Land Pride grading scraper

[RDrancher]

Thanks KML.

While narrowing down my selection I have been surprised at a couple of responses I got from manufacturers regarding rippers / scarifiers. I have to have rippers to remove potholes...plain and simple. YMMV, and this is dependent on what type of subsurface you have, but here, just spreading gravel over and into potholes results in them coming back rather quickly. All you have to do is look at how the county road departments "repair" roads and it's pretty obvious that it doesn't work. That's fine for a homeowner that can go out a couple times a year with their own tractor and grader to do touch-ups, but not for paying customers.

Here is my question and response from a local (and well known) manufacturer.

Me - Hey folks. New gravel driveways and restoration of gravel driveways is a large part of my business. I perform these services with a New Holland TC35D. I've been looking at graders / land planes from Land Pride, Dirt Dog and Befco, mainly because they include rippers. Doing without rippers is not an option since I need them to get to the bottom of potholes and have been doing it with my box blade. I'd like to go with a company that's local (I'm in Sanger). Obviously you know our local material conditions, which draws me to your product. Is this an option that you could offer? Thanks, John

The Response - We will come to your location and do a demo. This way you can see that you do not need rippers to fix potholes with our equipment. Please call us to set up a demo. I think you will be impressed. The land plane is a toy compared to the * * grader, let us show you. Please call us at 800-***-****. Thanks, Alan. This demo is no obligation on your part if we can't do what you want it to do we will just load up and go.

 

[beppington]

Here is my question and response from a local (and well known) manufacturer.

Me - Hey folks. New gravel driveways and restoration of gravel driveways is a large part of my business. I perform these services with a New Holland TC35D. I've been looking at graders / land planes from Land Pride, Dirt Dog and Befco, mainly because they include rippers. Doing without rippers is not an option since I need them to get to the bottom of potholes and have been doing it with my box blade. I'd like to go with a company that's local (I'm in Sanger). Obviously you know our local material conditions, which draws me to your product. Is this an option that you could offer? Thanks, John

The Response - We will come to your location and do a demo. This way you can see that you do not need rippers to fix potholes with our equipment. Please call us to set up a demo. I think you will be impressed. The land plane is a toy compared to the * * grader, let us show you. Please call us at 800-***-****. Thanks, Alan. This demo is no obligation on your part if we can't do what you want it to do we will just load up and go.

Seems like you can't beat that offer.

 

[RDrancher]

Seems like you can't beat that offer.

I didn't think so either, until I found out that the price of their model was over double that of the Befco, which is more than the Land Pride! And their front blade will only extend 1.5" below the skids...that's not much of a pothole.

 

[beppington]

I didn't think so either, until I found out that the price of their model was over double that of the Befco, which is more than the Land Pride! And their front blade will only extend 1.5" below the skids...that's not much of a pothole.

Oh! Well, in that case I'd get the $1,400 (what I paid) Land Price GS1572 (or whichever series & width you need), since it has rippers, & go to work :thumbsup:

Oh, & yes the skids are replaceable (not sure if anybody answered that for you).

 

[jenkinsph]

RDrancher,
I would prefer to have a landplane grader with ripper teeth hydraulically actuated for the potholes. Right now when facing this problem I still use my boxblade to rip them out. Then use the landplane/grader to smooth the driveways out. I use a rearblade for crowning and pulling the material back towards the road.

I built a landplane/grader in 2009 because of this very thread and built mine to plane and smooth out lawn areas. It also smoothes the occasional driveway with ease too. Mine weighs about 950 lbs. and has 8' blades set straight which are attached to heavy duty frames that are very ridgid. Cost with new blades and all hardware was about $900. This was a simple build compared to some things so is worth considering as a build your own project.

If I were to do it again or buy one straight up I recommend adjustable blade height independent each side, adjustable angle to aid in crowning, hydraulic rippers such as on a Gannon box blade and longer skids. This would greatly increase the cost but would limit the number of tools needed for maintaining most driveways and farm roads. Sounds like this is what you need to have for commercial work imo.

Here is a pic of the one I built for lawn leveling and pics of the results on my lawn area and a customers. It also works well for most driveway work too.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

All I can say is that if they didn't work, they would all be out of business. So there must be something there that works. Very few have rippers and I think that you will find that only the lighter units have rippers. I don't know if you will find a 1000lb unit that has rippers on it.

 

[Jaylegger]

I see there have been a few comments regarding my post outlining, what I considered, abnormal wear on the blade and teeth of the landpride. Six months and approx 15-18 hours of grader use has accumulated since my previous post on wear so I'll update with photos. The blade is slightly worse for wear with more nicks than I reported back in May but the teeth haven't fared well. The last time I graded a few weeks ago I noticed two of the scarifier tips had rotated upwards on the shank rendering them useless. Further inspection has shown the bottom of tips have completely worn off allowig the tip to swivel around the dimple. The tips themselves have worn down considerably as well therefore all four require replacement.

