Anyone use a CTL with a box blade?

   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #1  

cjohnsen

New member
Joined
Oct 7, 2015
Messages
7
Location
Ma
Tractor
John Deere 444c
I live down a 1/2 mile dirt road. The town grades it every few months if I’m lucky. For the past few years I’ve borrowed our Cat IT28 from work and grab the 4-in-1 bucket, open it up and back blade down the road to fill in the holes and smooth the road out. Takes about an hour and a half which isn’t bad but to use float control I have to keep the stick held forward. Which is less than ideal for an hour and a half.

I’ve got a Cat 239D and I was thinking about getting a box blade for it to grade the road. It’s a ~7500lb machine at 67hp. I’ve seen a YouTube video of a 289D (~10500 78hp) with a Domor box blade and it looked like it did a great job. It would bog down a bit at a big bite but overall seemed like no issue.

Will the 239 handle a 6’ box blade? I’m worried I may not have enough power to push the dirt and traction to keep moving. Anyone ever used one on a smaller CTL?

The road is all hardener with potholes a few inches deep and a foot or 2 in diameter. The road isn’t crowned it’s pitched to one side.
 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #2  
Is the road being graded just to "fix" the potholes ??
 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #3  
This video? Many on this forum would call this a land plane and yes, they work nice for gravel drive work.

 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Yes I grade the road just to fix the potholes. I don’t have to pitch it I can follow what is there. That’s why I typically borrow a front end loader from work. But I would rather have something I can use that lives at my house rather than drive the loader to my road.

That isn’t the exact video I watched but the same poster, with the same machine and box grader (or land plane).

I have heard they work nice I’m just looking for input if a machine in the size range that I have will work as well as the one in the video.

Thanks for any insight.

Edit:

This is the video I am referring to

 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #5  
You may have seen this posted before ....

The best way to actually fix potholes that won't come back is with an implement that has scarifires ...i.e., a box blade or land plane etc...
First the storm water must be kept from puddling (more pitch etc.)...
The surrounding area must be well disturbed using the scarifiers (this is the key to fixing potholes) then refill the depression with compaction (driving over) leaving the area a bit proud with gravel...
 
Last edited:
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #6  
I like the idea. I don't have an answer. On my winter project list is to weld a skid steer plate to both my 3-pt box blade (with scarifiers) and the 3-pt land plane. In my mind, it seems like it would be easier to control the implement in front of the skid steer than when I pull it with the tractor.
 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #7  
For fixing pot holes I wouldnt even use a front end loader. A box blade will do just fine. I have a 6' box blade and tc40. I can drop all the tines with out issues on my gravel driveway. You really cant just cut and fill pot holes. You need to rip everything up.
 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #8  
Maintaining with a landplane has eliminated potholes on my driveway. Didn’t use rippers. Makes a durable, long lasting roadbed with 45”+ rainfall per year. Most of driveway canted on one side or the other instead of crowned. Do use 3pt hitch to tilt the LP to maintain the side slope. Some places it’s all 59hp 4x4 tractor can pull going up with a 6’ LP.
 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #9  
Takes about an hour and a half which isn’t bad but to use float control I have to keep the stick held forward. Which is less than ideal for an hour and a half.
Push forward harder, it should latch into float.
 
   / Anyone use a CTL with a box blade? #10  
If you’re buying an implement I’d get a land plane instead of a box blade but if you’re building it yourself I think a box blade with a plate on the back would work reasonably well.
 

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