Best implement to make small adjustments in grade (say 1 to 2 feet) and drainage?

[777funk]

My sons and I dug about 10yds with shovels to correct the grade that sloped toward our house in the country. This inspired me to buy a tractor.

I have been using a 34hp 336d and scraper blade to spread gravel and it has worked great.

I still have about 3 to 5 yards of dirt to move (more grading) and some yard drainage swales to make.

I can tell my 350lb 6 foot grader blade is not the best tool for this job. It will move earth, but very slowly. It will not bust sod hardly at all.

Is there a better tool for the job?

 

[Citydude]

My sons and I dug about 10yds with shovels to correct the grade that sloped toward our house in the country. This inspired me to buy a tractor.

I have been using a 34hp 336d and scraper blade to spread gravel and it has worked great.

I still have about 3 to 5 yards of dirt to move (more grading) and some yard drainage swales to make.

I can tell my 350lb 6 foot grader blade is not the best tool for this job. It will move earth, but very slowly. It will not bust sod hardly at all.

Is there a better tool for the job?

Box blade with rippers would do the job

 

[jeff9366]

How moist is your soil?

Is your tractor 2-WD or 4-WD? Rear tires inflated with air or filled with liquid?


Moist soil will provide just half the resistance to your blade of dry soil.

Optional blade-end "shoes" will allow your blade to move earth faster.
Three to five cubic yards of soil is not much volume.

Cheapest sod solution is to spray it with Roundup/Glcophosphate, then wait two weeks for treated sod to die and wait longer for a soaking rain before employing your blade.

The fast solution is a $7,000 Harley Rake.

 

[3gunr]

bOX BLADE WILL BE MUCH BETTER THAN A GRADING BLADE.

 

[777funk]

4wd with locking diff. Traction hasn't been a problem so far. Wet or dry soil hasn't made much difference. Still just scrapes the surface inch or so.

Would a loader with toothed bucket be a good idea? Maybe sell this and find a bigger tractor or even a backhoe?

 

[jcummins]

4wd with locking diff. Traction hasn't been a problem so far. Wet or dry soil hasn't made much difference. Still just scrapes the surface inch or so.

Would a loader with toothed bucket be a good idea? Maybe sell this and find a bigger tractor or even a backhoe?

Box blade...but also hydraulic top link so you can dial the cutting edge on the box blade in to cut better. Makes a difference.

 

[HoyeTractor]

Box blade all the way. You can move a LOT of dirt with even a small box blade. I have leveled many lawns & pads with them. We even leveled some 100-200 acre fields with some much larger ones. Just let the rippers down and get into a slow steady circular pattern of raising & lowering the box blade to cut and dump dirt where you need it. You can also use it finish the grade and make it nice and smooth by raising up the rippers and dragging around a 1/2 full blade of dirt in different patterns. Dealing with the grass will be the biggest problem. If it is dead and dry it might break up enough if you drag it around. If it is green it will try to clump up and make feathering out the dirt harder. Just mow it as short as you can first.

 

[bmaverick]

4wd with locking diff. Traction hasn't been a problem so far. Wet or dry soil hasn't made much difference. Still just scrapes the surface inch or so.

Would a loader with toothed bucket be a good idea? Maybe sell this and find a bigger tractor or even a backhoe?

Box blade with RIPPERS. The rippers will do ALL the work. AND if one breaks, the co-op or tractor store carries generic ones that typically fit all makes and models.

My YM2610 is the same Hp. I use a Box Blade with rippers made by LMC. It was a mere $275 back in 2014.
You can drop the rippers as low as they can go, lock the pins in place, add about 100# to 300# of weight and drag the box blade.


See how the rippers work on YT. Start at 1:30min. How to Plow With A Box Blade - YouTube

 

[bmaverick]

Additionally, this video shows a box blade with rippers, but the person isn't using weights to help push down the box. Thus, his box blade bounces!

