Make shift land plane

[marrmanu]

I had 12 yards of gravel delivered for my road. I asked the driver to lay it down at a 2 inch depth. I guess he decided that an 8 plus inch depth would be better. After using my box blade to cut it down and spread it out I ended up with a lot of woopedos.
Not having a land plane I came up with this from my scrap pile. It actually worked much better than I had anticipated, with the only draw back being that its only 4 foot wide so it took several passes.

 

[leveraddict]

Looks like it did a fine job! Congrats!

 

[torch]

Depending on the starting conditions, a "real" land plane takes several passes too.

 

[RCW]

Looks like it worked out great!

Making top link longer might have avoided the bumps. Rocks box blade onto the rear blade to give it more of a smoothing aspect.

 

[Vigo]

I like that fork / basket implement too. Good stuff.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Hmmmm. Okay, now you've got me thinking.....

I'm about to rip up my driveway using my subsoiler, and re-grade it. It has not been touched in the 17 years I've been here, and probably not for many years before that, so....

Just got a Ratchet Rake and I'm expecting good things from it, but just in case..... maybe my carry-all and something like this would give a nice finish.....

 

[ravensview]

Looks good, I drag an old gate off of my trailer it’s expanded metal and I just tie it off the back of the tractor takes several passes but it does a pretty good job of smoothing down the driveway, my driveway is around 300 yards long with a slight grade to it

 

[Vigo]

I asked the driver to lay it down at a 2 inch depth. I guess he decided that an 8 plus inch depth would be better.

You know, now that i think of it.. maybe that's not easy! I haven't actually dumped material out of a dump bed/trailer (even though i have driven a dump truck for reasons of working on it as a mechanic). There's probably a lot of technique to trying to get a 2" depth to come out the back of a dump bed.

I have a junky dump trailer with no title that was given to me (im still thrilled!) which i filled to overflowing with scrap metal and now finally about to empty out again, and maybe actually run some dirt/gravel through it.. Maybe i will learn soon just how much crap i am actually qualified to give other operators about this!

On a somewhat related note, this thing is currently so cheap that I think it might be worth the cost just to use it as a 'pattern' to make a better one, or to double up the flimsy parts with your own metal.
$59 (shipped!) drag

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I’ve used mine several times behind my BXX1870 and for that machine it is rugged enough. I double nutted the handle bolt but other than that it’s good to go. In the spring I’ll weld the short cross brackets to fit concrete blocks.

 

[torch]

You know, now that i think of it.. maybe that's not easy! I haven't actually dumped material out of a dump bed/trailer (even though i have driven a dump truck for reasons of working on it as a mechanic). There's probably a lot of technique to trying to get a 2" depth to come out the back of a dump bed.

I think you are correct. I know from having material delivered and spread on my own driveway that there are a lot of variables. The driver can use check-chains to limit the opening, but the angle of the box also has to change as the load is dumped to maintain the rate, which must be coordinated with the travel speed. Another factor is how wet the material is (at least, with fines). Damp material tends to clump and requires a wider opening to come out of the box. Dry material flows out more evenly and readily.

It looked to me to be as much art as science.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

It looked to me to be as much art as science.

Agreed!

And around here, the quarries don't allow their drivers to do it. Takes too much time, I guess? Dunno, just guessing. Anyway, it's against policy.

I have heard that a 6 pack will get you a rough attempt that is at least better than having it all dumped in a pile, but policy is that it gets dumped in a pile.

 

[torch]

Agreed!

And around here, the quarries don't allow their drivers to do it. Takes too much time, I guess? Dunno, just guessing. Anyway, it's against policy.

I would guess that it has more to do with OH&S or wear and tear on the equipment. Driving while raising the box up is a lot less stable than just dumping the box, and hitting overhead wires or tree branches with a raised dump box is a real hazard.

There may even be an interlock that must be overriden to drive and dump. Google "dump truck hits bridge". It's amazing how many times this has happened and wouldn't surprise me if some companies equip their trucks with some mechanism or safety switch to prevent it.

 

[Dieseldonato]

It's more of a knowing your material, how to set your gate and how the bed lifts at what ground speed. I was fairly decent at it in my Pete 10 wheeler, but it took pretty long to get ok at it. Also pretty much figured out I had to be moving at speed, bed up already then pop the gate and keep the bed going up. Not an easy task at all just to get an even spread let alone hit whatever depth.