New Equipment

[yoderjac]

I've always used my tractor FEL and a box blade to maintain roads. As some of you know, I recently retired and am in the middle of a retirement home construction. We will have a 1/4 mile driveway in addition to the logging roads at the farm to maintain. I thought I would try a new approach. Today, I ordered a land leveler. I ordered it from Everything Attachments. It seemed heavier duty than Titan and some of the other competition. We bought a disk from them for maintaining firebreaks a few years ago and I'm happy with it.

The pic above is from their web site. They are saying 1 to 2 weeks for delivery. They are close enough to me that I qualify for free freight shipping. Normally, I would have them ship to a freight terminal and pick it up, but given the current diesel prices, I decided it was worth paying the $125 residential delivery charge to have them deliver it directly here.

When I get a chance to use it, I'll report back on this thread. It has both cat 1 and 2 hookup. I'll probably be able to use my Kubota B2400 for light work but it will be a lot for that tractor. My Kioti DK45 should handle it easily even with tines deployed. I decided to order a 6' version. Not only can both tractors handle it, but I should be able to make a pass in each direction on a road sort of crowning it in the middle if I want. While the Kioti could handle a larger model, I think crowning would be tougher.

 

[jsasker007]

Is that the same thing as a land plane? Been thinking about trying something like this myself even though the box blade I have seems to get the job done I'm always looking for something that might work better. I'll wait to see what you have to say after you use it a couple times. Bit of a learning curve to everything. Box blade works pretty good for my jobs so far.

 

[yoderjac]

Yes, it is called a land plane. I too have been using a box blade. This will be my first experience with a land plane, but here is my understanding of the difference. A box blade is best at moving a large amount of material from one place to another. It take some amount of skill to constantly adjust the 3-pt hitch as you go. A land plane is better at moving smaller amounts of material to take off high spots and fill in low spots. Material is constantly building up and spilling over behind the plane. You generally don't need to adjust the height as the sides ride on the ground. Once you get the angle correct, you just drive the tractor and let it do it's thing. You make multiple passes as needed. The cutters are angled, so there is some movement of material from one side to another but not a lot. With multiple passes in opposite directions on a road you could put a crown in the middle. You can also adjust one of the 3pt arms a little higher to increase this side-to-side movement of material.

Both my box blade and the land plane I got have tines. One thing with a land plan is that because the sides ride on the ground, you don't want a large hump or dip where the sides ride. Some folks don't need or want a crown on a road, so you can just go down the center and remove the crown. Most roads used regularly develop a crown with the tires riding on either side. If you have water issues you likely want a crown in flat areas and a slope one direction or the other on slopes.

I'm expecting the land plane to be easier to use. It is more about where you use is then constantly adjusting it as you go. I think it will be easier for road and trail maintenance, but time will tell. I have not heard anything about it being shipped yet. They said 1 to 2 weeks.

 

[jsasker007]

Sounds like the cats' PJ's for driveway conditioning. Box blade works good for getting things to level but sounds like the plane needs to be added to the arsenal. I think I'll buy one and the wife can find out after I have it in the yard. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission ya know. Plus, she just doesn't understand how a guy can't live without these implements. Now to figure the right size to get.

 

[jsasker007]

Didn't realize the cutting edge/blade was adjustable. That's a plus. THANKS

 

[yoderjac]

Didn't realize the cutting edge/blade was adjustable. That's a plus. THANKS

The blades are not adjustable, in general for use. When I was talking about raising one side to improve side-to-side material movement, I was revering to raising one of the 3-pt hitch arms. The cutting edges are adjustable for wear. As the cutting edge wears down from use, you can drop them (at leas on the model I got by 3/4 of an inch to get more use out of them. Then you can flip them over for a brand new edge.

As far as size goes, the first limitation will be your tractor size. The one I got was for my DK45 primarily. They said my Kubota b2400 could also handle it for light work like maintaining a gravel driveway, but if I need to drop the tines and do heavier work, it may be too much for the b2400. The one I got is 6'. That is about right for me to make one pass each way on a driveway or logging road. I was concerned that anything wider would be to wide for my primary applications.

The company I bought mine from is not inexpensive, but when I compare how heavy duty they build them compared to Titan or other small equipment builders, the added cost was worth it to me. The design is very well thought out. They are made in NC, and I'm withing the 750 mile free freight zone for them. Because diesel is so expensive right not, I paid an extra $125 for residential delivery. It would have cost me about that to drive to the nearest freight terminal and back to pick it up. My last fill up was over $150! This is a company hype video, but when I compare it to the specs of the competition, I buy most of his claims:

They do make a lighter duty version for smaller utility tractors that is less expensive. I have not compared that one to the competition as I wanted the heavy duty one.

By the way, several years ago, when I was looking for a disk for maintaining firebreaks, I ended up going with this company after comparing several. We have been very happy with that implement, and I've run it very hard. That is what got me to look at this company for a land plane.

 

[jsasker007]

Should be able to get one of my tractors set up to use it. Have a few options there. 4052r,4075r and a 5100m. They might all be able to do it. Have to look into the size options for a plane on the width I think. Going from memory I think the widest tractor is around 78". I'll research what's out there and see how you like the one you get and go from there. THANKS

 

[yoderjac]

Yep, those tractors are much larger than my dk45. I'm sure they could handle a 7' or 8' model. I think a box blade probably requires more tractor than a land plane, so if you're happy with how your tractor handles a box blade, I'm sure it could handle a land plane of equal width.