 

[CoyPatton]

My sons and I dug about 10yds with shovels to correct the grade that sloped toward our house in the country. This inspired me to buy a tractor.

I have been using a 34hp 336d and scraper blade to spread gravel and it has worked great.

I still have about 3 to 5 yards of dirt to move (more grading) and some yard drainage swales to make.

I can tell my 350lb 6 foot grader blade is not the best tool for this job. It will move earth, but very slowly. It will not bust sod hardly at all.

Is there a better tool for the job?

For what you describe, you need the box blade with ripper teeth/shanks. I suggest the shanks set at an aggressive depth and the box set to collect the grass on the first passes. Once the grass is out of your way, you can be more aggressive with the box to move dirt and shape.
The grader or scraper blade is great for gravel driveways were you want a crown in the driveway. It also does well at pulling gravel from the edge of the ditch back into the driveway. If you need to move gravel from a heavily graveled area to another less graveled area in the driveway, you need the box blade.
Bottom line is different tools do different jobs. Both are useful to have. The heavier built the implement, the longer term service it will provide.

 

[Leejohn]

3 to 5 yards I would just use the loader.

 

[CoyPatton]

3 to 5 yards I would just use the loader.

While a drainage ditch can be done with a FEL bucket, and I love my FEL! For a ditch that is more than a few feet long, the tilt function of the 3 pt hitch and a blade are the only way to go. If you need to move dirt while doing so to change elevation you need the box blade! If the ditch is there and you just need to clean it out, the scraper blade tilted and set on an angle would be the tool of choice. Then if you need to relocate what you pulled out of the ditch the FEL bucket is the tool to use! Different tools for different jobs! Also if you need just a shallow trench for drainage, consider a middle buster plow.

 

[rScotty]

Optional blade-end "shoes" will allow your blade to move earth faster.
Three to five cubic yards of soil is not much volume.

Cheapest sod solution is to spray it with Roundup/Glcophosphate, then wait two weeks for treated sod to die and wait longer for a soaking rain before employing your blade.

The fast solution is a $7,000 Harley Rake.

I call those things "blade end caps" and as good as they are, I don't think that most people have ever seen them or how useful they make a grader blade. For some reason end caps are rarely seen in spite of being useful and inexpensive. I bought them as optional parts for both our Big Rhino grader blades.

The kind I got are the inexpensive type that use three bolts to fasten them to the end of the grader blade. I've seen a better kind of end cap made with a hinge so it can simply be swung up on top of the grader blade and locked there.

Anyway they mount, a grader blade with endcaps is the hot setup for shaping dirt. With one or both end caps on, the grader blade works just like a box blade, but with the advantage that it can be angled, offset, and tilted - all things that are difficult or impossible with a box blade.

The the OP, I don't think you can improve on the YM336d for most work. Nice machine & a classic. Well balanced with lots of HP & traction. For a similar job where I had to work down in a ditch I bought a bolt-on tooth edge for the front bucket and used that to loosen dirt - which I would then pull up out of the ditch by back-dragging with the lip of the loader bucket.

Gott comment on Roundup...just saw it condemned on TV News tonight....again. My guess is that use of Roundup is about to be a thing of the past, although for a while it may be a local issue. Around here anyone using glycophosphates near a residential area would be sure to hear about it from neighbors. And if kids were involved.... well, just hopefully not.
rScotty

 

[CoyPatton]

I call those things "blade end caps" and as good as they are, I don't think that most people have ever seen them or how useful they make a grader blade. For some reason end caps are rarely seen in spite of being useful and inexpensive. I bought them as optional parts for both our Big Rhino grader blades.

The kind I got are the inexpensive type that use three bolts to fasten them to the end of the grader blade. I've seen a better kind of end cap made with a hinge so it can simply be swung up on top of the grader blade and locked there.

