Box Blades and Rocks

[GaryE]

Jim,

I think you are right, need to look into a Box Blade. Now I just need to find some one up here that rents the Harley Rake.

Thanks for the help,

Gary

 

[Roto]

Yeah Tiltons will have tons of boxscrapers and KingKutter stuff. They are pretty reasonable maybe $500 for a 7 footer but they last a long time and is cheap implement compared to most. There are tons of tools that will do better no question but for $500 for something you will have for a long time that will do a lot of work you cant go wrong. I leave mine on for counter weight (600lbs) and find myself using it as much or more then my bucket when it comes to playing in dirt. I have the teeth off right now and most of the time actually but the teeth came in handy getting rocks out and loosing hard soil. Anyway, there a handy thing to have if you have a large area and are always messing with gravel or dirt or level spots and stuff like that. Your tractor will be able to use a 7 footer no problem. But if width is a problem you can use a 6 foot.

Mike

 

[billbill1]

I had (and still have more) rocks in my yard and I used the box blade to rip them out. I bent a couple of the scarficers but it worked. What worked best for me, I borrowed a root ripper from a co-worker and it would roll the big rocks to the surface where I could pick them up with the fel and haul them to the rock pile. I think a subsoiler is the same implement as the root ripper but not completely sure. Some of the rocks were 14-16" diameter, I just kept going back and forth from all directions and rolled them out and picked them up. I'm having problems getting everything level, I still have some high spots that need leveled out but still plugging away.

 

[Keith_B]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Spring will be here soon and as soon as mud season is over I will be tackling one of my fields(attached). It is about 2 acres over all. When I bought the place about 9 years ago the field had been plowed and left that way for years before I got here. It was a series of 3' deep toughs running the length of the field. The ground had settled and was as hard as rock. My first year here, I asked one of the local farmers if he could clean it up with his disks, he said it was so dug up and and full of rocks about the only thing he could do was to roto till it or come in with a bull dozer. Not wanting to compact it any more than it was I told him to go at it with his roto tiller.

He did a pretty good job and now the field looks decent. But I would like to get it to the point I could use a finish mower on it. Every winter this field seems to grow more rocks, this is Maine after all! So every spring I harvest the new crop. Which leads me to my question.

Given this field is full of some large (100 lbs) rocks, would a Box Blade even work? Or should I use my FEL and BH? I rarely see a Box Blade up here, but I see rozett uses one. But from where I am, he is in the DEEP South! If I do try a Box Blade, should I go with a 6' ? I will be dragging it with a L3710, if it ever gets here!

Thanks in advance for any input.

Gary )</font>

If it were me I would plow it, disk it several times, then drag it down really good. This will smooth out a lot of the smaller dips. With the soil in a loosened condition you could then use a box blade and FEL to fill in the lower areas, moving materials from the higher areas.

Judging from the picture the field looks like it was turned too many times throwing the dirt from the inside to the outside edges and created a low spot in the middle. When it is turned again throwing the dirt toward the inside will help to smooth it out.

If you have a rock picker available you will be able to get a lot of rocks out when the soil has been worked. Getting rid of rocks is an endless task. Every winter the ground is going to freeze and the frost heave will push rocks toward the surface.

 

[GaryE]

Mike,

Went for my Sunday drive a day early! I knew I had seen Tilton's, but it was not the place I thought. Found it though, right next to Tates. I new I had seen the name.

Needless to say they were lock up tighter than a drum. It is on the list for this spring.

I think the 7 footer might be perfect for my trails if my tractor can pull it, they are in need of a little attention.


Thanks again,

Gary

 

[GaryE]

Double post deleted.


Sorry...... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[GaryE]

<font color="blue"> If it were me I would plow it, disk it several times, then drag it down really good. </font>

Yikes!

Our summers aren't that long!!!!!!

I may try that for the REALLY bad spots, but I need to finish a new bathroom, new kitchen, addition to the barn and start on the addition to the house before September....... What am I thinking?


