Which Implement to level yard

[Fast Eddie]

I live on about 7.5 acres, which is mostly grass, and parts are really uneven. I want to level or smooth out the hills and valleys. I have a JD 790 tractor and a box blade. Is this the right tool? Someone recommended using a disc but someone else said that my little 790 isn't strong enough to pull a disc. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[beenthere]

Fast
Guess it will depend on how high and low the hills and valleys are, and what you mean by "level".
Assuming lawn smooth then best would be to tear it up and drag it smooth. A disc might tear it up, but think the teeth on a box blade would do that too. Then depending on the sod involved, might have to rototill or get a disc the size that your 790 would pull (8' tandem should work). A 2 or 3 section drag after the box blade, or tiller, or disc should smooth out the highs and lows so it is near golf course "level" for grass mowing. Might throw in a lawn roller for early spring to help smooth it out.

7.5 acres might do it in one acre stages or have someone come in with some farm size equipment to work it up and smooth it out.

 

[Don87]

Beenthere is offering some good advice.

The only thing I can add is.......be careful with water run-off. Making 7.5 acres completely level can pose problems depending on the location.

 

[jenkinsph]

Fast Eddie,
Good advice from beenthere. Can you provide us with more information? Location, soil conditions, rocky ground or not, trees to work around, size of the hills or mounds, water availability or rain to reseed with. Pictures would be very helpful too.

I do this type of work often in my landscape business and how it is best to approach the problem is dependent on a lot of variables. A 790 with a tiller, boxblade and drag harrow can fix alot of this if given enough time.

In my area I have had the best results tilling the rough and uneven ground then using a landplane grader to smooth and average out the ground. If the spaces is open without alot of obstructions you would be better off in most cases to get in there with larger equipment and get it done in a couple of days rather than buying alot of new equipment and spending an inordinate amount of time trying to do it yourself.

 

[TripleR]

Fast
Guess it will depend on how high and low the hills and valleys are, and what you mean by "level".
Assuming lawn smooth then best would be to tear it up and drag it smooth. A disc might tear it up, but think the teeth on a box blade would do that too. Then depending on the sod involved, might have to rototill or get a disc the size that your 790 would pull (8' tandem should work). A 2 or 3 section drag after the box blade, or tiller, or disc should smooth out the highs and lows so it is near golf course "level" for grass mowing. Might throw in a lawn roller for early spring to help smooth it out.

7.5 acres might do it in one acre stages or have someone come in with some farm size equipment to work it up and smooth it out.

Can't beat that advice. Consider if the "tools" needed will be used after the project is done or will just sit around and paying to have it done just might be cheaper.

 

[eastexan]

Can't beat that advice. Consider if the "tools" needed will be used after the project is done or will just sit around and paying to have it done just might be cheaper.

Good point.

I need to level out my yard after I get rid of all the sorry little onery gophers that have completely torn it up. :mur:
But I don't want to buy expensive equipment just to do that job and then never use them again.

My problem is, I have hidden water lines, lateral lines, buried electrical, etc. And the previous owner didin't have a clue as to where it's all located.
And also judging by one of the water lines I found last year buried only about 2" going from the well house to the shop, they're probably buried pretty shallow. I found it with my plow.
So I can't go very deep with whatever I use. I may end up just using a lawn roller and have some dirt brought in and just smooth it all out.

Of course, I still have the evil little gophers to contend with first who are probably laughing at everything I do in trying get rid of them.
But I guess if all else fails, I can always send the wife out there to nag 'em to death.

 

[TripleR]

Good point.

I need to level out my yard after I get rid of all the sorry little onery gophers that have completely torn it up. :mur:
But I don't want to buy expensive equipment just to do that job and then never use them again.

My problem is, I have hidden water lines, lateral lines, buried electrical, etc. And the previous owner didn't have a clue as to where it's all located.
And also judging by one of the water lines I found last year buried only about 2" going from the well house to the shop, they're probably buried pretty shallow. I found it with my plow.
So I can't go very deep with whatever I use. I may end up just using a lawn roller and have some dirt brought in and just smooth it all out.

Of course, I still have the evil little gophers to contend with first who are probably laughing at everything I do in trying get rid of them.
But I guess if all else fails, I can always send the wife out there to nag 'em to death.

Now that's funny I don't care who you are.:laughing::laughing:

We are fortunate in that we had our house built and with the exception of the septic system, my father in law ran all of the trenching and went deep as he owned a couple of trenchers he used in his business.

We leveled our yard of about 2 1/2 to 3 acres with one of these though it is not a Land Pride. We use it on our farms, so we wee not out any additional money. They are fairly common around here and I have used it to help a neighbor out so he wouldn't have to buy one or pay someone to do it.

Land Pride Drag Scrapers

 

[eastexan]

Land Pride Drag Scrapers

I'll keep an eye out for one of those. Looks like it would come in really handy.
Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[bigbull338]

for leveling 7.5acs id buy a 3pt tiller an till it up 2 or 3 times.my brother has used the tiller to smooth up his yard where the cows had tracked it up.

 

[N80]

I've done this before with decent results. Used the box blade to work the roughest areas. Then disk repeatedly going from most aggressive angle to the least. Then use landscape rake to smooth that out. Works okay. A pulveriser would be the ideal finishing implement for my lumpy soil but I don't need one enough to buy one.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Gentlemen,
Many thanks for the excellent replies. I will post a few pics as requested so you all can see what I'm trying to do. Will probably have to wait for Friday or the weekend due to work.

 

[franklinute]

I tried to smooth out about 2 acres of my backyard last year. I used a tractor and heavy disc to work it up. My area had a big crown in the middle and several rolling areas on the side. When the soil was broken up well I chained a railroad iron behind the disc. This thing is about 14' wide and very heavy. It leaves the ground like it has been tilled. I dragged soil from the high spots and put it in the low spots. One bad thing is that we have many rocks. It seems as though rocks grew out of the ground. They really sprouted up after a rain shower. I bet we have picked up 3-4 tons of rocks from this area. I seeded the area last fall and the grass came up good. After some heavy rain we do have some small trenches but not too bad. Things are dry now and I noticed that I scraped the top soil off the high areas and deposited it in the low areas. So the grass on the high areas is trying to survive on poor soil. Ideally it would be nice to scrape and pile up the top soil, then level the area, then place the top soil back on the yard.