leveling a terrace, bottom plow?
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JOHNTHOMAS
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A Backhoe or hire someone with a dozer/loader that has a tilting blade or bucket. The dozer or loader can do safely in an hour what will take you many, many unsafe hours if the land has much slope. I hire out the dangerous work that the proper equipment can do in minutes what takes me hours and can cause me serious injury.Have a kubota 38 hp tractor with a front end loader and 5' box blade. I plan on leveling off a terrace and cutting a road in. Don't know if the proper implement is a bottom plow. What is the best type of implement to get.
Verticaltrx
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A moldboard plow (bottom plow) will work for what you describe if you have the time to spend on it. Many terraces were built back in the day using a moldboard plow or disc plow, and they could be cut down using one also. You'd just have to be very careful you didn't get on a section that was too steep, or make a section of it too steep when cutting it down. Basically you'd just start at the top and go back and forth throwing dirt up hill and down hill until you had it mostly level. Final work would have to be done with the box blade. Try to find some old books or info on building terraces with a plow, when you see how they are built it's easy to see how to take them out.
As for cutting in a road, a plow might work but not really what I would use. That is something that your loader or box blade should be capable of. Just takes the right technique. Also requires a tooth bar on the bucket and a pretty heavy box blade that will actually cut/excavate.
As for cutting in a road, a plow might work but not really what I would use. That is something that your loader or box blade should be capable of. Just takes the right technique. Also requires a tooth bar on the bucket and a pretty heavy box blade that will actually cut/excavate.
Whether to do this yourself or not depends on how much material needs to be moved... is it a hill side or a mountain side you're dealing with, and just how big is that "terrace" going to be? A neighbor of mine had a tracked Bobcat running full time for days on end cutting and filling less than 2 feet of ground to make his front yard level... there was probably less than an acre. The amount of soil to be moved in such a project can be staggering. If you've got anything really steep, plan on getting in the big equipment.
If it's a more modest area and the slopes are more gentle, sure you can do it with your tractor. Loader and box blade will work, but a scraper blade that tilts and offsets was more effective on some projects we've done, because we could set the tilt angle to cut into the slope and then angle the blade to throw the spoils away from the cut and downhill. The scraper blade probably acts something like a turning plow, but I think better for this type of work. Both the box blade and FEL want to follow the grade and you end up doing a lot of tractor jockeying to get them to cut into the slope. You can tilt the box blade of course, but it won't cut into a slope like the scraper blade will.
If it's a more modest area and the slopes are more gentle, sure you can do it with your tractor. Loader and box blade will work, but a scraper blade that tilts and offsets was more effective on some projects we've done, because we could set the tilt angle to cut into the slope and then angle the blade to throw the spoils away from the cut and downhill. The scraper blade probably acts something like a turning plow, but I think better for this type of work. Both the box blade and FEL want to follow the grade and you end up doing a lot of tractor jockeying to get them to cut into the slope. You can tilt the box blade of course, but it won't cut into a slope like the scraper blade will.
My Hoe
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Grandad4:
1.Is the "scraper blade" the same thing as a box blade (and both with teeth, I presume)?
2. Re: your bolded (by me) text, above, do these capabilities (i.e., ...a scraper blade that tilts and offsets....") require two rear remotes or just one?
3. Do you have pic, or better yet, some links to such blades, I could see what I think I'm visualizing, and also $ee the prices?
Thanks,
My Hoe
A scraper blade is different from a box blade. Here's a link to a dealer's website with videos of a scraper blade moving snow and a box blade moving soil.
How To Video Demos - Implements & Attachments
Even though the scraper blade video shows snow removal, you can see how it can windrow material off to one side, something the box blade doesn't do very well. The video also shows how the scraper blade can be tilted and offset to one side. Those were the features mentioned before that were very useful for us on our projects, and what I thought would be useful for what you are planning. Hope this is helpful.
How To Video Demos - Implements & Attachments
Even though the scraper blade video shows snow removal, you can see how it can windrow material off to one side, something the box blade doesn't do very well. The video also shows how the scraper blade can be tilted and offset to one side. Those were the features mentioned before that were very useful for us on our projects, and what I thought would be useful for what you are planning. Hope this is helpful.
