What attachment do I need?

[Fred The Canuck]

Hello all. My tractor was just delivered today and I am trying to figure out what attachment I need.
Situation: I have a back yard I'm cleaning up. It has been full of blackberry bushes since Jesus was in diapers. There are roots from all the small scrub brush and blackberry bushes I have cut down. The soil is clay. I want to smooth out the area to setup proper drainage. (6 degree inclination towards my house levelling off 100' out.) The dealership thinks a landscaping rake will do the job. I think a box scraper will be better suited to the task using the ripper shanks to dig out the roots and the blade to smooth out the land.

Am I right or wrong?

Fred
Tractor newbie.

 

[murphy1244]

A Rachet Rake from TSC or a root rake grapple And a box blade to smooth things out.

 

[Utopia Texas]

If this is a one time situation just to clear above ground greenery then a good spraying with a Roundup type herbicide and two weeks later a rake should do the job. If you really need to do some dirt work the rake is useless and a good box blade will do the job. A box blade with rippers is a truly multi faceted tool when used properly. I have a large 8' wide three point rake and for many situations it is useless. Once you rake enough brush, leaves etc. between the tines and rear wheels of the tractor the rake can lift off the ground or ball the organic matter up and moving it around can be problematic. For small the medium jobs it is ok but for large jobs pretty useless. I use the rake more to pull small rocks out of the riverbed at our weekend place in the Texas Hill Country.

 

[Fred The Canuck]

Unfortunately the herbicides I would need are no longer allowed here. I will start hunting for a used box blade or a grapple.

Thanks.

 

[oldpilgrim]

start with a ratchet rake. Work with it. You'd be surprised what you can do with it. It's short money and you may not need to lay out the serious cash for the other stuff.

 

[Creamer]

Agreed! A ratchet rake if you have an FEL. A landscape rake is very good for the leveling if you have the brush and trash cleaned off which you can do with the ratchet rake. If you want to move dirt you will need a box blade but if it is jsut leveling and smoothing a landscape rake will work just fine. The key to getting the blackberry and other stuff removed is the ratchet rake on the loader.

 

[brown40]

If you are without any 3pt implement at all, for sure get a box blade! One of the most compact and durable counterweights there is for loader work, as well as an excellent general tool, and precisely the tool for the application in question. I did see a very nice Land Pride implement--probably another take on the road grader but shorter--a hybrid that looked like a stretched out box blade with the cutting edge perpendicular. It didn't look like a great digger, like a box can also do, but looked way more forgiving for general land grading and root ripping. Likely quite pricey.

 

[Wagtail]

Unfortunately the herbicides I would need are no longer allowed here. I will start hunting for a used box blade or a grapple.

Thanks.

You could always take a wee vacation to Maine, buy some Roundup (plus the duty free stuff that you would declare) and then come home.

Not that I would condone doing anything illegal, of course.

Oh, and welcome to TBN.

 

[Fawken]

I would use a good tiller followed by a box blade.

 

[Egon]

Tooth bar on the loader.