BOX BLADE QUESTION

[NoviceguyInCT]

How useful is a box blade where the ground is full of 5 & 10 inch rocks every 2-3 feet? Would a four foot BB be helpful to level my yard here in NW Connecticut or would it just wear out, brake or be an exercise in frustration?

Currently I'm using my BH 1st to break up the ground and then the FL to move the soil around from the high spots to the low spots. But this is very slow going. Would 4 ft. a BB be a good purchase?

I own a new BX24. Thanks for your advise.

Jim /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Birdhunter1]

Sounds like some big rocks, but yes a box blade would help to pull them out and drag them to an area where you can pile them up. If sounds like you will need a heavy duty box blade to get the job done.

Another option would be to get a scarifier attachment just to rip the rocks out and then later use a box blade with the rippers to smooth it out decent.

 

[JoshJ]

Might have some luck with the scarifers on the box blade with pulling the rocks out, but I doubt you would do much with the rocks lying in the ground and just using the blade of the box.
The problem you'd have with just the blade would be getting it to dig deep enough to get under the rocks. It would probably just skip over them and frustrate your efforts. If nothing else, a box blade should save you the time breaking things up with the BH, as you could just rip with the box blade teeth/scarfiers. Hope this helps

 

[RonMar]

The grader I just built(see "Rons grader" thread in Build it yourself forum) was suprisingly good at pulling the rocks up with the front cutting edge. Some were the size of bowling balls and I hooked the edge onto one monster about 2' across that stopped the tractor. I had to dig it out with the FEL. In fact, the ammount of rocks got to be a nuisance as I was pulling up rocks left and right(We call them Sequim Potatoes around here) while trying to cut out a turnaround and shave off the high spots on my driveway. As the front blade dug into the rock, it would roll it out of the ground and the blade would roll up and over the top of the rock lifting the grader off the ground and dumping whatever the rear blade was dragging into a pile. Once the rocks were up they would roll along pretty well in front of the blades and I could drag them to a common location The Scarifiers of a regular box blade would do the same thing without causing the box to "hop" as bad as the rock will fall off to one side or the other of the point, but they are only going to pull the rock up and out if they get a solid bite on it.

 

[KiotiJohn]

If you set the toplink to use only the scarifiers digging in aggressively you should be able to dig out a lot of those rocks. Don't go too fast because then you'll get damage when you git a more "immovable" rock! Use the backhoe to break up strong concentrations of rocks and then the rippers to drag them out.

It will be a lot of labor, but I think it can be done. As I said, go slowly to avoid damaging the box.

Once you get the surface rocks out, you should be able to adjust the toplink again to utilize the inside and outside blades to level.

John

 

[RayH]

A box blade should do the job, but be advised, its going to be a slow and sometimes frustrating process. It wont be as easy as simply riding around dragging the BB.
Put the scarifiers down and take it slow, be ready to back up and get a second of third bite because some rocks wont come up and others will lift the BB and roll under. Go slow or destroy your BB. Be ready to occationally jump off to dislodge rocks from the BB or manually dig the bigger ones loose. Plain and simple, rocks suck. There really isnt a "magic" emplement for a SCUT that can handle multiple 10" rocks without the occational glitch. You could use a subsoiler or middlebuster to lift the rocks but youve still got to collect them. You are still talking alot of work and many, many, passes to get it done. Im not even sure a BX could pull a subsoiler or middlebuster through rocks like you describe. Just have fun with it and dont get pi$$ed when it doesnt work exactly right and be easy on the equipment.

 

[browns40]

Hi noviceguy,

Like everyone says, the boxblade is the right tool for the job... go super short on your toplink. That'll get the blade portion as high up (& scarifiers as deep) as you can your first few times through the soil & you should have quite a few of them up... If you fetch up the BX too much, take scarifiers out, sides first.

Here in Maine rocks migrate up though--people say it's the frost--but a "clean" area always has rocks the next year!