Quebec manufacturer Lacasse Machinerie has introduced its Pro-Level 16XL land leveller to the market, offering a large 30-cubic metre capacity to move a lot of soil quickly, as well as a blade uniquely designed for the ability to precisely grade and finish a contoured surface.
“When we level we normally need two machines, the first one to move the soil and the other machine to finalize (the surface) with a grader, with precision,” says Pascal Bedard, owner of Block Distribution, the Canadian distributor for Lacasse equipment.
“The peculiarity of the Pro-Level 16XL is it’s two machines in one. There is a lot of precision with the blade fixed, and it can carry a lot of soil in the rear bucket. This is a unique product. There is nothing else on the market that does both jobs. There are a lot of other soil carriers, but they’re not as precise.”
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The Pro-level 16XL takes a 16-foot cut. It rides on eight rear-mounted wheels that are designed to allow large soil clumps and rocks to pass freely, for smoother, more stable tracking. With wheels at the rear, the hitch weight increases, boosting traction for the tractor. The bottom of the bucket has a rounded design, allowing soil to roll out more efficiently.
The scraper may also take less power to pull: the company claims the Pro-Level 16XL has a lower horsepower requirement than other designs, making it more fuel-efficient. The company says fuel savings can exceed 20 per cent, compared to competitors’ models, with demand as low as 30 litres per hour.
The company says those fuel savings come from the machine design, which uses a fixed blade relative to the scraper and a pivoting accumulation bucket positioned above the blade. The soil collected in the bucket is supported by wheels rather than dragged in front of the blade.
However, the Pro-level 16XL will still need a minimum of 400 horses up front to handle it.
Bedard says there really isn’t any other machine on the market that can directly compete with this unit’s capabilities, due to its ability to carry a large soil payload and still provide a very precise, graded finish.
“I have no direct competition,” he says.
The Pro-Level can be equipped with eight high-flotation tires as an option, although those would add $22,000 to the $99,500 base price of the unit.
Lacasse Machinerie is a small company that has been building products at Saint-Agapit, southwest of Quebec City, for about 10 years.
In that time, Bedard says, it has gained a reputation as a a high-quality manufacturer. He works exclusively marketing its equipment. If need be, Lacasse can customize a machine to precisely meet any buyer’s requirements.
“We are a small manufacturer at Lacasse,” Bedard says, “so we can easily customize product to the specific needs of the customer.”
The company has been building land levellers for almost a decade, he adds, and the Pro-Level 16XL includes a number of design updates that result from those years of field experience.
The company builds six different models in its Pro Level line, with cutting widths from 14 to 20 feet and capacities from six to 30 cubic metres.
