Grading How to feather a 3ph blade up and out of the material using a BX

[HeLa]

i don't how how it would with your material (sounds the material could be too heavy/course) but for a final finish (working with soil or small gravel) it seems from my experience that a drag harrow is the tool to use.

i.e. Loyal Drag Harrow, 4 ft. x 8 ft. - Tractor Supply Online Store

i don't have a blade, but like others mentioned, i've had plenty of problems similar to what you are facing when using my box blade :-/

 

[Egon]

You want to finish grade??

Install. GAGE WHEELS. on the back blade.

 

[k0ua]

Another bucket in reverse guy here.. put the bucket in float by pushing forward all the way past the detent, adjust the angle of the bucket with the curl/dump control, and move backward briskly to smooth out the gravel. It takes some practice but it works well. Here is a few second video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Wh-Y0d-pfw&feature=player_detailpage

James K0UA

 

[RaydaKub]

What I do for finish off a driveway is put the tractor in High range, 2500-2700RPM, spin the the around backwards, and drive full speed ahead. Get the tractor moving and then drop the blade. When you get to the end of your run you can slowly pick the blade up and it is spread out uniform. The shorter you run the toplink with the blade backwards the less it will cut in.

That is what I finally tried at the end. The ruts had been close to a foot deep and with the water at the bottom of them, the material still just squished out with the tractor weight on them, muchless the garbage truck that will be coming on Tuesday. So I couldn't quite go full speed and when I got into that area I had to slow down even more. However, the toplink idea is a great one. If I have to go back in a few weeks to do this again (wettest May I can ever remember) I'll give this a try as well as the backing up idea (although I suppose if I back up, I actually need to make it longer instead.

Your Avatar Pic shows a loader on the BX.
You can easily smooth out those rough spots by using your loader. Just set the bucket angle slightly below level, apply some down pressure, and back up over the rough spots.

As k0ua notes, the float actually ended up working better than more pressure. But yeah, I ended up using the bucket.

i don't how how it would with your material (sounds the material could be too heavy/course) but for a final finish (working with soil or small gravel) it seems from my experience that a drag harrow is the tool to use.

I actually had a 5 foot wide section of old Melroe spring tooth drag with me, but the middle of this was so soft yet, I decided not to use it.

So, Gentlemen, I thank you for your opinions and ideas. It's nice to know it isn't just my ineptness that prevented me from doing this the way I really wanted.

 

[94BULLITT]

It just takes practice. 10 different people would probably do it 10 different ways.

 

[Grandad4]

It just takes practice. 10 different people would probably do it 10 different ways.

That's true. Actually, some of us try 10 different things all on our own. :laughing: At least I've tried pretty much all the things mentioned here at one time or another, except the gauge wheels Egon mentioned (someday when I can get to it!). Seems no one approach works in all circumstances but a combination usually gets the job finished. When grading our 1/4 mile dirt road, I tend to start with a scraper blade and then switch over to the box blade.

With the older BX's, feathering the 3 pt involves a fine touch on the lift, which usually requires me to stop or almost stop, make the adjustment and then proceed. You can almost do it by ear, because it squeals when you are right at the point where it begins to lift. About impossible to do while still moving.

 

[RaydaKub]

With the older BX's, feathering the 3 pt involves a fine touch on the lift, which usually requires me to stop or almost stop, make the adjustment and then proceed. You can almost do it by ear, because it squeals when you are right at the point where it begins to lift. About impossible to do while still moving.

Boy, isn't that the truth! I couldn't even make it work when I was stopped. Sat there squealing for 20-30 seconds and still blew it.

 

[PeterK]

When I use my rear blade for grading, I find I need to get the angle of the blade just right but adjusting the upper link length. I like it dragging behind (short link) instead of biting in (longer link). Mine is a 60" Landpride, BX24.

 

[Egon]

Put on gauge wheels and work it like a road grader. You run full length windrows back and forth. Set the gauge wheels so the forward part of blade is just slightly lower than the rear of the blade. This will allow you to lay down a thin layer of material and kick large rocks of the end. This will natural redistribute the the road material into a smooth grade.:thumbsup:

At the end angle both sides of the road in and bring the shoulder up to the center. Follow by a pass with blade at 90 degrees to the road and gauge wheels set to let a little material to run under the blade.

A nice grade with the loader should be done by going forward and cutting, dropping the cuttings into low spots and repeating. Most of us don't have enough tractor to do this properly.

Back blading just follows the contours of the road. doesn't do much for the dips and bumps.

Now Flame away; My skills are pretty normal and the Bunker suits on.!

 

[k0ua]

Back dragging with the bucket edge will do a lot for filling holes.. you have to adjust your angle with the curl/dump circuit. I am not saying it beats other methods, but it works. You adjust the angle so that some materiel is built up on the edge, as a hole is encountered it falls in the hole, at the end of your run, your adjust the angle up so that the wad of materiel is smoothed out. For final smoothing you have very little angle on the edge of the bucket so that very little material is pulled along.. Of course this does not work well for large rocks, only small gravel and dirt. When you go the same direction all the time, you will eventually move material to build up on the direction you are going in reverse. You can swap sides to help prevent that.

James K0UA