Land plane

[John K Jordan]

Newest attachment for the tractor, a land plane (also sometimes called a land leveler/grader.) It has two horizontal, parallel, and slightly skewed blades and rides on skids. The blades pick up dirt, lightly cutting into the surface, knocking off the high spots and filling in the low.

land-plane.jpg

I bought it mostly to maintain the gravel driveway and roads on my place (it's amazing!) but it's great for general surfacing and smoothing. It does have scarifiers that can loosen hard dirt if needed. We are leveling an oval-shaped arena area for horse training and exercise, about 64'x120'. Actually, it's sloped slightly for drainage - laser level again comes to the rescue! I'll put down 3-4" of sand/fine gravel mixed with a bit of clay for good footing.

These things come with two hardened blades for cutting while pulling forward but I bought extra blades so I can cut/smooth in reverse as needed. The entire attachment can be tilted and/or the blade height adjusted for a more aggressive cut. The dirt/gravel builds up in front and between the blades then flows over the top of the rear blade to leave a smooth surface. It's quicker and does a better job than the yard box after a downpour cuts some minor gullies in the gravel. (My gravel and dirt roads are sloped but not steep.)

Good fun!

[Bruce Page]

Country boys have the coolest toys!

[Jim Becker]

John, on your footing, best long term results come from building it in layers...flatten, geotextile if financially possible, compacted base of at least 4" and I do mean compacted but sloped for drainage, and then your footing. Screenings mixed with sand is what's popular around here for a good all weather footing. That compacted base is what keeps things nice over time.

[Bill Dufour]

That one looks tiny to me, under 50 feet long. I thought they had wheels front and back?
My old neighbor from Tennessee thought it odd that the bigger farms left the tractors out in the field at quitting time. I see that all the time here.
Bill D

[Ron Selzer]

Looks like a hydraulic top link on there, definitely a nice tool to have

Ron

[Alex Zeller]

That was the first attachment I bought when I got my Kubota. I got a Befco and it's on my tractor about 80% of the time. I use it on my gravel driveway and ROW. It's around 800lbs and struggles a little when the sun really bakes the gravel into more like cement so I have two beech logs on top of it that at least double the weight. Everyone told me to get a box blade (that's all dealers around here have in stock) but I've used them in the past and they are for building a yard or road, not maintaining it. All my friends who said get a box blade who have tractors have been converted after seeing just how easy and how well the grading scraper (or otherwise called a land plane) works.

[John K Jordan]

John, on your footing, best long term results come from building it in layers...flatten, geotextile if financially possible, compacted base of at least 4" and I do mean compacted but sloped for drainage, and then your footing. Screenings mixed with sand is what's popular around here for a good all weather footing. That compacted base is what keeps things nice over time.

Jim, already planned. Big roll of geotextile is waiting. The only thing I need to research is how much slope is required. I’m also digging a drainage ditch around the perimeter where the ground slopes up a little.

I’ll also use the geotextile on front of the horse shelter which gets churned up into a muddy mess in wet seasons, using the method required by the Dept of Ag when they paid me to in a livestock waterer. Always something to do around here to keep me from getting bored.

A friend has a place near his barn that was so muddy from the cows he had to rescue his wife when she got stuck in it. In the dry summer he dug down to solid ground, put down a layer of geotextile, and filled with gravel. Since then it’s been almost as hard as concrete.

[John K Jordan]

Looks like a hydraulic top link on there, definitely a nice tool to have

Ron, some years ago I had my Kubota dealer install hydraulic valves and control levers (next to the seat) and replaced the top link and one side link with cylinders, sometimes called Top and Tilt. Both cylinders are massive.

Man oh man what a difference that made. Never again did I have to jump off the tractor to tweek the links for those “perfect” angles for the job. It’s dynamic too, for example you can adjust them while moving to shape the ground, or adjust them differently if needed for backing up. I use them the most on the yard box but also the landscaping rake, grader blade (to cut or clean out ditches), even with the rototiller and brush cutter for some circumstances. They also make connecting attachments to the 3-point hitch so much quicker and easier.

It’s invaluable for vertically aligning the hydraulic fence post driver when the ground is not flat. I had to add a third valve and control lever for that but since the dealer had done the basic work it was trivial to do myself.

After using the tractor this way I don’t ever want to have a tractor without them! Maybe with reasonable maintenance and care this tractor will last until I’m too old to climb up and operate it.

JKJ

[Edward Weber]

I have to ask, why is the bucket sky high?

[Dave Cav]

I sure wish I had known about that about 20 years ago when I was maintaining over an eighth of a mile of gravel driveway. It would have worked way better than the box blade and angle scraper, and been a lot easier than a bucket full of crushed rock and a shovel and rake.

[Dave Cav]

I have to ask, why is the bucket sky high?

Better forward visibility. At least, that's why I did it.

[Ron Selzer]

I have to ask, why is the bucket sky high?

Better forward visibility. At least, that's why I did it.

Bad habit to get into, easy way to roll tractor over on it's side

Ron

[Edward Weber]

If you can't see over it, take it off.
The ground clearance on my machine is about 14", I don't need to lift my bucket any higher than that to insure I don't hit it on anything. At ground clearance height or slightly above, you should have plenty of visibility
The one in the photo has a SSQA, it only takes a minute to detach or re-attach

Driving with the bucket like that is dangerous. If this is what you think you need to do, be careful. I would strongly advise against it.

[Alex Zeller]

On flat ground with an empty bucket it's not too dangerous to leave the bucket up. I find a bigger danger leaving a bucket up when the tractor is stopped is people walking into it because they are looking down at the ground.

[John K Jordan]

I have to ask, why is the bucket sky high?

Bad habit to get into, easy way to roll tractor over on it's side

Ron

Thank you for your concern. However, it was not a problem.

It's not a habit with us, it was necessary for some passes around the arena to clear a tall fence. Without raising the bucket she couldn't get close to the outside of the curve. Taking the bucket off would help some but the FEL arms and quick connect could still hit the fence and I'm not about to remove the entire FEL for a few passes around the flat dirt. BTW, I use the bucket to take both land plane to the site behind the barn with the yard box mounted on the 3pt hitch.

The tractor is not going to roll over on flat ground, driving slow, no surprise humps or holes in the ground, no load in the bucket. This might be a problem with a very light tractor and heavy bucket or working on a slope. Like many things, if you are not comfortable with the equipment and the issues don't do it.

The visibility for this use is fine with the bucket down. I find myself raising the bucket on the tracked skid steer/loader more for visibility. However that thing is quite heavy with a low CG, rated to lift a full bucket for loading into a dump truck. (I wouldn't do that on a slope either.)

I typically remove the bucket when working a hay field or spreading seed/lime/fertilizer. Otherwise the bucket or the forks stay on the tractor. When I work on a slope the bucket hugs the ground.

JKJ