What's the best attachment for leveling?

[jeffxjet]

I was thinking box blade also. Given the need to purchase toys, what more needs to be said. Do post some pictures if you get the chance.

Here is the area in question.

I need to bring down the entire area where the van is between the two barns and make it the same level as the area to the rear of the tractor.

And one of the tractor in question

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Pictures are worth a thousand words, best implement for your situation would be a good HEAVY box blade.

I still think that you should get cat 2 implements, sort of think that is why JD put a cat 2 hitch on the tractor, because that is what should be behind the tractor.

JMO

 

[bucmeister]

That looks like a tree spade on the back of your tractor. Also looks like it might be a manual type where each spade is hammered into the ground rather than hydraulically lowered. Am I seeing correctly?

As to your ground lowering efforts, a couple of questions if I may. Roughly how many square feet and what kind of dept do you need to move? As others have stated the Box Blade will do a lot of work depending on where you want the soil moved to. If you just want to spread it out to the edge of where it would come from then the BB will probably do your best job, however if you want to move it 50-100 feet away from where it is that thing you have hanging on the front of your tractor will move a lot of dirt over a couple days of steady work. That said, since your rig is 2WD you will need some serious weight hung on the 3pt to give you the digging power to get the most out of your loader. The teeth on the bucket should help a good bit.

 

[jeffxjet]

That looks like a tree spade on the back of your tractor. Also looks like it might be a manual type where each spade is hammered into the ground rather than hydraulically lowered. Am I seeing correctly?

As to your ground lowering efforts, a couple of questions if I may. Roughly how many square feet and what kind of dept do you need to move? As others have stated the Box Blade will do a lot of work depending on where you want the soil moved to. If you just want to spread it out to the edge of where it would come from then the BB will probably do your best job, however if you want to move it 50-100 feet away from where it is that thing you have hanging on the front of your tractor will move a lot of dirt over a couple days of steady work. That said, since your rig is 2WD you will need some serious weight hung on the 3pt to give you the digging power to get the most out of your loader. The teeth on the bucket should help a good bit.

Brian, I think your opinion is a good one, I will begin looking for a good cat II BB.

Bucmeister, you are correct a manual tree spade. I have a few pictures in the photo thread of it in action with a video as well. It's under "my new JD 5055d".

Basically I just want to drag the dirt from where it is to the front of the picture and down the hill towards where the back of the tractor is. The dirt will stay in the general area.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian, I think your opinion is a good one, I will begin looking for a good cat II BB.

Your John Deere dealer is a good place to start.

 

[955Lincoln]

It has been my experience that when purchasing new implements you usually get what you pay for. So if you are going to buy new and want a good product that will actually work and not break on you, expect to pay some $$$$. Keep in mind that whenever one is grading, weight is your friend. Whatever type of implement you decide to get, you will be better off with one that is built heavy.

Good luck and please post some pictures of the job that needs to be done.

+1
It's advice like this on the forum that led me to buy a quality BB, my first implement BTW. It's expensive and weighs 1300 pounds but it sure does peel up the soil with no bounce or chatter. It works really well at dozing also because it will dig in rather than lifting up.

How far will you have to drag your soil? Do you have low spots to put it in? These are some considerations when choosing a BB.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

+1
It's advice like this on the forum that led me to buy a quality BB, my first implement BTW. It's expensive and weighs 1300 pounds but it sure does peel up the soil with no bounce or chatter. It works really well at dozing also because it will dig in rather than lifting up.

How far will you have to drag your soil? Do you have low spots to put it in? These are some considerations when choosing a BB.

Now there is about the best example of a cat1-2 box blade that there is. :thumbsup::thumbsup: OldandWorn, it looks like you need a "TnT" kit to get the absolute best performance out of that box blade. It makes me smile when I see people purchase top of the line implements. :cool2:

 

[955Lincoln]

OldandWorn, it looks like you need a "TnT" kit to get the absolute best performance out of that box blade.

I hear ya! My plan was to have TNT installed before I converted my "4WD only road" to this but I was fighting time and the dry season. Used to be nothing but mud, ruts, and water here. Believe me, I was cursing every time I had to get out and adjust for crown and aggression. Going to plumb them in and leave my remotes free. Working on the parts list.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I hear ya! My plan was to have TNT installed before I converted my "4WD only road" to this but I was fighting time and the dry season. Used to be nothing but mud, ruts, and water here. Believe me, I was cursing every time I had to get out and adjust for crown and aggression. Going to plumb them in and leave my remotes free. Working on the parts list.

