I need a boxblade maybe

[Avenger]

I believe what you need is a box blade AND a landscape rake to do this justice. You can also 'get away with' using a drag (see below*), but a drag must be, well, drug. There is no lifting it up, backing it up, and is kind of a pain.

Use the box blade to do most of the heavy earth moving, as in taking the high spots and putting the dirt into the low spots. After about 3 minutes, you'll have it down just like that excavator you were running.
Once the high spots are in the low spots, and the majority of the undulations are smoothed out, take off the box blade and hook up to the landscape rake. This can be set at an angle. Rake it and smooth it out even more. It's just like raking your flower bed or garden with a hand rake. Really works well.
Or use the drag to really get it smoothed out.

A cheep box blade and rake can be found at your local TSC or similar. They are not too expensive. Then you will have the equipment for future projects. Or see if you can borrow someone's. I loan mine out all the time.

*To make a drag:
Get a long rail road tie, at least as long as your tractor.
Drill two holes on the same side all the way though about 6-8in from the end of the tie.
The holes should be big enough for the chain you will pass though the tie and hook to your tractors draw bar
Next get two lengths of pipe, maybe 3ft long and large enough to go over the chain, but not though the holes on the tie.
This is so the tie wont slide into the next part of the drag
continue the chain back though the pipe and hook it to a length of chainlink fence that is just as wide as the tie and maybe 5ft 'tall'
The fence should have the top, bottom, and side bars on it, not just loose fence.
Hook up and drive in circles.

I have made this drag twice, and once with using a steel I-beam. The I-beam worked well, but really dug into the ground and moved quite a bit. Needed a big tractor.

 

[1930]

A box blade is a common tool for dirt work like you are needing to do. Some people will use the bucket of tractor and back drag with it. Our neighbor had an old railroad tie and fence hooked to it and used it to drag with to smooth his yard.

You could also use a land plane/grader, straight blade, you could disc or rototiller it in. There are lots of options, depending on how much you are wanting to spend and time involved.

For our work which is brush/tree/fence removing, I have been using my bucket to smooth out the worst areas and when we get the project down, then use a box blade to put the finishing touches on it that we would like.

My tractor came with a bucket but Ive had zero experience with it, up till this point Ive been using only my grapple. I tried using it this past weekend and I can see that it will take time and practice to do any sort of work with it.

I would recommend some sort of "drag" to be pulled behind your tractor or Ranger. A chunk of RR tie or a chunk of tree trunk. With a section of chain link fence behind and attached to the RR tie or tree trunk. Make a rope bridle to go from the tie or trunk to the back of the pulling unit.

Round & round you go. It will flatten and smooth out the humps & bumps just fine.

If you want to move up a notch - and spend some $$$. Get a land plane grading scraper to pull behind your tractor.

I have a "drag" made out of 4" x 4" lumber. It's four feet square. LARGE spikes extend down thru the leading 4x4. Pull it with a rope bridal and my ATV. It breaks up any clods and levels things out just fine. I had a picture of it - darned if I can find it right now.

Let me know if you want me to post a picture of it. I can get a good pic when the sun come up.

Id like to see a pict, no rush, at this point I dont want to move up a notch, I simply want to make the area passable with my little car and tractor.

and now you know what a mess can be made when pulling up trees and dealing with the aftermath - ive tried every method short of a rotary/drum mulcher - there is no EASY way to do it due to the removal of the root ball/hole that is left. The biggest problem i experienced was trying to come up with enough dirt to fill the holes left behind.

I had a Skid Steer and pushing any loose dirt and smoothing out my tracks helped some but still didnt take care of the entire hole, not to mention it will settle too.

IF you are working in TALL grass in a field/pasture that has grown up, do yourself a favor, mow first if you havent already, the grass it a pain to work with and also causes bulk that only causes more settling issues as it decomposes.

IF you havent already on the big holes you cant straddle take your loader and push debris into those holes enough you can drive over them with a box blade - dont even start wtih the box blade until you have those obstacles out of your way.

Next.........get your box blade, they are easily rentable around here and a couple of my neighbors have them so i usually borrow one.

I set the ripper shanks just long enough to scratch and loosen things up. I start going over or zig zagging through making paths in/around whatever it takes to fill the holes. IF more dirt is needed i work out farther from the holes so you are essentially tapering your scraping and lessening the divot in the field. I have had descent luck with this approach and of course driving over continually also helps pack the holes as you are filling them.

