Cutting Grade - CUT, BB and FEL Do the Job?

[Beltzington]

I want to grade a 20' by 40' slope to reach level for a shipping container, to do this I need to remove a good bit of clay under grass as the top of slope is about 18" higher than the lower. I have a 4,000lbs, 36hp CUTS, an FEL and a heavy 6' Box-blade with rippers. I have never used the BB and after watching many how-to videos it appears they are primarily designed for leveling not digging.

Hire this out or give it a go?

 

[oldballs]

Although I've never done such a chore, it sounds doable to me. As I understand it the rippers will break up the dirt and the BB + the FEL can move the dirt to the place of your choice. Probably you can get 'er done in a couple days. The wetness of the dirt can affect the chore, I'd think.

 

[jeff9366]

Give it a go. Box Blade or an Rear/Angle Blade are the two primary choices for your task.

Box Blades will move a lot of dirt, one load at a time. Keeping playing with the Top Link adjustment until you get the 'bite' you want.

You might consider a Tooth Bar for your bucket, to pair with the Box Blade. The Piranha Tooth Bar gets great reviews here.

 

[Beltzington]

Best to rip across, down, or up the slope? I would want to minimize disturbing the soil at the bottom of the slope?

 

[jeff9366]

Whatever works. You may (or may not) find that clay "peels" best without the rippers.

Soil moisture makes a big difference.

Do not get frustrated. A Box Blade looks like it should be mastered in fifteen minutes but it takes much longer.



You can spread "spoil" thinly be raising the BB just a little, until the spoil flows out slowly, while moving forward.

 

[bigdeano]

I'd travel across the slope. Lower the uphill side of the box blade so it digs in. That's not a very large area, shouldn't take long unless you hit big rocks.

 

[s219]

With the top link set right so that the rear cutter bites, you can easily shave off layers of soil with a box blade. Start with small bites to get a feel.

 

[tractorshopper]

+1 on what bigdeano said. And if you wanted to add a tooth bar, +1 on what jeff9633 said. I dug an entire pond with my FEL with tooth bar. Very similar tractor size. It's roughly 80X80 semi-circular and at deepest point about 8' deep. Used the box blade very little on that project except for ballast weight to max my loader abilities. I have hard red clay here like you do, but tooth bar helps you dig right through it for a full bucket every time. Box blade rippers will cut right into it too if your box blade has a good bit of weight to it.

No tooth bar needed though. You can use your box blade and it's rippers and turn up layers, then move the dirt with FEL or drag down hill with box blade. Only thing about BB is you need to change angle and bite frequently depending on your approach for the project, and without top and tilt, it's time consuming to make the manual adjustments. Still very very doable with your machine. In fact, I'd consider this chore to be light-work for your machine.

 

[Beltzington]

I can't dispute your accomplishments and don't intend to but I have tried to "dig" a few times with my FEL and have always had the gut feeling it would be very easy to bend the arms on the FEL because of how they are mounted so far back from the bucket. Years ago I did quite a bit of heavy digging with a skid-steer and never got that same feeling, it was a beast. Any thoughts on my assumptions?

 

[teg]

When I leveled a pad for a camper, I used the rippers on the box blade to rough up the area and my FEL can pick up the lose dirt to dump it on the down hill side. I also tilted my box blade so the uphill side digs in more and the extra dirt spills out on the downhill side. It's a good learning experience, go for it...