Anyway they mount, a grader blade with endcaps is the hot setup for shaping dirt. With one or both end caps on, the grader blade works just like a box blade, but with the advantage that it can be angled, offset, and tilted - all things that are difficult or impossible with a box blade.

The the OP, I don't think you can improve on the YM336d for most work. Nice machine & a classic. Well balanced with lots of HP & traction. For a similar job where I had to work down in a ditch I bought a bolt-on tooth edge for the front bucket and used that to loosen dirt - which I would then pull up out of the ditch by back-dragging with the lip of the loader bucket.

Gott comment on Roundup...just saw it condemned on TV News tonight....again. My guess is that use of Roundup is about to be a thing of the past, although for a while it may be a local issue. Around here anyone using glycophosphates near a residential area would be sure to hear about it from neighbors. And if kids were involved.... well, just hopefully not.
rScotty

My farming members insist that roundup leaches in the soil to other plants. That in addition to the cancer causing claims are 2 huge reasons to not use it!
An alternative is 2-4D but make sure it has a stabilizer in it, it tends to drift with high humidity conditions.
A tooth bar on the bucket can be very useful. I have never seen end caps for a grader blade so have no opinion, they sound interesting. The ability to drop the rippers on a box blade while tilted is very useful for initial construction of a ditch.
Of course there are lots of ways to do a job, and the ability to avoid additional expense or less expense is always beneficial.

 

[/pine]

I seriously doubt that glyphosate / round up is going anywhere...in the least it will come with additional warning and application instructions...at worst it will require a licensed professional to buy in bulk without a waiver etc...

Also, just about any non organic herbicide is going to be just as potentially dangerous...and they all will be coming under more scrutiny...

 

[Egon]

3 to 5 yards I would just use the loader.

Yes, the bucket works for many different jobs.

 

[clemsonfor]

I call those things "blade end caps" and as good as they are, I don't think that most people have ever seen them or how useful they make a grader blade. For some reason end caps are rarely seen in spite of being useful and inexpensive. I bought them as optional parts for both our Big Rhino grader blades.

The kind I got are the inexpensive type that use three bolts to fasten them to the end of the grader blade. I've seen a better kind of end cap made with a hinge so it can simply be swung up on top of the grader blade and locked there.

Anyway they mount, a grader blade with endcaps is the hot setup for shaping dirt. With one or both end caps on, the grader blade works just like a box blade, but with the advantage that it can be angled, offset, and tilted - all things that are difficult or impossible with a box blade.

The the OP, I don't think you can improve on the YM336d for most work. Nice machine & a classic. Well balanced with lots of HP & traction. For a similar job where I had to work down in a ditch I bought a bolt-on tooth edge for the front bucket and used that to loosen dirt - which I would then pull up out of the ditch by back-dragging with the lip of the loader bucket.

Gott comment on Roundup...just saw it condemned on TV News tonight....again. My guess is that use of Roundup is about to be a thing of the past, although for a while it may be a local issue. Around here anyone using glycophosphates near a residential area would be sure to hear about it from neighbors. And if kids were involved.... well, just hopefully not.
rScotty