That is a great looking road!:thumbsup: How long is it? Once the road is made like yours is, I have found that one of these road grader blades works great to maintain the road.

 

[jeffxjet]

+1
It's advice like this on the forum that led me to buy a quality BB, my first implement BTW. It's expensive and weighs 1300 pounds but it sure does peel up the soil with no bounce or chatter. It works really well at dozing also because it will dig in rather than lifting up.

How far will you have to drag your soil? Do you have low spots to put it in? These are some considerations when choosing a BB.

Very nice BB:thumbsup: If you don't mind, what's the ballpark price on that thing?

I don't have to drag it far, just around the corner. I do have some large depressions that I would like to fill in.

What's the working difference between the BB and the Road grader? I understand how they are different but I would like to know why you would use one in place of the other.

Nice looking roads guys.:thumbsup: Eventually I would like to address my driveway problems.

 

[955Lincoln]

The Gannon was $2300 and I waited to get free delivery. I know that is a lot of money but try and get the heaviest you can afford, especially if you will have lots of other uses for it. The hydraulic scarifiers are nice but you can save some money and go with manual. A lot of people add weight to lighter blades but I didn't want to mess around with that.

The road grader really doesn't pull dirt around from one place to another. It breaks up and smooths out a rough road back into shape. The blades are shallow and the material "rolls" over the top of the blade and mixes everything back up.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

A lot of people buy light weight box blades and add weight to them. But in reality those box blades will not hold up over the long haul if it is continually used in that manor. Thus the reason for heavy duty implements, they can be worked hard and hold up to that hard heavy use. Show me a 6'-8' BB that weighs 4-500lbs with another 500lbs stacked on top of it and I'll show you a BB that is doomed to structural failure sometime in it's life. It is far better to have an implement that is made of heavy material rather than an implement that is made of light weight (thin) material and then start adding weight to it to be able to get it to work how you need it to work.

Just my opinion based on what I have seen and read about.

 

[955Lincoln]

That is a great looking road!:thumbsup: How long is it? Once the road is made like yours is, I have found that one of these road grader blades works great to maintain the road.

The road is 6000' in length and there is gravel on most of it now. There are some shale parts that are still holding up OK.

I did a WHOLE lot of research on the road graders but I was afraid of destroying the crown which I seriously need to keep the road drained. The road in the pic is about twice as wide as it should be because I had to strip all of the vegetation away (scarifiers rock at this task ) to get to the soil on the sides which needed to be dragged back towards the center. The road was like a bowl with the sides being higher than the road which of course was fantastic for holding water :laughing: Anyway, my point is, the finished gravel road is about 8' wide and if I could have found a road grader that was 4' wide I probably would have sprung for one. I bought a rear blade that angles instead and hopefully that will do OK.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Hey, that is my rear blade in a smaller version. I have a Land Pride RBT45108 that I use with my bigger tractor. In fact that is the exact same blade that I would like to get for my smaller tractor. :thumbsup::thumbsup: What did you have to pay for it if you don't mind me asking. The best price that I can get around here is $2200 with no hydraulics included. But that may be the way that I have to go if I decide that I really want one. You can get your road to be like glass using that rear blade in reverse (driving in reverse) after you get it shaped the way that you want it. You can see dirt on the back in the pic with the rear blade that I use it in that fashion all the time.:thumbsup:

As far as the road grader blades taking down the crown in the road, I have not found this to be any problem at all, but then my roads are a bit wider than 8'. Mine vary from 10' to in one place over 20'. I have about 2 1/2 miles of roads that I care for with the main road shared by neighbors being just over 1 mile long. My larger grader blade is 7' & around 1600lbs, my 5' grader blade is about half that weight, about 8-900lbs. One of these days I'm going to weigh all of my implements just so that I know exactly what they weigh. :laughing: Here's a few pics of my smaller road grader blade.

 

[mefyj]

It's really hard to beat a good heavy-weight Gannon with a good set of tumble or hydraulic teeth. It was the original box-blade for a reason. It's kinda like calling a tissue Kleenex. You call a box-blade a Gannon.
Also makes a wonderful counter weight for the FEL.

