Dirt Moving Techniques To Leveling Dirt

[Creamer]

Last spring I did about an acre. I tried a bunch of different things. My land is wavy. I tilled it first in three different directions. I ended up focusing on the high points and flattening them with my box blade then spreading outwards to try to push the material into the low spots. I tried a rake with only moderate success. I used a drag harrow in several directions to do the final smoothing and leveling. I'll be doing another two acres this spring. Hopefully I've learned something and it will take less time. You have to stay perpendicular to the high/low spots or you just propagate them.

Don't till it first. Just use the box blade and take it down and then spread the dirt and use the drag harrow.

 

[s219]

First of all, don't push backwards unless it's soft dirt or snow -- the 3-point arms are not made to push. Doing that while attempting to cut into hard soil is a good way to bend/break your 3-point or bust the rear gearcase casting where the 3-point typically attaches. Plenty of threads here on TBN where people got into trouble doing this, some where the tractor was ruined when the gearcase was cracked open. I push backwards to clear snow with my rear blade, or to smooth soft soil with my box blade (with angle set to feather the cutting edges appropriately) but under no other circumstances. 3-point arms and their attachment points to the tractor are engineered to work under tension, not compression.

The box blade was invented to remove material from high spots and redistribute it to low spots. It can take a while to understand the box blade and longer to master it. Angle of attack is everything, and that is controlled by the top link. Shorten the top link to get more aggressive and dig, or lengthen it to smooth. Sometimes you have to adjust angle on the fly to get it right. A hydraulic top link makes it easy and really is the critical piece to making box blade work effective.

It's also important to use the float mode of your 3-point to keep the box blade in contact with the soil and independent of the tractor axles. If the box blade is raised out of float, it will move out of phase with the tractor -- front axle goes down, box blade goes up. Front axle goes up, box blade goes down. If you get into that situation, it's a great way to take a washboard surface and make it even worse. So make sure the box is down in float.

The box blade should be loading up with material when you go over high spots, and dropping the material into low spots. Again, angle of attack is key, and you may need to adjust on the fly to augment that process. Short toplink to dig and load up material, long top link to drop material and smooth/feather.

Sometimes it helps to make a couple rough passes doing this digging and redistributing, then make longer passes to smooth. Just depends on the size/spacing of the bumps relative to the size of the box blade. Also expect that the material you have scraped off high spots will be soft/loose when it drops into low spots, so compacting it with the tractor wheels and then making additional passes to complete the grading and smoothing may be required.

 

[airbiscuit]

So Bmarshall1, why are you leveling 2 acres? Is it all loose soil or gravel?

s219 gave good advice. The only thing I would add is that if it swoops and divits, you can do well with a boxblade at slow speed and with a lot of action on the 3pt control. I'll say again that gauge wheels will do wonders. There's a reason road graders have long wheelbases and the blade is in the center. That is why I like my pony grader so much.

 

[oosik]

Some have mentioned this - don't push with your 3-point. Its designed to pull, not push. Hit something hard, a buried rock, and you could damage the 3-point, etc.

Using a rear blade requires a lot of experience. I've used my roll over box blade with success. It works best with the box blade in the float position. I've also used the tooth bar that is mounted on my FEL bucket. I use it in a dragging mode - bucket angled down, going in reverse. I also use my land plane grading scraper. It works best if the situation is more like ripples rather than long wave like variances.

Use the box blade if you need to move material from a high spot here to a low spot there.

You most likely will not get the land really level with just a couple passes. First go forward/back in north/south direction - then go forward/back in east/west direction.

 

[Sparkynutz]

First of all, don't push backwards unless it's soft dirt or snow -- the 3-point arms are not made to push. Doing that while attempting to cut into hard soil is a good way to bend/break your 3-point or bust the rear gearcase casting where the 3-point typically attaches. Plenty of threads here on TBN where people got into trouble doing this, some where the tractor was ruined when the gearcase was cracked open. I push backwards to clear snow with my rear blade, or to smooth soft soil with my box blade (with angle set to feather the cutting edges appropriately) but under no other circumstances. 3-point arms and their attachment points to the tractor are engineered to work under tension, not compression.

