Box Blade Suggestion

[TractorNoob85]

I bought an 84" BB last year to use on my driveway. Its 1500ft gravel and on a hill. Gravel will wash on very hard rains and needs carried up the hill and ruts filled. Thank God it doesn't happen too often.

The DK4520 pulls it well until the ground is loose. A full load will stop the tractor and spin going uphill. It gets annoying needing to lift and feather the BB to get going again.

Lesson learned on the too big a box. So, my question is, because of the hill do I downsize to a 66" to just cover the tire tracks or go with a 72"?

The tractor measures 64" across the rear treads.

The driveway is 8-9ft wide so it's not a big deal to go down one side and up the other with a smaller box and having power in reserve seems like a good idea anyway.

Also began looking at rollover box blades. They are heavier and I like the idea of using a lever to roll it into position for the scarifiers and then back to scraping.

So, 66" or 72" for pulling stone uphill? What do you guys think?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Roll-over box blades are great and I'm a hydraulics guy.

My first question, do you have your tires filled?

Filling the tires makes a day & night difference as far as the capabilities of your tractor.
I have all 4 tires filled on both my 75 HP (81"ROBB) and 32HP machines. (65"ROBB)

I believe that I would get a 72" unit for your DK.

Also, learn how to best use your draft control, (this will take some experimenting) and your days of bogging down will be gone.

 

[TractorNoob85]

Rear tires are filled. I do keep the front loader and 72" bucket on for front weight.

The DK doesn't have draft control. Only the knob to control the speed at which an implement lowers and the hydraulic lever to set height.

I do feather the height control to keep the tractor going but most times the tractor tires will dig and spin in the loose stone before able to bump the height up enough to get going again. Proper draft control would be nice.

 

[BackRoad]

Brian, what are the benefits of filling your front tires?

 

[anomad]

I think less is more depending on how steep your driveways are. I have a 5 foot box blade for my Kioti CK3510. Just a hair narrower than the rear tires (industrial). I can pull a full box of wet gravel up my steepest parts. Low range 4wd and diff lock all engaged depending... I haven't spun out yet. We had an unusually heavy downpour yesterday, probably 3-4 inches in less than an hour. Based on an empty bucket I had sitting outside... I spent about 3 hours dragging gravel around today.

Contrast that to my little B2601 with a 4 foot box blade... It will spin out on basically anything but flat ground. I love the little B for mowing, but it doesn't have the balls to pull a box blade.

A hydraulic top-link is very handy. Especially with a box blade. You can make micro adjustments to how much you are leaving or carrying with more fidelity than trying to massage the 3 point lift. I got an Amazon el cheapo and it works fine.

 

[anomad]

The tractor measures 64" across the rear treads.

Practicing my reading comprehension - LOL. I am surprised the DK is about the same width as the CK. You would walk the dog with a 5 foot box blade. No way you'd spin out if I can't with my smaller CK.

 

[TractorNoob85]

@anomad Speaking of the hard rains. Im in PA and we got hammered Wednesday evening with rain. This is what I had to clean up Thursday morning. The washouts were over a foot deep all the way down to the neighbor's house. Its asphalt millings beyond that. It's hard to tell from the photo but it does have a decent grade from top to bottom. We probably got 4-6" of rain in a bit over an hour. It's the worst I had it wash in 15 years. Took 4 hours to get it all filled in again. The water at the stream was overflowing the driveway at the through pipe. Luckily the pipe didn't get washed out.

New video · Wednesday, Jul 9 ð¬

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian, what are the benefits of filling your front tires?

Added weight equals more traction in 4 wheel drive.

Tires tend to not buldge as much with a heavy bucket of material with the smaller area for the air to compress into.

 

[anomad]

@TractorNoob85 Same exact thing here. Most thunderstorms just require a jiffy touch up. Everything was blown out like nothing I had ever seen yesterday.

I'd say go small so you have all the power at your disposal. And if you figure out an easy way to mine that gravel out in your grass let me know! LOL. I'll be mining with a shovel tomorrow for sure.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

@anomad Speaking of the hard rains. Im in PA and we got hammered Wednesday evening with rain. This is what I had to clean up Thursday morning. The washouts were over a foot deep all the way down to the neighbor's house. Its asphalt millings beyond that. It's hard to tell from the photo but it does have a decent grade from top to bottom. We probably got 4-6" of rain in a bit over an hour. It's the worst I had it wash in 15 years. Took 4 hours to get it all filled in again. The water at the stream was overflowing the driveway at the through pipe. Luckily the pipe didn't get washed out.

