Boxblade Usefulness Survey

[TomG]

Somewhere along the line I think I figured out that 'grading' means something pretty specific, and not just filling pot holes and smoothing things out. My grasp of grading right now is that is means a width of ground between two points going in a straight line at a given angle.

There are a lot of construction things that require specific grades. Without grading, buildings aren't plumb, yards and drives don't drain, basements fill with water, and septic systems don't pass inspection.

To do adequate grading on any scale, you need equipment. A box scraper isn't a grader, or a dozer, but you can get the job done with some patients. Grading is much more of an aggravation with any other type of moderately priced implement.

I've been doing some grading, and the scraper gets quite a bit of work. I might even get the hang of it some day.

 

[Bird]

Harv, try http://www.tractorsupply.com/catalog/3pt/p146.htm and scroll down to the bottom of the page for a picture of a bucket scoop.

Bird

 

[Harv]

Thanks for the "scoop", Bird. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Looks simple 'nough, but now I'm puzzling over the "trip lever dump mechanism". Do you have to get out of the seat to dump it?

 

[Will]

That might have been my first attempt at landscaping you saw. I started with a dirt scoop and a subsoiler and found out that a dirt scoop is no way to produce a smooth surface, and it isn't a very efficient way to move dirt either. I bought a boxblade and it is much much better for both of these jobs.

I don't have a FEL, but one job the dirt scoop does really well is move rocks. You can easily scoop up a 2' x 3' x 1' rock and move it wherever you need it. You can try bigger rocks too, but then the rock stays on the ground while the front wheels go up. It would be a lot easier to pick up a decent load of wood chips (that I get from utility companies) with a FEL, but the scoop gets the job done eventually. I think moving sand would be total frustration - the scoop doesn't easily angle back far enough to keep a good load from spilling.

 

[Bird]

Harv, I don't think that's the best picture in the world, but it's the only one I know of on the Internet. In their 1997 catalog, that scoop was priced at $199. I guess I better let someone who has one describe the dump mechanism. I've seen some that you could either reach back to the dump lever that was bolted on the top, or run a rope from the lever to your ROPS so it was handy to pull. But the only similar scoop I've used personally was the horse drawn variety dad had nearly 50 years ago.

Bird

 

[gerard]

I'm in the NE and have found a boxblade useful for tasks it was designed to do. Yes the soil has some pretty big rocks in it but as previously stated NO implement is going to touch them except a backhoe and removal ($6000 vs $350, not much of a comparison) I wouldn't have one without scarifiers but it's a very useful tool for grading/spreading BECAUSE you can take shallow bites and decide how deep to go by how many times you pass over the same spot. (I regraded my barn so the water would flow around and not through the barn. This entailed taking out about a foot or dirt by 7ft wide by 150 foot long to make a swale. Took some time but it was the right tool for the job IF I wanted to do it with a tractor. A Dozer was the optimal tool but I don't have one of those. Weight is critical though, I have about 350# of ADDED weight on the blade which lets it cut much better. The trick to cutting deep is 1. go slow, 2. have the angle at its most aggressive, and 3. dump the dirt as soon as the box fills. (As the box fills the downpressure reduces as does the cutting effectiveness)

 

[bpence]

I've used a back 3pt scoop a few times that my neighbor owns. By no means is it anything close to a replacement for a FEL. The trip lever on top is usually operated by attaching a rope to the lever and keeping the other end somewhere near the operator so you can pull and release your load. They're OK for small jobs, and do real well moving wood chips from a pile to gardens, etc. I've moved gravel a few times to fill holes in the driveway, but have never tried to grade with it. Not a tool I'd spend much on....maybe a few dollars at an auction.

Bob Pence

 

[roysallis]

Box blades are sort of like mud+snow tires. They are not the best in mud or snow but will get the job done. Or like the difference between a small and large tractor. It takes longer but you can get it done with a small tractor. For those of us that cannot have a special implement for each purpose a box blade will eventually get the job done.

 

[RobertN]

Harv,
S&G equipment oh H49 in El Dorado has them, about $225 or $250. They are handy, but no as handy as a Loader. HOWEVER, compare $250 to $3000+ for a loader. It is a very viable option

I had one. You tie a short rope to the trip lever. Make the rope long enought to reach to you seat. Then you just reach over and pull the rope to dump the thing.

Mine's on a old 8N now. Works great for $225.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[RobertN]

I think the box blade with rippers is a good compromise.

I have a roll-over scraper. It works great to pull things forward. It works greeat to scarcify. But, not both at the same time. It works GREAT as a bull dozer when in the reverse postion. It als works AWESOME if it is in the reverse position, but you are pulling forward, in order to smooth things out.

Using a box scraper, I found it scraped ok, and scarcified ok. But, it was not like doing the jobs independantly with the roll-over box.

I have not used a plain blade. But, It makes me think it would be a lot like using the roll-over scraper, just without scarcifiers.

The idea I do like for driveway maint is a belly scraper. I'm thinking about getting one for my Farmall. It seems to me you could keep the whole thing "leveler" then. A 3pt scraper is way out back. Every time you front end raises just a little over a bump, that scraper hanging waaaay out there will want to drop considerabley.

My overall thought is that for a complete job, you really want one of each scraper/scarcifier setup; each having it's own purpose in the overall picture.

Given the $$$ for these things, it appears the box scraper with scarcifiers is the best overall compromise.

Of course, this is all IMHO /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

B

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif