what should I know about using a box blade?

[bgott]

I tried a little something the other day that worked way better than I imagined it would. This will work if you have draft control. I used the draft control to blade a 100'x100' lot. I set it about four or five notches from the up position and just ran around in circles. After a few trips around I used position control to knock down the really high spots and than finished with three or four more passes in draft control. The only problem I had was the busted concrete in the fill would sometimes roll under the blade and trick the draft control into dumping the whole load in the wrong place. I had heard about doing this before but never had had enough room to watch it work. And it does it's thing without the aid of a computer.

 

[Kodiak]

Brad:

I got to disagree with there. Weren't you using that megagigabyte right behind the eyeballs computer.

 

[bgott]

Actually, I got the idea off of another forum, so it did take a computer. Once I got over my CRS caused by my sometimes semi reliable right behind the eyeballs computer the rest was easy!

 

[Ozarker]

Rooky question? What is a draft control?

 

[ScottAR]

I do somthing similar to this manually. This works best after rough cutting when the dirt is loose.
Set the top link to spread a little near neutral. Raise the hitch till it's about half way up the "slack links" where the blade can float. Then drive around in gentle circles till its flat. Go in several directions for maximum flatness.

 

[bgott]

http://users.netlink.com.au/~fergy/draftcont.html

This explains draft control better than I can. Most tractors are bottom link sensing rather than top link sensing these days.

 

[OkieG]

Rat,
It's good to get input from someone who uses their boxblade alot. I know there are skilled boxbladers who can nicely smooth rough terrain, but I am not one of them. The boxblade seems, by design, to naturally want to worsen irregularities. For example, as the tractor's nose drops (relatively), either cresting onto a high spot or starting to dip into a depression, the boxblade raises, dropping dirt instead of knocking the shoulders off the high spot. And, likewise, when the tractor's nose raises while beginning to climb out of a low spot, the blade bites deeper, instead of dropping dirt. Of course, you can manually adjust the blade on the fly to counteract this counter-productive tendency, but even after practice, I can't seem to end up with anything approaching a smooth surface.
Would skid plates or wheels behind the blade help produce a more "grader" like result, with less operator skill required? Dont get me wrong. I haven't given up on mastering the boxblade, but I would sure like to see some smooth ground leaving the tail end of my boxblade in this lifetime.

OkieG

 

[Ozarker]

Well, I understand the principal now. But how do I use "draft control"? Does it have something to do with the levers and springs on the left side, opposite my lift control? I see there is a position rod but don't understand how it relates, what it does or how it does it.

 

[JATO_RaT]

Your right, it can be a lesson in frustration learning to use a boxblade. While I am no means an expert, I have learned some of the variables that affect the ability of the boxblade and your ability to control it. Soil condition makes a big difference. If its moist and relatively rock free, its going to work well provided you develop an eye while sitting on the tractor for the high and low spots. Its easy to cut the high spots of moist, undisturbed soil. Once you cut it, its a little more difficult to put it back if you over do it and still maintain the same soil structure. When I get a low spot, I like to raise my box while moving to more or less cover the area that is low with a layer(s) of fill. Once doing that, I will use my loader to flatten and consolidate the soil I dumped. It gives me a good idea if I'll need more while helping to get some of the air out. When I first started using a boxblade, I recall driving around with the box in circles hoping everything would happen automatically. For me it SLOWLY became obvious I was making the situation worse. The soft areas were getting deeper, the hard areas getting shiny and glazed. I have to be honest. I rarely use my boxblade for the final finish anymore. Its used for my general leveling and ripping as needed. It can be done, but it takes time and much practice. I use a Harley powered landscape rake. Check them out at harleyrake.com. What they advertise still does not do justice to just how great these things are. A pass or 2 and your ready to plant seed, sod, or just have some beautiful, flat landscape. I use a Harley Pro 8. The Harley boxblade with the solid carbide tips mounted to the roller look like a super way to go, Tags on this forum has one of those. Of course all of this costs so thats where learning the boxblade leveling technique becomes so important. Once you have a powered rake like the Harley, I would think you could quite easily use it to create some income as its ease of use and ultimate result are incredible. In no time your going to look like you really know what your doing. I've got everyone fooled, good luck, Rat...

 

[John_Mc]

<font color=blue>Rooky question? What is a draft control?</font color=blue>

I'll take a stab at it... hopefully someone will correct me if I'm too far off:

Draft control is a means of automatically controlling how much "pull" or "drag" a ground engaging implement (i.e. plow, box blade, etc) puts on your tractor. Unlike "Position Control", which keeps your implement at a constant preset minimum height (it will still let it float upward, unless you have down force on your 3 pt mechanism).... "Draft Control" senses the load (usually through a mechanical linkage) and tries to keep the load constant by varying the depth of the implement. For example, it would let your plow sink much deeper in soft soil, but raise it up a bit if you drove through hard-packed clay to maintain a constant load. This is usefull to farmers because it keeps them from bogging down as they go through changing soil conditions, but still lets them plow as deeply as possible given those conditions.