The box blade was invented to remove material from high spots and redistribute it to low spots. It can take a while to understand the box blade and longer to master it. Angle of attack is everything, and that is controlled by the top link. Shorten the top link to get more aggressive and dig, or lengthen it to smooth. Sometimes you have to adjust angle on the fly to get it right. A hydraulic top link makes it easy and really is the critical piece to making box blade work effective.

It's also important to use the float mode of your 3-point to keep the box blade in contact with the soil and independent of the tractor axles. If the box blade is raised out of float, it will move out of phase with the tractor -- front axle goes down, box blade goes up. Front axle goes up, box blade goes down. If you get into that situation, it's a great way to take a washboard surface and make it even worse. So make sure the box is down in float.

The box blade should be loading up with material when you go over high spots, and dropping the material into low spots. Again, angle of attack is key, and you may need to adjust on the fly to augment that process. Short toplink to dig and load up material, long top link to drop material and smooth/feather.

Sometimes it helps to make a couple rough passes doing this digging and redistributing, then make longer passes to smooth. Just depends on the size/spacing of the bumps relative to the size of the box blade. Also expect that the material you have scraped off high spots will be soft/loose when it drops into low spots, so compacting it with the tractor wheels and then making additional passes to complete the grading and smoothing may be required.

I understand floating would improve flattening and if not it will move in relation to tractor wheels as you said, but why I have I not seen one single box blade dragged via a chain to completely avoid any tractor induced up or down movement?
I mentioned to a friend of mine that I wanted to build a box blade and he suggested I just use an old mattress spring after burning off foam or chain fence section. How do these cheap alternatives compare in finished result? I like the more refined look of a solid straight edged box blade and think the weight would assist in flattening compacted hills with grass and weeds on it. I already have an adjustable height dethatcher with wheels and thinking I could skip the box blade teeth and just build a heavy steel box then drag it with a short chain right off the back of the dethatcher. If an angle is wanted, just change the length of chain on one side. Wouldn't this route theoretically give just as good if not better results and much much cheaper cost?

 

[bcp]

...why I have I not seen one single box blade dragged via a chain to completely avoid any tractor induced up or down movement?

Probably because it won't work. You can't adjust the vertical angle if pulled with a chain. It would just flop around, and you couldn't use the rear blade to pivot on to adjust the cut of the front blade.

The mattress or chain link fence will smooth the surface but not do any real leveling.

Bruce

 

[jeff9366]

I understand floating would improve flattening and if not it will move in relation to tractor wheels as you said, but why have I not seen one single box blade dragged via a chain to completely avoid tractor induced up or down movement?

The Ferguson Three Point Hitch is a marvelous invention. Developed in the 1920's in England and Ireland, now standardized all over the world, it unitizes the tractor and implement.

Some of the implement weight is transferred to the tractor chassis, improving traction, optimally when 4-WD is employed.

Before the Three Point Hitch, light tractors weighed six tons.

Prior to Ferguson's invention implements, mostly moldboard plows, were drawn by chains. It required at least six tons of tractor weight for tractive power sufficient to move a two bottom plow pulled with chains.

 

[PILOON]

For the higher 'bumps', back dragging with my toothed bucket at a tight angle works great for me.
It also separated vegetation roots etc in preparation for finish.
Sort of like a shallow disk harrow would accomplish.

 

[MESSMAKER]

Two ares will take a while and it will take more than 2 passes. It depends on weather you are making a parking lot or a nice yard as how you move the topsoil. Scrape all the topsoil and try to grow grass and you will hate yourself. The box blade with rippers is your tool of choice. You won't use your loader much until the very end when you back drag.

 

[oosik]

Also - I've learned to love the long-period rolling nature of a lot of my fields. I can smooth that, plant it and it works. Even if the two acres is going to be a lawn - no need for it to be flat like a pool table.