Would a tooth bar do this..

thatguy · Feb 5, 2010

Behind my house i have some land that is VERY bumpy (differences of of 1 to 2' in places) - it appears that sometime pre-me they dumbed backfill there and never smoothed it out.. its rough enough that I tried to bushhog it once, but my 2320 would bottom out over and over (both tractor and rotary cutter) , so I just gave up.. it is also on the side of a hill - up and down is doable.. side to side could be dangerous do the dips/rises. The area is approx 150' x 150' with some of it much smoother than other parts

I have access to a 3pt disk but im not sure i would feel comfortable even going up and down with it..

Would a FEL toothbar work for this? Im thinking (working up/down hill) digging into the high spots to loosen the soil and then back drag it to fill the low spots.. move forward and lather, rinse, repeat..

I figure if i have a contractor do it they would want $200 to $500 (if not more) and for that I could buy a markham toothbar and have it for future uses

thanks

brian

dodge man · Feb 5, 2010

I've never used a box blade, but that sure sounds like the perfect use for one. I'm sure you could get the job done with the FEL and a tooth bar, it just might take a little more time.

dex3361 · Feb 5, 2010

I think this is a great job for a tooth bar on the FEL bucket followed up with a box blade unless its big rocks or chunks of concrete tip big for the tractor. If and I had a tractor and had job like this I would attack it with the FEL in the spring. I noticed that you live in VA and in the spring the soil is much easier to work because the frost/freeze cycles have loosened it up for you. Go for it. A box blade is a must when doing the finish grading even if you rent one for this job.

thatguy · Feb 5, 2010

dodge man said:
I've never used a box blade, but that sure sounds like the perfect use for one. I'm sure you could get the job done with the FEL and a tooth bar, it just might take a little more time.

If there werent so many dips and rises a box blade would work.. But from my experience trying to cut it a few times I would not attempt to drive over it.. I maybe could back into it and pull forward but that would be a pain in the neck (literally)..

I thought i may ask my neighbor who has an AG tractor to disk it for me, but that sorta take the fun out of it.. lol And im not sure if he would.. :-/

ALSO I would need to buy/borrow/rent a box blade - which is a whole another dilemma

lets me honest.. Im looking for a reason to justify buying a toothbar.. lol

Brian

3RRL · Feb 5, 2010

Get the toothbar and then get a boxblade after that.
Don't forget that you could use the scarifiers (rippers) on the boxblade to demolish those humps into loose soil. Then you could use either the bucket or boxblade to move the loosened soil.

dex3361 · Feb 5, 2010

thatguy said:
If there werent so many dips and rises a box blade would work.. But from my experience trying to cut it a few times I would not attempt to drive over it.. I maybe could back into it and pull forward but that would be a pain in the neck (literally)..

I thought i may ask my neighbor who has an AG tractor to disk it for me, but that sorta take the fun out of it.. lol And im not sure if he would.. :-/

ALSO I would need to buy/borrow/rent a box blade - which is a whole another dilemma

lets me honest.. Im looking for a reason to justify buying a toothbar.. lol

Brian

Now you have one. I take mine off in the winter and leave it on all the rest of the year. The toothbar adds strength to the front cutting edge of the bucket( and other reason).

gerard · Feb 5, 2010

You could do it with either but a box blade with scarifiers would do a quicker and easier job and beat up the tractor a little less. You can pull up some pretty big rocks with a box blade by driving forward while raising the 3 pt at the same time, often will pop them right out where it would take more time and digging to get the same rock up witha toothbar. (I have both and have used both to do what you're describing. I would use my box blade.

ShenandoahJoe · Feb 6, 2010

I've had good luck pointing the FEL toothbar straight down, so it's like a scarifier, or a 6-tine rake. Put the teeth two to three inches below the top of the high points. Then I follow up with a real rake on the three-point hitch, maybe one inch lower. Takes a few passes. (Gerard is right about the rocks, though.)

Bumble Guy · Feb 6, 2010

thatguy said:
Behind my house i have some land that is VERY bumpy (differences of of 1 to 2' in places) - it appears that sometime pre-me they dumbed backfill there and never smoothed it out.. its rough enough that I tried to bushhog it once, but my 2320 would bottom out over and over (both tractor and rotary cutter) , so I just gave up.. it is also on the side of a hill - up and down is doable.. side to side could be dangerous do the dips/rises. The area is approx 150' x 150' with some of it much smoother than other parts

I have access to a 3pt disk but im not sure i would feel comfortable even going up and down with it..

Would a FEL toothbar work for this? Im thinking (working up/down hill) digging into the high spots to loosen the soil and then back drag it to fill the low spots.. move forward and lather, rinse, repeat..

I figure if i have a contractor do it they would want $200 to $500 (if not more) and for that I could buy a markham toothbar and have it for future uses

thanks

brian

Good morning ,I have a markham toolbar and use it tearing up concrete driveways annd asphalt drives made very well highly recomend,and yes toothbar will dig out those humps when the ground is thowed

brin · Feb 6, 2010

I would suggest you do some research on a roll over box blade...works great for going forward and then reverse. You can smooth fast and easy with a good one.

