Grading Box Blade and Rock Rake (a.k.a. york rake?) not really doing the job. Operator lacking skills?

[cmyoung2]

Mind telling me what their kit cost? And how long ago, to account for inflation?

It was last year, maybe 18 months ago. I got the SSQA and the weldon brackets to convert teh bucket, but I don't remember what it cost. I remember I thought it was a little high, but everything fit perfect, even on the old loader. I bought it through a semi local dealer and got a grapple and forks at teh same time.

 

[fish1552]

Honestly, I gave up using my root rake and box blade for clearing stuff like the roots and some rocks (I live closer to the coast in Georgia so, not as many rocks). I got a spring-loaded tine tiller and I get much better results breaking up the soil and grabbing roots and other debris and at least bringing it to the surface where a later pass with the root rake will collect the things. I bought mine in well-used condition (read: almost no paint left but some rust) but it is similar to this: 11 TINE FIELD CULTIVATOR 3PT
I found that if I was using the box blade and hit some root or solid item, my tractor ended up bending the metal on the tine slots. If I used the root rake, it never grabbed the things I wanted. I tried a friends sub soiler and it worked fine, but it too could shear the bolts. With the tine tiller, if something was too much for it, the springs allowed it to swing back and loose from the item and not damage the equipment.

 

[EdwardL]

With a boxbade you will have to make several passes to get most of the rocks up. Don't think a York rake will help until most of the rocks and roots are up. -- I tried once, and gave up on the york. Kept making passes with the box blade.

 

[Millwood]

Years ago I opened up an acre of rocky ground with a new Kubota B3300SU, an LA 504 FEL, a rock rake and a middle buster plow. Plow brought up 6 boulders the size of washer/dryers that I sold to a landscaping company. Rock rake and FEL took care of the smaller rocks. Finally 4 dump truck loads of free wood chips from tree trimming company and the following spring I was planting. Over time the acre has produced good crops and was worth the effort to de-rock it

 

[joea99]

This may be close to what you're looking for? https://www.trorc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Cubic_Yardage_Chart-D.pdf

Thanks.

The quarry/yard I spoke to said to figure about 1.3 ton per yard for "item 4", which is 3/8 stone +fines ("bluestone").

The material is cheap enough, the trucking is gonna hurt.

 

[joea99]

No, "float" refers to the ability for the hydraulic cylinder to extend and retract on it's own, with no pressure on either side of the cylinder ports to stop it. In other words, if you put it in float, you could literally push/pull the cylinder rod in and out of the barrel, extending and retracting it with your hands.
Typically, your hydraulic valve will have a detent position, sometimes it's float, sometimes it's others. It's the same principle as using your front end loader in 'float' mode, which is obtained by pushing your loader joystick all the way forward to lower your loader, and then pushing it further past the 'detent' which will allow it to move with the undulations of the dirt as you back blade or push forward.

Try moving your top link cylinder valve all the way forward (or back) and then 'pushing' it a little more. If there is a detent, you should feel it.

Normally, as you move your 3 point hitch control up or down when your box blade is on the ground, it will raise and lower the box blade as a whole. When the top link cylinder is in 'float' mode, the 3 point hitch will only change the angle of the blades contacting the ground, and will not pick it up off the ground, since your top link will simply extend as you raise your 3 point hitch arms.

Try this, it is the 'trick' that practically eliminates your pitching motion problems. You can work much faster when you master this technique, and be considerably more effective with better results.

Lastly, I also put my side link in float mode when there is a lot of side to side action. By using the rear blade of the box blade as a 'gauge', the tractor is allowed to pitch up and down, and 'roll' side to side, however the box blade stays surprisingly level/plumb/stabil since the rear blade is moving over smooth ground.

Not sure if I addressed this already, so -

The valve I have now is a two spool, no detent, no float monoblock. I can buy detents for it, but for float, also need a different spool. The economics of doing that or just getting a new valve with those features is a toss up. Either way, the cost of floating both spools is about $100 more than just one detent/float.

