Grader blade backwards works best...

[sixdogs]

I was grading a part of my gravel drive with my 7 ft HD blade and was doing the normal thing. Then, being the lazy sort i can sometimes be, I decided to just drop the blade and back up to level some smaller 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch gravel and smooth some minor inconsistancies. It worked wonderful. It worked better grading with the back side of the blade and just backing up the tractor. Very noticably better.
Ground was flat as a pancanke, no gouges and gravel evenly distributed.
Now, it worked best with the tractor in "draft control" and not quite as well without it.
I have an 8 ft rock rake that is fine but this I dare say, worked better.
Probably everyone knows about this but I can't recall seeing such a post so thought i would offer this. It works with my other moment of brilliance--- that a rock (lanscape) rake is better at snow removal than a blade. But that's for another day.

 

[Dyer retired]

I have a much smaller blade on my tractor (5 foot) and do a lot of snow removal with the blade going backwards. I have also turned the blade around and pushed it like a normal snowplow....also works great, but hit an iced over snowbank and bent a drag link. 3RRL suggested a fix for that and I haven't had a problem with bent drag links since, and I've been pushing dirt with it lately. If you haven't seen what 3RRL does with his box blade pushing it backwards, it's worth doing a search and watching some of the video.

I also level my driveway by pulling up the dirt going forward and smoothing it back over in reverse...it does work great! Dyer, retired

 

[JoeinTX]

Yeah, if digging or moving larger amounts of material I have the blade facing forward........if grading or shaping loose material I flip it around facing backwards.

The cutting side edge of the blade is designed to pull the blade down while the reverse side offers less resistance and tends to ride over the material.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Yeah, when I crown the drive I angle the blade to cut from the shoulder and deposit the gravel in the center of the road. After doing both sides I turn the blade around and drag it backwards to smooth and shape the crown.