New video · Wednesday, Jul 9 ð¬

View attachment 3760500

If you put water bars in and diverted the water off of the road, any chance that that would help? Although the burms make it a pain to grade.

 

[anomad]

If you put water bars in and diverted the water off of the road, any chance that that would help? Although the burms make it a pain to grade.

Water bars are a must! Yes. Those are directed into the culverts. And we even scratch in little tiny ones with a hoe if there is heavy rain in the forecast. For example, my sister saw the thunderstorm coming on her phone and scratched in her little ditches. Only one got blown out. Fixing her road up will only take a few minutes except where the culvert pipe overflowed.

 

[TractorNoob85]

I'm no landscaper but water bars in a driveway sound like a pain to resurface. The driveway would never feel smooth. I do like the idea of something that holds the rock in place though. What you don't see in the picture is behind me is more hill and a large corn field. Water from the field runs down the hill and into the driveway since it's lower than the banks. Imo, the driveway needs raised above the level of the banks and crowned correctly for runoff with ditches dug on one side or both with large rock for the runoff to collect and drain. I've been kicking around the idea of blacktop millings. I'm assuming it's going to be costly though.

 

[BackRoad]

Mr. Tractornoob, what area in PA are you located? In the north central area in Tioga County, we've had some heavy afternoon T-storms recently, but not with quite as much rain as you received.

Beautiful scene, other than that major washout!

 

[2manyrocks]

If you try to take too much bite into the gravel that is still packed, you are going to experience loss of traction. Ease up on the angle and depth of cut.

If you can pitch the road surface to one side or the other or crown it to both sides, sometimes you can avoid using water bars, but you have to keep it pitched or it will wash. Precision matters here.

 

[old and tired]

...I do keep the front loader and 72" bucket on for front weight...

Fill the FEL bucket up with rock or dirt, that adds so much more traction.

If you are not going to add water bars, then at least slant your driveway slightly sideways so the water doesn't run down the middle of the driveway. Have it run off to the downhill side.

 

[RayIN]

Shorten the top link to reduce the amount of crushed stone in the yard box. The runners on each side of the box limit depth as the top link is shortened, however, the scarifiers must be raised to max or they can dig into the road.

 

[TractorNoob85]

@BackRoad south central PA.

 

[DieselDigger]

I bought an 84" BB last year to use on my driveway. Its 1500ft gravel and on a hill. Gravel will wash on very hard rains and needs carried up the hill and ruts filled. Thank God it doesn't happen too often.

The DK4520 pulls it well until the ground is loose. A full load will stop the tractor and spin going uphill. It gets annoying needing to lift and feather the BB to get going again.

Lesson learned on the too big a box. So, my question is, because of the hill do I downsize to a 66" to just cover the tire tracks or go with a 72"?

The tractor measures 64" across the rear treads.

The driveway is 8-9ft wide so it's not a big deal to go down one side and up the other with a smaller box and having power in reserve seems like a good idea anyway.

Also began looking at rollover box blades. They are heavier and I like the idea of using a lever to roll it into position for the scarifiers and then back to scraping.

So, 66" or 72" for pulling stone uphill? What do you guys think?

I usually play Stardew Valley APK — it’s a farming game where there are no tractors or heavy equipment. You have to do everything manually, from planting to watering and harvesting. Reading about your real-life tractor and box blade experience really shows how challenging real farming can be! If you ever want to relax a bit, you should try the Stardew Valley APK free version — it’s a fun and peaceful game.

 

[TMGT]

I run a 78" on a similar size/weight tractor, a Kubota L3240 with loaded R4's and a loader.

I had a very steep road of milling in front of my house (like hard to walk up/down steep) that I had to maintain. The 84" shouldn't be an issue with proper operation , although a smaller boxblade would probably make it easier.
Try taking smaller bites and maintaining the height so the weight of the box blade is on the tractor.
How heavy is the box blade? I've found a heavier BB works better (mine is about 1200lbs).

 

[big bubba]

whether you downsize or retain your current blade, having a hyd top link, esp w/ground engagement implements will greatly benefit your blade work. being able to feather adj makes a big difference.
you will benefit in all your implements, & safer too i think. consider the link before downsizing. regards