I'm still estatic with the gader and the wonderful job it does grading roads/driveways but I'm less than impressed with the blade and teeth wear. My previous cheap-***** boxblade had considerably more hours on it with hardly a hint of wear on the blade or teeth so, in my opinion, Landpride has cheaped out on the wear items or perhaps inadvertantly sourced some questionable quality steel parts for the wear items.

Anyone know a good source for good quality scarifier tips?

 

[Tomtint]

my 72" Befco has about 15 hours or so of grading compacted bluestone and gravel. It works better than a rear blade or box blade but the scarifies are ready to be replaced. Both blades and the wear bars still look good but the teeth are a bit soft IMO.

 

[psdx]

Well I have been following this topic for a bit and I have to say that it seems obvious these drag type graders are the tool of choice for driveway maintenance!

I saw some other comments about LandPride graders. I also have a LP GS1560, and can vouch for how well it works on gravel driveways. I used to have a box blade and this is so much better for grading. The long runners and double blades are the key. I've done a dozen driveways and the results are amazing. I have a friend that bought a DR grader and sent it back before assembling it. YMMV

 

[psdx]

Anyone know a good source for good quality scarifier tips?

About any agricultural dealer will have the shank tips available that are a friction fit and just need to be driven on with a 5 pound hammer. I had forgotten that one of mine came off when it was new. The replacement tip was $13. My dealer told me that the tips themselves are meant to be "sacrificial" and pull off if a large object is hit to preserve the more expensive scarifier shank. BTW, I only drop the scarifiers when I'm trying to pull up the base to help repair pot holes. 90% of the time my scarifiers are up and not getting any wear.

 

[Jaylegger]

About any agricultural dealer will have the shank tips available that are a friction fit and just need to be driven on with a 5 pound hammer. I had forgotten that one of mine came off when it was new. The replacement tip was $13. My dealer told me that the tips themselves are meant to be "sacrificial" and pull off if a large object is hit to preserve the more expensive scarifier shank. BTW, I only drop the scarifiers when I'm trying to pull up the base to help repair pot holes. 90% of the time my scarifiers are up and not getting any wear.

I was just leafing through the owners manual and they have the tips listed, a "normal" tip and an optional "wide flare" tip with part#'s. I use the shanks often. the gravel gets hard enough packed that the blades just skim across the top and takes way too many passes to pick up enough gravel to spread properly. I also find there are more fines an inch below the surface than near the top which the scarifiers bring to the surface that can then get re-mixed and provides a much better closer to class-a spec mix than just the top 1/4-1/2 inch layer does. Unless the gravel is soft I always use the shanks first then raise them for the grading. Another benefit of using the scarifiers is that they provide a multitude of channels parallel to the road which any standing water will congregate lengthwise which seems to help prevent potholes in areas with less than optimal slope.

Not only do break-away tips prevent shank damage but they also prevent damage to the shank support tubes.

 

[Combustix]

Thanks, jenkinsph-- I did go ahead and remove the pin connector and replaced it with an 1-7/8" ball connector (most of my stuff is that size). That should hold it even better for backing up. I plan to try it out on a neighbor's driveway soon- that should give it a good workout, theirs is a lot worse than mine.

wijmcinwi- welcome to TBN! I haven't yet had to replace my shearpin, but I was surprised to notice it's already been bent a bit. Still have the two spares that came with it....

It doesn't yet have a lot of use, but I'll admit it looks as though that pin will break easily --and most likely often! I might try to replace it with a "standard" grade two shearpin bolt from a local supplier; I've used those on my snowblower with no apparent ill effects. They're a lot less expensive.

I have the same size as yours and have had it for about 4 years. I use it once every quarter whether the driveway needs it or not. Though the wife says it makes the driveway to soft to walk on, though I agree until the rock settles a little. I have tweaked it a little but you have to look hard. I have never busted a shear pin. and have plenty to sell as I have about about 10 thinking my 2710 would eat them up. The battery died on me one winter and When I called to talk about a new battery I could make another down payment on a tractor with the battery. The guy at DR told me hard wire it into the tractor, so I took an old trailer wireing harness, and attached it to the unit and the tractor. Have been running this way for about 2 years. Oh anyone want to buy a cheap dr charger. The scarifier teeth are in good condition and I have piulled out rocks to 5-6" so I have to say it has been a reasonably good purchase. Hope you enjoy yours.

