How to use Box Blade on a side slope?

[plowhog]

I want to create a level RV parking pad. The area has a slight side slope from right to left, and a slight upslope as you pull forward. I need to level both of those. I have a 40hp tractor, 6 foot box blade, landscape rake, and top n tilt.

I started by tipping the right side of the box down, then lowering the box and slowly moving forward. It cut into the side slope as expected. But it is not moving the dirt from right to left as much as expected-- either that are I am too impatient? Also, I only worked in one direction, back to forth, which I think might be a mistake.

Questions-
1. If I can get the box blade to equally tilt in either direction, should I be working this pad in both directions?
2. Should I cut the high side all the way down to grade level first, or instead alternate working the "high side to the middle" and then the "middle to the low side."

Any help would be appreciated. I've never done this before. Scraping only a small amount of dirt, I've already exposed many football sized rocks (a surprise for my area,) dredged up the base of a broken glass bottle that could have punctured a tire, and torn into a submerged old 1" galvanized pipe. (I think that was the original water supply for the residence which has been abandoned.)

 

[Ortimber]

What are your thoughts on moving a good portion of the dirt on the high side with your backhoe? I think you could get to grade pretty easily doing it that way. Otherwise, I'd just keep at it with your box blade.

 

[plowhog]

I never even considered that-- thanks! That's my little Massey SCUT in the picture and it does have a backhoe.

I'll try gently digging out the high side tomorrow with the backhoe, then bring the box blade into use. I think that will work well ... at least hoping so!

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

I have been doing the exact same task, in small bites, for a few weeks, to level my garden which is set into a slope.

I tried all the methods. (1) Tilting the BB does cut into the high side, but you end up with a big pile of dirt at the end. A second pass means you have to stop short of your front wheels hitting your pile of dirt from the first pass, or the tractor will rise up and the BB will dig in. So you'd have to extend the working area quite a bit beyond what you need to avoid that, and I just didn't want to rip up that much extra sod beyond where I wanted the garden. (2) with the tractor oriented facing to the lower side, drop the BB on the high point and drag forward, feathering it as you move forward slowing to deposit the dirt on the low side (downside: takes a lot of repositioning and many passes). (3) Same orientation but with front of tractor facing the high side, use the FEL (you need a PTB for this) scoop out the high part, then back up, depositing the dirt on the low side (same downsides).

I hope some genius comes along with a BETTER way as I found this *surprisingly difficult* and time-consuming.

 

[4570Man]

).

I hope some genius comes along with a BETTER way as I found this *surprisingly difficult* and time-consuming.

Probably a dozer with a 6 way blade but I don’t have one. I’ve always used the dig the high side with a backhoe approach.

 

[Oldoak]

Probably a dozer with a 6 way blade but I don稚 have one. I致e always used the dig the high side with a backhoe approach.

Yep, just the way I will be going to remedy the same situation next Spring. I will be hiring a contractor with a small dozer to do the job. That way he can push the top soil aside, cut the high side and one high end down, and redistribute the top soil.

This is in preparation of a wildlife food plot area. I could see where it would not be cost effective for a small garden plot or pad.

 

[plowhog]

The side slope is gentle but (in person) looks a little steeper than how the picture appears.

After I am done, if I add some stacking stones on the high side to hold the hillside back is it OK just to stack the stones, or should I also provide for drainage behind it?

I saw a larger wall once where perforated pipe was wrapped in fabric, then put in some gravel behind the stones. That let any settling water get out to daylight without coming through the wall?

 

[RTBee]

I'm not familiar with a 'top n tilt' the op has, but for what you're doing I'd think a 6 way blade attachment would work much better. What I've done on sloped trails that I want level is angle the blade to cut into the high side and angle it to move the dirt back towards the lower side. It works much better than the box blade I was using before, because like someone said, it drags a lot of dirt with it. Also, a 6 way blade attachment is much cheaper than a dozer.

 

[GLyford]

After I am done, if I add some stacking stones on the high side to hold the hillside back is it OK just to stack the stones, or should I also provide for drainage behind it?

If you are talking a foot and half high or less, I think you will be fine, as long as you keep one thing in mind:

When stacking stones for a dry stone wall, don't try to stack them like bricks with the longest side facing out. They aren't very stable that way (unless you have very flat rocks like shale or bluestone).

Instead, stack them like firewood with the ENDS facing out. The length will then extend back into the wall, giving the whole wall more support and the stones will be much easier to stack. For walls taller than a foot or so, you will probably have to start off two stones deep on your first course, use your longest stones on the next course (every so often if you don't have many) and then your last course or two can be a single row deep of whatever size (or two rows deep if all you have left by then is small).

If you have really big rocks where you can't swap them out easily for a better fit, it can help to have a brick chisel to knock off the occasional high spot that keeps a stone in the next row from fitting nicely into a space. Most of the walls I have made have been bowling ball sized and smaller rocks, or as you say, football sized. Sounds like those should work well if you have enough to stack.

If you are not using any kind of mortar, then water can pass through freely and not build up behind and push it over. I can't tell if your soil is sandy or more clay. If it is sandy, it should be fine against the wall. If it is clay, then a layer of coarse stone behind the wall may help.

 

[deanocraft]

I did something very similar as my fist tractor project. I used my box blade with the teeth down and started on the high corner and cut the hill with the box tilted to the high side. I moved a lot of dirt and put it as far as I could from where I was cutting. I would periodically have to move or spread the piles with the loader. The base just kept getting wider until I had it leveled out. Then the wife and I stacked stones against the bank I had cut. No drainage behind the wall, but our soil is nice topsoil with some rocks already mixed in. We could still use a few more rocks... I expect they will show up eventually!