I tried out dragging the I-beam today. It is 10' long, 12" high, 8" wide, ~1/2 web, so it should weigh 40 lbs/foot, or about 400 pounds total. It works amazingly well. One pass over rough ground does quite a bit of smoothing. It tends to pop the rocks, chunks and bits of stumps/roots to the surface, which is a good thing for ease of picking. I'm thinking if I clean up what is on the surface after one pass, then make two-three more passes depending on the condition of an area, it should be pretty good.
I looked at a project here on TBN that used a land plane, but I think this may be too rough for those. I don't think land planes are made to deal with large loose rocks, ledge, root chunks and such, they do look good for smoothing and shaping clean dirt. After seeing the results of one pass, I can't imagine a land plane would do any better than the I-beam at this stage. It pulls harder than I thought it would. I was in 5th or 6th gear out of 12 (mid-range 1st or 2nd if you know TC40 gears) running at about 2100 rpms. That seemed to be a good ground speed for the beam to scrape and fill.
The only problem I had is I hooked two small stumps that were missed, and I bet there are a few more in there. That straightened out the connectors I was trying out on the 3/8" chain. I have some 3/8" repair links that I will weld shut for the next try. I need a closed loop at each end of the two chains. Normal hooks would bounce loose since the chain tension isn't constant.
I couldn't find the right combination of clevis sizes that would work together. Any clevis pin that would fit through a 3/8" chain, the clevis is too small to fit around the drawbar clevis I'm using, and likely too weak. The chain fittings rack at TSC was half empty, so maybe they sell what I really need but don't have it well stocked. I'm alternating backhoe and loader work with the I-beam dragging and need to be able to connect an disconnect the chains easily. Fortunately, the chains pass below the backhoe frame.
The nicer rocks for walls are deep-sixed now. About 2/3 of what I am picking up are the round types that are harder to stack. I wouldn't guess they would be worth hauling that far. The contractor did try a few contacts to see if the decent sections of rock wall could be sold by the truck load for landscaping/hardscaping, but nothing came of it. People do look for the weathered rocks with lichens and moss on them.