Once i have moved as much dirt as i can then i have to see if i need additional dirt to dump in holes because you dont want to be out there refilling holes more than you have to unless you dont plan on seeding right away

the scratching effect of the rippers will open up the areas around the balls and the feathering you did can then be overseeded .

Good luck with that, sounds like a box blade will be the ticket for you just take your time and be careful going in/around those holes, it only takes one bad turn for something bad to happen

Thanks, I am only dealing with sand and pine tree removal, Im sure Im gonna have to have more sand or dirt brought in before Im thru with this project

I am not a fan of the box blade. I bought one with my tractor and spent years trying to use it without success. I've been to a few peoples places on here who added top and tilt to theirs and they are able to get some decent results, but the learning curve was just too much for me. I consider it to be one of those tools that is kind of ok for a variety of things, but not very good at any of them.

I built a drag out of angle iron and solid cement blocks that works really good, but all it does is smooth out the existing shape of the land, it won't change anything.

My favorite tool is my front loader bucket. Depending on the size of the tree, I will add dirt from the bucket, smooth it out by back dragging the bucket and then driving over it with my front tires until its solid. Then add more dirt and repeat until there is no sign of the hole.

If you do not compact the soil that goes into a hole, when it rains, you will have quicksand. If the hole is big enough, moisture will remain in the hole for years. You will have a hard surface with grass growing over it that you can mow with a riding mower, but if you drive over it with a truck or tractor, your tire will be swallowed up in it!!!

For my place, I rely on my loader bucket to go over the area that I've removed an area of trees. I typically do a smaller area now then when I first bought the land. Maybe 100 x 100 feet at a time, or a road/trail that will be 40 to 50 feet wide and however long I can go and still work the area.

The problem with a box blade is that it follows the ups and downs of the tractor, so what happens at the front tires is what you get at the back tires. This can become very frustrating and leave you with lots of ups and downs that take forever to flatten out.

After failing to achieve any of the results that I wanted with my box blade, it sat for about ten years, and then two years ago I gave it to a friend who has had pretty much the same results that I had with it.

The holes I have to still fill are off the paths I use to travel, they are more in the wodds if it can be called that ( its only 5 acres ) Ive filled the holes already that will be traveled pretty much.

if you have a tractor to pull it, a box blade with the ripper shanks down as far as they will go will move a lot of dirt = it works even better on an older tractor with down pressure/farmall

ive ran an 8 footer and 5 footer, the 5 footer in my garden to move tilled soil around it work great for that and the 8 footer to rip out in fields that had trees pulled - i had good luck on both however you have to have the ripper shanks to really get things to work good unless the ground is already loosened up, they work great on gravel drives too i think

I was wondering what the shanks were called and their use. At this point I have no need for them

The ruts are large enough that you get stuck on your L2501 (Kubota?) trying to drive over them? 2WD?

You may be overly optimistic thinking you could get five acres drivable in half a day. For me it sounds like I would need at least half a month! But you say your 4x4 Ranger would probably not get stuck...so maybe it s not as bad as I imagine.

Perhaps you should consider hiring a bulldozer to smooth things first.

Of course when you post pictures we will have a better idea of what you are dealing with.

Ill post pict but cant say they will show the havoc. Yes L2501 4WD stuck already, my small 2 WD Kubota didnt last 3 minutes in the stuff as I should have expected so why did i even bother trying

I thin my many stands of small pines most every spring. This means I cut down - drag & pile - finally chip, about 900 to 1100 small pines. They range from 1" to 6" on the butt. I've ripped them out with my grapple on the M6040. They rip out just fine. Leaves the most God awful mess. Then I have to come back and straighten things out. It's just a lot easier to cut, drag, pile - then chip. Access and selectivity are two added problems using the grapple.

I have a Bush Hog roll over box blade - RO 720. 72" wide - 710 pounds. I seldom use it. I even have a hydraulic top link. My experience - I have it all adjusted - I'm tooting along. One of two things happen. I look back - it's skipping along - digging no dirt - just flattening the bunch grass. Or - suddenly the tractor starts to lug - the turbo kicks in - look back - the box blade is on its way to China. Maybe if I had the projects and used it more often I would get better. If I sell it - I know, for certain, I would have a need.

If you want to smooth the land - a drag or land plane grading scraper work great. If you want to change the contour of the land - then a tractor and box blade or rear blade will work but only if you have a whole lot of experience & time. Have you ever seen the highway dept use a box blade to repair a dirt road - no. They use a road grader or maintainer for a good reason - it works.

They will use a big commercial scraper to build the road. They will use a road grader to finish the road.

