Is anyone else missing the magic of a land plane over a box blade?

[MtnViewRanch]

The sides on my 7 foot LPGS are 22" tall and 8' long. With the right moisture content (perfect for packing down) the DG (decomposed granite) that my road is made of clearly does not just flow over the cutting edges. But as shown, piles up and carries more than a cubic yard of material to be dispersed as needed. Now this is with the implement suspended at skid height. My cutting edges are 1/2" below the skids.

Moisture content changes how the implement is used-controlled immensely.
I typically do not need to reshape my road, this is simply keeping it in good shape.

When I need to move or shape the ground, I have other tools for those tasks.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

After trying to bring the gravel back up to the surface of the driveway for years, using a heavy rear blade rotated 180 degrees and at about a 30 degree angle, some gravel resurfaced and there was a bit of a crown.

Thought about adding more gravel, but decided to get a 7-foot land plane instead. Glad I did, and it probably cost less than buying the gravel.
The two blades pull the gravel up and towards the center of the driveway quite nicely.
Tried it on dirt recently, mostly to see if it'd get rid of weeds, but was not impressed.

Box blades? Love them! To the point that I have a 4, a 7, and an 8-foot. Combined with a mix of Brian's tilt and various home made cylinders for the 3-point, they have been used to move and smooth several hundred yards of dirt, making the irrigation ditches work as intended.

Made the 7-footer into a towable version, and with an axle in the back and a long tongue it works very well for smoothing just about anything out.

But as nice as the land plane is for the driveway, box blades are hard to beat, I think.

 

[Piston]

Matt, you have what is probably the best LPGS currently made. Keep it and use it as-where needed. Even if you prefer the box blade, keep the LPGS and use as needed. I use mine for many other grading applications other than my roads.

The voice of reason Brian I think this is exactly what I'll do. I think yet another reason I use the box blade almost every time, is because it's almost always on the back of the tractor, so even as easy as it is to drop it and pick up the land plane with the quick hitch, it's just easier to use what's already on the back as it is. Regardless, it never hurts to have too many implements laying around...

My land plane is next to useless on "long rolling waves" on my driveway.

I am going to try the suggestion to use it "suspended" instead of letting it ride on the skid shoes.

I have not been able to get a level driveway with the attachments I have. Rear blade or landscape rake. I got so frustrated I have looked at adding "skid shoes" that are 10 ft long and made from 2x8 lumber but there is no easy way to mount them on the land plane.

Do you have a box blade? In some cases, especially longer undulations of rolling hills, I've found it more useful to rough up the whole section with the rippers on the box blade, then carefully/slowly use the back of the box blade like a "bulldozer" in a sense, by operating in reverse and keeping the height at the same level. Of course, you want to be mindful how aggressive you are, as you "can" be more likely to bend your 3 point arms using it in reverse (I've never bent anything, but the almighty internet says I will every time).

The sides on my 7 foot LPGS are 22" tall and 8' long. With the right moisture content (perfect for packing down) the DG (decomposed granite) that my road is made of clearly does not just flow over the cutting edges. But as shown, piles up and carries more than a cubic yard of material to be dispersed as needed. Now this is with the implement suspended at skid height. My cutting edges are 1/2" below the skids.

Moisture content changes how the implement is used-controlled immensely.
I typically do not need to reshape my road, this is simply keeping it in good shape.

When I need to move or shape the ground, I have other tools for those tasks.

Good lord man, I can't even dream up a nicer dirt surface to work with. My ground is the polar opposite of that beautiful flat surface!

 

[Vigo327]

I have yet to use a land plane, but i dont have a ton of use for one either, at least in my mind. I dont need it to do anything that a box blade on adjustable gauge wheels or skids wouldn’t do.

