Concerned about the angle

[flusher]

Need some advice. Cleared a few acres of hillside over the last year. Fairly steep on some sections, terraced on others. Most all stumps gone, but with heavy rains and the run of the ground, it's pretty uneven. I want to take a box blade and even the ground out to plant. I have a NH 1520 w/FEL, it's 4 wheel drive. Purchasing a 5' box blade. Now, question is, how do I approach the situation? Do I look to primarily run up and down the hillside, or if the better approach is across the hill, at what type of grade would I be safe in operating and at what grade do I say the heck with it. Any/all advice would be appreciated.

Slope angle maximum for safety depends on your tractor's squat ratio---width of the rear wheel track (measured to the outside of the tires) divided by the height of the centerline of the rear axle. For example, here's my 1964 MF135 diesel--a field tractor modified for orchard work. The squat ratio is 4.15



Those rears are BF Goodrich 6-ply 18.4-16A (18" wide, 16" dia rims, 40" tall overall). The rear wheel track is 84". Something like this would work safely on slopes.

According to tractordata.com, your tractor comes with ag tires (24" dia rims), lawn/turf tires (16" dia rims), or industrial tires (19.5" dia rims). Looks like turf tires are what you need for work on your slope if you want a decent squat ratio.

Box blade for grading slopes--never tried this myself. I have enough trouble getting a BB to work OK on essentially level ground. I'd try plowing the slope with a spike harrow, chisel plow, etc and then leveling the loosened soil with a DIY drag (a piece of chain link fence with concrete weights).

Good luck

 

[jbrumberg]

Thanks flusher for the "Squat Ratio Rule". It makes sense. A "Quick and Dirty" calculation for my setup is 3.6- probable rates a not good. I operate real slow and low on my slopes.

 

[Mowdyman]

Thanks fellas for all the advice. I've been going at it up/down rather than across for the most part trying to grade out the really bad ruts and swells. I like the idea of taking a blade and working low to hi. After a couple more rains the ground gives enough to actually hold the tractor for along the slope grading which i've been doing awfully cautiously. Right now I'll be planting rye until I get it to where I need it then I'll change over to something that can be cut.
BTW: I do keep an empty can of the barley/hops mixture on my truck just so I can say, "hold my beer and watch this". I get more stunned looks that way!!