Transit · Feb 6, 2010

Keep in mind that a FEL does not turn your tractor into a D-9 bull dozer. The easiest way to wreck the FEL is to use it as a dozer. That said, take light to medium cuts.

schmism · Feb 6, 2010

burn it off in late winter so you can see what your doing, then take a box blade to it.

you may find it works better to push the box blade as you wind up driving on partly flattened ground you just made.

just note, there are some owners of lightweight CUT's that have bent 3pt arms pushing a box blade.

Dusty1 · Feb 7, 2010

Have you tried just doing it with the standard loader? I personally don't have a tooth bar on my loader, and while it would be nice, I still scrape plenty of dirt that way assuming I have traction.

thatguy · Feb 7, 2010

Dusty1 said:
Have you tried just doing it with the standard loader? I personally don't have a tooth bar on my loader, and while it would be nice, I still scrape plenty of dirt that way assuming I have traction.

I have tried it with out a tooth bar and couldnt get a 'bite' into the ground...

===============

Looking at all my tooth bar options - markham (gator) is my #1 at this time, but Im still looking at several other brands.. a) Berlon ( Berlon: Mini Tooth Bar ) and several on Ebay

Any comments on the Berlon? Or have another mfg they would recommend

Does anyone know the approximate cost of a 53" markham?

Brian

Brian

Samandothers · Feb 7, 2010

OK, for purpose of justification....GET THE TOOTHBAR!
If this does not do what you need then you can work on justifying the box blade

.

texasjohn · Feb 7, 2010

Here's your golden chance to get some good equipment and to get experience using it. I believe I have the equipment that would do this job... given care and time. It is, in order of my priority for this particular task:

4 wheel drive tractor with HST (for traction and precise speed control)

hydraulic top link (to change angle of attack for your box blade)

box blade with scarifiers (hydraulic scarifiers would be great, likely not justified for this job only)

a chain linking the hydraulic top link and box blade top connection makes this a flexible connection.....this simple piece of equipment allows the box blade to rise and fall maintaining ground contact as the front wheels go over the extremely uneven ground..... and in conjunction with adjustments to the 3ph lower arms for angle of attack and the hydraulic toplink length make this task of smoothing things out about 5 times easier than without the chained flexible top hydraulic link.

A tooth bar on the FEL for scooping up hardened stuff and dropping it with precision where you want it.

Now, fill the FEL with material to add weight, curl it up and let FEL float on/over the uneven material as you move forward with the box blade ground engaged. In the front you will be pushing the tops off of the bumps thus smoothing out the material and reducing the rise and fall of your front wheels. Meanwhile, the box blade will fill with material and also float over the uneven surface dropping material in holes and cutting the tops off of bumps (requires constant adjustment to the box blade height and angle of attack but you get the hang after a while). Experiment with results obtained by placing scarifiers at different depths and see what works best for your situation. Loosening the material is the best bet for relocating it to a smoother situation.

It will take several passes, each smoothing things a little more, don't get in a hurry. Go at different angles to drag and push material to get things as smooth as possible.

I cannot recommend backing the box blade in an attempt to use it as a bulldozer against the hardened ground in an effort to spread it out. Try it and you will notice numerous problems ...the 3ph simply was made for pulling implements, NOT pushing them.

Nor can I recommend using the toothbar as your scarifying tool...it is for simplifying digging straight ahead horizontally, NOT for vertical insertion into the ground and then pressing forward in an effort to leave grooves inn the ground....THE FEL IS NOT A PLOW.

Best wishes!

Bumble Guy · Feb 8, 2010

A toothbar is the tool you need for this ,I am in the paving bus and this is how its done ,now frozen ground nothing will dig easily good luck,IM a reformed Bumble

thatguy · Feb 8, 2010

got a price from markham today via email... $280 with shipping.. I think I will order it sometime soon..

I looked at the Berlon tooth bar again.. I dont like how the teeth are made.. BUT it is much cheaper..

now if our snow will melt.. lol

thanks to all

b

Botabill · Feb 8, 2010

thatguy said:
Behind my house i have some land that is VERY bumpy (differences of of 1 to 2' in places) - it appears that sometime pre-me they dumbed backfill there and never smoothed it out.. its rough enough that I tried to bushhog it once, but my 2320 would bottom out over and over (both tractor and rotary cutter) , so I just gave up.. it is also on the side of a hill - up and down is doable.. side to side could be dangerous do the dips/rises. The area is approx 150' x 150' with some of it much smoother than other parts

I have access to a 3pt disk but im not sure i would feel comfortable even going up and down with it..

Would a FEL toothbar work for this? Im thinking (working up/down hill) digging into the high spots to loosen the soil and then back drag it to fill the low spots.. move forward and lather, rinse, repeat..

I figure if i have a contractor do it they would want $200 to $500 (if not more) and for that I could buy a markham toothbar and have it for future uses

thanks

brian

You didn't say if you tried doing it with a front end loader. That may be all you need. If you try the FEL that will give you a good idea if a tooth bar is in order. If you hit a big pieces of concrete you may need heavier artillery than a tooth bar.