Land plane for gravel driveway?

[L321]

Thanks for all the replies! Seems like a land plane would be a good investment for me. I'm really leaning toward building my own. Would a 5 foot plane be too much for my little Yanmar 1700? The drive is mostly flat with one incline in a sharp turn.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I pull my 5'er with a 5000 lb 4WD 30 hp L3010. Traction is the key not so much hp. Tractor weight and tires count. It is all the tractor can do pulling the 5' landplane up this hill.

gg

 

[MotorSeven]

Years ago I bought a Grade master U7, 7' with the 2 angled blades. I was thinking wider and heavier would be better and it does work amazingly well. Looking back, I think a 4 or 5' would have been better to maintain the crown since most driveways are only 8 to 10' in width. All in all it has been a great investment.

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[oosik]

I have a seven foot Land Pride - LPGS. It weighs 820 pounds. It pulls like there is nothing back there on the 3-point. My difference. My Kubota M6040 weighs 10,000 pounds and has R-1 tires. FEL plus grapple on the front - 1550 pounds of RimGuard in the rear tires plus the 820 pound LPGS on the 3-point. Weight is what makes the difference.

Even with the scarifiers - full down - it's only noticeable when making contact with a large rock. I only use the scarifiers to fix pot holes, riffles and the mud hole. Otherwise - both blades are set one and a half inches below the side boards.

One thing I like about my LPGS. The blades are reversible and adjustable on the carriers. AND the carrier itself is adjustable within the grader.

 

[Gordon Gould]

^^^^ All true about the ease pulling 7'er but you also said your road is flat. A good hill makes a huge difference.

gg

 

[oosik]

^^^^ All true about the ease pulling 7'er but you also said your road is flat. A good hill makes a huge difference.

gg

Very true Gordon. My flat driveway does have a valley. Right in the middle. Steep entrance - 150 feet across - steep out. I've never had problem with the LPGS in the summer - in the valley.

Winter is a totally different story. Fields melt and the water can run down the road on the east side of the valley. This will eventually freeze and make for some wildly exciting times plowing snow. Ditching will help but the ditch silts up and the neighbors cows love to play in this wet area. The drainage ditch will eventually freeze up - water will still run and come down the driveway.

My answer. Always plow snow DOWN into the valley on the east side. It takes longer to do it this way. However - I'm not likely to slide off the road and roll to the bottom of the valley. The driveway across the valley is built up. Go off the driveway in the valley - it's 20 feet, down to the floor of the valley.

I only have a 30 foot wide easement from the county road to my property ( one mile ). I didn't bring enough gold when we came down from Alaska to build a bridge across this valley.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I used a 72" landplane for several years behind my old Kubota L3010 to maintain my 1.25 mile private gravel road. The 30HP tractor had no trouble pulling it, but due to the numerous grade changes, I had difficulty adjusting it so it wouldn't move more material than was necessary. I eventually sold it and bought an 8' York rake with scarifier, flip up grader blade and gauge wheels.

I found the rake to be much more versatile in it's ability to control the quantity of material, crown, cut & clean ditches and rake material back into the road after Winter plowing.

One thing you can do with the rake is to raise the grader blade, set the gauge wheels and use the tines with the tractor in high gear. A couple of passes and the roadway is smooth and dead level with no material ridges left on the sides.

For large grading projects on roads with a fairly even contour, a landplane may be more efficient but for doing routine maintenance, I find the rake to be much quicker.

Of course a lot depends on operator skill and personal preference so YMMV.

 

[GearHead2024]

I have a Yanmar 1700 I bought to maintain my gravel driveway, about 1/8 mile. 1/3 of the drive is solely mine and 2/3 of it are shared. My part is #57 gravel and basically just need to spread/level the gravel. The remaining 2/3 is finer material, packed hard with some potholes. I have a 5 foot grader blade and used it to spread gravel on mine, but couldn't get it nice and level.

I am thinking a land plane may be more useful for my situation. Looks like it could get the gravel on my part nice and level and I could use it on the shared part without risk of making it worse. If this is accurate, what do I need in a land plane? I'm thinking 4 foot wide? Does it need scarifies to fix the potholes? Would one of the cheap ones ($600-800) work for this situation or is it worth it for the beefier ones ($1500-2000)? Also considering building one myself.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

When it comes to land levelers and planes higher quality definitely pays for itself. All it takes is one well placed root or rock and the cheaper ones get all bent out of shape. Next thing you know your "plane" will be anything but flat.

Go with one that allows you to easily replace the cutting edges as the sharp edge will wear out with use. I'm personally partial to the one sold by Catawba Attachments. It's as tough as they come.

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[Gordon Gould]

I used a 72" landplane for several years behind my old Kubota L3010 to maintain my 1.25 mile private gravel road. The 30HP tractor had no trouble pulling it, but due to the numerous grade changes, I had difficulty adjusting it so it wouldn't move more material than was necessary. I eventually sold it and bought an 8' York rake with scarifier, flip up grader blade and gauge wheels.

I am surprised that you had trouble controlling the aggressiveness of your landplane on the fly with your hydraulic top link. For my landplane set-up the hydraulic top link allows a lot of finesse when encountering grade changes. Allows me to keep the skids flat on the surface thru a grade transition. Maybe it is a matter of landplane geometry difference ??? Even on flat going I use the T-L to keep the cut the way I want as the road surface changes. Shorten the top link for a more aggressive cut. Lengthen it for less aggressive.

gg

 

[bdhsfz6]

I am surprised that you had trouble controlling the aggressiveness of your landplane on the fly with your hydraulic top link. For my landplane set-up the hydraulic top link allows a lot of finesse when encountering grade changes. Allows me to keep the skids flat on the surface thru a grade transition. Maybe it is a matter of landplane geometry difference ??? Even on flat going I use the T-L to keep the cut the way I want as the road surface changes. Shorten the top link for a more aggressive cut. Lengthen it for less aggressive.

gg

Actually, I added the T&T kit after I sold the landplane. Yes, it likely would have helped. I probably should have kept the LP but I needed cash to buy the rake.

I still like the rake for leveling the material ridges left on the road edges and raking plowed off material back onto the road surface. Yes, the LP would do that as well but it drags grass & dirt in the process. The rake tines leave most of that behind and just move the gravel. The LP is also tough to use when creating & cleaning ditches.

Both implements have their advantages, and it would be nice to have both, but for the work I do, the rake is the most versatile.