Grading Bulldozing With A Box Blade

[jinman]

<font color=blue>Yikes!!! Clearly I should have said "heifer-dozing". </font color=blue>

"Don't have a cow, Man." ...Bart Simpson /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I'm not sure your walking path qualifies as "bulldozer" work, Harv. But without an adjustable toplink and a feather touch on the position control, it's hard to do fine finish work with a box blade. One of the things I use my box blade in reverse for is pushing brush piles into erosion gullys. My typical pile is 12 ft wide by 4 ft tall and I can do much better turning around and backing into the pile with my box blade than trying to push the load with the FEL. It's a steering thing. By turning around, I'm essentially steering with my "rear" tires and not creating lateral movement like when I'm pushing with the FEL. I may be courting disaster, but I use my boxblade as much in reverse as forward. My stabilizers on my lift arms are rigid and add additional support. If you "wham! bam! ram!" /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif with anything, it's gonna show some abuse. Sometimes, even when we are careful, things get broken. You just have to use your best judgement. I have found that lift arms can take a lot of stess. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

 

[TresCrows]

I think we are having a failure to communicate--the term bulldozing being the culprit. I think what Harv asked and what I do, though we call it bulldozing, is nothing more than operating the boxblade in reverse in the same manner that it is used going forward, an operation that the blade was clearly designed for and even required with some type blades. Our tractors should be more than capable of handling this duty. J

 

[billboe]

Harv,

Not sure you're gonna get mirror smooth results in reverse with the box blade. I find you need to constantly adjust the blade in order keep it from digging in... Of course, most of the reverse blading I've done has been in the process of cutting, so, my blade anlge was probably quite aggressive. With a flatter angle, you may be able to get some smooth results!?!? My smoothest grading comes with me going forward with a good amount of material in the box... <font color=green>Oh oh... Is this gonna turn into another box blade operation thread???</font color=green>/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Have fun!

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>I think we are having a failure to communicate--the term bulldozing being the culprit. </font color=blue>

Yeah, J, I think we've got at least two different trains of thought going on here, but I'm learning quite a bit anyway.

<font color=blue>Not sure you're gonna get mirror smooth results in reverse with the box blade.</font color=blue>

Could be, Billboe, but most of the fun is in the trying.

I'm heading up to the property tomorrow (Saturday) for the first time in nearly two months, so I might get a chance to experiment a little. I don't know if the ground has dried out enough for any serious box blading, but whatever I can do, I'll be sure to take pictures. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[billboe]

Good luck with the box blading Harv! We haven't had rain for the past week, but, things were pretty saturated!

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>We haven't had rain for the past week, but, things were pretty saturated! </font color=blue>

I'd forgotten you were a Northern Californian, too, Billboe.

My property is at about elevation 2,000 feet, outside of Sutter Creek. Are you anywhere near that area?

If it's too wet to boxblade, I'll still want to see how much of my property I can get to with my tractor this time of year. I fear the area just past my first culvert will once again be too mushy to drive through, but then I'm also curious to see if my culverts are even still there.

 

[TresCrows]

My boxblade is the swing back type. The only way I have found to use it for levelling is in reverse. If I weld to locks on it to lock the back solid then I could use it in forward for leveling. Like a conventional boxblade
This leads to a question--I think it is best for us beginners to purchase a standard box without a swinging back?
Also, I have had excellent results considereing my soil type leveling in reverse with my boxblade--excellent indeed.
J

 

[billboe]

We're up the 80 corridor... About 1600 feet... Growing pretty fast around here... I've only driven through your area a couple time, but, it's great down there!

 

[Charliebrn]

"This leads to a question--I think it is best for us beginners to purchase a standard box without a swinging back?"

I have a more basic question...why would you want a box blade with a swinging back that you can't lock down? I don't get it...what good would it be if other than levelling sand?

 

[John_Mc]

<font color=blue>why would you want a box blade with a swinging back that you can't lock down? I don't get it...what good would it be if other than levelling sand?</font color=blue>

I've never used a box blade with a swinging rear gate, but the theory implied in the Woods Box Blade brochure is that a swinging back allows you to take a more agressive bite in one pass when going forward (the rear edge does not interfere with the front edge cutting in). This would also agree with the fact that their swinging back models are rated for higher horsepower.

As for why you'd want a swinging one that was not lockable ... good question. Is the price much different? or does the design of some of them not lend itself well to locking?

John

 

[GlueGuy]

Is the price much different? or does the design of some of them not lend itself well to locking?

As I understand it, some boxblades with the swinging rear blade do not lock at all. In fact, I think Harv's is one of those. On another thread (somewhere) we discussed the various options available to Harv for locking his rear blade, since he's welding challenged (as am I for the moment)...

 

[Harv]

Not sure what it means when I wind up replying to myself, but here I go anyway:

<font color=blue>If it's too wet to boxblade</font color=blue>

Well, I just got back from the property last night, and the ground wasn't too wet ... until it thawed out.

Didn't get to do any boxblading.

<font color=blue>I fear the area just past my first culvert will once again be too mushy to drive through</font color=blue>

Well, I'll be darned -- it was not too mushy! Seems like drainage really is a the key to road integrity. If you recall, my plan was to scrape it down, lay geotextile road fabric and then cover with coarse stone and finish with limestone crush. Money ran out, so I just did the scraping and out of desperation dug a little drainage ditch at the low spot in the hopes of minimizing the standing water, as shown in <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/8-80227-MuddyRoad2.jpg>these picts</A> from November and the year before. Just one week after nearly a solid month of rain, the path had drained well enough that I could drive it easily, sinking barely more than the depth of the tire tread. /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

<font color=blue>I'm also curious to see if my culverts are even still there</font color=blue>

I am pleased to report that all 3 culverts came through unscathed by the torrents that neighbors tell me came through there. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif Hmmm... I think it's like having a baby -- you just can't fully appreciate the feeling until you've been through it yourself.

Circumstances and timing did not allow me to take the appropriate pictures this time. I'm so ashamed. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[Thomas]

Glad to read you finally got to see your baby,and I hope you got a little seat time.
NO PHOTOS /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif..well okay than /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif maybe next time. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[MarkV]

Harv,

From your photos it looks like you may have saved yourself a bunch of money on road fabric and gravel. Fine tune the drainage and you have a fine tractor trail. You might even want to seed it with grass to help hold the soil. Be a great excuse to use the rotary mower when the grass takes hold.

MarkV