road grading question

[townlineterry]

Looking at couple of options for grading gravel roads with a 3 point attachment One is a Roadrunner the other is a land plane. Only advantage I can see to the Roadrunner is that the depth of the blades can be changed hydraulically to make a crown. Thinking you could do the same with a land plane using the adjustable lift arm. If that works as well the Roadrunner is not worth the extra cost.

Anybody with experience with these?

Terry

[Lavoy]

I have a 3 pt blade and a plane. Blade is nice for pulling the shoulders in and making a crown, plane is best for leveling. Not sure what a roadrunner is.
Lavoy

[townlineterry]

A Roadrunner is essentially a heavy duty land plane with adjustable height on the grader blades www.roadrunnerblade.com. I am skeptical that for the price it would have any advantages over the leveling the dips with a plane then crowning with a back blade. Or as I said using the adjustable lift arm to angle the plane to crown and level in one shot.

Guess maybe I answered my own question.

[Lavoy]

The one thing about crowning with a plane is the cutting edge is perpendicular to the direction of travel, you can't angle it to pull the shoulders in. That is why I go with the blade first, then the plane. I also have skid shoes on my 3PT blade, so I rock it back on the shoes to control depth. I have seen blades with gauge wheels, not sure how well that would work.
Lavoy

[pop pop]

Not sure what a roadrunner is.
Lavoy

that skinny pheasant that goes "beep beep"

[Lavoy]

Yeah, okay, might have asked for that one!
Lavoy

[Willie B]

I will have my first opportunity to grade with a crawler soon. With a wheel tractor it has been a lifelong quest. A York Rake with gauge wheels is a great machine when the road is made of good gravel. If there are rocks baseball sized and larger, it won't work. The rake, or scraper blade hop over each rock leaving a 8' wide speed bump shaped like the rock. With enough patience you can loosen, and pick the rocks. Or cover them with processed material. In rock free gravel with crown, I think the best maintainer is a flat slab of concrete as heavy as you can tow. Fit it with an A frame tongue short enough to lift the front as it encounters a rock. Like a glacier, it knocks off the humps, depositing them in the holes.

I went many years ago to Mount Washington. The road was mostly gravel then, and it was maintained with a huge drag made up of several dozen push brooms. The quality of the road was remarkable!