Box scraping the driveway. Grrrr!!!
- Thread starter NWhomesteader
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TSO
Elite Member
Good recommendations here.
I do more work with my box blade than any other implement (besides the loader) and like Ovrszd said, it really is an art. It took me many, many hours to finally perfect the technique.
Something else you can try, if the tractor can handle it ... Is to use the loader like this:
Loader in float position.
Bucket curled ever so slightly up.
Drive forward.
The goal is to lightly "peel" the high spots with the cutting edge of the bucket.
As the bucket fills, keep watch to not let the edge tilt down causing it to "dig in" ... Because you just want it to "peel" the high spots.
You'll be able to find the right bucket curl angle with a few tries.
Once you fill the bucket, distribute the material to another spot with feathered dumping, or a pile you can grab with the box on the next grading pass.
Repeat as necessary until you peel off all the high spots.
You'll also notice that this actually packs the material with the bottom of the bucket as it peels the high spots ...
Good luck!
I do more work with my box blade than any other implement (besides the loader) and like Ovrszd said, it really is an art. It took me many, many hours to finally perfect the technique.
Something else you can try, if the tractor can handle it ... Is to use the loader like this:
Loader in float position.
Bucket curled ever so slightly up.
Drive forward.
The goal is to lightly "peel" the high spots with the cutting edge of the bucket.
As the bucket fills, keep watch to not let the edge tilt down causing it to "dig in" ... Because you just want it to "peel" the high spots.
You'll be able to find the right bucket curl angle with a few tries.
Once you fill the bucket, distribute the material to another spot with feathered dumping, or a pile you can grab with the box on the next grading pass.
Repeat as necessary until you peel off all the high spots.
You'll also notice that this actually packs the material with the bottom of the bucket as it peels the high spots ...
Good luck!
RDrancher
Veteran Member
3/4 minus can vary quite a bit. Is the material mostly different sizes of crushed stone or are there a lot of powdery fines mixed in?
Old Red
Platinum Member
I purchased a GS 2584 Land Pride Grader Scraper and it was a piece of cake. No tricks or special modifications needed. Just drop and go and let it do the work for you. First time using you will look like a pro.
s219
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2011
- Messages
- 8,548
- Location
- Virginia USA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
I box blade my driveway with the box all the way down in float, so it doesn't really matter what the front wheels of the tractor are doing, as the box is always resting on the ground under the influence of gravity. It would take some massive bumps or dips to cause that floating action to be overcome, so it makes me wonder how the OP had the 3-pt set, and what the driveway was like to start.
If you dump a big pile of material and then drive over it, I can see that causing the box to bottom out on the 3-pt, and then you just created a bump. So I'd say to back drag any material that gets put down before driving over it with the box.
I think the whole trick is to repair any severe dips and knock down any large bumps before driving over with the box blade.
There is also an art to setting the top link so that the rear cutting edges of the box blade are doing what you want. For driveway work, I tend to run with a longer top link so that the box is feathered and "spreading" material. When the top link is short, the box will want to dig, and that's not what I want.
If you dump a big pile of material and then drive over it, I can see that causing the box to bottom out on the 3-pt, and then you just created a bump. So I'd say to back drag any material that gets put down before driving over it with the box.
I think the whole trick is to repair any severe dips and knock down any large bumps before driving over with the box blade.
There is also an art to setting the top link so that the rear cutting edges of the box blade are doing what you want. For driveway work, I tend to run with a longer top link so that the box is feathered and "spreading" material. When the top link is short, the box will want to dig, and that's not what I want.
Egon
Epic Contributor
Be of good cheer. You have joined the box blade roller coaster club to which many belong?
It isn't the right tool grading a road. The landscapers are what you need.A rear blade with gauge wheels will work. For it you have to angle the blade and work a windrow from one side to the other probably more than once. This distributes material more evenly eliminating the roller coaster or shadows in the night headlights.
It isn't the right tool grading a road. The landscapers are what you need.A rear blade with gauge wheels will work. For it you have to angle the blade and work a windrow from one side to the other probably more than once. This distributes material more evenly eliminating the roller coaster or shadows in the night headlights.
EverythingAttachments
Elite Member
We have some box blade videos in the How To Videos section of our website that may help you out.
Travis
Travis
jenkinsph
Super Star Member
I recommend that you reduce your travel speeds to the point you can raise and lower the box blade as needed with control.
Don't beat yourself up here, most people I see without enough seat time and experience have problems using a box blade. Very difficult to borrow a box blade and not having enough practice expect to get good results.
Typically when I am working a driveway I call in a driver/dump truck who is vey good at tailgating the loads. This saves me a lot of time. If I have to start with piles dumped on the driveway I use the fel to evenly distribute the gravel where it is needed. Then use either a box blade, land plane grading scraper or fel bucket to smooth.
