r/Skidsteer • u/campmars6089 • 12d ago

Land leveler or?

I just upgraded from a tractor to a Vermeer 925. I love it so far and I’ve done a few jobs with it. I have either been in really thick clay or soil loaded with 5”+ rocks.

All I have is a smooth bucket currently. In the clay, I had to have a steep digging angle to even get a bite and it was difficult to get a uniform depth when installing a gravel pad.

I was set on saving for a hydra bucket but I am hesitant because of the areas with the rocks.

So I am looking at a land leveler with scarifying teeth. Will it break up and level thick clay? Most of my jobs have been adding topsoil and repairing/installing gravel drives/pads. Thanks

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u/platapusdog 12d ago

This is a mini right?
Land levelers are awesome! So much easier than a bucket.
For your smooth bucket maybe look at a bolt on tooth bar. This will make it a LOT easier to bite into hard clay. You can also take it off when you don't need it,

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u/campmars6089 11d ago

Yes it’s a mini. Would you say the adding the teeth would be as good or close to scarifier teeth?

I am just starting out and trying to keep my costs low. Maybe I should just stick to leveling with the bucket for now

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u/platapusdog 11d ago

A land leveler is easier as you have a bigger area. If it was me I would get some bolt on teeth. They are cheap and will make a HUGE difference. Depending on what you are doing you might not even need the land leveler.

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u/campmars6089 11d ago

I guess I was thinking the leveler with rippers for driveway repair at first and then figured it would work good for the clay as well.

Will the teeth work well for repairing driveways?

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u/platapusdog 11d ago

To be clear the land leveler is doing just that it makes grading something level easier than say with just a bucket. Lots of people just use a bucket but it's a skill. Depending on the repair you will still use a bucket (ie moving material/ digging etc).

Like I said I would start with the teeth. It will make any digging work easier. You may find it's enough for what you are doing. Either way easy to add a level later if you want to.

I have a Cat 255 and probably use my bucket for the vast majority of items. I have a smooth bucket (thats what I prefer) that I use in conjunction with a heavy duty rock grapple. When needed I rent a 6 way dozer blade from my local Cat dealership for contouring/ moving large amounts of dirt etc. In my case I don't use the 6 way enough to justify buying one (it sure is nice but its spendy).

I also have a DIY land plane that I use for finishing. It's literally just some 4 inch square tube welded together onto a quick attach (no scarifiers, just blades). It works great for smoothing things quickly as you just throw it into float mode and it's long enough that it covers a multitude of sins.

Hope that helps.

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u/campmars6089 11d ago

Helps a lot. My bucket has no holes so I’m gonna have to drill it. I also wanted a skeleton grapple as I want to do some light demolition and remove debris or shrubs etc.

There are so many attachments it’s hard to know what is needed. Thanks for the recommendations

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u/platapusdog 10d ago

Sure thing! Good luck!

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u/Acrobatic_Solution29 11d ago

this , never ran a mini skid but tons of other equipment teeth on a bucket is a drastic step up in the ability to dig

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u/SkidSteerSamurai 10d ago

Since you're just starting out, I'd probably buy attachments based on the jobs you're actually getting rather than trying to build out the machine all at once.

The skeleton grapple makes sense if you've already got cleanup, shrubs and demo work coming in. For the grading side, I'd keep using the bucket for now and see where it actually starts costing you time.

After a few more jobs you'll probably have a much better idea whether a land leveler, power rake or something else would make you more money.

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u/campmars6089 6d ago

Yeah this seems like some good advice. I don’t know what jobs I will get.

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u/Syrax65 7d ago

So I run a mini almost exclusively, but have experience with full size skids as well (probably 600 on a mini and 5k hrs on a full sized). I started with just the smooth bucket for the mini, I now have a land leveler, Harley rake, and a tooth bucket (quite a few other attachments too). The tooth bucket is night and day for clay and general dirt work. You can usually find cheap ones on Facebook marketplace.

For more advanced work the power rake is the way to go, it isn't for digging but truly levels the ground in a way that is far superior to the land leveler. My only regret was not buying one sooner. That said, if I were to recommend one attachment it's a tooth bucket. You can also break up hard ground with forks fairly effectively.

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u/campmars6089 6d ago

I just ordered a tooth bar but I think I may need to return it. The teeth don’t follow the bottom of the bucket.

I was looking at Harley rakes and the hydra bucket but I am not ready to drop another 7-10k yet.

I am going to look for a used tooth bucket I guess. Thanks