Using a Box Blade on Uneven Land

[Zakman]

Hi guys great to find this web site .
I apologies in advance over this box blade question as I am sure this has been asked previously.
I can find alots of utubes and examples of the use of a box blade on nice smooth level land or a driveway but what about the more difficult uneven, ditched and or sloping land.
My project was to open up a areas directly in front on my barn so during the wet session the water which ran towards the front of the barn would flow to the left and the right sides away from the barn to each side where the land sloped down hill.

By angling the box and dropping the rakers I found digging a slope to the left and right quite easy but when I tried to fill this area with scoria (20 mm gravel ) I found it quite difficult.

The main issue was that the area which the Tractor drives over in the early stages of the fill are lower and in even, running down hill.
So the question is how to do this sort of job effectively?

Should I drop loads of gravel move it around with my front bucket the use the box .
I thought the box blade would make it easy work .
Obviously I am quite inexperienced and appreciate all advise.
Thks. Marcus


Sent from my iPad

 

[spitter]

Pics of your property and what you are trying to accomplish wood be helpful. I bought a bb 3 years ago and been working on my property since . If your land has lots of grade changes slopes ,hills other off camber elevations like mine good luck :confused2: I have been using the loader to place material in low spots , backdragging getting pretty close to where I want it then going over it parallel to the longest straight slope then adjust blade to pitch of land. When it slopes one then cuts back the other like a swale it can be a pain with out tnt . Mine is so bad I usually have one of the kids there to readjust the blade. Be sides they can keep bringing me cold reinforcements :drink: to keep the aggrevation down. I have found gauge wheels very helpful on final grade . I AM NO EXPERT just sharing personal similar experience, hope this helps.:drink:

 

[JNA]

Lots of raising and lowering.Drag the high spots, dump in the high spots, go slow eventually you cango faster.

 

[kthompson]

BB on wheels is big help. Agree with JNA very much. Temptation is to try to pull or cut too much in a pass. Experienced person with fel or bb can sure do pretty work.

At same time don't let pride mess up the job, if you have a friend who is good with one ask a favor of him running your tractor to show how to do it. Many will be glad to.

 

[Zakman]

Thanks guys yes I’m finding that using any attachment on my tractor is a challenge due to sloping land when the tractor goes into a dip the attachment rises and of course it’s the opposite with an incline.
Almost every utube I watch is always using equipment on level land which is easy.
I think with regards the box blade on a slop I’ve dug the left and right sides in front of the barn then if I drag the fill down slope as the tractor is tracking the lower ground and the box is behind with fill it levels very unevenly.
I think the best way is to overfill the area with scoria then try and level the lot it’s seem easier to reduce the fill than to build up the levels.
Anyway I do thank you all for your suggestion. I will just practice more .

 

[Egon]

Use the bucket. Start from level and carry your slope forward.

 

[Paystar]

I can't really explain it well, but to start level a few techniques I use are to push going backwards with the rear blade of the box blade. That way you can start to build a level pad because the tractor will be behind the blade. Just like a bulldozer.

And like others have said....just takes lots of dragging high spots until you get it cut down fairly level.
I will often drop bucket loads of material and start with that, so I already have the box blade full to fill low spots.

 

[Zakman]

Thank you guys i will try those ideas with more practice .

 

[Wild and Free]

Having used a BB for many years and now having switched to a Road Boss grader / land plane / three point grader what ever one calls them I can say I would never ever go back to a BB. Grader does everything the BB can do and more even better. The more I use it the more I love it.

It doesn't work very well in mud or very wet sticky material is what I found out though so this is one place a BB has over the grader if one simply wants to carry and spread stickier, sod clumped material but for everything else it has been awesome. But from my experience the BB never did very well with sod either.

 

[prof fate]

I've done a lot of that with my BB.

Drag in dirt (loader, truck or BB) and then use the BB to 'level', er, flatten is maybe better term, dragging in the direction you want the water to run.

I've got stalls at the end of a barn, a run in shed sort of affair, and with the horse traffic there is no grass, some manure making compost there, so it becomes 10" of mud during a rainy week. And over time the ground 50' from the barn is HIGHER htan at the barn...so water can't run off.

I took the BB wentout 50' and going across the width of the barn removed dirt with teh BB till I was 10" lower than the barn entrance. I then drug to/from the barn to my new 'ditch' so that the ground sloped from the barn to my 'ditch'. I then did the 'far end' of the 'ditch' and slopwed it left/right so the water runs off into the pasture.

If you fill in dirt don't use topsoil except on the top most layer, and pack the layers by runnign the tractor over it every so often.