Land plane

[BlueRidgeRunner]

Hi All,

Some one suggested that I look into a land plane for my gravel roads. Over the winter the freeze/thaw cycles pack the gravel on my roads. I usually have new gravel spread but that is getting too expensive. It was suggested that I get a land plane as it will dig up the packed gravel and smooth any bumps or holes. Looking at them on line looks like it should do the job but I wanted to post it here to see your experiences with them. Also, on line vendor sites say a 20 hp tractor will work with a 60 inch plane. I have a 23 hp BX machine but that seems like a little much for it.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Blueridgerunner

 

[jimh406]

I use a land plane to do my driveway and community road maintenance. It works well. If you have potholes, you might have to use a scarifier to get rid of the hard surface in the hole. Otherwise, it's pretty easy. There are videos on YouTube that show how they work.

If you are worried that 5 ft is too wide, think about how wide your road is. That can impact how many passes you have to make. If you will need 4 passes with either, there is no advantage of using a 5 ft vs 4 ft.

 

[BlueRidgeRunner]

Thanks. Width isn't the concern. Weight of the plane and power needed to dig up the the gravel with a 23 hp machine is.

 

[jimh406]

Thanks. Width isn't the concern. Weight of the plane and power needed to dig up the the gravel with a 23 hp machine is.

If you didn't notice, I have a L2501HST with Land Pride GS1572. This combination works well for me. The specs say it weighs 594 lbs. Of course, with gravel inside the pull weight is more than that.

Obviously, the 5ft holds more material than a 4ft. (Thanks @North Idaho Wolfman)

 

[Shawn T. W]

I have a 25 HP SCUT, it pulls a 5' land plane just fine!

Here's a 14 second video of it, you can see how it rolls and mixes the gravel, as it flows from the first blade, to the second blade, then finally out the back ...

Land plane

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Obviously, the 4ft holds more material than a 5ft.

Reverse that.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Your BX will do fine with 5 foot.
Land planes don't require that much HP to run them properly,, unless they have scarifier on them, then they can get real bitey!

 

[Shawn T. W]

My blades only hung down 3/4", until I added longer runners I made out of 1/4" thick 2" angle iron, so only are 1/2" below the runners now, the video shows it fills up easily!

 

[Blue2Orange]

Similar concerns to the OP. Weight of the land plane. Similar sized BX. Plus add the grade of the driveway. Average grade isn't steep, but steeper sections might become an issue with the plane loaded up with gravel.

Kubota recommends the GS0548(#310) or GS0560(#350). But those models come with fixed cutting edges. Looks to be relatively aggressive. Maybe 2"???. Prefer the GS1548, but #437. Hope is removing the scarfing shanks would drop it below #400. Setting the blades to a mellow depth if any might allow for uphill grading. Personal needs are just routine maintenance of the driveway v. repair. Have a box scraper. Box scraper more or less works for maintenance grading. Just takes a bit more time and care. Shop mechanic noted the land plane which is what he uses on his gravel driveway is more or less idiot proof. The box scraper for "dummies". Me.

Side note. When moving "full" loads of gravel with the box scraper I only run it downhill. Spare gravel pile is at the top of the driveway. So no issues with limited to one direction only.

 

[BlueRidgeRunner]

If you didn't notice, I have a L2501HST with Land Pride GS1572. This combination works well for me. The specs say it weighs 594 lbs. Of course, with gravel inside the pull weight is more than that.

Obviously, the 4ft holds more material than a 5ft.

Thanks, similar hp so should work.

 

[Shawn T. W]

Yeah, but an L has bigger tires, better traction ...

My Bush Hog brand 60” Road Grader (Land Plane) weighs 285.8 Lbs in video above ...

 

[torch]

I pull a 50" land plane (home made) with my 16hp B7100. It does the job:

(NB: I follow it up with a water-filled roller. Helps keep it put longer.

 

[BlueRidgeRunner]

Similar concerns to the OP. Weight of the land plane. Similar sized BX. Plus add the grade of the driveway. Average grade isn't steep, but steeper sections might become an issue with the plane loaded up with gravel.

Kubota recommends the GS0548(#310) or GS0560(#350). But those models come with fixed cutting edges. Looks to be relatively aggressive. Maybe 2"???. Prefer the GS1548, but #437. Hope is removing the scarfing shanks would drop it below #400. Setting the blades to a mellow depth if any might allow for uphill grading. Personal needs are just routine maintenance of the driveway v. repair. Have a box scraper. Box scraper more or less works for maintenance grading. Just takes a bit more time and care. Shop mechanic noted the land plane which is what he uses on his gravel driveway is more or less idiot proof. The box scraper for "dummies". Me.

Side note. When moving "full" loads of gravel with the box scraper I only run it downhill. Spare gravel pile is at the top of the driveway. So no issues with limited to one direction only.

Great info! Thanks

 

[GreensvilleJay]

option 'B', use a 6' section of heavy C channel steel and a couple tractor tire chains behind it. It'll smooth out the gravel driveway fairly fast. Late farmer did that on his 800-900' driveway, it sure was pretty ! No weeds, always flat, smooth. The 'trick' is to 'grade' it often, at least once or twice per month.
I copied him, used a rider with smaller steel beam and chainlink fence( it's what I had) to do my 100' driveway and parking area.20 minutes later, they looked GREAT. simple and effective, cheap too !

 

[biketopia]

I pull a 6 foot, (really 76" )Catawba land plane behind my B2650, works like a dream! Weighs 637 lbs according to the spec sheet. Going faster than you think *within reason* seems to work better than just going slow, although I do need slow up in Medium when going up the hill of my drive way, or just shift to low.

https://cattachments.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Land-Lever-Website-Spec-Sheet-1.pdf

 

[skeets]

If you happen to be out and about on trash day, look for an OLD STEEL BOX SPRING ya dont need the mattress. Dragging that behind my BX for years on a gravel drive way about 400 feet. And that smoothed things out like a babies bottom.

 

[imarobot]

Dragging something behind the tractor is cheap and does work well, I did quite a while with chains. The only issue is if you have to back up to turn around, difficult to do when you're dragging something behind you.