Land Pride grading scraper

[Tomtint]

I have a 72 Befco that I pull behind a L3700. I need to maintain 2800 feet of dirt / stone dust road. After a few years of doing the job with the bucket on my skid steer. The land planer is by far the better option

 

[caspar3259]

For a road with pot holes, ruts, and an inverse crown (center of road is a rut from water run off and is lower than the sides) would you suggest:
A) using only a box blade
B) use only the grading scraper
C) use box blade first, followed by the grading scraper

-Jeff

 

[Tomtint]

For a road with pot holes, ruts, and an inverse crown (center of road is a rut from water run off and is lower than the sides) would you suggest:
A) using only a box blade
B) use only the grading scraper
C) use box blade first, followed by the grading scraper

-Jeff

I have this same issue, with the hills I have there is no way to eliminate the constant grading from rain erosion but I think the best way is to use the land leveler and the use a blade to crown it. If you have something to compact it when you are done, itcan't hurt

 

[Gordon Gould]

I would use my rear blade first then my grading scraper. If you need to move material across the road, from sides to middle in this case, a rear blade is the tool to use. The others will do it (sort of) but not nearly as well as a rear blade.
I know I didn't answer your question. If you were limited to a box blade and grading scraper I think I would try the scraper first if it had angled blades. Alot depends on how wide your road is and what the material is. Some claim a box blade works good for this but I always had trouble trying to move the edge to the center with one.

 

[crazyal]

Much of my apprehension purchasing this grader was due to watching the two videos floating around on youtube of the unit in action. Imo, both the Kubota dealer vid and the Everything Attachments vid both portray the grader in a rather unimpressive light. In both videos it appears to me that it would take an unusually long time to grade a road using this grader when, at least in my circumstances, nothing could be further from the truth. Perhaps it's just me but when both the blades load up with cascading gravel it's symphonic.

I watched a couple of the videos and found that looked like they didn't know how to correctly operate the grader (maybe learning) and another one was the smallest lightest one made and it was just bouncing along and somehow managed to get the job done. Maybe someone here can take a good video and post it on YouTube.

 

[caspar3259]

I would use my rear blade first then my grading scraper. If you need to move material across the road, from sides to middle in this case, a rear blade is the tool to use.

The road is hard-packed dirt with little gravel left. About 20 feet wide. That's why I was thinking a box scraper with teeth down to get things loosened up and get the big stuff smoothed out, then the land grader to finish it off. Or maybe the box blade by itself will get it smooth enough. Hopefully once the main repair is done it could be more easily maintained by the land grader.

Would a rear blade be able to handle the hard-packed dirt? Seems like a job for scarifying teeth.

-Jeff

 

[Tomtint]

I have not had much luck with just the rear blade. It will fill the holes but I think you need to loosen up the road and reshape the problem areas where potholes develop, the rippers do a good job at that. Also the weight and length of the leveler make it easy to get rid of washboard areas,where the blade may just follow the terrain.

 

[jenkinsph]

The road is hard-packed dirt with little gravel left. About 20 feet wide. That's why I was thinking a box scraper with teeth down to get things loosened up and get the big stuff smoothed out, then the land grader to finish it off. Or maybe the box blade by itself will get it smooth enough. Hopefully once the main repair is done it could be more easily maintained by the land grader.

Would a rear blade be able to handle the hard-packed dirt? Seems like a job for scarifying teeth.

-Jeff

I would recommend a rearblade to recover materials moved to the edges and to shape the crown. A landplane/grader with ripper teeth to handle the smoothing and rip up potholes. These two tools should fix most everything.

 

[Jaylegger]

I watched a couple of the videos and found that looked like they didn't know how to correctly operate the grader (maybe learning) and another one was the smallest lightest one made and it was just bouncing along and somehow managed to get the job done. Maybe someone here can take a good video and post it on YouTube.

I made a similar comment about that video a few weeks ago, the way it was bouncing around didn't leave me feeling all that confident about using it. In fairness however the shanks were down which was causing the erratic behavior.
I have another road to grade and perhaps I'll do a short vid but there's no guarantee that will be "good" either. When using mine (without shanks) the weight of the unit alone keeps it solidly on the ground, when loaded with some gravel it's part of it.

 

[Jaylegger]

For a road with pot holes, ruts, and an inverse crown (center of road is a rut from water run off and is lower than the sides) would you suggest:
A) using only a box blade
B) use only the grading scraper
C) use box blade first, followed by the grading scraper

-Jeff

Tomorrow I'll be going out to see how well I can crown and slope portions of the road with the Landpride. Each side of the cutter can be set independently thereby allowing one side to be adjusted higher or lower than the other. In theory and if the manual is to be believed this should, at the very least, aid in creating a crown. If adjusting the grader blades does work for crowning/sloping/moving material from one side to the other then I won't need my boxblade anymore.

Previously when using the boxblade I found it quite effective in creating slopes and crowns, it will be interesting to see how the Land-Pride grader fairs. My gut feeling is the blades aren't angled enough to force the material to move from one side of the grader to the other efficiently, I hope I'm wrong.

I suppose if the grader blades aren't angled quite enough I could adjust the hitch arms to swing the unit far to the right as this effectively increases the angle of the unit substantially, that's how I using the boxblade when crowning/sloping accompanied with adjusting the lower link to tip up far side.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

caspar3259, what size tractor do you have? Size of implements used can make a huge difference in just what implement can be used and work well. But you have to have a big enough tractor to be able to use some of these heavy implements.

