Beginner FEL leveling question...

LBrown59 · Jun 29, 2005

( Now, Beenthere, THAT was one of the best pieces of advice I've ever read here about tilling the ground first. It makes me want to try it out just thinking about it .
)
=======
 I've used my 1966 Bolens front dirt blade and the rear mount tiller to grade level and smooth out places in the yard. Over the years I have moved quite a bit of dirt this way. The only problem was having to kept switching the blade & tiller back and forth on the tractor.
Solved that problem by just recently buying a 1967 Bolens just like the 1966.
I now have the blade on one tractor and the tiller on the other tractor. No more switching these 2 implements. I just till with one Bolens get off of it and hop on the other Bolens and push the tilled dirt with the blade on it. What is nice about this arrangement is it speeds things up if you have 2 tractor operators.

Now that I have the BX23 this set up is even better.

LBrown59 · Jan 23, 2006

( ...all I could get in one scoop was a big, thick piece of sod...

Freds
That was my first experience too. Then trying to break up that sod to use it for fill dirt, just made an almost unworkable mess. I first thought about the tiller to break up the 'mess' where I was trying to fill in. Then I decided to try using the tiller on the humps I was trying to remove. That made a perfect spread of fill dirt, that was easy to scoop up with the bucket, and spread out in the fill area. Took care of the sod problem and some of the live roots of the grass seemed to respond quickly to begin growing again. )
====Tilled fine dirt is always easier to work with than clods of soil

LBrown59 · Jan 23, 2006

( Recently helped the neighbor dig out a few inches for his patio and that is what I found worked good. Set desired tiller depth and ***** till then remove the loose dirt. Worked well. )
***** I've moved a lot of dirt with an old Bolens 850 tractor with a tiller on the back and a dirt blade on the front at the same time .

I would love to have a BX 1500 set up like that.
The 4 wheel drive power steering hydraulic lift and hydrostatic drive would be sweet compared to the Bolens without any of these features.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY FIRST CAR http://www.hubcapcafe.com/ocs/pages01/chev5003.htm
OUR FIRST CAR http://www.hubcapcafe.com/ocs/pages01/chev6003.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LBrown59 · Jan 23, 2006

( Yesterday I cut a 45" wide (bucket width), 30' long side walk into the front yard. I am not doing anything fancy just going to fill it with slag, level it and place some 16"x16" walking stones on top... Just things I have around without spending any $$$. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I tried to dig it about 4" deep, making multiple light passes just skimming the top, but the right side of the bucket kept catching and digging in more than the left. Since there is no side to side leveling of a bucket my right tires would go into the low spot causing the bucket to dig in even deeper on that side! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif My question is what "technique" am I missing when trying to stay level while digging? I have a couple other similiar jobs (like leveling an area for my little girls outside swing and slide) that will even be wider and more likely to do this. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Is this just an experience thing or are there some easily explained tricks of the trade?

Thanks in advance!
Bill )

=============
I have just the opposite situation I need to grade a slope away from the foundation of my garage,
Since the FEL wants to grade level I can't slope the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY FIRST CAR http://www.hubcapcafe.com/ocs/pages01/chev5003.htm