Grading fine tuning my box blade education

[stevenf]

I've read bunches of post over the past couple of months and now have almost 50 hours on the tractor but I'm still fighting the box blade war. I have graded the road coming to the ranch for a mile or so with very good success it is a crushed limestone county road that I was tired of waiting for the county to fix. "BUT" on our ranch I still haven't gotten the limestone as I'm waiting for the hunters to finish up so I can dump my pile by the front gate where there camped at so I'm grading the dirt road to the house its about 300 yards or so and very hilly in order to do even a fair job I've got to have one hand on the 3 pt lever and constantly adjust up and down to keep the blade running along the road flat because every little hill up I dig in and down I lose contact and my box blade load. Is there an easier way ie. adjust the rise and fall speed or draft or angle of blade? I've tried different combinations but haven't found anything as good as eye's to the rear and up and down on the 3-pt lever.
Steve

 

[stevenf]

I'm not sure what I learned from this post maybe make the subject something funny and then ask my question once I've got your attention. Maybe I'll repost my question about draft control something like after turning and looking behind me for an hour I get dizzy and feel like throwing up or falling off can't decide which. Or maybe I've hit the nail on the head and there is no easy way to grade a road without constantly watching the blade which is probably closer to right so if someone that has lots of experience would just chime in with yep got to watch what your doing so just take a bucket and buckle your seat belt. Then after I solve my water in fuel problem I'll get back to work.
Steve, Thanks to all who respond! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[_RaT_]

Once the road is washboard or just full of pot holes, it's tough to fix things up with out new material. Having a hydraulic top link is huge in helping out but your right, you need your hand on the 3 pt lift lever constantly. Everytime your front end finds a rise or fall it reciprocates at the back exagerating even small changes. I generally find the bad areas and get those knocked down or filled. I think in order to get things right you need several things going on. Moist but not wet material. You need to get a homogenoous surface which means ripping all of the surface a inch or more and finally, having some material to drag. By having an adjustable top link you can do wonders with the box blade. I like to try and get to the outer edges last as you will continue moving material outward whether you want to or not and a boxblade is difficult to retrieve the material that gets "outside" the defined road.

 

[Egon]

Box blades have their purpose. For the long runs you have ripping and then rolling a windrow back and forth with a rear blade equiped with guage wheels would work best.

Rolling the windrow will mix the material and also it carries material as you windrow leveling out the road.

Just think grader.

Egon

 

[btolle]

In my experience it is much easier to grade a road with a straight blade than a box blade. If you are going to be maintaining that much road a straight blade would be a good investment. Think about the last time you watched a county road grader and how he tilted the blade so that it moved the material toward the crown of the road and formed a drainage ditch on the side. A box blade does not allow the material to be forced past the blade on the high side like a straight blade does.

If you get a straight blade you will probably need to add some weight to it if the road material is fairly hard or compacted or the blade will just skip over the top. I bolted 2 old V8 engine heads to the back of my straight blade to add weight.

The best method for either type of blade is to set it at one height, slightly high, and then go back and forth until I get the high spots knocked down. Then I lower it a little and go back and forth again. Repeat until you get the surface pretty level. It takes several passes to get it level but it is easier on the neck because you don't have to keep looking over your shoulder and adjusting the 3 PH height. I am assuming that you have the box blade tilted so that the ditch side is lower than the crown side to form a crown on the road. Sometimes I tilt it far enough that the high side does not touch the ground and allows the dirt to flow under it.

I am assuming your box blade has front and back "blades" on it, like this
_________
|
|
|
/ \

The further forward you tilt it (the shorter the top link is) the more it will dig in. When finish grading I tilt the box blade back (top link extended) far enough so that the rear blade is simply skimming the surface and the front blade is not in contact with the ground.

The dirt will need to be broken up enough so that the weight of the box blade will be able to move the top dirt.

Don't be afraid to experiment with the tilt on the box blade. Tilt it further than you think you should and try it, it sometimes takes a pretty radical angle to get it to do what you want. Just be careful that it doesn't get tilted so far that the bottom front corner of it gets into the rear tires.

Hope that makes sense.

Bill Tolle

 

[_RaT_]

Actually Bill. your only partially correct about the tilting forward part. On a road that is already established where the crown already exists a boxblade is many times more useful then you might think. When I shorten my top link all the way, the front of my box rests on the ground and my front blade is about 1.5" off the ground allowing for a nice distribuition of material and a good supply of the material within the box. By fully extending the top link, I have only the trailing edge of my rear blade touching allowing for a nice final finnish/compaction. The graders you see on the road are most effective at grading because of the location of the blade where the ups and downs it encounters have less affect on the blades cutting height.
There are times without a doubt a rear blade would be better then a boxblade especially for retrieving material on the sides and for light grading especially with a set of gauge wheels. I basically do just that with a 8' powered landscape rake I have. Having the ability to angle the rake left to right really can be an advantage. Creating a crown with a boxblade is not to hard especially with TnT.

 

[stevenf]

Bill my box blade is a XB84 woods and the shape is what you described with the exception of the back blade is hinged with no current means of locking shut although I've considered dilling the cheeks and pinning it to see if that helped or not.
Thanks to all that responded I'll go try somemore angles I haven't tryed having it tilted drastically in either direction but at this point it can't hurt because I know I can go back and drag it reasonably flat.
Steve

 

[_RaT_]

Steve, that would be a good idea. I use a Gannon with a swinging tail and frankly have found that when it's pinned, it's more useful.

 

[Westonium]

I bought my box blade with my tractor. It's a "Bee" or some such. Red with a row of 5 or 6 teeth that can be adjusted up or down to help breaking up dirt. I have had some problems with not enough weight at times, but lately I've just taken to draggin the drive in mists or after a rain. Its a little messy, but the soil is easy to move.

Our driveway is about 1300' and used to be totally flat and full of potholes and ruts. I lowered the right side of the box blade and just dragged on the right side of the drive both directions umpteen times. I now have a very nice and hard crowned driveway that hasn't rutted almost at all from all the rains.

Using the blade with the right side down also reclaimed a bunch of material from the sides of the drive and pushed back to middle. The blade has already more than paid for itself.

I plan to add some weight in some fashion to help things. One method I am considering is to put 2 old treated 4x4s across it, put 4 bags of concrete across the 4x4s, pound 3/8" galv nails through the bags and into the boards, then leave outside for a week. The concrete should set up pretty hard. I should be able to remove the boards and 'crete if I need to.

If you have bad washboard, you may have to front-scrape with a FEL or a front snowblade and then re-grade with box blade. I think, though, that a box blade with teeth and added weight would be able to do the job assuming the ground isn't frozen solid or a dry clay/sand mix (wet sand clay is moveable, but dry and driven over sandy clay is essentially brick).

 

[stevenf]

RaT did you drill your box or did it come already with pin holes mine is blank and so not positive where to try to pin it although down towards the bottom of the swing gate would seem the obvious place although I've also thought maybe it would be better to drill it and slide a bar completely across and pin on either outside cheek of box to reinforce the door swing although its is heavy enough that it probably doesn't need it heck the hole thing weighs something like 1200lbs.
Steve