If it were me I would use a rear blade and then my grader blade, but both of these are in excess of 1000lbs each and require a little bigger machine to be able to operate them properly. A light weight rear blade probably would not get the job done for you.

 

[caspar3259]

caspar3259, what size tractor do you have? Size of implements used can make a huge difference in just what implement can be used and work well.

No tractor yet - hopefully I'll solve that problem this summer.

So far it's between the Kubota L3700SU and the L3940... mostly depending on price. So at this point I'm asking these questions to help me decide on which attachments to look at first.

-Jeff

 

[MtnViewRanch]

No tractor yet - hopefully I'll solve that problem this summer.

So far it's between the Kubota L3700SU and the L3940... mostly depending on price. So at this point I'm asking these questions to help me decide on which attachments to look at first.

-Jeff

Check out this rear blade and other Land Pride implements. Might as well get them all at once. And of course, don't forget about the top and tilt cylinders that you will need to get those implements to do just what you want them to do.

 

[Jaylegger]

Today I adjusted the grader to attempt to crown one portion of the road and to grade a gradual edge to edge slope on another portion. I shot a video of the unit in action with the camera attached to the ROPS turn-signal pointed at the grader hence it's a little shaky. When the blades are adjusted to crown the unit can move material laterally albeit subtly but there's no doubt the area I was sloping now has a nice gradual subtle slope to it.

It has rained since I graded the road yesterday and you can see some clumping of material due to the wetness of the gravel in a couple areas.

http://videos.tractorbynet.com/video/941/LandPride-GS1548

This video is actually worse than those I complained about, darn. At least it's from a different persepctive.

 

[crazyal]

I tried to take a video of blowing deep snow but the ground wasn't smooth enough so it looks like your video. I guess to take good videos you need someone on the ground.

Did you have the blade set lower on (I guess you would call it the passenger's side) to did more to try and pull the gravel to the center to get a crown? I was kind of surprised that the gravel didn't migrate along the blade to the other side. I just thought with the angle of the blade (when looking fromt he top down) it would just want to go that way.

 

[Tom_H]

...I picked up my GS1548 today and within 45 minutes after getting it home I had the road graded. Whatever apprehension I had with whether it would be worth the cost over just continuing to use my boxblade and the question of what size to get have all been...obliterated. ...the grader worked far better than I expected and has exceeded all expectations. I managed to finish the driveway...in about a third the time it takes with the boxblade and the end result is remarkably better...I'm glad I listened to those here who convinced me to to go with the smaller unit. The 48" model feels just right with the GC2600....to say I'm pleased with this purchase would be a slight understatement. :thumbsup::thumbsup: I thought my boxblade did a great job, and it did, but this grader/scraper is definitely the correct and better tool for the job.

I am thrilled for you. I knew it was the right choice.

The only thing that has attempted to take the shine of this purchase is the dealer ordered it in orange...Despite the implement being this rather nauseating and putrid orange color...

OUCH! That really hurt I love Orange.

 

[Jaylegger]

I tried to take a video of blowing deep snow but the ground wasn't smooth enough so it looks like your video. I guess to take good videos you need someone on the ground.

Perhaps if I placed a dampener such as a small pillow between the camera and frame that would quiet it down.

Did you have the blade set lower on (I guess you would call it the passenger's side) to did more to try and pull the gravel to the center to get a crown? I was kind of surprised that the gravel didn't migrate along the blade to the other side. I just thought with the angle of the blade (when looking fromt he top down) it would just want to go that way.

That's correct, the equivalent of the passenger side blade down about .5 inch and the other side flush to the ground. There's no question the angle of the blade isn't all that conducive to the gravel flowing down the blade but I think there is some of that going on due to the flush side loading up quickly with gravel which I presume mostly originates from the cutting side.

 

[Jaylegger]

I am thrilled for you. I knew it was the right choice.

I'm still amazed how well this works, as are my neighbors. Thanks for your input on my earlier inquiries.

OUCH! That really hurt I love Orange.

Of course my sentiments of the color are only relevant when paired along side my red tractor, on it's own it's fine I guess.

 

[Jaylegger]

After a few gradings on the implement I have a a bit of concern about the strength of the grading blades and the teeth on the shanks. First off the grading blades, I have approx 5 hours on the blades and noticed tonight the edge on the front blade is nicking and curling up onto itself. The relatively light-duty Walco boxblade I used prior to getting this grader likely has about 60 or more hours on it grading the exact same two roads but the rear blade shows no remarkable wear to speak of, no nicks or edge curling. The Land-Pride manual states the grading blades are heat treated high carbon steel but the wear witnessed so far appears abnormal and not what I'd expect for a quality blade.

Onto the shank teeth, today was the first time I installed them and after about an hour of use I, again, am shocked at the amount of wear on the teeth. the edges are rounded off and one of the teeth has worn at an angle. Once again this wear appears abnormal for "hardened" tipped teeth.

With so little hours on the grader I wasn't expecting this amount of wear, while at this time it's relatively minimal, I'm a little concerned I'll be replacing these wear items much sooner than I had anticipated based on it already exceeding the wear of my inexpensive and very light duty boxblade. Would like to hear others experiences and thoughts on the wear of the blades and teeth I'm experiencing on the Land-Pride grader.

Here a few pics showing the wear, first the Land-Pride blade then tooth, the third photo showing minimal wear of the Walco boxblade used on same surfaces after considerably more hours

 

[irvingj]

Wow, that's a pretty clear difference!