How to use a box blade for road maint?

[2dawoodz]

Never used a box blade and I would like to try my hand at filling in some eroded areas of roads. Any tips would be much appreciated. The soil type is red clay if that makes a difference.

 

[evan price]

I don't have a box blade but I do have a 5' Woods blade. I maintain about 1/2 mile of gravel driveway shared among me and my neighbors.

Basically we set down a 4-6" bed of fine crushed stone with rock dust that I tamped with a vibratory plate compactor and left the middle crowned for water runoff. Then we tailgated 1" washed stone on top of that about 3" deep. We get wheel ruts and potholes in the low spots.

In the spring when the ground is soft I take the scraper and set it to cut off the middle of the crown of gravel with the blade perpendicular to the road. The scraped-off gravel falls evenly to the sides and fills the wheel ruts. Do this a few times to even things out. Then move the high spots to the low spots and fill in the holes. Then scrape the edges lightly to put the crown back. We keep a pile of gravel at the end of the road to patch the thin areas and bigger holes.

 

[JasG]

Never used a box blade and I would like to try my hand at filling in some eroded areas of roads. Any tips would be much appreciated. The soil type is red clay if that makes a difference.

Play with it.

I have one and it just took some time to play around with it. Use your teeth to loosen the soil in the high areas and drag soil to the low inside the box. The length of the top link changes the angle of both the teeth and the blade. This also changes the effect.

 

[TripleR]

Play with it.

I have one and it just took some time to play around with it. Use your teeth to loosen the soil in the high areas and drag soil to the low inside the box. The length of the top link changes the angle of both the teeth and the blade. This also changes the effect.

Pretty good advice overall as it does take practice. Just filling in the low spots with loose material is not going to do a whole lot of good long term if you don't loosen up the surrounding material. I have a hydraulic top link which really helps and have used a TnT, even better. I have been using a box blade for quite a few years, but still am not where I would like to be and probably never will.

 

[crash325]

Play, Play & Play some more.
It takes time & practice to bet good with a box blade. Good idea to practice some where other than your driveway, unless you like hills & dales. :laughing:
1 Tip is to get a Flat place to start and work backwards, as in push. Pulling takes fine control as the box goes up and down with the tractor wheels. When you get good at pulling, you can tell a lot of us how to do it. :thumbsup:

 

[newbury]

There's a really great thread on here about using a box blade. And many good threads also. I might dig up the link if I get around to it.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/116316-various-boxblade-uses.html

 

[Degolyerent]

Is it red gumbo clay or red clay with sand mix?

 

[2dawoodz]

Is it red gumbo clay or red clay with sand mix?

90 red clay with 10% sand in spots. Quite a bit of rock as well (quartz from the look of it)

 

[2dawoodz]

Thanks all. I will do another search Newbury.

 

[NC tractor driver]

Perhaps this will help:

YouTube - ‪How to Use a Box Blade‬‏