Box blade, roll over box blade, or land leveler????????

[hunt4570]

I just had a couple fields cut out of the woods (http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/341417-field-cleaning-thoughts.html) and I'm needing to smooth them out along with some new "service" roads, I keep coming up with new ideas and thoughts on how to do this.

Box blades are easily available and about $100 per foot of width, I've got about 6' of tire space on my tractor so I'm thinking 6-7 feet. I found a couple used roll over box blades which seem a better option but the widest I've found is 5 1/2 wide which bothers me a bit. Then doing some more searching I came across some land levelers, can get a 7 footer for $750+ shipping (getting a quote on shipping on monday). That $750-$900 is about where I want to be on price so thats not really a factor.

I've used a box blade in the past so I know what it can do, never tried a roll over one or the land leveler so I'm looking for someone who has to shed some light.

It seems like the land leveler would do the job best, being longer it would not dip and pitch so much, but I'm afraid when I got done doing this project it would sit there without a job... Hmmmmmmmmmmm..

New Land Levelers

 

[jeff9366]

Here is a LINK to ROLLOVER BOX BLADE threads in the T-B-N archive:

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Rollover+or+standard+box+Blade+site:tractorbynet.com

 

[bcp]

Get a box blade so you can use it for many other jobs, and put gauge wheels on the rear of it, or 4-5 foot long skids on the side, for your road leveling.

Bruce

 

[npalen]

I added 20" gauge wheels to the back of my 5' BB and it makes a really nice tool for leveling work. The hydraulic top link adjusts depth of cut very precisely while the 3PT does the normal raising and lowering. Just a real neat tool to work with as the tractor undulations affect the blade very little.
The 3PH position control is dropped all the way to the bottom to let the blade float on the gauge wheels.

 

[hunt4570]

I added 20" gauge wheels to the back of my 5' BB and it makes a really nice tool for leveling work. The hydraulic top link adjusts depth of cut very precisely while the 3PT does the normal raising and lowering. Just a real neat tool to work with as the tractor undulations affect the blade very little.
The 3PH position control is dropped all the way to the bottom to let the blade float on the gauge wheels.

Got a picture of this?

 

[npalen]

Got a picture of this?

I thought you'd never ask


The axle frame is attached to the box blade with pivot bolts and zerk provision for later addition of a hydraulic cylinder lift similar to most "soil movers". My thinking was that a tongue might be added at a later date if the rigid axle setup didn't work out and then the cylinder would do the raising and lowering of the blade. The tongue would, of course, convert the tool to pull-type rather than 3PH mount.
I doubt that change will ever be made as the box blade works so well as currently configured. The 3PH mount makes it much easier to maneuver in tight places.
I had built a setup similar to this with a tongue about twenty years ago and it worked great for leveling also. I pulled the box blade with a ball on the 3PH and used the 3PH to raise and lower. That eliminates the need for a cylinder on the rear.

 

[jenkinsph]

hunt4570,
From what I have read so far you have a grapple and landscape rake and the dozer has pushed the stumps into burn piles. One of the pictures shows large root balls with lots of dirt on them.


I would continue raking and gathering with the above equipment until you get the surface cleaned up.
Try to get as much dirt as you can off the root balls so these stumps will burn better. While this may seem tedious it will save you a lot of time with the overall clean up, root balls filled with dirt wont burn well.
Once you have some cleared areas you can sort the existing burn piles into smaller clean burn piles to get rid of.

Once you have the surface cleared you can use a box blade or ripper equipped land plane to work on the shallow roots. Or you can smooth the surface and leave the majority of roots and seed over them. If you fertilize these areas with nitrogen to enhance the cover crop it will also promote rotting the roots. Keep the surface brush hogged to prevent the brush from coming back.

 

[boggen]

see attached picture.

the further the distance between wheels, and "what ever is in the middle". the bigger area you can smooth out more easily. without the need of any sort of crazy GPS / laser guidance system.

motor graders (see link) http://www.machinerytrader.com/drilldown/category.aspx?catid=1048&etid=1
the whole idea behind motor graders = the overall distance as well between tires and the implement they have attached in the center.

there are some DIY pull type road graders per say here on the forum, and on internet.