Not likely. I heard from the guy teaching my pesticide recert class that he was at some big meeting and a question was asked about glyphosate's future with all these lawsuits. The guy the question was posted to was the guy in charge of glyphosate regulation with the EPA. He said that there right now is a ZERO percent chance that it will be banned. Remember all that has happened is that a jury or common people or your "peers" has awarded some people some money cause they claim their cancer is from the round up they sprayed around their house or a grounds keeper type person. These are not experts in it. One of the experiments from I think engleand that is the only long term one they reference had problems with the keeping of the lab rats and also the doseages that they were exposed to is thousands of times higher than. You would ever be exposed too. Remember the label is the law, if your touching it bare handed or breathing it or literally soaking your self in it you are violating the label because I can promise you it does not say to do any of those things and that is what research is based on. I have to back science at this point, much of this talk is disturbing and makes you to definitely remember your PPE but even scientist that read all the documents say that there may be a link at the upper limits of exposure, and honestly they say that those who don't follow directions with PPE and have over exposure would be the main cause of concern. I keep thinking that if there were a link there would be a HUGE increase of NHL cases in the farm laborer area as well as with American farm families that live in areas frequently sprayed with it.
And I read a lot of the the big case with the grounds keeper with stage 4 NHL cancer that was awarded like $359 million or whatever. I really feel for the guy with can we at his age. While I can't say if Roundup was the cause or not I don't think I could of awarded him money or decided in his favor. The defense side problem was their expert witness for the equipment admitted that she never laid hands on his actual backpack sprayer to inspect it, or calibrate it. Which I would of done if that were me. I would check for leaks, splits in tank, bad gaskets, calibrate it and the spray pattern etc. Now the claim of his lawyers with the amount of diluted solution that he applied was HUGE. The amount put through a backpack sprayer was almost impossible! And any of you who use Roundup, how many times a year do you use it. Probably just a few times?? Even on a large school property I don't see you applying more than a few days a month max. He didn't work there but a few years, if you do the amount of chemical they said he would have to be applying for eight hours a day for weeks at a time.

Contrast that to my herbicide contract crew I just had working for me. They sprayed in a week and a half about 65 acres, with some concentration of glyphosate, at a much higher rate sometimes 5x the rate that would be applied to kill grass around a campus. These guys were personally applying gallons of chemical a day, not solution I'm just talking chemical. We didn't spray it straight but you don't care about water it's not a chemical. They also claimed this guy sprayed a much higher concentration than you do at your house.. he did, we most use 41% undiluted concentration he just probably had round up pro or any of the other trade names that can still be bought by anyone. It's a 54% product meaning it's 54% by volume glyphosate. But you don't spray at that ratio you generally dilute it down to between 1.5-3% for the type use he would be doing. The only difference in the 41 and the 54% products is the amount that you have to add to your tank mix. The higher concentrations are just used by us professionals cause it cuts down the amount of bottles you keep on hand and the gallons of chemical you have to add to a tank.

Ok I am long winded on this and that's probably more than anyone cares to hear but I sometimes get going on this stuff. If anyone cares or realized from my posts I know a bit more than the average person on chemicals. I am a professional Forester and I also hold a pesticide applicators license (herbicide is classified as a pesticide) and write and oversee herbicide contracts as part of my work.

 

[rScotty]

Interesting perspective Clemsonfor. I agree that glycophosphates are unlikely to be banned at any national level anytime soon. Too much big money behind them.
But that doesn't mean that people won't stop using them at a local level. Like I said, around where I live just having a jug of Roundup is enough to start the neighbors talking - even though you can buy it and nastier stuff in any quantity wanted down at Home Depot.
Concern here is probalby less for the adults using it than for local kids and the environment. Adults can take their own chances. Like I said, the concern is probably going to be local for some time. Still, there is getting to be some evidence that there are better ways to get rid of pests and weeds.
rScotty

 

[CoyPatton]

The next issue is going to be with all the negative publicity associated with roundup, how long before on a widespread local level of lack of purchase of a product before it retailers remove it from shelf space. If it does sell it is taking up real estate that will be turned over to products that move—the nature of brick and mortar retail! If sells drop enough, Monsanto will stop production or at least greatly reduce production. My family members that commercial farm for a living already have moved from roundup due to it leaching in the ground. They spray a ditch bank and it leaches to the crop, so that market is leaving.
Will it ever go away completely—I do not know, but it may only be available to licensed applicators in bulk purchase due to bad press and public reaction.

 

[kco]

I have a tough cultivator that works well for loosening soil and rocks. The tines are flexible. They will dig about 18" and easily pull large rocks out of tough soil such as clay. I then use a blade to shape the loose material to the contour I want. For a more finished job and trash removal I use a landscape rake with guage wheels.