familyman
Platinum Member
The only concern I have at the moment is when going out to scrape and grade the private roads in our development (we have to maintain the roads ourselves, dept. of transportation does not do it) with a scrape blade or box blade attached. From another essay in this forum (Beginners guide to using a box blade) I understand that one has to (almost) constantly adjust the BB a little (maybe I misread though). This would give me pause of course as a minor up adjustment is not possible with the 'jerky' 3PH.
Does anyone have any experience with the use of a BB on a so called 'jerky' hitch.
Thank you.
I just spoke to my dealer about working up a price to swap my L2800 for an L3800, so this topic has my attention.
I've done a pretty fair amount of grading and elevation work with a BB. To me, it has been an extremely useful tool for changing the entire complexion of a property, as well as repairing ground after BH work, etc.
As far as left to right angle goes, the BB follows the rear wheels of the tractor; whichever way you have the BB set up with the toplink and leveler, if the rear wheels tilt left or right, so does the BB (with attending results to what you are attempting to grade). The only fix for this situation is a hydraulic tilt cylinder and valve. Adding hydraulic toplink to this gives you top and tilt, or T&T.
As far as adjusting BB elevation, this is all done with the 3pt. lever. As an owner of a JH (Jerky Hitch) I can tell you it's a royal pain. A smooth hitch would remove a lot of the trial and error involved here, but I'll tell you how I do it with the JH:
First, the hitch is capable of going up in small increments if you move the lever a tiny bit at a time. I do this by lightly tapping the lever with my palm as I go along. Yes it jerks, but the movements are small.
Second, instead of raising the box, I attempt to lower the box to where I want it. This requires watching behind you and lowering as you go, just like raising it while tapping. Adjusting the 3pt. valve under the seat will help you with drop speed.
For grading potholes on a gravel drive, if the road crown is ok, just using the toplink to adjust the front and rear BB blades to the same level will let it slide along nicely behind you; the box will pick up some gravel and fill/level the potholes as you go. By having the front and rear blades set level, the rear blade will keep the front blade from cutting deeply. If you have to adjust the crown of the road, it can be done without T&T, but a T&T will make things much faster and easier.