3-Point Hitch Draft control built washboards into driveway with box blade.

[Rod in Forfar]

About 500 of the 700 feet of our driveway needed filling up, so I ordered 28 tonnes of 5/8 gravel in a belly-dump trailer for ease around the overhanging trees. The operator knew his job and left a very clean spread. Then it was up to me to do the final grade and compaction with the toys at hand. I bought a 5' box blade from a neighbour and mounted it on my TAFE 351 2wd tractor. At first all went beautifully as I worked the gravel to the edges of the lawn while still maintaining the strong line laid down by the guy on the truck. But as the road shaped up, the draft control on the tractor seemed to get jumpy, hunting above and below the correct line until I ended up with a job which looks terrific to the eye, but feels like a washboard in a car.

Any suggestions?

BTW: a TAFE 351DI is very like a MF 135. I have put 600 hours on it since 2008, though I have never fully understood its draft control.

 

[jeff9366]

I have draft control on my Kubota.

I would not use draft control with my Box Blade unless I was cutting/moving max loads of tough dirt with the box.

I can't imagine how draft control would be useful in moving gravel. I would have draft control "off".

You may have had draft control and position control set so they were fighting each other, hence the hunting or jumping.


Separately, on my tractor the sensitivity of draft control is adjusted my moving the inner end of the Top Link up or down within selection of four pin adjustment options.


MORE: mixed draft control site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

 

[zzvyb6]

Draught control would never work because it's too slow to react compared to your ground speed. Instead you need a tool that sets the gravel to the level following the tool, OR one which is angled so much that the tool just rides flat. A landscape rake is what you want, one that's very wide so that when it's at 45 degrees, it's wider than your tractor wheels, AND which has gauge wheels following the rake tines. That way, the wheels set the tines to the level of the gravel you just smoothed.

An old square bedspring is another attachement often used to level gravel. Likewise, a backblade makes a very poor driverway leveler, because the bumps in front of the tractor make the blade dig down. To some folks, this is good enough. To others, its an awfully poor job.

 

[5030]

Draft control is for ground engagement not levelling gravel. You need to set in the least sensitive position or off and just float the box blade.

 

[Egon]

Try a blade with gauge wheels.

 

[lamanated]

I drag 2 pallets nailed together, and loaded by two kids standing on it pretending to water ski,, they stay in the middle,, it planes flat, stand towards the back, and it digs a little.. worked great

 

[CobyRupert]

I drag 2 pallets nailed together, and loaded by two kids standing on it pretending to water ski,, they stay in the middle,, it planes flat, stand towards the back, and it digs a little.. worked great

:thumbsup: GET 'ER DONE!!

 

[the old grind]

I second the pallet (finally a use for them). A chain bridle allows angling that won't move much mat'l to center, but might mean less of it flowing toward an outside edge of the drive..

IME, BB (box or back) will make washboards no matter how mounted, (not many choices there) Changing back blade angle every few passes will minimize 'ripples', and a good LR (esp, EA) will often 'scratch' better than any blade when you work high & hard areas.

 

[5030]

Well, I have a large half circular half gravel, half millings drive that goes around from the farmhouse to the barns and it gets semi traffic for grain deliveries. I liike to pull my Fuerst Tine Harrow behind the quad to keep it nice but thats an ongoing thing, it needs to be done regularly, like weekly.

An old bed spring works as a drag too.

 

[wolc123]

I had the opposite problem plowing the fields for the last few seasons with my new 4wd tractor that does not have draft control. It was hard to maintain a uniform depth This spring it was dry enough for me to use my old Ford 8n, which has draft control. That makes it a lot easier to plow to a uniform depth. The plow is the only implement I use that works better with draft control. Everything else, including box-blade, disc, planter, drag, and bush-hog does a lot better in "position" control.