Box blade and chains on the 3pt

[RayCo]

I'm thinking about replacing the lift arms on my 3pt hitch with chains in order to help keep my box blade from being affected by the tilting and rocking of my tractor as I drove over my less-than-ideal terrain that I'm working in. I'm trying to change the contour of the ground that I'm digging out, but it doesn't really seem possible to do with the rigid connection, since as the tractor follows the contour, so does the blade. Short of the top-n-tilt solution, are chains something that can help? I have a 4 ft blade that weighs about 250 pounds, I believe. I was thinking of doing chains and also adding 150 pounds of weight to the box blade. Should I expect this to be effective?

Thanks

 

[638]

I don't know if that would work or not. Why don't you try it and let us know how it does.

ron

 

[RayCo]

I don't know if that would work or not. Why don't you try it and let us know how it does.

That'll probably be what happens.

 

[StrangeRanger]

Have you considered gauge wheels?
j

 

[RayCo]

Don't guage wheels just lock in place and just prevent the implement from going lower than you want? It seems that the angling with the tractor would still exist since the wheels have a rigid connection to the implement. Or is this not how they work?

 

[N80]

I understand the idea, but doubt that it will work. Truth be told, a box blade really isn't very effective in passively contouring. It will smooth and fill, but if you have swales, hills, ridges, etc it is pretty much just going to follow them if all you do is pull it behind you.

It will work better if you use it actively. In other words consider a raised area that you want level with everything else. You can't just run back and forth over it. You need to make passes along it (not across it) mostly with the teeth to break it up. Then catch the broken up soil with the blade at an agressive angle and move the dirt where it needs to be...not just where is slips out from under the BB.

I've done this and its quite a pain but can be done. You just can't expect to drive back and forth with the BB and have a flat smooth surface. Judicious use of the loader also helps such as knocking down high spots and back dragging.

 

[Soundguy]

Ditto what N80 said. You can also do things like disc or drag harrow an area ( depending on how bad it is ). Some people tow and old i-beam or railroad track section.. or telephone pole section behind their tractor to help level things out too..

soundguy

 

[Texas Dodge]

If I understand you correctly, you are complaining that when the back wheels go over a high spot the BB lifts up as well and doesn't knock the high spot down? Are you setting your BB for a certain height and leaving it there? If so then yes that is going to happen. What you will have to do is when you go over the high spot you will need to lower your BB more to knock down the high spot. When I am using my BB, my right hand is always on the 3pt lift lever adjusting as I go.

 

[N80]

When I am using my BB, my right hand is always on the 3pt lift lever adjusting as I go.

Right, and that's part of what i mean by using it actively.

I have also found what Soundguy said to be true, a disk can be a great leveling and contouring implement. I had no idea this would be true but a disk is really great for leveling a large area.

 

[jesseb3@att.net]

I'm not saying that it will work or not, but I did stumble across this the other day...

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...-mods-bx-tph.html?highlight=lift+chains+blade

 

[RayCo]

Good thread. Thanks Jesse

 

[StrangeRanger]

Maybe I'm not exactly understanding the issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you want your BB to stay put as the tractor moves/angles up and down over the terrain yes? So you're basically trying to scrape off the high spots and deposit the material in the low spots.

I would think using chains might actually make things worse. I would think the chains would be so loose they cause the BB to simply float/glide over bumps more easily no?

As N80 said, the best approach is to man-handle your 3pth lever and travel along the length of the high spots scraping them off. But that is often not possible, like a lot of areas on my driveway.

Does your tractor have a float position for your 3pth? Mine does and what works well for me is to open up the 3pth valve so it moves very freely in float and I added a boat load of weight, in the form of big rocks, to my BB. With my set up like this as the tractor angles up, say coming out of a low spot, the float (and gauge wheels) allows the BB to not dig in. As the tractor angles down, going into a low spot, the added weight and free movement of the float keeps the BB pretty much level and plowing through the high spot scraping it off.

One thing to keep in mind about BB's, it often takes a lot more passes than you think or want to do That was my biggest learning curve. Pass after pass is often times needed to get the results you want.
j