Land Planes for road maintenance

[Oldtoad]

Consider a landscape rake with wheels. Have a blade with 2 angles and tried a box scraper.
My 7' rake needs 2 hydraulic rams welded on to really make it work more than me switching and adjusting the angles.
A pro told me years ago, but I am slow and he did tell me..over and over.

 

[StuckRod]

There is no equal to a land-plane.

I just used mine yesterday to flatten out some skidder ruts in a hay field where I had a winter logging yard.

The first pass leveled just about everything up but then once the humps are knocked down, the second pass makes it baby-bottom smooth. Only a landplane can do that because unlike a 3 point hitch item, it does no go deeper into a hole when the rear tires go into a hole, or higher when it goes up over a hump because with 3 point hitch implements, it is cantilevered out the back. Because of that arrangement, any up and down movement is EXAGGERATED. You can take some of that out with the 3 point hitch control lever, but it is hardly great.

A landplane is the exact opposite. Its blade only travels half the distance since it gets its height based off the rear tires of the tractor, and its own tires. The longer the landplane is, the more smoother the surface will be.

I did find out though that it needs tandem tires attached in walking-beam-suspension fashion on the landplane. In that way, when the tires go into a hole, the blade stays level because the axles on the landplane pivot and keeps the blade flat. It basically needs rear axles like that of a grader.

 

[StuckRod]

After plowing snow all my life with a tractor, last year I realized I had been doing it wrong for years. I was always PUSHING snow out of the way.

Last year I used my landplane and it was incredible. I can drive through about a foot of snow, but even in Maine, we only get a few storms a year that are deeper than that. What I found was, by pulling my landplane set at an angle, I could cut my plowing time by an hour or more. I could do that because I was moving snow in 6th gear (out of 8) so snow was really flying.

I want to make a purpose built landplane now because it is an implement I use year-around.

 

[Bigworm]

I took some measurements off a friends land plane, gathered some material and started welding.

Could you give use the dimensions and material list? I would love to build one of these.

 

[Bearskinner]

Yes, I will. Im our grading now, waiting for a semi of 3/4” crushed to be delivered, so I’ll take some measurements before I put it away. Depending on your tractor size, you may want to go bigger. I have a 4WD Kubota SCUT, as I have a ton of trees and lots of tight areas. A bigger tractor would be good for the main road maintenance, but my little 25 HP does just fine

 

[Bearskinner]

Waiting for the gravel load. I set it up to use with a quick hitch cat1 the inside of the hitch, bottom is 24”, the pins go out from there. Sitting on the ground it’s 34”to the top pin, in my case a 3/4” bolt for the QH hook.

 

[Bearskinner]

I only went 6 feet wide, as the weight of any larger would probably stop my little Kubota. The AR steel blades I made were 72” long, at a 15 degree angle, so it was put in place and welded up before I framed it. I used 2 pieces of metal salvaged from a Mobil home trailer, for the side rails. I cut 45’s on the ends so there’s ramps F and R. Once the blades were tacked in place ( AR blades with 1/4” x 4” flat stock backer, making the blades into a T. ) I had a stack of 2” angle iron 3/1/4” for the cross supports. The two riser pieces were 1/4” x 4” flat stock. Drilled out for the QH pins and top pin for the top hook.

 

[Bearskinner]

The only reason I went 53” long is that’s the material I had for the side frame rails. You could go longer or shorter. With a bigger tractor, longer like using a wood plane, works better. It ended up just over 70” wide as the 72” blades set on an angle, come out at 70”. I think the only thing I have seen on many different land planes is the 15-18 degree angles on the blades seem to be standard. Have no idea if there’s science behind it, but this works perfect behind my tractor for grading 1400’ of driveway.

 

[Bigworm]

How far apart are the 2 blades from each other and does that matter? Thanks for the details. Its a really nice build.
.

 

[Bearskinner]

I would have made it further between the blades, if I had a longer piece of I beam, but that’s what I had to work with. I was able to build this for about $200, and a buddy bought one ( a really nice one) but paid $1,800 on sale. Of course everything got painted orange, and Kubota stickered

 

[Bigworm]

I have looked into buying one too and the $1800 part is why I want to build one. I just don't see why they are that expensive. I figured I could build one for under $500. Thanks for your help with the measurements.

 

[StuckRod]

I don’t remember actual costs but I would estimate the two AR steel “blades” added a good $40-50 to the cost.( over mild steel) Guess I could have gotten away a little cheaper. That’s ok

You make a valid point.

For about the same money a person could also just hard-face mild steel, and get plenty of service from the cutting edge as well. I just hard-faced a few teeth on my backhoe, and it took 20 minutes. As for longevity, only time will tell, but I would think I could get 300 cubic yards on it or so before that is worn off. Twenty minutes of work, for 300 cubic yards seemed like a good return on time and money spent I thought.

 

[g_man]

Nice job on that LandPlane BearSkinner. I made one 10 years ago after just having a rear Blade for the 10 years before that. I love how the LandPlane works and only use the Rear Blade once in a while now. Mine is 5' wide and 4'-6" long. Weighs 650 lbs.

 

[Bearskinner]

That’s s good picture of the gravel “waterfalling” over the blades, as it rolls up the gravel and redistributes it in place, filling in low spots. Do you know what the angle of the blades compared to the front cross bar?next time I grade I’ll take a couple similar pics

 

[g_man]

I just made them straight across at 90*. I used a pair of box blade cutting edges over that 3/8 angle. I have them down 3/4" below the skids.

 

[Dirt Guy]

Hi g man, Looks great, should do a good job. I have to say your welds look good. An idea is to paint it to match your tractor.

 

[Bearskinner]

I agree, Nicely built, looks a little heavier than the little one I made.
I have to paint all my implements to match, I even throw Kubota stickers on them. I grew up on my uncles cattle ranch, everything they had was JD Green. Keeps the rust down and easy to see a cracked or broken piece.

 

[Lis2323]

@Bearskinner nice job on the land plane.

I strongly feel you made the RIGHT decision using AR material for the blades.

Mild steel WEARS I don’t care what anyone says. They may THINK wear is minimal after several years and assume the plane is still doing a good job.

As you pointed out the difference in cost was minimal and you will have peace of mind knowing you built it right.

 

[Bearskinner]

Here’s a short video of the waterfall effect you get when grading off a gravel road. As the gravel goes over the blades, it settles into the low spots, and the blades remove the high spots, so the road is maintained effortlessly.

Ok, the 7 second video is too large to insert, so here’s a couple still pictures.

 

[Gary Fowler]

All this makes me want to make something with that 7 or 8' grader blade I picked up at my neighbors. My thought was to bolt it on to my FEL, but my FEL has no holes in it and I dont fancy drilling that many holes on the cutting edge. We have a golf cart trail between my house and my sister-in -law's place that is about 200 yards long. I use my FEL to back blade it about once a year and it stays pretty smooth so I will have to think of something else to use my grader blade for.