What's best for land "smoothing", box scraper or tiller?

[cbushrun1]

I am a brand new member of TBN this week and a relatively new tractor owner.

I purchased a used JD 790 almost 2 years ago for general work around our 6 acres in NW Oregon that we purchased about 5 years ago. One of the things that drives me crazy is how bumpy the open areas of our property (~2 acres) is. We have a massive amount of gophers and moles and over time its really become annoying to walk in, mow, etc.

I'm not trying to smooth out all of the open space, but there are common walking and riding "paths" (I guess is the best way to describe) that I want to make more smooth. We have dogs that hunt the gophers and they dig holes that make it worse as well.

I have asked different folks and get different ideas. I have heard both tilling and using a box scraper.

We're in Oregon, and live on a slope. The ground is clay-ish dirt. Really hard in the summer but 9 mos out of the year is really soft. I attached a pic to give you a better idea. I mow the grass (this pic is b4 we purchased the home) with a 5' brush cutter. But we would like to have a smooth path like you see here and keep the grass short so the kids can walk to the rope swing ot trampoline w/o rolling an ankle, tripping or dissappearing into a hole!

Any help you could give would be really appreciated!!

[charliepff]

I use a 48" box blade to knock down the bad spots. Then I rent a york rake from the tractor dealer to finish it up and remove all the junk. This combination seems to work really well. I learned on what to do by reading the forums and experimenting. Also, watch for the deep bedded rocks. They get your attention fast with a box blade.

[N80]

A box blade can help but requires a good bit of attention. Just floating it and driving around usually won't be enough.

I have found that a disk harrow does a great job at this. You just make multiple passes with the gangs set a less and less aggressive angle each time. But, what you are left with will not look like a lawn or a golf course, there will still be clods and rocks, etc. but the 'flow' of the land should be smooth.

[Reg]

I seem to remember that it rains sometimes in Oregon, though I havn't been there in half a lifetime so maybe things have changed.
Point being, you probably have some erosion across that particular "path" as well.
The picture gives me the impression that it is fairly steep.
So, first I would consider drainage.
Second, I would probably DO something about drainage.

Then;
Box blade with just the two middle rippers all the way down and the blade barely touching the tips of whatever mounds you have - VERY SLOWLY ! in case you find buried treasure.
Several passes until you have it all ripped up and a fair amount of free dirt/soil on the top to push around.
THEN - put the gauge wheels on, retract the rippers and make many passes until you are dragging around a consistent 1/2 full box.
Roll to compact if you drive or ride horses on it.
DONE.
I'm assuming you aren't "road building", so details about crowning and putting down stone don't apply here.

PS I need to write up my gauge wheel project (-:

[638]

If you break up the sod, you will get erosion on that hillside. I would buy or build the largest roller I could find and just roll it every time it's soft.

[3RRL]

I think you could drag a boxblade up and down that path (or others) and make it nice and smooth.
Set the top link so the front blade gently cuts the top layer off and drag all that vegetation down to a pile. Do that several times and you'll have a nice clean smooth path. If it gets screwed up by water run-off or gophers, just do it again....more seat time for you.

[jbrumberg]

3RRL:

Was it you or EddieWalker that dragged a log/railroad tie with chain link attached to smooth out rough areas? Jay

[flusher]

Originally Posted by cbushrun1

I am a brand new member of TBN this week and a relatively new tractor owner.

I purchased a used JD 790 almost 2 years ago for general work around our 6 acres in NW Oregon that we purchased about 5 years ago. One of the things that drives me crazy is how bumpy the open areas of our property (~2 acres) is. We have a massive amount of gophers and moles and over time its really become annoying to walk in, mow, etc.

I'm not trying to smooth out all of the open space, but there are common walking and riding "paths" (I guess is the best way to describe) that I want to make more smooth. We have dogs that hunt the gophers and they dig holes that make it worse as well.

I have asked different folks and get different ideas. I have heard both tilling and using a box scraper.

We're in Oregon, and live on a slope. The ground is clay-ish dirt. Really hard in the summer but 9 mos out of the year is really soft. I attached a pic to give you a better idea. I mow the grass (this pic is b4 we purchased the home) with a 5' brush cutter. But we would like to have a smooth path like you see here and keep the grass short so the kids can walk to the rope swing ot trampoline w/o rolling an ankle, tripping or dissappearing into a hole!

Any help you could give would be really appreciated!!

Try the inexpensive approach before you spend your bucks---get a few old tires (with the rims preferably to add weight) chain them together and to your drawbar and go. If that works OK for you, you've saved bucks. If you don't like the results, get yourself a used tandem disc (I bought an old 7ft Ferguson disc a few months ago for $200),



attach the tires to the disc and disc n' drag until you get the results you want.

[3RRL]

Originally Posted by jbrumberg

3RRL:

Was it you or EddieWalker that dragged a log/railroad tie with chain link attached to smooth out rough areas? Jay

Hi Jay, that was Eddie Walker.
I do have a spike drag ... spikes on one side and smooth when you flip it over. I used that behind the ATV to do smaller areas and it works very good. But to do what cbushrun1 says he wants to do, I'd use the boxblade first to establish the trail/contour and then continue to smooth with it or use a drag after that.

[cbushrun1]

Excellent guys! thanks for taking the time. it looks like a box scraper will be the next investment. I'll search the site for some ideas for a homemade roller and a drag.

As for the rain, yes, this time of year its a concern. If I started the project earlier in the summer I would be ok, but the rain will be coming soon.