Leveling ground - Rock hound or box blade?

[EddieWalker]

Those are real nice for smooth out ground that is already in pretty good shape, but not much for moving dirt. A log drag, or other heavy object will plow through the high spots and fill in the low spots. Here's a thread that I had on the drag that I'm using now. It's heavey enough to plow through the dirt and do a really nice job. It wont replace what a blade can do, but for very little money, it's a very handy thing to have. Mostly I use it to smooth out my roads, but I also like to use it after working an area with my dozer. While the dozer is great for getting an area level, or graded to where I want it, I can finish it off allot faster and nicer with the drag.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/141756-my-super-duper-drag.html

Eddie

 

[Reg]

All good suggestions. I appreciate them. What would happen if I drag a chain harrow like this around a couple of dozen times. Do you think it would level the land an inch or two?

I'm somewhat torn between renting a piece of equipment and buying this. I could use this later to groom the atv track. What do you think. I found this harrow here

That could work too.
A couple of dozen times ? Yeah, maybe.
You would be ripping out grass and weed roots, disturbing rocks (that you could then pick up), etc. and as you say, buying something to keep and use again and again.
The required skill level is minimal, i.e. you would be hard pressed to worsen things with a chain harrow.
One thing you would NOT be doing much of is fluffing up the dirt/soil and that is something you would have to pack down again if you did almost any of the rock-hound, box blade, tiller, dozer alternatives.
If you DON'T pack it down the go-cart will quickly rut it up pretty badly, so whatever you use plan a compacting/rollering phase somewhere near the end.
Chain harrows can usually be reversed and/or flipped over to get two or three degrees of "cut", the finest of these would be good for a Spring time raking and re-leveling.

 

[eazyduzzit]

I'm really surprised at some of the anti-boxblade answers. I used to work for a landscaper years ago, and we always used a boxblade to level/smooth a yard.
When I bought my tractor the first attachment I bought was a box-blade. You can smooth out a couple of acres in a few hours easily if you know how to use one. They're not hard to learn.

Some contractors dug a trench and laid some sewer pipe through my yard a couple of years ago. Part of the deal was that they were to smooth it out and seed it. They did the job with a bobcat and it was absolutely impossible to mow. I called them out to re-do it. They got it slightly better the second time, so I did it over myself with the box and it's as smooth as can be.
YMMV

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I'm really surprised at some of the anti-boxblade answers. I used to work for a landscaper years ago, and we always used a boxblade to level/smooth a yard.
When I bought my tractor the first attachment I bought was a box-blade. You can smooth out a couple of acres in a few hours easily if you know how to use one. They're not hard to learn.

Some contractors dug a trench and laid some sewer pipe through my yard a couple of years ago. Part of the deal was that they were to smooth it out and seed it. They did the job with a bobcat and it was absolutely impossible to mow. I called them out to re-do it. They got it slightly better the second time, so I did it over myself with the box and it's as smooth as can be.
YMMV

These are the magic words.

 

[JohninCT]

Check out the Arena Rascal. It's a combo tool that sort of crosses box/grader blade, ripper, and drag. They have models that can be pulled behind ATVs. They are a little pricey last I checked, but for someone without a tractor it looks like it might be worth it especially if you are considering owning a tool for future ATV track/trail maintenance.

Check out their videos.
Arena Rascal Pro by ABI Equine >>> The perfect ATV arena drag & property maintenance tool!

 

[JohninCT]

Here's another possible option I saw advertised on TBN... similar to the arena rascal. Probably less expensive especially for the lawn tractor/ATV models. And they have videos... Love videos.

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