Build a home made drag and try it. If it doesn't do what you want, you can always buy a box blade and begin a long learning curve.

Im gonna make the home made drag, at this point in time thats all I need. Ill continue upgrading as I go along

If you do a google search for "K-Tec 700 EZ Grade" it sounds like it fits your need.
7' Land Leveler has a 2" Ball attachment and is designed to be pulled by a pick-up truck or ATV. It has a remote control for operating in the cab.

That is something I need for sure, nice attachment

Box blade but the materials must be dry.A bit of a learning curve but they do work well.

I didnt know they had to be dry, thanks

I believe what you need is a box blade AND a landscape rake to do this justice. You can also 'get away with' using a drag (see below*), but a drag must be, well, drug. There is no lifting it up, backing it up, and is kind of a pain.

Use the box blade to do most of the heavy earth moving, as in taking the high spots and putting the dirt into the low spots. After about 3 minutes, you'll have it down just like that excavator you were running.
Once the high spots are in the low spots, and the majority of the undulations are smoothed out, take off the box blade and hook up to the landscape rake. This can be set at an angle. Rake it and smooth it out even more. It's just like raking your flower bed or garden with a hand rake. Really works well.
Or use the drag to really get it smoothed out.

A cheep box blade and rake can be found at your local TSC or similar. They are not too expensive. Then you will have the equipment for future projects. Or see if you can borrow someone's. I loan mine out all the time.

*To make a drag:
Get a long rail road tie, at least as long as your tractor.
Drill two holes on the same side all the way though about 6-8in from the end of the tie.
The holes should be big enough for the chain you will pass though the tie and hook to your tractors draw bar
Next get two lengths of pipe, maybe 3ft long and large enough to go over the chain, but not though the holes on the tie.
This is so the tie wont slide into the next part of the drag
continue the chain back though the pipe and hook it to a length of chainlink fence that is just as wide as the tie and maybe 5ft 'tall'
The fence should have the top, bottom, and side bars on it, not just loose fence.
Hook up and drive in circles.

I have made this drag twice, and once with using a steel I-beam. The I-beam worked well, but really dug into the ground and moved quite a bit. Needed a big tractor.

Thanks for the info, pict below I hope

 

[1930]

Looks like pict 44 is the only one I have showing the carnage, I have cleared a large area all around the border of property to drive along, I have also cleared a large area in the center of the property to build on, my wife is supposed to post a video on you tube for me that shows different footage of entire property, she has not done this yet

I know it dosent look bad there in that pict

 

[1930]

Pict 39-41 may be of most interest, that is all the same stump, you can see how large the stump was that was sticking above the surface, it was maybe 14 inches in diam....I never did get all the tap root, it is lterally the size of a canoe.....what was pulled out, you would have to see this root in person to appreciate its size.

 

[/pine]

IMO If you do not have a hydraulic top link a box blade is going to be very frustrating to use on what you've described...
Shorten the TL to load the box lengthen the TL to dispense/smooth the payload...constantly doing this manually gets tiresome and wastes a lot of time...
scarifiers/rippers should only be needed if the ground is hard packed or sodded...or you want to drag up roots currently below grade...

 

[oosik]

View attachment 615063 OK - my memory isn't what it use to be. The "drag" is more like 3' x 5' and has spikes on both leading and trailing edge. One of the spiked edges has a hole on each corner. Run the bridal ends thru each hole - tie a simple knot. When the ground is good & dry this abortion will raise a dust cloud like the Winds of H*LL.

It's cross braced with those plywood strips. I've never had to add more weight but it would be simple. It will smooth a one acre disked field mighty fast. Just be sure to wear a dust mask.

Notice how that wily field pallet just happened to slip into the picture at the last moment.

 

[searcyfarms]

holy moly you have craters, i think you might need a lunar land dozer!!!!

 

[oosik]

yeah - picture is worth a thousand words. Based upon those pictures you may need a very heavy land plane grading scraper. Or a lunar land dozer. You DID have a good time with that large excavator.

 

[1930]

The excavator was a rental, prob worn out, maybe not the best maintained, incredibly slow to turn, sometimes the track that you would expect to turn wasnt doing anything at at all so the machine would just sit there spinning the other track making ruts.

Im sure that a drag will be fine, its sugar sand and anything scraping over its surface will move it.

Thanks for picture

 

[BRMyers]

Put your bucket on and have it. Practice will make perfect and you have a large area to practice in. Since you already have the bucket, it won't cost you any additional money, just your time involved.