Box Scraper Land Planes / Grading Scrapers

[milkman636]

Have you considered a pull scraper? They can remove/load, haul, and level as you dump. Search for them on the used equipment sites like Trackerhouse and Machinerypete. There’s two types, one loads and hauls and the other simply drags.

I have actually. Typically the ones I’ve seen require a bit more hp than I have available though. I’ve even browsed for some almost clapped out heavier equipment just to use for the summer and resell. But the risk vs. reward seems upside down on that right now because of declining price trends and high price of replacement parts.

 

[milkman636]

Kubota B7800 “land shaped” drainage features and created raised areas for a barn and round pen, and pond and track using FEL, and box scrape. Final smoothing with a 3pt. rake. Using a disc then the rake works wells also if dirt has become hard.
View attachment 807533

That's probably close in size to what I'm working on. What size is the area? Do you have any estimate on the amount of time spent shaping the land the way you wanted?

 

[cbosworth]

I started a project of raising a low area on an acre that has two distinct high areas and a low area. There’s about 6’ of elevation difference between the highest spots and the low one. It’s open land with few trees, but it’s one of only spots on our place that gets ponding in the spring. My goal is to raise the low area above the adjoining treed areas so it will be drier, flatter, and more useable.

I’ve spent a dozen hours or so over the last couple weeks running buckets of dirt down the hill and feathering them out. Ive also dragged hundreds of box blades full of dirt down the hills to deposit in the bottom. Both of these methods are decently effective for grabbing and moving dirt down the hill, but the smoothing and leveling at the bottom is slower than I’d like.

It’s a piecemeal job that will keep me plugging away off and on over the next few weeks, and I like to leave it smooth every time I drive the tractor away in case I don’t get right back to it.

So that has me thinking that a land plane type implement might be the ticket for this job. My thinking is that the land plane would make quicker work out of smoothing out and leveling part of the job and I could get a little more done each night if I had one.

So how about it? Will these things work as slick as advertised? Anyone out there have any advice for me on brands that worked or didn’t work for you? What do I need to look out for?

I use a 5ft box blade and 6 ft land plane. The BB moves material further before leveling. It leaves the grade a little lumpy - this is a bit of user error. I don’t raise and lower it slightly as the grade changes to keep it smooth.
Because….i then use the land plane. It leaves my grade smooth. Material doesn’t move very far before it spills over the too of the blade, then the next blade and the next. So it fills in low spots very well and evenly. I don’t need more than 1-2 passes to have a smooth pro looking grade.
This has been my experience for 15 yrs. I hope this helps

 

[cbosworth]

I use a 5ft box blade and 6 ft land plane. The BB moves material further before leveling. It leaves the grade a little lumpy - this is a bit of user error. I don’t raise and lower it slightly as the grade changes to keep it smooth.
Because….i then use the land plane. It leaves my grade smooth. Material doesn’t move very far before it spills over the too of the blade, then the next blade and the next. So it fills in low spots very well and evenly. I don’t need more than 1-2 passes to have a smooth pro looking grade.
This has been my experience for 15 yrs. I hope this helps

FYI - i use a MF461 65hp utility tractor

 

[Mudder]

That's probably close in size to what I'm working on. What size is the area? Do you have any estimate on the amount of time spent shaping the land the way you wanted?

Excavated dirt from pond and rear slope drainage area provided ample dirt. Solved the fall to winter mushy front pasture that borders a creek flood zone (should have raised barn another foot, but no damage). Over 4 acre pasture. Estimate 250+ enjoyable hrs from tractor run meter over a year’s part time work, including discing/raking all. Tractor Supply Rake helped with grass seeding.
Best of luck and enjoy the tractor seat time.

 

[milkman636]

I use a 5ft box blade and 6 ft land plane. The BB moves material further before leveling. It leaves the grade a little lumpy - this is a bit of user error. I don’t raise and lower it slightly as the grade changes to keep it smooth.
Because….i then use the land plane. It leaves my grade smooth. Material doesn’t move very far before it spills over the too of the blade, then the next blade and the next. So it fills in low spots very well and evenly. I don’t need more than 1-2 passes to have a smooth pro looking grade.
This has been my experience for 15 yrs. I hope this helps

Yes, your experience kinda matches where I want to be. I find that no matter how careful I was in spreading the last load it still looks from a distance like it could use more blending in. And if I ignore it and just keep laying more loads down i end up riding the 3pt lever even more to smooth multiple humps. So I end up going over different areas more than once with the box blade anyways. I know it doesn’t have to look nice before I quit each time I work on it, but I prefer it. It gives me a little sense of accomplishment for the time I just put in. I’m hoping for that easy, level finished look you mentioned. I know my box blade can move a little more dirt each trip than my loader, but I think things will more than even out in the leveling time.

 

[milkman636]

One question I have is how does the land plane deal with rocks? This is overall really good looking soil with no sand or gravel that I’m pulling off, but I’m turning up probably about 20 rocks an hour on this piece that are between loaf of bread and watermelon sized. My box tends to carry them along and cut grooves in the spot I’m leveling as I start to lift the blade for a controlled drop. That’s how I first notice them. My initial guess is that the land plane might spill them out the back with the overflow. What’s the real-world owner experience with rocks like?

 

[Sid Post]

The Everything Attachments land planes have really good weight and long "throats" so, while not the cheapest out there, work really well. Last I looked, they made three "grades" of land planes with different levels of performance and targeted tractor sizes.

 

[rvds]

I started a project of raising a low area on an acre that has two distinct high areas and a low area. There’s about 6’ of elevation difference between the highest spots and the low one. It’s open land with few trees, but it’s one of only spots on our place that gets ponding in the spring. My goal is to raise the low area above the adjoining treed areas so it will be drier, flatter, and more useable.

An acre with 6' elevation change sounds like a gully that will already have accumulated topsoil. Do you really want to remove the topsoil from the high spots?

 

[oosik]

"How does my LPGS handle rocks?". It depends upon a couple things. How big is the rock - where, exactly does the LPGS blade/scarifer hit the rock - am I using the scarifiers - is the driveway dry and hard as concrete or damp and soft.

My biggest rocks are the size of softballs. I will be using scarifiers 99% of the time on the driveway. The rock will be collected and pulled along with the LPGS. If they were big as watermellons - most likely jump over that rock.

As you would expect - hit the rock below the center line - it will be pulled out and drug along with the LPGS.

After spring rains my driveway dries out and becomes concrete. Even the heavy( 820# ) LPGS with scarifiers down has trouble on the dry driveway. I do all driveway repairs in the spring.