Tiller? Box Blade? Pulveriser?

[ZigZaggin]

Greetings. have some questions regarding the best attachment or combination thereof to condition and level soil. I have a ford 3000 Diesel and am thinking about purchasing a King Kutter Tiller (60" wide) but would like to have some words of experience on the leveling out part.

Thanks for your time!

 

[jenkinsph]

If you mean smoothing out the tilled ground I would consider running a spike toothed harrow across it making a few passes. I built this 8' wide 3ph model for about $250.

 

[Ken45101]

It's impossible to give you a decent answer without knowing more about the conditions you have. Sandy soil? Grassy? Bare ground? Rocky? Deep ruts? Gulleys? Heavy clay? Marsh? ......

And how big of an area?

A tiller might be a start for a small area but it's too slow if you have 5-10 acres.

In the past I've used a disk and a box blade with rippers for deeply rutted clay, followed up with a chain link fence drag and later bought a used landscape rake (much better than the fence drag), but that approach took many hours of tractor time for a 5 acres area.

Ken

 

[teg]

If you don't have roots and rock, tiller is not bad but it really makes the soil very fluffy. You'll need to pack it afterwards. What is the soil and land like. How uneven??? Got photos???

 

[ZigZaggin]

Thanks for the replies fellas. The area I will be working on is 5 acres. It's rectangualr in shape. We are building a motocross track and I have about 400 truckloads of dirt there now. The soil is for the most part black dirt. There are some sandy areas but mostly just black dirt with weed growth on top of it. It is also pretty flat.

I have been moving the dirt around, building jumps, etc with a John Deere 450C track loader that has a 4-1 Drott clam bucket. You can open the bucket which turns it into a dozer. I attempted leveling off some areas but wherever the ground dips the blade dips too and makes some really jagged and hard bumps. Even with the blade in "float" mode it will do this. I am not an expert operator by any means but I just acquired a nice little 1971 Ford 3000 tractor that is diesel. Before I spend my money I want to make sure I'm spending it on the right attachment(s) that will accomplish what I need it to do which is (A) track maintenance, tilling up and smoothing out rutted areas, grooming the course and (B) leveling out "humpy" and rough areas. Also when I manuever the track loader it tears the ground up pretty bad.

My tractor has a 43 hp PTO.

Thanks again for your time and recomendations for attachments!

 

[ZigZaggin]

And oh - as far as "how uneven" I would say the uneveness is more of a rolling type nature. Areas where it gradually slopes down maybe 6-10 inches or so over a 12 ft wide (area where it slopes) and the length of the area where the slope is is easily over a 100 ft long so it's kind of like a little valley. I'll try to take some pictures tonight.

 

[teg]

When you have it in float, are you dragging it backwards using the heal of the bucket?

Anyway, You have a couple different "needs" each would be best served with a different implement but no one wants to spend that much money You can get by with an implement or two and get the job done.

I would think a Box Blade would serve you very well but it takes time to learn how to use it correctly. Having a hydraulic top link and gauge wheels (need to add hydraulic stuff, $1k-ish) would be the cats meow...

For leveling something like this: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/228558-what-did-you-do-your-2.html#post2659587 and it converts a couple posts down to a straight blade.

Here's another one that you be interested in:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/49758-roll-over-scraper.html

Found another one:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/48521-implements-motocross-track-maintenance.html

 

[Ken45101]

In that situation, a box blade would work, but as teg said, it will take time to learn how to do it smoothly.

If the ground is loose, a landscape rake with gauge wheels would be great.

Or one of the "landlevelers" similar to this:

Of course, an experienced skid steer operator can do amazing things backdragging and scraping.

OTOH, rather than spending the $$$ on a piece of equipment that you may only use one time, it may be cheaper to get an experienced dozer operator to do it for you for a few hundred dollars.

Ken

 

[jenkinsph]

A landplane such as Ken pictured is the best for maintaining and smoothing the track. It will also fix lots of mistakes made by the doxer/loader too.

 

[Ken45101]

A landplane such as Ken pictured is the best for maintaining and smoothing the track. It will also fix lots of mistakes made by the doxer/loader too.

I have seen ones made locally that are longer (front to back) and I would think would do a better job.

Ken