If the driveway needs to be reshaped to improve drainage or increase the crown a rear blade works the best and should be done first. Then get the entire drive way as smooth as you can prior to adding the base and rock. When I have dump trucks show up with the materials I try to have the drive smooth and tip the driver to roll up and down it first with his load still on the truck to pack it in. I get a lot of bang for the buck out of a $20 bill this way.
Don't beat yourself up here, most people I see without enough seat time and experience have problems using a box blade. Very difficult to borrow a box blade and not having enough practice expect to get good results.
Typically when I am working a driveway I call in a driver/dump truck who is vey good at tailgating the loads. This saves me a lot of time. If I have to start with piles dumped on the driveway I use the fel to evenly distribute the gravel where it is needed. Then use either a box blade, land plane grading scraper or fel bucket to smooth.
If the driveway needs to be reshaped to improve drainage or increase the crown a rear blade works the best and should be done first. Then get the entire drive way as smooth as you can prior to adding the base and rock. When I have dump trucks show up with the materials I try to have the drive smooth and tip the driver to roll up and down it first with his load still on the truck to pack it in. I get a lot of bang for the buck out of a $20 bill this way.
Dr_Zinj
Veteran Member
I had a washboard problem with my drive due to the neighbor (who also lives on the drive and owns a tractor) just trying to scrap it smooth without really understanding what he's doing.
(1) Like Sysop says, every time your wheels go over a bump, it raises your 3pt and the blade, causing another 'wave". So the solution to that is to not drive over bumps. And to do that, you need to blade it smooth and then drive over it. Which means flipping the back blade around and grading in reverse.
(2) Even doing #1 can be a pain since the blade may alternately bounce and dig into the existing 'waves', especially if the washboards are perpendicular to the drive. So I angled my blade nearly 45 degrees to slice through them. That pretty much stopped all bouncing and waving.
(3) As you may assume, I don't have ripper teeth. So this took a lot of multiple passes to dig up enough material to totally remove the potholes, which left me a very high row of driveway mix running down the drive. If you don't dig out the pot holes, just filling them in won't help as the change in material density will cause you to bounce the material out as you drive over it. The potholes just come back that way. You need to have a homogenous material mix put down as a surface and packed to the base. NOTE: If you're adding material because you want to bring up the drive, or have lost a bunch to erosion, you'll probably want to work it into the existing row of dug up material so you again get the homogenous mix.
(4) You want to move that row of material so it's in the center, more or less. You can reduce the angle of the back blade somewhat, but you still don't want it straight across. You're also going to need to put a slight tilt to it because while you spread that row out, you're going to want a slightly raised berm down the center-line of the drive so the water flows off of it. Alternatively, you can have one side of the drive raised so the water goes all to a single side, but that might feel a bit weird driving on it with the cars and trucks all the time.
(5) I forget what the recommended broken rock to sand to clay ratios are here in New Hampshire, but in my opinion, you're going to want the maximum amount of rock and just enough fines to lock them together. Too many fines and then the rock just floats around in it like raisins in ice cream; and you'll end up with a quicksand-like mess come mud season.
(1) Like Sysop says, every time your wheels go over a bump, it raises your 3pt and the blade, causing another 'wave". So the solution to that is to not drive over bumps. And to do that, you need to blade it smooth and then drive over it. Which means flipping the back blade around and grading in reverse.
(2) Even doing #1 can be a pain since the blade may alternately bounce and dig into the existing 'waves', especially if the washboards are perpendicular to the drive. So I angled my blade nearly 45 degrees to slice through them. That pretty much stopped all bouncing and waving.
(3) As you may assume, I don't have ripper teeth. So this took a lot of multiple passes to dig up enough material to totally remove the potholes, which left me a very high row of driveway mix running down the drive. If you don't dig out the pot holes, just filling them in won't help as the change in material density will cause you to bounce the material out as you drive over it. The potholes just come back that way. You need to have a homogenous material mix put down as a surface and packed to the base. NOTE: If you're adding material because you want to bring up the drive, or have lost a bunch to erosion, you'll probably want to work it into the existing row of dug up material so you again get the homogenous mix.
(4) You want to move that row of material so it's in the center, more or less. You can reduce the angle of the back blade somewhat, but you still don't want it straight across. You're also going to need to put a slight tilt to it because while you spread that row out, you're going to want a slightly raised berm down the center-line of the drive so the water flows off of it. Alternatively, you can have one side of the drive raised so the water goes all to a single side, but that might feel a bit weird driving on it with the cars and trucks all the time.
(5) I forget what the recommended broken rock to sand to clay ratios are here in New Hampshire, but in my opinion, you're going to want the maximum amount of rock and just enough fines to lock them together. Too many fines and then the rock just floats around in it like raisins in ice cream; and you'll end up with a quicksand-like mess come mud season.
Rotax
Bronze Member
You guys are missing one very simple thing, box blades are all fine and dandy for spreading out lots of material but if you want to smooth something out nice a regular 3point hitch blade is much better. The fact is you can angle it! That is what will take your washboard out and also you can put a crown on the road with it so water won't sit on your drive way when it rains and it will dry much faster!!