What's the best attachment for leveling?

[955Lincoln]

OldandWorn,
Thanks for the compliments first of all, I found my dog on the internet. He was in a no kill shelter in LA and I drove the 1000 miles to go get him. No one must have wanted him because he was in the shelter for 3.5 years. I think I made a good decision for both of us Great dog.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

About your road, I would say you have a better grip on using the boxblade than most here. It looks good and indicates you have taken the time to learn to control it. A landplane/grader is the tool to use for the smoothing, a heavy one with long skids will make you look like a pro. I should add that most of these will carry more dirt than you may think so they can cut and fill agressively. Next time I build one it will have a hyd ripper and slightly longer skids.


I really don't know who started all this crap about check valves. I think
boom check valves for safety are a good idea but I don't see the point of them on my top and tilt hitch. I use the joystick on both my 110tlb and 4520 to operate the top and tilt circuits. This allows me to push the joystick forward and in turn tilts the boxblade or other implement forward, so it is intuitive to me. Push the joystick to the float position and you can float the top link. Same for the tilt function, push the joystick to the left and tilt the box to the left and so on.

More on the check valves, while the use of check valves will help hold the cylinder in a fixed position for a longer duration of time I don't see the need. As you probably already learned you need to adjust the hitch positiions frequently to grade properly. If you have a good working control valve and a good cylinder then creep should be minimal, no different than any other cylinder function on your equipment. Much easier to feather a cylinder without the check valves too, and imo the fine adjustments to the hitch are the difference between a good and bad finished product/results.

I recommend the IMatch and top and tilt for a good combination of user freindly performance. This is argued frequently on TBN and all I can say is 90% of the time I can change implements without leaving the seat in a minute or so. Same is true whether it is a cat 1 or cat 2 size. Make everything fit this standard and you will eliminate alot of grief. I still have to get out to hookup a pto shaft or raise and lower a parking stand on some implements but thats about it.

My BB1284 boxblade was an early purchase and the top link is not IMatch compatible right now but I will modify it before Spring arrives. Just about everything else has been made to fit and was well worth the time taken to do so. The new version of the boxblade is IMatch compatible and is the only difference I can see. As I buy new implements I make sure they are IMatch compatible or easily converted to IMatch. If I build a custom tool I do this too.

Here's a few more pics,

#1 picture taken after rolling in seed from above job. compare to the #7 picture above.
#2 front view of landplane
#3 and 4 boxblade and top and tilt hookup
#5 and 6 hose routing

Thanks for the road compliment and that is a nice story about your dog Steve. I like hearing what you said about the check valves, simpler, float, and less money, what's not to like

I notice that your BB is exactly like mine. It must be made by Gannon and labeled Frontier.

Before I bought my tractor I was planning on some sort of quick hitch but it came with something almost as good from the factory and doesn't place the implements farther away. That tab you see is spring loaded so you simply raise the arms and the balls lock into place. To release, you lift up on the top thing and it retracts the tabs. The top thing has little shackles so you can run small chains or rope and do it from the cab if you are constantly changing implements for a living. Like yours, my BB is not quick hitch compatable and it became a non-issue with this system. Luckly, all of my implements have the same spacing and I need to pay attention to that when buying more. The width of the arms can of course be adjusted but I would rather not if possible. Something else I like about this setup is that when you tilt your implements you retain full contact because they ride in a ball socket. I permanently leave the balls on each attachment so there is an added expense. One could move the balls around but then it wouldn't be very quick hitchish anymore. I just made that word up

Henry

 

[jenkinsph]

Loods good very similar to the IMatch without the fixed top link hook. As long as you aren't having to struggle with the heavy implements all is good.:thumbsup:

On my tractors the telescopic link helps with the occasional non I Match tool. And since the links have swivel balls as is the norm these still swivel when tilting the implement and IMatch just as yours do.

 

[955Lincoln]

Loods good very similar to the IMatch without the fixed top link hook. As long as you aren't having to struggle with the heavy implements all is good.:thumbsup:

On my tractors the telescopic link helps with the occasional non I Match tool. And since the links have swivel balls as is the norm these still swivel when tilting the implement and IMatch just as yours do.

Yes, I knew that the IMatch swiveled. I was actually thinking of the Pat's quick hitch system which mine sort of remind me of.

 

[jenkinsph]

For anyone else looking for a good boxblade here's one I found for $1500 used. I don't know what you could do to hurt one of these.

Even with shipping thats a great price.

Gannon HD2448 HXD Industrial Box Scraper Box Scrapers from Montana Kubota Bozeman MT

 

[jenkinsph]

Thanks guys. I gotta go get one now.

The boxblade in my post above would be a good deal for you.

 

[AGGIE00]

I have that same frontier box blade and first turned the cutting edge into a banana from a stump and then folded the main tubing where the lift arms attach while pushing sand backwards and catching another stump.

To the original post, you are looking at a lot of work for a 2wd tractor, not that it can't be done. If it were me I would use my 3cy scraper pan and and then finish with the box blade. I would also aquire a rotating laser and linker rod to check some grade.

 

[jeffxjet]

The boxblade in my post above would be a good deal for you.

Wow, that is a great price. I didn't see how much shipping was, did you? I think I will call them tomorrow.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have that same frontier box blade and first turned the cutting edge into a banana from a stump and then folded the main tubing where the lift arms attach while pushing sand backwards and catching another stump.

.

Wow that was some bad luck

Bending 5" heavy wall box tubing up is impressive. How fast were you going when this happened?

 

[jeffxjet]

I just wanted to come back and say thanks for the advice you guys gave. I heeded your advice and waited til a decent blade showed up on craigslist. I finally found one, a cammond 4c2 76 inch box blade wig hydraulic rippers. I posted about it in the attachments forum.
I just wanted come back and say I am so glad I waited. The heft of the blade is tremendous and the hydraulic rippers make the job so easy. I dont even want to think of my what my frustration level might have been with the manual rippers. Thanks again guys!

 

[DeeDubya]

I'm presently working a driveway (1200') on a hill country lot. Nothing but bedrock topped with honeycomb rock. A back-blade is out of the question as some of the rocks are breaking the surface by 6" or more. I'm spreading road base with the loader and then dragging this 4' harrow to smooth it. It is working better than I ever expected. The harrow loosens, mixes, and levels the base material while just gliding over the rocks filling in between. The boom allows the convenience of backing up or picking up the harrow to turn around. I got the boom at TS on sale for $99 and the harrow at a local dealer for $350. Some chain and it was done. Turns out to be one most used attachments other than the bucket. I have since added (not in these pics) a 4"x4"x60" angle iron drag behind the harrow to grade more material to the sides.