first rule of box blade

shu · Apr 26, 2003

I believe I have discovered the first rule of box blade. It is a float device, held down by its own weight only and not by hydraulic pressure. It is adequate for leveling up, but poor for scraping down.

To level a lumpy yard with sod or packed soil the most efficient procedure may be:
1.) lower ripper tines and adjust top link to tip box front down;
2.) rip/loosen entire yard to at or below lowest level desired;
3.) use front end loader to pile soil in convenient place nearby, thus further breaking up clods;
4.) adjust box blade top link to level the box (tines may be left down to help scatter piles in following step);
5.) bring soil back with f.e.l.; level with box blade building.

Simply put, ya gonna hafta move the dirt off, working down to a level base, and then move the dirt back building up. Just driving back and forth with the blade over sod ain't gonna work; the blade rides the high spots, doing very little cutting.

Anonymous Poster · Apr 26, 2003

shu,
A box blade is made to cut and move soil. The weight of the box(and you can add weight if needed) plus the hook of the scarifers give you down pressure, and the scarifers break the soil up for the scraper. The scraper is angled down and forward to cut.
DaveL
Didn't see the end of your post, but yes it will cut if both the scarifers and the blade are in contact.

dourobob · Apr 28, 2003

I thought I read on an earlier post that the first rule of a Box Blade is to NEVER raise your 3PH arms without the top link attached - unless of course your are planning on a new set of rear tires /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif OUCH!

I hope to be able to "speak from experience" (not about rear tires but about Box Blades) later this week after I pick up my new MidWest BB20 - 72.

Bob

JRP · Apr 28, 2003

IMO the firs rule of box blades is weight. If you don't have enough weight you can add pieces of railroad rail across the top. My blade weighs 1200 pounds and it could weigh more. I first borrowed a cheapo blade that looked about the same size as a good one. It would not cut unless I added a concrete parking lot stop across the top. Wow! what an improvement I saw when I went from a 400 pound box (with stop) to 1200 pounds.

theboman · Apr 29, 2003

I have a box blade and I'm totally inexperienced, but you have to remember it's a box blade and not a bulldozer. That seems to me where lots of folks get lost.
I know what a box blade can do but it's not something that you can move and smooth in a few passes.
Mother Nature. Soil is a tricky thing. Is is compacted? Fresh fill? Rocks? Roots? All play a part.
I bet in a bunch of loose fill a box blade is a charm but when ripping up an old pasture, lawn, etc it could be quite the job.

bigpete · Apr 29, 2003

That's why they make moldboard plows and tillers. The best method is to borrow a tiller for a day and spend another leveling with a boxblade and grooming with a rake.

It's all about weight and soil conditions, as everyone else has already mentioned.

buzst · Apr 29, 2003

Shu,
When trying to level an area it helps to have a tractor with position control. Set the position so that you are only scraping the tops of the high spots and letting the material fall out of the box into the low spots. Just dragging the box across a uneven area will just compound the problem. If your machine does not have position control, try to rig up a chain such that it will prevent the box from moving lower than the position necessary to scrape the high spots.

SteveM · Apr 29, 2003

I just spent the best $118 of my life on a kingkutter middle buster, which does a remarkable job of destroying sod...I made several passes on a lumpy, yucky lawn which left me with deep furrows and lots of loose soil. I then went at it with the blade and it was like playing in the sand box. All loose and easy to shape. I wish I thought of this before!

MLB · May 1, 2003

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I just spent the best $118 of my life on a kingkutter middle buster, which does a remarkable job of destroying sod...I made several passes on a lumpy, yucky lawn which left me with deep furrows and lots of loose soil. I then went at it with the blade and it was like playing in the sand box. All loose and easy to shape. I wish I thought of this before! )</font>

What is a middle buster?