 

[955Lincoln]

Hey, that is my rear blade in a smaller version. I have a Land Pride RBT45108 that I use with my bigger tractor. In fact that is the exact same blade that I would like to get for my smaller tractor. :thumbsup::thumbsup: What did you have to pay for it if you don't mind me asking. The best price that I can get around here is $2200 with no hydraulics included. But that may be the way that I have to go if I decide that I really want one. You can get your road to be like glass using that rear blade in reverse (driving in reverse) after you get it shaped the way that you want it. You can see dirt on the back in the pic with the rear blade that I use it in that fashion all the time.:thumbsup:

Ahhh, so your the one that made me spend all of this money I remember being impressed seeing that series of blade on here somewhere. I just looked at my receipt and they didn't itemize. I believe without the skid shoes and end plates it was $2300 with all 3 hydraulic cylinders. Again, I waited for their scheduled delivery for free shipping.

A couple of questions since I haven't used my blade yet. Do the hydraulics add any sponginess to the feel? Were the skid shoes and end plates worth buying?

Is this considered thread hijacking? Oh well.....the OP is getting plenty of info on dirt leveling sooooo maybe not

 

[955Lincoln]

It's really hard to beat a good heavy-weight Gannon with a good set of tumble or hydraulic teeth. It was the original box-blade for a reason. It's kinda like calling a tissue Kleenex. You call a box-blade a Gannon.
Also makes a wonderful counter weight for the FEL.

It was kind of difficult to buy this blade. Woods bought Gannon and they stuck the heavy duty Gannon under their construction line. None of the construction dealers even knew what a box blade was and it left me wondering if it was even availiable. I finally found a dealer who could sell both Woods construction and farm implements and of course they knew what a box blade was.

 

[jeffxjet]

Is this considered thread hijacking? Oh well.....the OP is getting plenty of info on dirt leveling sooooo maybe not

Negatron, as you said this is all good info. Keep going.

 

[SandburRanch]

Here is the area in question.

I need to bring down the entire area where the van is between the two barns and make it the same level as the area to the rear of the tractor.

And one of the tractor in question

----------------------------------------------------------------
Before the final decision is made, I believe I would use a transit or even a line/string level and see how much dirt needs to be removed to the right of the van and tractor to allow for good drainage away from the buildings in that direction on the bias and possibly into a swale. From what I'm seeing in the pics I believe there is a considerable amount of earth to be removed. Should be a fun project. Wish I could bring the NH and help.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Ahhh, so your the one that made me spend all of this money I remember being impressed seeing that series of blade on here somewhere. I just looked at my receipt and they didn't itemize. I believe without the skid shoes and end plates it was $2300 with all 3 hydraulic cylinders. Again, I waited for their scheduled delivery for free shipping.

A couple of questions since I haven't used my blade yet. Do the hydraulics add any sponginess to the feel? Were the skid shoes and end plates worth buying?

Is this considered thread hijacking? Oh well.....the OP is getting plenty of info on dirt leveling sooooo maybe not

Probably was me, only remember seeing one other one here on TBN and that guy bought an RBT4084 barely used off of Ebay for some really good price if I remember correctly. Same as yours though, had everything. My skid shoes were $200 but boy do they make a difference when your finish grading. Can't help out as far as the end plates, although I would think that if you were trying to move dirt any distance at all that they would really help. I don't think that I would want them on when I was actually grading though. I like to have the dirt rolling off of the blade, that way you can basically go forever. On your 6000 feet of road you can go from one end to the other without stopping. I doubt that you can do that with the end plates on the rear blade or with a box blade.

I only have the angle hydraulic on right now because I only have 3 rear remotes at this time and the other 2 are used for the "TnT" hydraulics. Have an additional 2 valves to add on, have the valves, just have never gotten around to it. But to answer your question about being spongy, no, the blade is rock solid.

As far as having a top of the line rear blade with hydraulics, they just can not be beat IMO vs a blade that was never intended to have hydraulics. I have a middle of the road none hydraulic rear blade also, that was what my dealer sold me on. A little over $1000 6 years ago, I have NEVER been satisfied with it and it was no where near heavy duty enough for the tractor that it was sold to be used with. Just a lesson to not go along with the dealer without research of your own to back up what your being told. :ashamed:

Anyway, here's some pics of my first rear blade putting in a water line, no where near what the Land Prides are. That ditch is 18" deep, doesn't look like it, but it was.