Skid steer grading advice?

[Garrett2006]

Looking for some good advice for grading with just a skid steer bucket. Just picked up a 95-2s for rough grading and leveling. Also will be doing some finish grading & spreading top soil with it. Anyone have some good tips and tricks to share? Played on it the weekend and it way different than using the tractor. Tried keeping the blade level and not using the whole bucket but only half to try and get things level but didn稚 work out so great. End up back on the tractor to finish. Thanks

 

[4570Man]

Once you get good with the 95 you’ll never want to use the tractor for dirt moving again. You want to cut out humps going forward. And you don’t want the bucket angle too aggressive. The bucket bottom needs to be flat with what you want the finish grade to be.

 

[Sonny580]

It's not as easy as it looks, skidloaders are not roadgraders,---they are diggers. I think you will find that backdraggin loose gravel will give best results. That way you can see what grade you have in progress and go from there. It's all guesswork with them. I have always been a lucky one to have motorgraders to do roads/drives with. I did downsize to an Allis model D and it does o.k. for its size.

 

[Garrett2006]

For some reason I was thinking if I start level like stated above and go into the cut. Once cut and bucket full the loose in bucket would fall out into the lower areas. Also, found it hard to know if you were still on grade once the buckets cutting edge was covered with dirt. So I wouldn稚 know it I needed to adjust the angle of the bucket to keep from cutting more or less

 

[4570Man]

For some reason I was thinking if I start level like stated above and go into the cut. Once cut and bucket full the loose in bucket would fall out into the lower areas. Also, found it hard to know if you were still on grade once the buckets cutting edge was covered with dirt. So I wouldn稚 know it I needed to adjust the angle of the bucket to keep from cutting more or less

You can kinda judge by the rate the bucket is filling up. It’s best to make a few light passes. Another method I used was to use the teeth back dragging to break up the dirt to the depth I wanted and then scoop the loose dirt off the top.

 

[Garrett2006]

Good idea about using the teeth. I値l have to purchase a tooth bar to attach to my bucket or get another one that has them built into it already.

 

[kwbretired]

I’m going to be experiencing the same problem in a few weeks doing the same task as you. I just bought a John Deere 333D about a month age so l could spread top soil in my front yard which is all field drains. I have to get rid of a “LOT” of rocks before l start any dirt work though. So I’ll be watching/ reading this discussion closely hopefully picking up some valuable tips myself.

 

[4570Man]

Good idea about using the teeth. I値l have to purchase a tooth bar to attach to my bucket or get another one that has them built into it already.

A tooth bar isn’t half as good as a welded tooth bucket. It’ll cost a little more but id recommend buying another bucket.

 

[laurencen]

my first skidsteer came with the smooth bucket with cutting edge and bolt on tooth bar, I figured it was a cheaper way than 2 buckets, that tooth bar twisted and bent when digging, ended uo throwing it away and welding teeth on the bucket.

 

[Sonny580]

I use a toothbar on my loader and have NEVER come close to bending it! ---Make sure you have the bar under the cutting edge and the end bolts tight. Mine has a slot along the bottom that must be driven onto the old cutting edge, ---then while having it tight, put in the 2 end bolts to hold it in place.