Gary


PS All kidding aside, thanks for the input!

 

[bncsauve]

I have been making trails through the woods, using my boxblade and backhoe. The box blade with the scarifiers done a couple of inches does a good job popping large rocks out of the ground. The scarifiers latch onto a rock and since there is no down pressure on the 3pt hitch arms, the whole box blade rises up, roling the rocks out of the ground. Sometimes I need to lift the arms a little with the hydraulics to give it some help. When the scarifiers lock on and can't pop the rock out of the ground, its backhoe time. I've rolled rocks out of the ground up to about 2 feet in diameter. Any bigger than that, they stop the tractor in its tracks.

 

[Roto]

I found an ad from july uncle henries and the 7 foot box is $590 at Tiltons. Steel prices must have drove up the prices some. I was thinking your area is already loosened up with something but if its hard nonworked ground you will want to plow it or loosen it somehow. your tractor wont be big enough to do too much heavy duty work. If there is a farmer near by with heavy equipment have him swing in and disc it or plow it or something. Its hard to drag sod ground with box scraper it will have to be plowed or tilled or loosend somehow first.

Mike

 

[GaryE]

Bob,

The rocks here average almost 2'!!!! But I don't plan on digging down to far for the trails. I think a Box Blade could handle them nicely.

I grew up in CT and I always thought it was rocky there, until I moved here. I think I will give it a go this spring. How bad could it be?


Thanks,

Gary

 

[GaryE]

Mike,

The field was tilled about 9 years ago. I think I will try to knock down the high spots with the FEL, BH and possibly the Box Blade. If that does not work I think I will bring in the big guns!

I might just bring in a dozer and do the clean up myself as I did in the attached picture. Thanks for the help and again, if you are down this way, let me know.


Gary

 

[rozett]

Gary, I have a 6' box blade that I bought from Corriher's in NC. It's made by Midwest and is very rugged. I am doing the same kind of work you are proposing, except that mine is in preperation for planting Christmas trees. You are welcome to come down and look at or even try out mine. Our tractors are about the same size. Of course the box blade is buried under 3 feet of snow and the field is frozen, so it may have to wait for spring. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif I don't know what the shipping cost will be, but it's probably competitive with Tilton plus the sales tax.

Remember guys, here in Maine we have only two seasons..... winter and 4th of July! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Roto]

In Maine, we have 4 Seasons. Snowmobile Season(4 months) , Mud Season(2 months) , Hay Season(4 months) and Hunting Season(2 months).

Mike

 

[GaryE]

Bruce,

Thanks, come spring I may take you up on it. I am always looking for an excuse to come down to Deep South which means I will HAVE to stop at LL Beans!!!!


Gary

 

[GaryE]

Mike,

You both forgot Bug season!

Gary

 

[Roto]

He He He! yeah I did forget that one.. It goes from blackfly season to mosquito season to minges and no-see-ems and of course the deer flies. Where I live they are really bad all season!!!

mike

 

[John_Mc]

Gary -

I've used a box blade successfully to dig out basketball sized rocks. Anything bigger, I use my FEL. A toothbar on the FEL makes a HUGE difference. If you are going to be digging up many rocks, it's definitely worth the investment.

I've got a backhoe, but haven't used it much yet. I bought a used Woods 7500 3 pt hitch hoe, and am waiting for Woods to come out with their 4 point hitch for my tractor. I'm sure it''l be the tool of choice for the really big ones, but one advantage of the toothbar on the FEL is that it's always there. If I'm brush hogging and hit something, I just go back and dig it out with the FEL.

John Mc

 

[sodamo]

"an ugly Boxer"??? no way, ain't no such thing /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[GaryE]

John,

I have a funny feeling my BH will be my main weapon in the war against rocks.

Gary

 

[GaryE]

He may be (is) ugly, over weight and slobbers a lot, but he is the best dog I have ever had.

Gary