Box Scraper cheep box blade or expensive box blade

[patrick_g]

do I need pictures? I really dont know what to do....
help

Forget the pix. Short wheel base tractor can even amplify waves of dirt. You start out with gentle waves and the tractor pulls the box blade over them and the waves move a little and get bigger (trough to crest) than before.

There are several ways to improve on this situation and some of them let you use the same tractor and box blade.

If you can run across the waves on the bias you can remove the tops and drop some of the excess into the valleys. Lets say your waves (if they were water waves) would be going N-S. Driving E-W and stradling a crest you shoiuld be able to cut it down. If you travel NNW (roughly 22 1/2 dergrees off the E-W running crests you can cut the tops off and deposit the excess in the troughs. You will need to make some passes from L to R and others R to L to get even results.

Another tip: If you work with a full box then anytime you pass over a concavity you tend to fill it.

Oh, did I mention that without TNT it is just plain difficult to do a good box blade job in the situation you find yourself?

With TNT you can proceed quite slowly giving yourself and the tractor hydraulics sufficient reaction time to adjust the box blade up and down with the top cylinder and 3PH lower arms and cut the tops off to deposit into hte valleys. Without TNT it is just really hard to get good results in difficult situatiions from a box blade.

My box blade has blades in front and back. Sometimes backing up and using the box bloade for a mini-dozer is the easiest way to knock off the tops and put them in the low places. But again, withoiut TNT that is not easy to do.

You will read notes here about folks who don't think TNT is worth it or needed at all. You can be sure the odds are they never had TNT or knew how to use it to good advantage. Remember, you can do what you need to do with a shovel or a teaspoon but a properly equipped tractor is a better idea.

Pat

 

[wushaw]

You will read notes here about folks who don't think TNT is worth it or needed at all. You can be sure the odds are they never had TNT or knew how to use it to good advantage. Remember, you can do what you need to do with a shovel or a teaspoon but a properly equipped tractor is a better idea.

This is soooo true

 

[schmism]

LIke others ahve said...

i picked up a cheep "light duity" BB for $275.... (new although it had been sitting around)

as others have said, lacks the weight to cut well. Havnt gotten around to adding more weight, although it does just fine in gradeing non-compacted material fine.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

You will read notes here about folks who don't think TNT is worth it or needed at all. You can be sure the odds are they never had TNT or knew how to use it to good advantage. Remember, you can do what you need to do with a shovel or a teaspoon but a properly equipped tractor is a better idea.

This is soooo true

Hydraulic top links are just about the handiest thing to come down the pike since shirt pockets and sliced bread. I've used a couple tractors with hydraulic tilt and liked it, especially for grading, but if I was forced to choose between the 2, the top link wins hands down.

The hyd. top link is sweet when using a mounted bush hog and a mounted plow too!

 

[john_bud]

Well, if you are making waves, try just getting along.....

Oh, wrong type of waves?


If you are making waves with a box blade and were wanting to make it smooth, there are a couple tricks and tips.

1) If you have a swinging back blade, bolt it down.
2) LENGTHEN the top link, so the front blade is just barely touching and most of the box's weight is on the rear blade. That will smooth the ground when you are going forward. It will mess it up to heck if you go backwards like that!
3) As you go forward, keep your hand on the 3pt control. As you transistion from slightly down to slightly up - pick up on the 3pt so the box will dump into the valley. As you crest the hill, drop the box so it stays at the same height and even down some to cut off the top of the wave. You MUST have the 3pt drop speed adjustment set to FULL DROP SPEED. No hesitation.
4) After you get the worst of it smoothed out, reset your top link so that the box is dead level or slightly nose down. You are going to back up looking over your right shoulder with your right hand on the 3pt control. You will be raising and dropping the 3pt slightly to kiss off the tops of the waves and dump the dirt into the valleys.
5) once you get it pretty good, you can reset the 3pt so the front blade is about 1/4"-1/2" higher than the back blade. You should be able to drag that around going forward and make it pretty smooth. Keep your hand on the 3pt lever and adjust for slight bumps and dips!

Naturally, if you have a hydraulic top link the technique is slightly different. But the idea behind it is the same. You have to react to the ground to dump more into the low spots and take more off of the high spots. Only practice will get you good. Lot's of practice.

 

[dtd24]

Lots of good info here. I have a King Kutter or Farm Force box blade and it works well. I have been cutting a driveway into an old 4x4 trail that goes to my barns. Hard clay and shale soil. I uaually do the cutting part after a bit of rain, and then clean up ruts I make once it drys out a bit. I am close to getting the crusher run delivered!!!!

When you do get your box blade be patient!!! It takes alot of adjusting and more adjusting to get what you desire. Prepare to be up and down the tractor alot at first. Good Luck!!!

 

[jacobweaver32]

wow thanks for the input guys... I am glad to hear this is a common problem and I am not the only one struggling.

I think I will try to go across the crest of the "waves" and drag as much dirt out as i can... then I can redistribute it evenly across the whole graded area. Then I can go back and smooth it out with some "fine" hand control. My woods bb does have a reverse blade on it so i can put it down and go forward flatting and smoothing as I go.
I have used the fel a little to back grade too, however I seem to accidentally go to deep sometimes and make more of a mess.

As far as the BBs are concerned... from what everyone says it seems that a cheapo is the way to go... and just add some weight if needed... mine weighs in at about 800lbs but still needs some weight I think (clay below the top soil). I doubt I could ever break the thing... but for 800 bones ... it shouldnt.

Now off to find out what a TNT is......

NOOB

 

[jacobweaver32]

BTW anyone know where to get a shorter toplink for a reasonable price?

 

[greg_g]

BTW anyone know where to get a shorter toplink for a reasonable price?

Shorter than what? I assume you've got a Cat 1 that you think is too long. What's the length of the barrel part? What's the measurement between the pin holes when adjust to it's shortest? to it's longest ?

//greg//

 

[hunterridgefarm]

wow thanks for the input guys... I am glad to hear this is a common problem and I am not the only one struggling.

I think I will try to go across the crest of the "waves" and drag as much dirt out as i can... then I can redistribute it evenly across the whole graded area. Then I can go back and smooth it out with some "fine" hand control. My woods bb does have a reverse blade on it so i can put it down and go forward flatting and smoothing as I go.
I have used the fel a little to back grade too, however I seem to accidentally go to deep sometimes and make more of a mess.

As far as the BBs are concerned... from what everyone says it seems that a cheapo is the way to go... and just add some weight if needed... mine weighs in at about 800lbs but still needs some weight I think (clay below the top soil). I doubt I could ever break the thing... but for 800 bones ... it shouldnt.

Now off to find out what a TNT is......

NOOB

I have used my boxblade extensively the last 2 years. You have received some good advice and pointers from everyone.

The only thing I could add is when filling in the waves and dips, once soil is loosened with your boxblade back drag with your FEL. You may be surprised how it helps fill in low spots. Play with the down pressure and tilt of the bucket and try the float position.