Ever use a 2720 with a disc and a plow or a rototiller to remove sod?

[Mechanos]

Rent a Harley rake.

 

[snohobigdad]

Wow such great ideas. I am working with a slope that I have to make my turns carefully unless at top or bottom. I do have a box blade and am intrigued by the land plane idea. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much!!!

 

[jeff9366]

TractorData.com John Deere 272 tractor information

Four posts in this thread and you still have not told us how large your field is.

Roto-Tillers and Disc Harrows are two forms of soil mixing tillers. Your Deere 2720 is only heavy/powerful enough to pull and Disc Harrow with 18" diameter pans, the MINIMUM weight of Disc Harrow which is effective. Skip the Disc Harrow; the PTO powered roto-tiller will work better.

Smoothing seems to be your primary objective. After roto-tilling the soil will be loose. As recommended by JENKINSPH a Land Plane or Spike Tooth Harrow would work. I have a Ratchet Rake FEL bucket attachment which will work too, perhaps a somewhat more aggressive grader. I also have an ETA Landscape Rake with gauge wheels, which is also good for finish grading when used on an angle. Landscape Rake is less aggressive than the Ratchet Rake, about equal in aggressiveness to a 1/2" chain harrow.

A Cultipacker is good for rolling in seeds but is is not great for grading type smoothing, as I interpret your need.

As you have a Box Blade, why not use it? Box Blades take quite a while to learn to use well but it should suffice for your need. You will not get the field perfectly smooth with a Box Blade but you can succeed the Box Blade with a Spike Tooth Harrow, Chain Harrow, Ratchet Rake or Landscape Rake with gauge wheels.

You can buy a Ratchet Rake from the T-B-N store, button at top of this page.

 

[snohobigdad]

Jeff,
It is just a couple of acres. To so many here that is nothing. To me it is a fair amount. I just heard from someone about a barrel rake. It sounded a bit like the harrow tool, but it could also do some leveling.

 

[Fallon]

A Harley rake. They are bad ***, kind of a combo between a box blade & a rototiller. They have a spinning drum with 1-2" carbide nubs on it instead of the shaft & tines on a tiller. It will push a pile of dirt in front of it to smooth & level things as well as screening out rocks & debris. It doesn't go that deep like a tiller does, but makes for great surface prep for seeding.

 

[snohobigdad]

Fallon,
That's what he described. That is wicked.

Harley rake - YouTube

 

[snohobigdad]

That's it Fallon

Harley rake - YouTube

 

[jeff9366]

For two acres your Roto-tiller and a $350 Ratchet Rake bucket attachment should be ample to smooth everything up in one day or less.

 

[snohobigdad]

Thanks Jeff. I appreciate your patience and suggestions!!

 

[Fallon]

Ya, those are sweet, $8k new for a 3pt one or so though. :-0

I had a crack at a $2.5k used one a while back, but was short on cash & it was a 4 hour drive away.