Using a Land Plane (Grader)

[California]

I have a 1/4 mile of gravel with some hills and even S curves.

I’ve been considering a land plane as a replacement for my box blade but not sure what size to get.. 6 ft of 5 ft...

Thoughts?
And land plane or clone?

What I'm using to maintain our 1/4 mile lane in from the county road might be lighter than what you need. But I'll show it here in case this gives you or someone else some ideas for simple gravel road maintenance. 18 hp pulls these implements easily.

First, a back blade with added ballast. This lane has been used for more than a century. There's plenty of embedded gravel but its as tough as pavement. After some rain I go over it with the blade to gouge the sides where gravel got tossed, to bring that gravel back into the roadway and lower the edges so runoff will go down the sides. Hopefully this will eventually build some crown. The blade carries along a little bit of material, enough that I have some to shovel into potholes as shown here. I suppose more ballast would cut more material, if I ever want to cut down and really make a proper crown. I have three more 70 lb wheel weights I could add. Note in the photo the Q-hitch is already cranked way over to the right - but its the ballast that helps the right side dig.

Then, I finish with several passes of a land plane I cobbled together from free material. Those were snowplow edge replacement components including fixed mount brackets, from a surplus auction. I could have cut the length of the diagonals to make material dump from one blade to the next but after a trial run I decided that didn't make any difference. Pulling this with my rear forks makes it possible to lift the drag for tight turn-arounds, the slack chain at the mid point provides this lift. I pull it with short chains at the front (not yet installed in this photo) and usually let the drag follow with just its own weight. But I learned setting the forks that include the q-hitch weight, 100+ lbs total, down on the front of the drag makes it cut better when I need to knock down grass in the center of the lane.

 

[ukrkoz]

I came across a very good thread place else, about using land plane on turf. From first hand folks that tried it. LP is NOT a tool for that. On areas, they tried LP on tiurf, they then had to till over cut clumps and such, to make it manageable. LP did just that - tore and clumped rooted sod. It is not a turf GRADING/LEVELING implement.

 

[Pecanman2]

Video describing how I use a Road Boss Grader (Land Plane) Hope you enjoy and learn something.

Where do you run your draft with a land plane?

 

[oosik]

I've tried my LPGS on one of my grassy fields. What a HOLY mess. Scarifiers up or down. I had clumps of sod everywhere.

Borrowed the neighbors big 'ol rototiller and finished the job.

I use my LPGS on my mile long gravel driveway. Just connect and drag. Never use draft control with the LPGS.

For that matter - I bought the M6040 - brand new - in 2009. Tried the draft control with my single bottom moldboard plow - once. It didn't help even a little bit. Big rocks, small rocks and bedrock kept interrupting the operation. More concerned with keeping the plow working than keeping it at an even depth.

You certainly do not need depth control( draft ) with any LPGS I'm familiar with.

 

[FPGT72]

My video is not as polished as the first persons. Mine is much smaller and I pull it behind a BX. The pass that is videoed was really to take care of the center mess where the grass grows and a little bit of water damage. I need to do it again with all the rain, but it is going to rain all weekend. Mine came from Homestead, and I am happy with it so far, but I have only had it about a year. The first time through the driveway was a real mess, mine is about 900' long. My little tractor would not pull with all the teeth down, so I did a few passes with the center teeth down, and then went over it with the scarfiers up.

It does a very nice job, better then the box blade IMHO. And it is a bit fun to see the driveway go from a mess to nice and smooth.

I don't pull it as fast as it will go, I go at roughly a quick walking pace, not quite a run, but quicker then a fast walk. Not sure that helps much.

The video:

 

[oosik]

The last 300 feet of my mile long gravel driveway get grass growing in the center. I mow it with my riding mower. It looks nice and it helps stabilize the surface.

My driveway is a country lane not a city street.