Boxblade Road & Gutter Maintenance

[3RRL]

After the heavy rains my dirt road gets beat up with ruts. Each year I have to smooth them out again.
I do all of it with my heavy duty customized boxblade since I don't have a real back blade like many of you guys. With Top and Tilt installed on the tractor, I've gotten pretty good at making a smooth surface very quickly. Not only that, but I can add gentle banks in the road or tilt it severely to cut gutters on the sides of the road. The system allows quick adjustments on the fly to get the desired finish.

Our main dirt road is about 1/2 mile long and weaves up into our property like a giant muscular snake. It varies in width from it's most narrow 13' wide section to several places 25' wide at other sections. It also has 9 culverts under it to channel runoff into the gullies and arroyos. There are 7 "turn-outs" along it's length that also have to be maintained. You can see one of them on the right hand side in the photo below. There are no straight sections over 150' long, rather it is made up of banked turns as it makes it's way up 150 feet in elevation towards the homesite.



Being a dirt road, it offers me lots of seat time to keep it in shape and that is one of the reasons I bought the tractor. It would be no fun to have it paved. I had cut gutters in the year before, but they have filled up in some places and needed to be re-cut again. This allows the water to find its way to the culverts and get it off the road.
So this is how I do that, by tilting the boxblade sideways and cutting a nice gutter on each side. I try to cut towards a natural run off area or to a culvert.
This is what it looks like looking backwards.



Rob-

 

[3RRL]

Cutting the gutter has become an easy thing to do since I can now tilt the boxblade right from the seat. Same for banking an area on the road if it needs a little more crown to it. Here are a couple more photos showing where I cut a gutter on a section where it had been over flowing.



Not all the road needed to have the gutters re-cut. Many sections had eroded nicely into a true water carrying channel leading right to a culvert or runoff area. While smoothing the road out, it was easy to see those areas that needed a new gutter. Then I would back the tractor up and cut the gutter.



After doing a section like that, I once again back up and start smoothing the rest of the road. I run from the beginning to the end until the entire road is smooth, leaving the gutter on the side of it. It may take one pass in each direction, or several more for the wider areas.

 

[3RRL]

I usually cruise along in 2nd gear low at about 1800 rpm. The pace is slow enough (on purpose) to leave a good smooth finish. It also provides me time to enjoy the natural beauty of the property.

 

[3RRL]

The boxblade has become my most useful tool and I use it quite a lot. So I use it for grading and other projects too, of course. I find working with dirt is very relaxing and therapeutic to me, and also very enjoyable. There is a kind of freedom in working the soil.





These are some pictures taken when I was digging decomposed granite to build a barn pad. I used the boxblade to rip it up and then back dozed it in reverse to a spot where I could move with the fel and boxblade.





I did most everything with the boxblade you've seen, including the final grading. It is truly a wonderful tool when used to it's full potential.
Thanks for looking.
Rob-
Rob-

 

[witel]

Great write-up and photos! Beautiful country. It's always nice to see things in action.

How do you like your solar-panels? Well worth the investment?

 

[3RRL]

Thanks for looking witel,
I thought with all the discussion about boxblade use, it might be good to share what I have done with mine so far.
As far as the solar panels, they are great and well worth the investment.
You can read all about them here:
SOLAR PROJECT

 

[witel]

Thanks for pointing me to the thread. We get a lot of sun here, and I plan to take full advantage of that.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Rob,

Great post especially with the pictures. I currently need to cut some ditches along my road where we are building. I could really use the Top and Tilt and your photos only reinforce that.

I have a lot of big trucks bringing in material right now and they are burying the power lines beside the driveway (500') so I will attempt to do this after the lines are buried without T&T. If I am unsuccessful or it does not look too good I'll have a dozer cut the ditches when the house is complete and the dozer is there to help clean up and move some dirt.

You have some great views, beautiful country! The dirt looks like it would be easy to work with a boxblade.

David

 

[crbr]

Nice post and pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[weldingisfun]

I would like to see a detiled photo with a decription of your 3PT setup. Any chance you can do that for me?