My driveway has many potholes. The stone on the driveway is quite old and so the surface has few loose stones and the rest seems "hard" rather than a ton of loose gravel. Is the box blade meant to be used on this type of surface or is it mainly for easier surfaces such as soil and loose gravel. I tried looking for a video on youtube and there were many of them but most seemed to be more on loose gravel
Limitations of a box blade on my driveway?
- Thread starter newdeal
- Start date
- Views: 3595
JOHNTHOMAS
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2008
- Messages
- 7,717
- Location
- Somerset, Ky
- Tractor
- F2690 4WD RTV X1140 MX5400 HST ZD1211
The teeth will loosen the hardpack and the blade(s) on the BB will level it out. That's really what it's all about. Added weight on the BB will make the teeth dig if they ride on top of the gravel. If you or anyone else haven't watched the videos at this attached web site, you have really missed something good and interesting.
Everything Attachments - Skid Steer Attachments, Tractor Attachments, 3 Point Hitch Attachments, Farm Tractor Implements.
(Temporarily blocked due to reports of company closure)
TripleR
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2009
- Messages
- 18,084
- Location
- Missouri
- Tractor
- Kubota M8540HDC, L5740HSTC, BX2200, BX2660, John Deere 425&1025R, Case, Massey Ferguson, Ford
As John says, use the teeth to break up the hard pack and depending on the weight and size, you may need to add weight. You will find the degree of tilt is also going to effect how your blade works.
You are going to have to break the hard pack up in order to keep your drive maintained. Even if you put in additional material, pot holes will reappear pretty quickly where they are now.
Material is material whether it is dirt or gravel/crushed rock.
You are going to have to break the hard pack up in order to keep your drive maintained. Even if you put in additional material, pot holes will reappear pretty quickly where they are now.
Material is material whether it is dirt or gravel/crushed rock.
Bartcephus
Gold Member
It seems counter productive to set the scarifiers deep, shorten the top link, and dig up the drive. But that's what you need to do to get rid of the potholes. Loosening up the material, and then spreading it back out with the blade will make it a lot easier and longer lasting. If the rocks are too big, you may need to get some crusher run or chips brought in to help build up the drive. Good luck.
EE_Bota
Veteran Member
Hi,
I am right where you are, but ahead a mere weekend! Had potholes, and grass growing in the drive. It looked like I needed a load of gravel as well. I started working the drive with the box blade, and it did so-so, but was tedious with a lot of back and forth, and poor penetration.
So, the following weekend, I tried it with the scarifiers down, but only to the first hole. This was perfect. The scarifier teeth seemed to make gravel and bermuda grass roots boil up from nowhere. Soon, it looked like I had PLENTY of gravel everywhere. Note that during all this work, I had the top link rather short, so the box blade was tilted a bit forward toward the tractor.
Later, when I had plenty of gravel newly freed up, I put the scarifier teeth back up out out the way, and extended the top link to a much longer position so the boxblade was actually now tilted back away from the tractor.* I did this because I was now much less interested in moving gravel around but more interested in smoothing gravel out. Even so, in this position, it will do both.
Brief (I hope) caveat: With the top link short, traveling forward with the tractor will cause the box blade to dig, and with the scarifier teeth down, it will dig seriously. Going reverse will cause it to smooth (if the scarifier teeth are put back up.) With the top link long, traveling forward with the tractor will make the box blade smooth, but going reverse will cause it to dig. So digging and smoothing are both available to you all the time, but you set the top link to favor what you mostly want to do..dig or smooth. I prefer to avoid digging while in reverse because it can challenge some of the steel in my box blade A-frame. One restriction to this information as written: Both of my cutting edges are fixed, and things are a bit different if your back cutter swings.
