Box blade work- again

QuartzCreek · Mar 9, 2006

I'm trying to put all the pieces together in making a tractor buying decision and what attachments may be best. My question: What can one really do with a box blade? What kind of leveling/grading can one do with one mounted to a 30hp or less tractor? I have read the enormous thread on box blades and picture comparisons. Thanks!

Mike

Tractors4u · Mar 10, 2006

A lot can be done with a box blade on an under 30hp tractor. Of course the smaller the tractor, the longer it will take. The thing that hurts you with a smaller tractor is that the heavier the box is the better. You get to a point where you could have more box than your tractor can manage with a full box of dirt. My first tractor was a little bitty Bolens G152 and I did a lot of box work with that little tractor.

Box blading takes time, you will not get perfect results with the first pass. With a box blade it take some finese that comes with experience using the box.

What type of leveling/grading are you wanting to do?

QuartzCreek · Mar 10, 2006

One area I'm looking at falls about 2-3ft from high to low and I'm wondering whether a box blade and loader would really be able to put this into level.

johan3400 · Mar 10, 2006

It will take some time, but yes you can. The more experienced you become the easier it will be.

millsnhills · Mar 10, 2006

Sure you could. Now you could run into rock or some unseen problem but if you have the time with a tractor it will get it done.

I built my home about 1 1/2 ago, moved in now. I moved and spread over 40 tons of gravel and who knows how much dirt. I did most of my back fill and a lot of the final grade, all my lawn, mulch mulch mulch. I have done all of this with a 20 horsepower tractor. Forgot to mention mowing 2 acres of lawn at a time.

You have to think of the bigger picture all I can gather from your explanation is that you want to level out a dip and yes that can be done. Good Luck

3RRL · Mar 10, 2006

QuartzCreek,
( One area I'm looking at falls about 2-3ft from high to low and I'm wondering whether a box blade and loader would really be able to put this into level.)

It does take some finess to get it right but can be done. You don't say how long a run between the rise and falls but you can level them with the box blade. After some practice, I got pretty good with mine.

This is what I did to get the "humps" out.
I used the scarifiers on the tops to loosen the soil and then back bladed in reverse with the boxblade. When you're pulling it, your tires ride up and down the slopes and the box tends to follow the contours. By backing into the ripped area, the rear blade pushes the dirt off the top before your tires get on the rise. You can "cut the tops off that way. Do this using several passes so you dont cut too deep. Then lift the scarifiers and smooth it out. Aother thing I do is remove the rocks that are rolling around in the box when smoothing. Otherwise they'll end up getting lodged between the front and rear blades and gouging you grade leaving a small "rut".

I've done quite a bit on my ½ mile long dirt road and am very pleased with the way it turned out. Here's a pic of my road. It shows some streaks from the rocks in the box but not bad. Also, by backing blading in reverse, I was able to cut an exit for water to escape. It's dirt, so I'm constantly smoothing it. Gives me an excuse to get seat time. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

JSUnlimited · Mar 10, 2006

I bought the cheapest 5' box blade I could find because I thought I would never use it. It turns out that I use at all most all of time. I bought the King Cutter from TSC and it has held up great despite I meant only to use once in a while. Once I praticed with it, I was able to make this swale for the water to run off from between the house and the big hill going into the house. The elevation is hard to make out from these pics but it worked great, especially with hydraulic top and side links.

JSUnlimited · Mar 10, 2006

Another.

scott_vt · Mar 10, 2006

Hi Mega,
Nice job!

scotty

JSUnlimited · Mar 10, 2006

Scotty,

Thanks for the comments. We've never had a wet basement problem, but I thought with some drain tile/gravel and an avenue for the water to fall away, it would add some insurance. The box blade works miraces on the limestone driveway as well.

JSUnlimited · Mar 10, 2006

BTW Mike, i'm using a puny little 24hp tractor. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Investorguy · Mar 11, 2006

You guys do some good work. It clearly does take work... an hydrolic toplink means you can angle it and don't have to manually put the scarifiers up and down... that's gotta be great.

Phoenix1 · Mar 11, 2006

It is a tough question. I'm clearing out some woods, replacing some of the yard that is nothing but weeds and trying to build up a "trough" that has become the mini grand canyon. Probably will be spreading 6-7 loads of topsoil, if here in New Jersey you can call it topsoil. I call it dirty sand.

But after that is done, which is a fair amount of work, what do I do with the box blade? Driveway is paved so that is out. I really hate spending the money and then having it sit around and rust away. Tried renting one, but no one does that around here. Suppose I could always sell it, but then as soon as I did, I'd find something to use it on.

Yep, one tough question. Maybe I just hire someone to do the work...nah, that's no fun. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scesnick · Mar 11, 2006

I would just buy one. the amount of money you will save by not renting one, even if you can find one to rent. Or paying someone to do the work. Either way you are going to be paying way more than the price of a box blade. So spend the $500 and sell it for $200 when your done with it.

ChuckT · Mar 11, 2006

I have a sea story for you.

The neighbor across the street from us has a 2WD YM 1700. About 4 years ago we had a "no-name" storm move through & it dumped a LOT of water. We didn't have any problem but that neighbor's house was an island. After everything dried out, must have been 1-2 months, he had 6 loads of clean fill dumped onto his side yard, maybe a 1/4 acre or so. It took a couple of long days for him with his 1700 and a box blade to spread the dirt but I know he didn't flood with Katrina et al last year. What if he hadn't spread that dirt? We are higher than he or any of the lots east of us and we were an island!

That's what a Yanmar with a box blade can do.

cvt

flusher · Mar 12, 2006

Bought my 21HP B7510HST tractor with LA302 FEL (48" wide) last May. Bought a KK box blade (48" wide) last June ($375 at TSC).

Here's what I've done with it so far:

Cut a half-mile exercise path along my fenceline.

Cut trenches for front and rear paver block walkways (48" wide x 70 ft long, 6" deep, each)

Filled in numerous ruts and depressions left by construction equipment on my jobsite (new home, new garage/shop)

Started work on landscaping--cutting the weeds/turf in shrub planting areas.

Smoothed out backfilled electrical, water and gasline trenches

Scraped the area for the backyard patio construction.

Singlecoil · Mar 17, 2006

The ground here in Washington is still too soft to hook up my new box blade, but I have a question. What are some examples of when you would use the scarifier shanks angling forward as opposed to angling backward? Which do you usually use? I just noticed from someone's pictures (Homebrew's I think) that they were angled backwards. Mine came with them angling forward. Just thought I would ask and maybe save myself some time/frustration as I haven't used one of these before. I have some lumpy/meadowy type of ground to level out, bury sprinkler lines in, cover with topsoil, and seed for my lawn. The wife wants raspberries planted in her new garden by the end of the month as well. It had better stop raining soon.

Investorguy · Mar 17, 2006

Yes, the ground in WA is quite muddy, i.e. my thread.

I'm not sure you'll be able to do all that w/ just a box blade. It will certainly take sometime to get it all even.

Cacinok · Mar 17, 2006

investorguy good to see you make it away from NBF. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Investorguy · Mar 17, 2006

( investorguy good to see you make it away from NBF. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif )

LOL.. Hey Cacinok,

I love this place. My wife says it's a bunch of redneck yuppies w/ CUTs. Mostly just people that love rural living.

People here are about as helpful and knowledgeable as any forum I've ever been too. There's a LOT of experience here.