Land Planes, Rear Blades, and Boxblades

[Reg]

Dave,
Thanks for the reply. How would you--or could you-- move a small hill, say a 5 - 7 foot elevation, let's say of radius 50 feet, with a compact tractor? If you wanted to strip the sod off, and level the landscape, could a boxblade alone move that much dirt or would you have to break it up with a plough, subsoiler or something else before the boxblade could move it?
I'm trying to figure out how much these little tractors can do. I have a dozer which can easily do all of this stuff but now that I've cleared off about 12 acres of trees and done the gross dirtmoving, I'm wondering if I can replace it with a (far less expensive) tractor.
Tim

The minimalist approach would be to use whatever you already have.
According to tractor size (mostly weight) you can cut or at least loosen the top few inches and shove it around with almost anything - then go down another few inches and repeat.
A tooth bar on a loader bucket could do this, loosen, back drag, repeat as required.
With a very light sub compact tractor - it might take a while.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

The minimalist approach would be to use whatever you already have.

:laughing: I will make sure SWMBO never sees that! :laughing: You're right though, use what you have.
BUT they do make different attachments for a reason...while I can do a pretty decent job of landscaping with my BB, it is NO match for my power rake.

 

[jenkinsph]

:laughing: I will make sure SWMBO never sees that! :laughing: You're right though, use what you have.
BUT they do make different attachments for a reason...while I can do a pretty decent job of landscaping with my BB, it is NO match for my power rake.

Good to hear your power rake is working out.:thumbsup:

 

[Reg]

:laughing: I will make sure SWMBO never sees that! :laughing: You're right though, use what you have.
BUT they do make different attachments for a reason...while I can do a pretty decent job of landscaping with my BB, it is NO match for my power rake.

We all have an implicit TBN pact about what we type here and what we show to our (& each others') SWMBOs, right ?

IOW, I won't tell yours if you won't tell mine.

Gee, MINE still thinks the tractors are NECESSITIES (-:
{SHhhhhh...}

 

[MtnViewRanch]

We all have an implicit TBN pact about what we type here and what we show to our (& each others') SWMBOs, right ?

IOW, I won't tell yours if you won't tell mine.

Gee, MINE still thinks the tractors are NECESSITIES (-:
{SHhhhhh...}

You mean that they aren't. In all actuality we only have them because they are so much fun. :cool2: Man, we need to be sure that all of us get our stories straight. Does anyone ever think about how much work would get done without our tractors? Let's see, a shovel, a rake and a hoe :thumbdown: vs a tractor with FEL and implements, hmmmmmmmmmmm. :thumbsup: :laughing:

 

[MtnViewRanch]

What are the differences in uses for these John Deere attachments? What can a Land Plane do that a Boxblade or Rear blade can't, and vice versa?

This is what I use mine for.

Rear blade is great for cutting in roads and for ditching, also works great for finish smoothing with the blade in reverse.

Box blade is good for moving a lot of material for a longer distance, good for roughing in a grading type of job. Good for cutting high spots and filling in low areas. Also works good for smoothing out a graded surface.

Land plane road grader is irreplaceable IMO for road maintenance. I have over 2 miles of roads to maintain and I cannot imagine maintaining our roads without it. Also very good for leveling out larger areas. This implement is also very good at finish smoothing in reverse.

 

[jenkinsph]

Dave,
Thanks for the reply. How would you--or could you-- move a small hill, say a 5 - 7 foot elevation, let's say of radius 50 feet, with a compact tractor? If you wanted to strip the sod off, and level the landscape, could a boxblade alone move that much dirt or would you have to break it up with a plough, subsoiler or something else before the boxblade could move it?
I'm trying to figure out how much these little tractors can do. I have a dozer which can easily do all of this stuff but now that I've cleared off about 12 acres of trees and done the gross dirtmoving, I'm wondering if I can replace it with a (far less expensive) tractor.
Tim

Don't know what size dozer you have but will say if it can move this hill easily and you have more of these hills to move then keep the dozer. If you are renting the dozer and have time constraints or paying a custom operator then rough in the major portions of the jobs first. Then consider a tractor with the proper implements to do the finish work.

What dozer are you using and what size tractor are you considering?

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Good to hear your power rake is working out.:thumbsup:

Its MORE then working out. I LOVE it.
Seriously, I've seen less then 10 real ones in my entire lifetime so I never really got an opportunity to see one in action or talk to someone who has one so I really didnt know what I was missing....all I can say is I shoulda gotten one/built one a long time ago. For personal use, I couldnt see spending 8k on one, but seeing I have a hair over 1/8th that price in mine, its well worth having.

 

[msmud]

Jenkinsph,
I bought a Komatsu D31 hydrostatic unit, 16000#, 75HP, narrow gauge/ 8 ft blade. Though it is D3 class, it has done a tremendous amount of work for me, having cleared hundreds of trees and lowered clay banks by 5 - 10 feet. I cant tell you how much work this thing can do. And it is interesting what you can do creatively with it , such as shoving trees in a line to rot for 2 to 3 years and then crushing them for mulch, for example.

I have used the dozer to grade my gravel road which it does fine but is a bit of overkill. The current hill I am working on is 30 feet high and 150 yards in diameter. I have lowered it 10 feet and filled in large gullies. Basically, I got a 105 acres fairly cheaply, but it was in ROUGH shape, so I put money in the dozer and have been slowly reshaping it.

Once I am done with the big stuff, I think a CUT would work well for me, especially since the more land I clear the more I sorely need a bushhog above all else.

There are many on this website--all of whom giving generally good advice--who say you can't get too much tractor. I went all the way with this logic and bought a new dozer. Having now paid for this thing, I now am starting to get the idea that yes, you can get too much tractor, and maybe less will be more in the future. I am thinking now about a 3032E with 6 foot bushhog, and maybe a 5.5 foot boxblade!

I appreciate all the replies. THanks
Tim

 

[jenkinsph]

msmud,
I had a Deere 450 many years ago as my first dozer which was about the same size but not near as feature laden. I have a good idea of what you can do with yours and would quickly say "keep it" for awhile longer. The compact tractors such as mine won't come close to doing the rough grading you can do with your machine. My second and last dozer was a new 850 when it was introduced and the difference between the 450 and 850 was phenominal. I lived in Pike county MS at the time and while it was all kind of exciting and fun at the time paying for it wasn't that great. Today I am happy to use the compact tractors and transporting them is alot easier too.


About the tractors, I think in your case with what appears to be hilly land and approximately 100 acres the 3032E or 3038E is simply too small and lacking in features for what you will need to do. I suspect you would quickly find yourself wanting to trade up and would loose money on the deal.

The 4520 would be a much better tractor for your uses IMO. When buying mine last year I did alot of looking around and found it to have the best mix of ground clearance, ease of operation, power to climb grades and ability to upgrade features. Really like the ehydro transmission too and had considered a 5X25 tractor but decided for the work I do grading and landscaping that the 110tlb and 4520 were a very good match for each other and could share implements well. Having multiple sets of rear hydraulic outlets, top and tilt hitches and IMatch quick hitch makes for fast implement changes and good control of the implements for finish grading. The MX6 cutter and 50 pto hp is a good combination as well for clipping and grinding up old rotted brush piles too.

One of the best uses I have for the 4520 is with the 8' landplane. This thing does a great job smoothing and planing out lawns (yards), small fields and would be an excellent tool to come behind a dozer to dress everything up with. While I use a boxblade to cut more agressively and it can move more dirt faster, the landplane is easier to use when trying to obtain a super smooth finish.