There's a story about farm pans. A conventional scraper contractor won a contract for the site work on a huge big box store in the Midwest. He hauled in his stuff and went to work. Dirt flew in all directions, as motor scrapers can really bulk dirt bar none. Meantime, the second low bidder showed up with a fleet of ag tractors and pans. Parked them and just waited, day after day. Finally, the first guy bailed, and the pan guy went to work, finishing the job. I got this from a Deere dealer I know quite well, and I figure it's pretty straight up info he picked up at a dealer conference.
I fooled with some ag tractor pans on a federal road job. The aren't worth the pot I **** in daily insofar as work and craftsmanship go. But they will skin a conventional scraper operation nine different ways on simple site work. Buy them new with new pans, run to 3,000+ hours and sell the entire POS at auction.
The cutting must be as long as the distance between the rear tires, outside edge to outside edge, and only two rear tires. Any other configuration and they won't hold a slope and you will work your a$$ to death keeping cuts and the fill in order on a road job.