Looking for excuses to NOT detent/spool both the top and side link, and save a bit of coin. Having a bit of trouble seeing the value of float on the tilt cylinder.

 

[oosik]

The OP's tractor and implement are not heavy enough to do the job. A heavier tractor and implement will "hold the line" and not require constant adjustments.

Suggest the OP get a land plane grading scraper. Almost a zero learning curve and it will flatten the area nicely.

 

[joea99]

The OP's tractor and implement are not heavy enough to do the job. A heavier tractor and implement will "hold the line" and not require constant adjustments.

Suggest the OP get a land plane grading scraper. Almost a zero learning curve and it will flatten the area nicely.

Bigger machine, etc., not in budget.

Won't a "land plane" also just jump over the big rocks?

 

[joea99]

Here is an example of the right type of rock bucket. Note the long rounded tines. A subtle difference, but it does twice the work of the rock bucket wit flat tines. We have both types.

The flat tine type - like you see in the previous post - will work. Better than nothing. I don''t know of any other way to sort rocks than a FEL rock bucket. We do have a decent heavy rock rake thatis a good one with flip-down blade, tilt, and trailing wheels. But it won't do anything with rocks at all.

I happened to be looking for used ones and see one very much like that for sale. A 48" BB-4 model. 4 hours from me though.

The Shoule web site does not show that model, BB type smallest is 6 ft. And 30-60 HP advised. Wondering inf the smaller one would be too much for the B21?

Do you find the "u-bolt" attachment to be a problem, holding up? I'd think you'd have mentioned it, but, gotta ask.

 

[tbear640]

Home owner with a Kubota B21 TLB, Woods box scraper and EA rock rake.

Attempting to level, more or less, an area of mixed soil and LOTS of rocks, ranging from "eggs" to a foot or more. Some are rounded, like "river rocks" some are sharp edged as if newly broken up. Might be "fill", but that is not documented and if it is, is many decades old. Lets throw in hidden roots and whatever root balls I may have missed when clearing out fairly dense woods. Mixed soft and hard woods from saplings to 24".

Did not expect this to be "easy" but, did not expect it to be this frustrating.

Thought that after a few passes with box scraper scarifiers "deep" and manually removing the "big rocks", I'd eventually get to the point I could begin "leveling" with the scarifiers less aggressive or removed. Not happening as there always seem to be "more rocks", just big enough to present problems.

But, the bigger issue seems to be "depth control" and "tilt" control, which, for the most part, seem very difficult to manage, even with the hydraulic top and tilt.

Thinking the rock rake might be a better solution, as far as getting the rocks out anyway, tried that. Right now I am running in reverse, with the rake pointing "aft", main reason being those "spring tines" can bend quite a bit on bigger rocks and might use my head for target practice. The other reason is allows me to push the debris out of the tractor path making a second pass simpler.

So, that said, what I see the problems being are
1 - the tractor pitches both side to side and end to end, and the implement "follows at a distance", so I would have to move extremely slowly and make almost constant adjustment to the implement. Maybe keeping the implement "high" and making many more passes is the answer here?
2 - the rocks that seem to "spring up out of the ground" in anticipation of my implements arrival cause the implement to "bounce".

I'm off to HF for some cheap magnetic spirit levels, currently "on sale" hoping that attaching them to the implements will allow me to address #1 a bit more precisely.

It's entirely possible the equipment I have is simply not well suited to the task, but, I'm pretty much stuck with what I have as hiring someone or renting for the week or month (at the pace I work at 70+), is not in the cards. Especially as I have a house addition in the plans.

Not sure if I'm looking for tutorials, advice, or just venting, but, there it is.

I love my box blade as it works very well for grading. Depending on the size and quantity of rocks you could use a plow or my box blade has tines that I’ve used before that works good when only using a few of the tines from the center of the box blade.Either way works as long as you don’t have an Exuberant amount of rocks it’s feasible. Sometimes it’s A pia but it works.If you don’t want to spend the time then bring in truck loads of dirt. Essentially it’s a call that you must decide, you could use one of these methods on a small area to see if it is the what you want to tackle. Good Luck