Box Scraper Land Planes / Grading Scrapers

[GrumpyL5030]

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 think you're on the right track with the land plane. I've been looking at them myself. I haven't found a used one near me, and new ones aren't in my budget this summer. I'll probably fab one this winter. There's a few videos on utube that demonstrate how good they work at finishing a road. Looking closely at the variety of them on the market shows that some have better features than most, and others lack critical features such as heavy duty tines to give an option to dig deeper if desired, and adjustable depth for the plane blades themselves. I have a long drive that I try to keep the crown down on to prevent throwing limestone off into the woods in the winter with the snowblower. I used an old back blade I have last week for the task, but wish I had a land plane for the job. They gotta do a quicker, more efficient job.
Good luck with that road.

 

[Eagle Ridge]

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?

Eagle Ridge Attachments ronjmaestas@gmail.com has a ground plane that is unique to the market. It has 3 grading bits, the first one is a rough cutter, the second one is a straight bit and the third bit is formed so it compacts the material as it passes under it. I have used it so much. I did about 12 acres of finish grade work at our local golf course, at home I put in a 2-acre food plot and way too much yard. It separates oversized rocks, sticks, and debris. It was designed for any kind of grading. It can be used in both directions, forward and backward. It can even be ordered with a 3-point mount as well.

 

[Maineuropa]

The cost on these grading scrapers does seem high for what they are. And there seems to be a bit of variety in construction like the spacing between the blades, the angles used, scarifiers or no scarifiers. So I a looking for specific feedback from owners. What brand/model do you have? What do you like or dislike about it?

From what you have described for needs( lift and lower while using the FEL and no time to build it) I would suggest that you look at buying a York rake. I must say however that I seldom use mine as I find back dragging with the FEL easiest and with quick results. OTOH, I have turf tires so I get spreading and compaction with a few passes. I would think that AG tires wouldn’t leave the desired smoothness. A $300 arena drag might be a good alternative but you would need to attach/detach as needed(no lifting it out of the way while using the FEL.)

 

[MasseyFerg231]

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?

At Green Tractor Talk, some members with fabrication skills basically took two pieces of 4”x6” angle (various lengths depending on tractor conditions) and made skis. Each bolts to the outside of the box blade. You can set your own heights depending where you set the bolt holes.

The theory is the skis sit say 3/4” lower than the bottom of the box blade. This allows dirt to be picked up from high spots and deposited in the low spots.

 

[beenthere]

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?

Wondering which tractor you are using to do this dirt moving?

 

[beenthere]

No, my box blade and my bucket both individually hold about all the weight my tractor wants for one trip down the hill. With the loader full I prefer the box up in the air to keep weight on the back tires. Neither me nor my tractor will benefit from concentrating the all weight on the front axle while driving down.

Plus I'm a guy, I can't do a controlled dump with the loader and a controlled lift of the three point at the same time while I'm depositing dirt where I want it. That sounds as dangerous as texting and driving and less possible than convincing your wife that she is wrong.

Which tractor are you talking about, not performing up to this task?

 

[MacDaemon]

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 bought a 7’ land plane with scarifier shanks from everything attachments. I have top and tilt on my 3 pt which makes adjusting bite and l/r tilt very easy. I originally purchased it for gravel driveways, etc but I’ve used it a lot for landscaping. I’m glad I bought it.

 

[civilian]

The 1023 is basically the same as a BX. I had a BX 2370 previously and I’d call the two tractors basically identical in size and capability. I also have a larger framed tractor with 38hp. I’ve seen a couple of the smaller land planes out there priced significantly less than the 72” varieties that I’m considering for the larger tractor. So if you had to pic a new model today to match the BX2230, would you still pick the GS0560? Or do you think a GS0548 might be a better match?

That’s also an interesting and surprising point about the blade depth not being adjustable on your land pride. There is a land pride dealer under 5 miles from my house, but he didn’t have a single grading scraper in stock to look at when I stopped in this week.

Sorry for the long time to resond. The reason for the 60 inches, is to get a path covered wider than the tire width. Also 3 passes per driveway width is about correct. Down the midlle flat, then once down each side angled down to help with a crown sahpe. Maybe not correct for some, but helps my drive. Now I could take the backhoe off my B26TLB and use a heavier land plane, but to much work to remove backhoe. BX2230 works for me. Jon

 

[milkman636]

At Green Tractor Talk, some members with fabrication skills basically took two pieces of 4”x6” angle (various lengths depending on tractor conditions) and made skis. Each bolts to the outside of the box blade. You can set your own heights depending where you set the bolt holes.

The theory is the skis sit say 3/4” lower than the bottom of the box blade. This allows dirt to be picked up from high spots and deposited in the low spots.

Hmm…I hadn’t thought about that. I wonder about having a method for quick-release to switch back to moving dirt quickly?

 

[milkman636]

Which tractor are you talking about, not performing up to this task?

I’m using my Bobcat CT335 for this job. It’s a stout 35 hp class tractor that is moving a lot of dirt this summer. It probably moves at least twice as much as my little 1023e could in each pass.

But, it is a big job for the 335 too. I’ve spent a couples hours out there 3 more times over the last week and I’ve gotten to where the highest spot is now the second highest spot. The low area is still low. It has swallowed a lot of dirt to come up around a foot. So I’m about 3 weeks into poking at this job and I might be a 1/3 of the way to where I want to be. So I’m looking for and thinking of ways to speed this up without breaking the bank.

All kidding aside I have seriously looked for reasonable priced ways to get bigger equipment onto my place for this job. But until I have something better I’m just making due and plugging away with what I have. It’s working.