At first i thought of adding gauge wheels to my box blade, but after considering the benefits they would have for other implements as well, i had the thought that it would be better to build a longish frame with a whole separate 3pt (or at least quick hitch) on it which would have adjustable gauge wheels and a long tongue. I guess you could say it would convert any 3pt implement that would fit underneath it (all mine are small) into a drag-type implement with a long tongue. The long tongue should help in getting rid of the longer undulations, and if i made it have power down on the 3pt hydraulics or just limited how far it could go up and then make the gauge wheels able to lift clear of the ground, the whole weight of the frame could be added to whatever was on the 3pt.

Still just a concept, although i do already have most of the parts.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Something like this? Everything is pinned or bolted onto a regular box blade, and with the receiver tube on the tongue I can use whatever length 2" square extension I want. As long as I have enough hose length.

Also converted a 3-way blade to a puller version, using the same basic concept.

 

[Vigo327]

Yes, i did think of doing that and still might because its simpler and would accomplish basically the same thing. I have seen a couple pics of the thing ive described but i dont have them on my phone apparently.

You could think of it as like a pull type grader frame except instead of a permanently affixed grader blade, it would have a taller profile and its own 3pt linkage so that it could be maneuvered over any 3pt implement that would fit under it. So like this, but taller and with a longer tongue.

 

[sandman2234]

I used a box blade for years to maintain the dirt road that is located past my house, since my sister in law lived on it. I acquired the material to build a 3pt pull behind landplane, built it heavy and have never returned to using the box blade for that type of work. In fact, the only time my box blade has been used, is when one of the neighbors needed to smooth his driveway, and asked if I had a boxblade he could use. I offered the landplane but it was too heavy for his tractor, so he went with the boxblade.
Mine is 7 foot and heavy, but it used behind a 75HP tractor, so all is good. If I need to move dirt, before I got a FEL, I would use the landplane to smooth dirt dumped by dump-trucks. Don't know why mine does dirt moving so well, but it does.
As was mentioned before, those that just drop a LP and go are missing a lot of the ability of a LP. It will move dirt or gravel from the side of the road on a curve and place it in the ruts made by people going way to fast around a corner. It will smooth out the washboards that cross the roads, something that is difficult for a boxblade. If both blades are parallel with each other, a slight adjustment to the top link length can make a huge difference. Took me a little while to figure out what each adjustment did and it's value.
David from jax
Anybody need a 6' boxblade?

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Yes, i did think of doing that and still might because its simpler and would accomplish basically the same thing. I have seen a couple pics of the thing ive described but i dont have them on my phone apparently.

You could think of it as like a pull type grader frame except instead of a permanently affixed grader blade, it would have a taller profile and its own 3pt linkage so that it could be maneuvered over any 3pt implement that would fit under it. So like this, but taller and with a longer tongue.

View attachment 818181

One disadvantage with my box blade version is that whatever grade the tires are at is what the blade will create. In other words, it can be tricky to make a 2% grade if the tires are at 3 or 4 degrees when beginning. That's one reason I made the 3-way blade, which can be adjusted accordingly.

Also, I cut down the trailer axle on the box blade a bit too much. With the narrow track width it sometimes wants to start hopping from side to side. Added 2-inch wheel spacers, which helped a bit.

With a regular blade, as in your photo, keep in mind that the effective width of the blade at max angle dictates how wide the axle can be.

Anyway, except for some hoses, couplings, and one cylinder (for the box blade), everything came out of the "stuff pile". On the blade, the cylinder for the offset was repurposed to lift the axle instead, even using the stock hoses.

 

[/pine]

Regardless of the grading implement...one of the biggest factors in being able to get satisfactory results in the least amount of time is CONSISTENCY OF MEDIA...!
An all dirt road is ideal for LPs...gravel lanes are likewise if the size of the gravel is consistent...
Roads, drives etc....that are made up of widely varying sizes of gravel rock etc. can be the most time consuming and difficult regardless of the implement...

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Roads, drives etc....that are made up of widely varying sizes of gravel rock etc. can be the most time consuming and difficult regardless of the implement...

Are you insinuating that it's not only my crappy operator skills?