I'm currently in the market for a land leveler to help upkeep my 5/8 of a mile driveway. I've looked at EA with the shank teeth and if I go with one it'll probably be it. My buddy has a box blade with ripper shanks that he's looking to get rid of for a good price. If I bolted on 50" to 60" adjustable skids to the side of the box blade would it do as good of a job as a land leveler? I could remove them when needed to move larger amount of material. Anyone done it?
Adding skids to box blade
- Thread starter NateF350
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/pine
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Box blades are one of the most versatile pull behind implements there is...adding any type of skid that would prevent rotation would basically render it a limited scrape blade...and the aggression of the cutting edge would be locked in by the skids...i.e., no adjustment...which is paramount for regular bb functions.
A box blade requires a degree of learning...having hydraulic top and tilt links on the 3ph greatly mellow the learning curve...
A land plane basically requires no learning curve...you just drag it...
A box blade requires a degree of learning...having hydraulic top and tilt links on the 3ph greatly mellow the learning curve...
A land plane basically requires no learning curve...you just drag it...
MtnViewRanch
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While it "will work", it is not a LPGS. (only 1 cutting edge working for you) If you can get your friends box blade reasonable, get it and make use of it. The ETA unit is a very good unit, much better than most of competitors if you end up going that way.
Just my :2cents:
airbiscuit
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T think that will work fine. Are you just going to bolt on a piece of angle iron with an upturned front (like a ski)?
smiley
Gold Member
I did exactly what your talking about 20 years ago with my backblade, for spreading blacktop left over from jobs. I got a 350 ft blacktop driveway and large parking area at no cost. Unfortunately time has taken it's toll and it needs a true and level course and being long retired, the blacktop is no longer free.
I simply welded on brackets to attach sides to the backblade to make it like a boxblade, then bolted turned up angle iron skids about 6 ft long to the front of the sides, then bolted 6" vertical pieces of angle on the skid back near the blade and drilled holes vertically about an inch apart up the sides . This way I could adjust the skid up or down to lay the amount of material I wanted (if the pile wasn't to big).
If this sounds of any interest, I'm sure I have one of the side plates still in the inventory pile and I'll post a photo.
I simply welded on brackets to attach sides to the backblade to make it like a boxblade, then bolted turned up angle iron skids about 6 ft long to the front of the sides, then bolted 6" vertical pieces of angle on the skid back near the blade and drilled holes vertically about an inch apart up the sides . This way I could adjust the skid up or down to lay the amount of material I wanted (if the pile wasn't to big).
If this sounds of any interest, I'm sure I have one of the side plates still in the inventory pile and I'll post a photo.
airbiscuit
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A six foot long skid sounds awfully long. Was it 3' ahead of the blade and 3' behind th eblade. Please do post a pic.
smiley
Gold Member
In rereading your original post I realized I misread it and you're looking to level it not so much grade loose material which is what mine does, but I'll post it anyways just for ideas.
After digging it out, it's only about 4 ft long, but you can see turned the up rear end of the skid (the front looks the same) and the slotted vertical depth adjuster which was right by the blade. Above that you can see the bolts that fastened the sideplates to the bracket I put on the backblade itself. Hidden behind that leaf is a bolt through the front of the sideplate that acted as a pivot point that allowed the skid to stay flat on the ground and adjust and maintain the blade at the desired height and lay a consistent depth of loose material.
The best way to visualize leveling is to think of a road grader. The blade is in the middle of a long wheelbase tractor that bridges over bumps and depressions.. The front wheels go over a bump then the blade comes along on the same plane and cuts the bump off and if there's a hollow after, drops the cut material in the hollow.
You had the right idea with your skids (walking beams) and they could be modified with wheels on each corner and adjusters for the height of you blade, but would be complicated.
A simpler method and one of the best homebuilt levelers/drag I ever saw was built with heavy angle iron very similar to the one in this video. except the front angle was lower with teeth to act as a scarifier. We had one on our (public) sand road in Florida made from railroad ties. It was parked in a wide spot at the end of the road and when the road got to rough, one of the ranchers would drag it up and down a few times and park it again.
Road Driveway Drag 2 - YouTube
You can search road drag grader and you'll see a bunch of idea's. -------- somehow I got 2 pictures.
Here's a 3 wheeled walking beam grader to do your whole driveway at once.
http://www.tgschmeiser.com/pdfs/Ope...TACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]523274._xfImport[/ATTACH]
After digging it out, it's only about 4 ft long, but you can see turned the up rear end of the skid (the front looks the same) and the slotted vertical depth adjuster which was right by the blade. Above that you can see the bolts that fastened the sideplates to the bracket I put on the backblade itself. Hidden behind that leaf is a bolt through the front of the sideplate that acted as a pivot point that allowed the skid to stay flat on the ground and adjust and maintain the blade at the desired height and lay a consistent depth of loose material.
The best way to visualize leveling is to think of a road grader. The blade is in the middle of a long wheelbase tractor that bridges over bumps and depressions.. The front wheels go over a bump then the blade comes along on the same plane and cuts the bump off and if there's a hollow after, drops the cut material in the hollow.
You had the right idea with your skids (walking beams) and they could be modified with wheels on each corner and adjusters for the height of you blade, but would be complicated.
A simpler method and one of the best homebuilt levelers/drag I ever saw was built with heavy angle iron very similar to the one in this video. except the front angle was lower with teeth to act as a scarifier. We had one on our (public) sand road in Florida made from railroad ties. It was parked in a wide spot at the end of the road and when the road got to rough, one of the ranchers would drag it up and down a few times and park it again.
Road Driveway Drag 2 - YouTube
You can search road drag grader and you'll see a bunch of idea's. -------- somehow I got 2 pictures.
Here's a 3 wheeled walking beam grader to do your whole driveway at once.
http://www.tgschmeiser.com/pdfs/Ope...TACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]523274._xfImport[/ATTACH]
JCByrd24
Gold Member
I tried exactly what you are talking about and it wasn't worth it. I can do just as good a job with the box blade as with the modded version after reading some box blade tricks on TBN. I basically drop the scarifiers all the way down and roll the box back on the back edge so it doesn't collect much if anything. This rips up the pot holes and loosens up the surface. Then I raise the scarifiers and roll forward a little to collect just a little bit so it fills in low spots. Final pass is rolled back again to just pack down using the rear blade.
I'd love a LPGS because I know it'd be superior but my drive isn't long enough or maintenance intensive enough to warrant the purchase of a LPGS.
I'd love a LPGS because I know it'd be superior but my drive isn't long enough or maintenance intensive enough to warrant the purchase of a LPGS.
smiley
Gold Member
As I mentioned, It doesn't do much for leveling but worked great for spreading loose material at a consistent depth either tailgated out of a poop chute or dumped in small piles.