Hi guys, I need some advice on what would be better. I have a 1.5 km road to maintain and just wondering what would be better to level it. I already have a box scraper but would a back blade be better for leveling and grading?
Need help
- Thread starter bearbait
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A box blade is the easiest to use and one doesn't have to be overly experienced to get good results. A back blade can do a better job at shaping and pulling gravel back from the edges but requires a little more experience to get excellent results. Both work...I prefer a back blade.
I'd say go with a tractor land plane. Pretty simple one pass tool.
http://www.everythingattachments.com/Tractor-Land-Plane-Tractor-Land-Leveler-s/9893.htm
http://www.everythingattachments.com/Tractor-Land-Plane-Tractor-Land-Leveler-s/9893.htm
Thanks for the reply guys. I guess I'll try experimenting with the box blade first. The road I'm on is a natural resourses road that hasn't been maintained in many years. I have 7 acres here surrounded by water on 3 sides with 800 acres of crown land on the other side which I have an easement to use. There is no gravel on this road...more like a logging road that isn't in too bad of shape except spring when things get real muddy until the frost is out. I mainly have to take the ruts out and would like to get rid of the woop-de doo's if that makes any sense to you, lol. The sooner I can get it cleaned up the sooner I can get my bike on the road. The tractor land plane looks like it would be great after I get the road in better shape.
I have no experience with a box blade. I have used a rear blade, FEL, home-built drag, and a home-built version of the land plane.
The rear blade was not very useful to me. It wouldn't dig in at all and I could never master spreading loosened material smoothly. The FEL was better than the rear blade because it could loosen material for spreading. Still not all that great.
I assembled a drag made from two 5 foot pieces of leftover 8" wide flange beam bolted together. It worked better than the FEL and rear blade. It was better at cutting high spots than the rear blade and spread material better than the rear blade or FEL. Here's an older picture of it. I don't have a current picture of it, but it was modified to connect directly to the 3PH. I added a large blind pipe flange (welded to the tops of the beams in the center) that serves two purposes. It adds quite a bit of weight and the bolt holes serve as a means to set the angle. In this old picture it required a boom pole to pick it up and the angle adjustment was made via adjusting the lengths of the pull chains.
Last spring we threw a version of the land plane together at work to dress up some large areas of stoned driveway/parking/material storage areas. It was by far the easiest to use and produced very smooth and level surfaces. Unfortunately I don't have any decent pistures of it at this time.
The rear blade was not very useful to me. It wouldn't dig in at all and I could never master spreading loosened material smoothly. The FEL was better than the rear blade because it could loosen material for spreading. Still not all that great.
I assembled a drag made from two 5 foot pieces of leftover 8" wide flange beam bolted together. It worked better than the FEL and rear blade. It was better at cutting high spots than the rear blade and spread material better than the rear blade or FEL. Here's an older picture of it. I don't have a current picture of it, but it was modified to connect directly to the 3PH. I added a large blind pipe flange (welded to the tops of the beams in the center) that serves two purposes. It adds quite a bit of weight and the bolt holes serve as a means to set the angle. In this old picture it required a boom pole to pick it up and the angle adjustment was made via adjusting the lengths of the pull chains.
Last spring we threw a version of the land plane together at work to dress up some large areas of stoned driveway/parking/material storage areas. It was by far the easiest to use and produced very smooth and level surfaces. Unfortunately I don't have any decent pistures of it at this time.
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You beat me to it...great idea. Just my luck...last year I had some large I-beam from a bridge that my neighbor gave me but I used it for a mooring for my boat. If the box scraper doesn't work out I'll probably try and see if I can afford a land plane...it sounds like the ticket. Thanks for the help guys.
You can shop around a bit and find land planes a little cheaper. The ones I posted from Everything Attachment are a little on the high side because they offer "free" shipping with in like a 2000 mile radius from North Carolina. The freight charges are included into the final sale price which makes it seem like its free shipping.
Russell King
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L185F, Modern Ag Competitor 4’ shredder, Rhino tiller, rear dirt scoop
Here is something that might work to help level it some. It may be better for gravel roads than for dirt roads though.
http://www.jakesimplements.com/index.html
http://www.jakesimplements.com/index.html
I was looking at that lastnight, seems like its designed and built for horse arenas where the ground is pretty much loose to begin with and just needs a quick easy fluffing up to make it look purdy again.