FEL for leveling and digging

[Anonymous Poster]

I tried to use my FEL to level out a high spot in the lawn. I ended up digging in and making a lot of ruts with the tires. I had a hard time breaking the sod and getting down to soil. I have seen great examples on how to brush hog, does any one know the tricks for using a FEL for this job. Is there a better tool. I wanted to flatten out a small (12 x 8) hill that was being scalped by my MMM and spread the soil around.

 

[equipman]

LouG
Really the best tool for leveling is a good old fashioned box blade. The ripper teeth loosen hard packed soil, the cutting edges cut and fill the box with material and the box carries that material from the high spots to the low spots. The loader bucket can be used to carry additional fill.
Lewis

 

[rancar]

<font color="blue">"...I ended up digging in and making a lot of ruts with the tires. I had a hard time breaking the sod and getting down to soil...does any one know the tricks for using a FEL for this job..." </font>

What you need Lou is a toothbar. See pic attached. Placing one of these on your FEL bucket and then back dragging, you'll then be able to dig well into that mound you're referring to. Talk to Mark at KC Canary. He'll price one out for you.

...Bob

 

[kensfarm]

One trick I use w/ the FEL could work for you.. I curl the bucket back towards the tractor.. (like you would if dumping a load) so that the cutting edge is pointing towards the tractor.. sorta like a make shift boxblade edge.. by lowering the bucket and going in reverse.. you can scrape and cut into the high area. Adjust the angle for different results.. w/ the blade being more verticle it will scrap more.. increase the angle(towards the tractor) and it will cut in more.. raise & lower the FEL for changes in the terrain. Hope this will work for you..

 

[CTyler]

Sounds like maybe the ground was a little soft(wet) or you took to big a bite and spun the tires or both.

From your profile it appears you don't have a box blade. A BB would work well. If you just have a little to knock off you might try back draging with the FEL. Curl the bucket all the way up, like you have a bucket full of dirt. Then lower the bucket, add some down force and drive backwards. The heel of the bucket will act like a scraper.

The other option is to use your tiller to break it up nice and soft. Then use the FEL to carry it off or spread it out.

The last option is use this as an excuse, I mean Opportunity, to buy a box blade.

 

[DKinWA]

I've been doing the same thing and I've found the box blade to be the best tool for the job. The first thing I do is take a heavy enough cut to peel the sod off and then take heavier cuts after the sod is gone and out of the way. I've also found there's kind of a "sweet spot" when the soil moisture is just right for doing this. Too dry and it's tough digging and too wet and I make a rather large mess. I'm with whoever said your project sounds like a good excuse to add a new toy uh... I mean tool. Too me, I find the box blade is just as useful as the fel. When I bought mine, I was a little skeptical on it's usefullness, but not anymore!

 

[DKinWA]

Oops. I got so excited about the idea of buying things for tractors I forgot to add to finish my thought about soil moisture in my earlier post. If it seems your soil is very dry you might try watering it a bit. You don't want to get it soggy wet, but just kind of damp. If your soil is already really wet, you might want to let it dry out a little. I know when I've talk to the farmers around here, they've told me that soil moisture is very important when working the soil. Too dry = hard work, too wet = stuck tractor /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[frank_f15]

use a toothbar for , getting the dirt loose and then the fel to backdrag it level, also helps if the ground is not to wet, mud don't level very well. just takes a little practice.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks for all the replies I will have to try all of the methods. The soil was a bit wet, a tooth bar is in the future.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I tried to use my FEL to level out a high spot in the lawn. I ended up digging in and making a lot of ruts with the tires. I had a hard time breaking the sod and getting down to soil. )</font>

The other posters are right, it would probably be easier to do with a box blade. I found when dealing with sod and the FEL I put the edge of the bucket right on the spot I want to start at, give it about 20 to 25 degrees dump and some down pressure, then creep slowly forward until I get just below the sod depth. Then I roll the bucket back to almost level and move forward slowly until the bucket is full. Once the sod is exposed it's easy to get back underneath. This has worked well for me on several occassions when doing <font color="brown">small </font> areas. Also, back dragging with the bucket in full dump can smooth out the bumps etc. It all takes some practice and patience and there are definately easier ways.