, set the land plan to be mostly flat and see if it will start smoothing the high and low places.

I love my box blade. It will dig - and move a lot of material. But the land plane is better at improving and cutting-filling high and low spots and finishing.
Both land planes and box blades take practice. Neither one is a one pass job. Relax and take your time.

By EA
you have probably seen this video, but it is pretty good.
I hope this helps some.

 

[scootr]

A Pile? Whenever possible ask the driver to tailgate spread. They set the tailgate chains to limit the amount of material that can be dropped and drive along spreading out the load. Then you smooth it

 

[ruffdog]

The OP did state the driver tailgated the load.

"The driver spread the gravel as he drove. More was deposited in the center of the road than on the edges though necessitating I move it some laterally."

 

[scootr]

The OP did state the driver tailgated the load.

"The driver spread the gravel as he drove. More was deposited in the center of the road than on the edges though necessitating I move it some laterally."

My bad - carry on.

 

[Bendboater]

Ljjhouser;
From what I am learning here, I think you said it the best:
"Both land planes and box blades take practice. Neither one is a one pass job. Relax and take your time."

First snow of the year here in Central Oregon this morning. Pretty soon it's gonna be time to put on the rear blade.....and screw up the driveway