 

[PILOON]

Years back we maintained out gravel/dirt road (about 3 miles) with our simple homemade drag.
At that time we used oak 6 X 6's to create the 'Z' configuration with notches to lock the corners.
3/8" X 3" flat stock was lag screwed to the faces for wear.
Joints and blades were attached with 3/8" lag screws.
This we towed with an old Willis Jeep (low and slow) and used a 12" old tire as a shock absorber.
This we did about 4 times a year for 12 years until the city took over the road.
Let me tell you once graded with that old drag a person would have thought a pro used a big Cat grader.
The big secret is the 3 blades and the angles.
Always there are a minimum of 2 in contact and the first scalps the humps/bumps and the stock moves around filling holes and dips and the surplus spills out the trailing edge to be caught by the next blade which repeats the process.
2 passes and the gravel/dirt road is just as slick as a paved drive.

While ours was wood, a guy could always weld one up with scraps of angle stock (like 3" X 3" X 3/8 or 4 x 4)
Oh, the basic size was 8 ft X 8 ft.

That old wood scraper was so good that some one actually stole it!

 

[irvingj]

Combustix- I did use the DR grader on the neighbor's drive. Theirs was rutted quite a lot worse than mine, and it did a good job; they were quite pleased with the results. And yes, it did drag up a few rather large stones. Surprisingly, the shearpin held up OK.

Since that time I had a opportunity to have my own driveway paved, which I did:thumbsup:, but I used the grader again on a section that was not paved. I was trying to use up the pile of crusher run that was dredged up during the paving process. As a result, I now have a MUCH more level and stable turn-around area. I was very happy with how it turned out.

I certainly wouldn't recommend the DR unit for anything heavy-duty, but for my purposes it worked well. Thanks for the tip about the battery!

 

[JoelT]

I didn't think so either, until I found out that the price of their model was over double that of the Befco, which is more than the Land Pride! And their front blade will only extend 1.5" below the skids...that's not much of a pothole.

If you ended up with the LandPride hows the wear issue doing on the blades?

I'm looking at 5' grader scrapers....AgriEase from Braber out of Canada but from China at $995, Frontier (no rip blades) from who knows where at $1000, USA made Rankin for $1400, and LandPride quoted at $1100 but probably $1000. The 2011 LandPride unit looks IDENTICAL to the chinese Agri-Ease unit - that worries me. The new LandPride online catalog unit is different though. Don't know what's up with that. The LandPride unit also claims to be 50lbs heavier than all the other units.

I probably should pay an extra 400 and buy USA, huh, or?

 

[RDrancher]

I haven't purchased one yet.

I finish grade and install / repair a lot of gravel driveways during the year and have no problem running a box blade to my satisfaction, so for me it's more of a luxury item that I'm hoping will add to my arsenal and make my job easier.

I only want to do this once, and since I don't "need" a grading scraper it's given me more time to do research on what I really want out of one. I spoke to the owner of Roadrunner today regarding their CJ or CH series with a serrated front blade. So far theirs is at the top of my list. Brian had a good point about the Dura Grader demo though, so I'm going to give it a better look too before choosing.

I hadn't seen the Rankin version but it looks pretty good, if a bit expensive. It looks like the same one that Skid Steer Solutions offers for $1225 for your five-footer. They also offer another version on their site that is referred to as a "box scraper" for a little less than that.

 

[JoelT]

Thanks, good info. I've been using a box scraper on our 1/4mi drive with 2 fairly steep short grades for 20+ years with usually good results and do have a fair handle on how to use it - not that it always gets done "how" it should be done because I'm often too lazy to do a start and stop routine (no TnT) to adjust "pitch and roll." For half the price of a grading scraper I could add hydraulic 3-point top and side links which would make box scraper life much easier I'd think. What do you think about this approach?

 

[RDrancher]

If I were only maintaining my own driveway I would go with the grading scraper before top-n-tilt. From everything I've read here on TBN the grading scrapers are the cats meow. If you check out the Everything Attachment video they're just dragging the thing around and getting excellent results. It really depends on how much you would use the additional rear ports for other tasks as well.

So MANY attachments and mods on the wish list and I don't own a credit card to avoid the dreaded I-gotta-have-it-debt. Just need more work!

 

[jenkinsph]

While I can use a grading scraper (landplane grader) without topntilt it does help to have it. Topntilt allows you to control and feather the surface to a smoother finish.

About cost of equipment, none of the good stuff is cheap but I generally add a piece at a time trying to get the better made implements. I remember when all I had was a used phd with one bit, couldn't do anything but dream of having the right tools.

 

[beppington]

I don't have topntilt & use my GS to very good results.

Occasionally I adjust the top link, but not often, & not much. The GS does very well in most conditions if you just put it on the ground such that both blades are either touching the ground, or if the rear one is a little higher. Just like a box blade, if you want to dig more, raise the rear of it more.

BTW you can also push material backwards with it, preferably loose piles of dirt since there's no hardened blade in that direction, & you can break your tractor pushing in reverse , so I wouldn't overdo it.