================
one thing that does it all "not out there"

ya need something to break up hard compacted dirt, like scraficer teeth on a box blade, or a bottom plow. something to loosen the dirt up some to help make it easier to biet into the dirt and move it, without constantly battling with hard compacted soils that are causing cutting edges to skip and bounce over the ground.
WARNING! never dig down farther than you need to. digging down to far, and then bring dirt back in, can lead to some settling issues. mainly due to compaction of the dirt, and after a year or 2, you may need to bring in more dirt to deal with settling issues.

ya need something to move dirt. Box blade, and/or FEL (front end loader) and/or roll over box blade... something that basically can load up with dirt or what not and move it some other place without loosing a lot of it. and then spread the material out, in helping to deal with low spots.

for roads / driveways, bring able to "angle" like a rear blade or york rake (large metal garden rake basically but for 3pt hitch) can be very handy. shifting dirt / material to one side. to note it, some rear blades you can get "wings" that kinda turn rear blade into a mini box blade per say.

if ya just planting grass for a lawn. a disc harrow or york rake or something that just crumbles up top couple inches of ground, and then toss your grass seed, then go back over everything with same implement to mix the grass seed into the dirt some. can make quick work of things.

if you are planning to actually put in "ROW CROPS", then getting something in there to cut down and grab tree roots and like would be advisable. so planters and other weaker stuff do not get hung up and break, or get clogged up with trash (roots and like) and stop working like they are suppose to. maybe a potoate plow / middle buster, or some longer scraficer teeth on a box blade, taking it slow with 1 or 2 bottom plow, and purposely hooking roots.
NOTE. a 3pt hitch tiller will most likely = you being at a dead stop cleaning out roots from the tines vs actually getting stuff done. at least that is how it has been over the years here, and just putting in a garden in a new spot or working up land, that has not been used before for garden or row crop like work.

i have used large logs (old trees that were cut down) to chain link fences, to other. and pulled behind tractor to help "smooth things out" for more of a final doing. this normally helps remove large clumps of grass, some bigger rocks, and flattens everything down.

==============
granted above most likely not much help, but rather goal of above was, for ya to understand a mix and match combo of stuff will most likely get job done, and no single implement will do the job completely.

TIP: i love adding extra weight to stuff, that is ground engagement 3pt hitch stuff, from concrete bricks, to sand bags, to misc metal i have laying around, to other. extra weight tends to keep the 3pt hitch implement on the ground vs bouncing / skipping across the ground. (more so during the dry drought years, but also in hard compacted soils / driveways)

 

[ovrszd]

I thought you'd never ask
View attachment 433528View attachment 433527View attachment 433529View attachment 433530

The axle frame is attached to the box blade with pivot bolts and zerk provision for later addition of a hydraulic cylinder lift similar to most "soil movers". My thinking was that a tongue might be added at a later date if the rigid axle setup didn't work out and then the cylinder would do the raising and lowering of the blade. The tongue would, of course, convert the tool to pull-type rather than 3PH mount.
I doubt that change will ever be made as the box blade works so well as currently configured. The 3PH mount makes it much easier to maneuver in tight places.
I had built a setup similar to this with a tongue about twenty years ago and it worked great for leveling also. I pulled the box blade with a ball on the 3PH and used the 3PH to raise and lower. That eliminates the need for a cylinder on the rear.

Very nice. And having the hydraulic top link makes it even more effective.

Only change I would make is to have the rear wheels the same distance from the BB cutting edge as the rear tires of the tractor are. This puts the blade in the center of the span between the 2 sets of tires. Similar to a Road Grader. Then you could drop the 3pt lever all the way and control the cutting height of the blade by extending/retracting the top link. Again, similar to how a Road Grader works.

 

[ovrszd]

Ooopppsss,,, I should have read forward.

Ryan describes the theory very well.