Box Blade Gravel What Am I Doing Wrong???

[/pine]

Once the material is broken lose...are you raising the scarifiers up and out of contact??

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

View attachment 561075

I should have taken a picture while I was in action, but this is basically what it looked like. The diagram on the left was while my blades were level, the picture on the right is what I was left with after lowering the rear blade. The lines are the windrows.

Ohhh, you mean windrows across the driveway? That's completely different, if so.

 

[sweettractors]

Hey guys, back for some more box blade help.....

Can't seem to get the hang of the BB on my driveway. I've read (I think) everything on here about BB's but I can't figure this out. Tilted the box all the way with scarifiers down and ripped everything up. Leveled the box out and made a few passes. Tilted the box all the way the other way to level everything out. Ended up with a bunch of windrows which I expected, but, I can't seem to get them to go away. I run over the windrow, and make two more?? I read on here that that's the general idea of it, but what am I doing wrong? Much appreciated.

If you are just leveling out gravel on the driveway, do you really need to be using the scarifiers? I take mine out or move the all the way up out of the way when working a drive/road with loose gravel. Ken Sweet

 

[4570Man]

I tilt the blade way back so only the rear cutting edge is touching and drive forward for the final smoothing.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Okay, if the windrows are ACROSS the driveway, this is what I think is happening. Your first aggressive passes (scarifiers way down, BB tilted forward) popped up some rocks (say, half-a-brick size). Every pass that your implement touches one of these rocks, your implement will jump up a little. This creates windrows. Especially if your scarifiers are still down during smoothing--they shouldn't be. When you drive over a windrow you create two more. Does that sound right?

Every time you pop a rock you have to get off the tractor and remove it. Then smooth down the hump you just created. You can't smooth a driveway otherwise. (One reason I try to never scarify more than two inches deep, because our soil is so rocky.)

 

[donconnery]

Nah, its not that, they are perfectly spaced apart.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Okay I give up.

 

[kthompson]

Realize I do not have rock drive way and not one who believes box blade is best for all dirt or rock work...but that sure looks like that is the work of the scarifiers. Evenly spaced enforces my belief as they run the length of the drive way.

 

[Jimmy in NC]

As the front of the tractor moves up a windrow, the box goes down and digs. As the front drops over the top and the rear tires ride up the windrow you raise and empty the box. Essentially moving the bump by creating a new before the box can get to the bump you have to cut out.

This is where land planes have come in so handy. It is also why when we build roads we hang the blade between the front and rear of the machine. By design a box blade requires many many miles to use. 20 years ago I could make mine work wonders. Now a days I struggle and want to purchase a land plane.

 

[woody]

okay I'll throw in my 2cents, when I use the box blade I adjust the right side slightly lower than the left I then go down the right side of the drive ( my drive is 8 tenths of a mile long) at the end I turn around and come back up the other side and when I get back to the starting point I level my box blade side to side and tilted slightly back so the front does not catch nothing but a high spot and drive down the middle of the drive leaving any windrows in the tire tracks of my drive and as you use the drive they go away.