Building a road on contour with box blade

[schmism]

does a friend/neighbor have a rear blade that can be angled?

mine does 2 axis (although you can get some tilt out of your 3pt)

If you ripped it with the box blade rippers, then set the rear blade with inverse slope (cutting deaper on the uphill side) you could easly pull the dirt from the high side to the low side.

the biggest issue i see with the box blade is its inablity to rake the high side dirt you scrape off to the low side as your unable to angle it.


if you want a great thread about cutting a virgin road into a hillside check out 3rrl's thread were he went to visit his buddy and they played with his buldozer.

the best of both worlds, able to push into the slope so your driveing on the flat ground, and agle the blade to move the material from the high side to the low side.

 

[kvmapr]

Schmism - I did read that thread by 3RRL about bulldozing a road up a hillside. It's a great piece that I'll be rereading when I really get into this road building project.

3RRL - I completely agree with your recommendation. And the work I'm trying to do would be easiest if I bought the box blade first. But I promised my better half there would be no more "big" cash layouts this year, so box blade won't happen until next Spring at the earliest. I know, there's not "much" difference between tooth bar and box blade dollars, but it would be enough to put me in the dog house. And since I don't have a real timeframe for this job, I can wait a while and keep her happy. In the mean time I'll putter around and see what works, and what doesn't.

Jay - thanks for the well wishes. I got back a little while ago and here's the result of my road trip...

It's pretty heavy duty all right. And not quite what I was expecting. It looks hand made, but by someone who pretty much knew what he was doing. I don't think this was built by a large manufacturer, though.

When I got there and saw it, I wasn't too sure about it. And I'm still not. But the welds are all solid. A few of the bolts holding the cutting blade on have been lost, and the rest are rusted, but I can get them off with a cold chisel. The cutting blade is worn down on one side, but all I have to do is flip it, the other edge is untouched. It's adjustable left and right, but not with as many positions as other scraper blades I've seen. The angle of cut can also be adjusted, to be more or less aggressive. The draw pins are welded in, and not bolted like on a newer attachment. So if I ever bend them I'll have to get them cut out before replacing them.

So after seeing this bizarre beast, which is pretty darn heavy for a 60 inch blade, I wasn't too sure I was getting such a deal for $150. Fortunately the guy selling it was a decent fellow, and we struck a deal at $120. Still don't know if I got a bargain. Guess I'll find that out after I get this thing cleaned up and start dragging it through the dirt.

Guess it's time to start searching through TBN on threads about rust removal and implement restoration.

So what do you think? Did I get burned? Or did I get a deal?

 

[3RRL]

You got a good deal. Just the steel alone is probably worth double that.
And I didn't know you were going to buy that now.

You can do everything I talked about doing with that blade. You can windrow from the high side taking cuts that don't dig in too much and get that road in there by tilting your side links to the max and reducing the tilt every pass as your tractor starts to level out. Pretty soon it will be level. It will be a lot easier than doing it with the fel bucket. Heck, you might not even need the boxblade now that you got that unit.
Good find!

 

[Spiveyman]

Home made huh? I wonder....... Looks like there's something etched on the side there... let me see if I can zoom in and see what it is...



...ah ha! I bet this was Rob's middle school shop class final!

 

[jbrumberg]

That rear blade is one major league "score" ! And to think it is also a 3RRL "signature edition" too ! Good work kvmapr ! You can definitely move some dirt with that unit . Jay

 

[Egon]

It surely looks like a well built blade. Will you be adding gauge wheels?

 

[kvmapr]

Spiveyman - you're TOO much! LOL so hard I woke my wife up this morning

3RRL - Thanks, I was wondering if what you described might be doable with a heavy enough blade. And I thought at the very least the steel in this puppy was worth the money I was putting down. Once I get the cutting blade bolts replaced, and check everything else out, I'll give it a go with the technique you describe above.

Jay - thanks, but let's keep that between us here at TBN. I still need to convince the wife I need that box scraper next Spring.

Egon - In all likelihood, yes, but not immediately. I'll work with it as is and see how challenging it is to control without them. But I can see gauge wheels helping to put a finer touch on the work I do with this blade.

I actually got really lucky to find this thing on Craigslist. First, there are lots of people out there looking for implements like this. But second, the feller selling it mis-spelled scraper. I searched for blade under Farm & Garden and got a hit on a short one liner, no photo, for a sccapper blade. Once I talked to the guy I knew it was what I wanted, but just not sure what it would look like. Anyway, he was a decent sort, so I told him about TBN and plan to email him a link. He comes from a multi-generation farming family in central Virginia and would probably fit right in with this community.

Thanks all, and I'll keep you posted on how things go with the road, and the new, used back blade.

 

[schmism]

psssttttt

i picked up my old ford (a landpride RB3572) rear blade off of craigslist for $75...

bought it before i owned my tractor.... it sat in my trailer for about a month as i had no way to remove the 600lb beast

but ya, I expect to see some action shots of it from this weekend monday!

 

[kvmapr]

I didn't get much time to work with the scraper blade on Saturday, maybe an hour at most, but it was enough to illuminate a couple of problems, and learn a little about using that blade.

After getting it mounted on the three point hitch I noticed that despite having my lower links set evenly, the blade had a heavy list to the left, visible in this photo...

But after putting it on the ground and making a few passes with it I found that it held together, and the sheer weight of it was enough to pull the soft dirt as I passed. The list to the left actually worked in my favor for this particular job so I kept at it...

But eventually I got down to hard packed soil and the blade just started chattering across the surface. Fortunately the wife was standing by watching, and she said I needed to get something that would do the job! Hot dang, a kitchen pass to buy the box scraper!

Well by the end of the hour, I did make pretty good progress. On the best part of the lane it had a 10 degree slope when I started, and 15 degrees on the worst part. By the time I was finished the best part was at 5 degrees, and the worst part was at 10 degrees. So definitely some measurable progress made.

And since Spiveyman likes the before and after, here's what it looks like now...

versus when I started....

After all's said and done, I think it's a workable blade, but it's going to need some repairs. Think I'll start a thread over on the attachments forum about that little adventure.

 

[Spiveyman]

Way to go kvmapr, congrats on the "kitchen pass" - that was a hoot! Looks like you had a blast there. I'm telling you, wait until you watch the scarifers rip into the earth that first time and you start seeing the dirt pile up in your box!

I like the strategy in getting that kitchen pass too. Spend some money to demonstrate that what you just bought won't get the job done and you have to buy something really siuted for the job. Not sure how you pulled that off, but it sure seems to have worked. With my wife I have to use the geologic approach, time and pressure. That's how I got her to marry me too.