Box Blade or Landscape rake?

[Kenster]

Well, there is a large disparity of opinion here. I think I'm more confused than ever. There are strong proponents of box blades, back blades, AND landscape rakes.
I've decided that, since I can always borrow my neighbors box blade, I will end up buying either a rake or a back blade. I may hold off until the driveway needs some work. Then I'll borrow a back blade from another friend and give it a test drive. I don't know anyone with a rake that I can borrow. I'll have no other use for a back blade than to maintain our driveway. A landscape rake can be used on our property to round up fallen limbs, etc.
I realize neither a rake nor a back blade work well on hard packed roads so, when that time comes, I can borrow the box with rippers to loosen things up, fill holes, etc, then use a back blade or rake to smooth it all out and redo the crown.
A six foot back blade or rake, set at 45 degrees should cover up a five foot wide tractor tread, shouldn't it?

Also, keep in mind that I have an 8n. It's the perfect tractor for me and my needs, but it does not have any down pressure to help an implement dig in.

 

[SPIKER]

this is an example of what you can do using a box blade. I think this pic is pretty good, even though I had to lower the resolution a bit I added text as to what I did using my BOX BLADE



the pic is hard to tell that where I was standing taking the pic to the corner of the p-barn is probably 6' from base to lowest point and back up ~3' to the barn corner...



there are other pics of more work I did there from start to finish of the pole barn all done with the box blade attached. I would imagine that there was over 300 yards of soil moved in and around that area...
click one of the pics and then in upper left hand corner of the image page click back to Album.



Mark M

 

[JDGreenGrass]

I restored my gravel driveway with a 6' TSC CountyLine rear blade. I really liked what the blade did for me.

For starters it gave me a nice straight edge. I achieved this by angling the blade to pull the edges back to the center of the driveway...which also began a nice crown.

When it came time to finish grade it I quickly learned that going slow is the key. By going slow (low range, 1st gear, slow) the blade did an excellent job of filling the low spots and keeping the gravel where I wanted it.

I was real happy with the finished product but, I will admit, I am not afraid of a little hand work.

A couple of pictures of the project....

 

[Kenster]

JD, Great job. Thanks for showing me what a back blade can do. I like that clean, sharp edge along the drive but it raises a question. The crown on the drive will drain the water to the edges, which appear to be lower than the adjoining turf, so the turf acts like a dam, preventing the water from draining into the yard. Where does the water go? Down the drive to the road beyond?
Won't that eventually dig a trench along the edge?
Also, was the dirt/gravel in your drive hard packed before you started working it? My new drive is caliche which, once watered in and packed down, will be almost like concrete. If I have to rework it, I'll have to use a box with rippers to tear it up and redistribute the material. Then a back blade would come in handy to smooth it out and rebuild the crown.
Thanks again!
Ken

 

[JB4310]

Yeah JDGreenGrass, that looks good. But if you took a rake over that drive in your pics, it would be beautiful


Kenster, the crown down the middle is designed to shed water to the sides so it's not running down the middle causing serious erosion.

You will get some erosion in the gutters, but that's better than having your drive surface wash away.

Since your question was about maintaining an existing drive and not building a new one, I still think the rake is the way to go, it's a very forgiving tool that has the shortest learning curve out of the 3 rear implements discussed here IMO. Look at my avatar, I love the Box but in this case....

Don't be fooled by it only being a fluffy finish tool, it will move some material, it's a steel rake, you know what you can do with a hand held steel rake. If you maintain the drive regularly with the rake you shouldn't need the other implements for major repairs. With the gauge wheels, you just lower the 3 pt and drive, no need to adjust up and down on the fly. You almost don't even have to look back there, unless you want to see how nice it looks.

Good luck, JB.

 

[sodamo]

A couple weeks back we got 25 inches rain - really did a job on my drive which is mostly 3/4 minus crushed on an old, but poorly built road that sufficed for cane haul trucks and equipment. Much of it washed to the sides, into the grass. Took me about 4 hours with my 6 ft rake. Did my best scrapping it out of the grass toward the middle, moving some with my FEL back up hill, then many passes with the rake angled. In some places the ruts were 6-8" deep. To be honest, I didn't have a great deal of hope when I started and dreaded the thought of another load or two of more rock at $500 per load. If I had gone that route then likely would have used my boxblade to get it distributed and finished with the rake. I'm pleased to say the results were well worth the effort without buying more rock. Even the wife likes how it came out.

Perhaps I'm not as accomplished as others with the boxblade, but usually I find finishing with the rake provides a better product.

Best of luck with yours. Your own rake and the borrowed BB sounds like a good combo.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

JD, Great job. Thanks for showing me what a back blade can do. I like that clean, sharp edge along the drive but it raises a question. The crown on the drive will drain the water to the edges, which appear to be lower than the adjoining turf, so the turf acts like a dam, preventing the water from draining into the yard. Where does the water go? Down the drive to the road beyond?
Won't that eventually dig a trench along the edge?
Also, was the dirt/gravel in your drive hard packed before you started working it? My new drive is caliche which, once watered in and packed down, will be almost like concrete. If I have to rework it, I'll have to use a box with rippers to tear it up and redistribute the material. Then a back blade would come in handy to smooth it out and rebuild the crown.
Thanks again!
Ken

Thanks for the props guys.!!

The 2 pictures I posted are "mid-stream."....or, work in progress.

The gravel on the edges, when finished, is higher than the lawn.

And, yes, the gravel was hard-pack when I started. Some have said here that the BB will dig and break up the top surface and a blade won't.??...In-correct. The blade did a great job of digging. or loosening the top surface. I could have deep if I chose to.

Also, in the 2nd picture I posted....if you look closely there are humps and valley's. The finished product had none of this....all due to going very slow allowing the blade to "carry" material, or gravel. And that was without wheels.

I absolutely love my back blade.

 

[Kenster]

Since my 8N doesn't have any down pressure, I'm not sure how well a blade will dig into hard packed road. But... with one friend having a box blade, and another having a back blade, I think a six foot rake is the way to go. Then I can share the rake with my other friends and borrow their implements as needed. Plus, the rake will come in handy cleaning up around our wooded property.
How much are guage wheels likely to add to the cost? Is there a cheaper, bolt on, alternative?

 

[JB4310]

Since my 8N doesn't have any down pressure, I'm not sure how well a blade will dig into hard packed road. But... with one friend having a box blade, and another having a back blade, I think a six foot rake is the way to go. Then I can share the rake with my other friends and borrow their implements as needed. Plus, the rake will come in handy cleaning up around our wooded property.
How much are gauge wheels likely to add to the cost? Is there a cheaper, bolt on, alternative?

First of all, none of our 3pts have down pressure, so your not at any disadvantage there.

The sharing thing is a great idea, each of you only has to buy one implement, but have the pick of all 3.

As far as the cost of gauge wheels, they do whack you good for them, but just pay for the stock ones and don't fool around trying to make your own, JMO

JB.

Here's a pic of mine.

 

[SPIKER]

I heard you had access tot he 4 foot box blade, probably pretty undersized for th 8/9N a 6 foot would be better fit and would work much better than the 4' one.

since you have access to that and a back blade then by all means go for the 6' rock rake.

they are excellent devices for finishing work. I bought mine after I did all the heavy landscaping work, & had hopes of using it for maintaining trails in the woods. It works well for that IF there is some ATV trails that already have the vegetation knocked down. If the weeds are up and the sticks twigs and such are there then it is a real pain to keep the rock rake going well. I think of all my 3pt implements it is the least used... heck as a matter of fact where are ya at maybe we can deal


I think my recommended suggested first implement to buy would still be a box blade...



Mark