*One problem I have, and I mention it so if you have the same problem, you will not take it too hard: With the top link long, so forward is smoothing direction, sometimes the box blade will load up with gravel anyway. This seems to have to do with some sort of flexing with the linkages. Just try again with the lift raised a bit more, and maybe this tendency to "load-up" will abate. Often, I have the top link so long on my squatty little BX, that the blade looks plumb goofy and the back edge barely clears the ground with the lift up. This all depends on YOUR tractor and YOUR boxblade. Mine is bad to load up in smoothing mode. My box blade is cat 0 with cat 1 pins. I think full cat 1 geometry on the A-frame would give less flex, and less tendency to load up in smoothing mode.
I am right where you are, but ahead a mere weekend! Had potholes, and grass growing in the drive. It looked like I needed a load of gravel as well. I started working the drive with the box blade, and it did so-so, but was tedious with a lot of back and forth, and poor penetration.
So, the following weekend, I tried it with the scarifiers down, but only to the first hole. This was perfect. The scarifier teeth seemed to make gravel and bermuda grass roots boil up from nowhere. Soon, it looked like I had PLENTY of gravel everywhere. Note that during all this work, I had the top link rather short, so the box blade was tilted a bit forward toward the tractor.
Later, when I had plenty of gravel newly freed up, I put the scarifier teeth back up out out the way, and extended the top link to a much longer position so the boxblade was actually now tilted back away from the tractor.* I did this because I was now much less interested in moving gravel around but more interested in smoothing gravel out. Even so, in this position, it will do both.
Brief (I hope) caveat: With the top link short, traveling forward with the tractor will cause the box blade to dig, and with the scarifier teeth down, it will dig seriously. Going reverse will cause it to smooth (if the scarifier teeth are put back up.) With the top link long, traveling forward with the tractor will make the box blade smooth, but going reverse will cause it to dig. So digging and smoothing are both available to you all the time, but you set the top link to favor what you mostly want to do..dig or smooth. I prefer to avoid digging while in reverse because it can challenge some of the steel in my box blade A-frame. One restriction to this information as written: Both of my cutting edges are fixed, and things are a bit different if your back cutter swings.
*One problem I have, and I mention it so if you have the same problem, you will not take it too hard: With the top link long, so forward is smoothing direction, sometimes the box blade will load up with gravel anyway. This seems to have to do with some sort of flexing with the linkages. Just try again with the lift raised a bit more, and maybe this tendency to "load-up" will abate. Often, I have the top link so long on my squatty little BX, that the blade looks plumb goofy and the back edge barely clears the ground with the lift up. This all depends on YOUR tractor and YOUR boxblade. Mine is bad to load up in smoothing mode. My box blade is cat 0 with cat 1 pins. I think full cat 1 geometry on the A-frame would give less flex, and less tendency to load up in smoothing mode.
Yeah, box blades are awsome! I too have a BX, and I have great success with the box blade. At first I did not know how to use it because all my grading experience was with yellow John Deere back hoes and skid steers. My Bx came with one, so I tried it, and was not thrilled at first because I did not understand the proper way to set it up. When I finally learned how to set it up (like mentioned above) I could not believe how much I could do with it. Get one, mess around with it, and in no time you will really enjoy it. It also makes a great counterweight for loader work.Mine is a cat 1 from united.
Johndeere3720
Padawan Tractor Learner, Advertiser
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 3,962
- Location
- NW Oregon
- Tractor
- Bobcat T62, MT55, E42R, E10, John Deere 4100
Mine has been used quite a bit as well. Ive graded a lot of driveways and when I need some weight, I just put about 160 pounds on it and it digs great. I highly reccomend a boxblade because of it's wide variety of uses. I also have done land clearing and trail blazing with it.
StrangeRanger
Gold Member
A BB is a great tool. I maintain my 2,200' gravel drive way w/ one. It's also the reason I ended up installing a top-n-tilt system. But you do have to learn to use it and keep in mind it's not a quick tool for your type of application. Gravel driveway maintenance, depending on what kind of shape it's in, can be a slow, long process. Take your time w/ it, learn to use it and it will work very well.