Too Hard for Box Blade?

[Clemson]

I used a box scraper for the first time Saturday, and I am somewhat disappointed. I was trying to scrape off a spot in the pasture to locate a shed. I needed to cut the high side down by a foot and add a foot to the low side. I had the devil of a time just cutting through the sod. Am I expecting too much from my box blade? I experimented with angles by cranking the top link in and out. I worked with the scarifiers all the way up, all the way down, and at an intermediate position. I even tried to back-blake the spot. Right now it looks plowed.

 

[jrlichina]

If your ground is too hard and dry you may need to add some weight to the box. Try using cement blocks or something else heavy placed on top of the box. This will give it more "bite" rather than skipping over the ground. You may also want to try to angle it slightly(Horizontally) This gives a higher concentration of force on a smaller edge allowing it to cut better.

 

[CTyler]

Having done this the last couple days taking out small areas of grass....

I had the scarifiers down with the box tipped forward quite a bit. This allows the scarifiers to dig in the best and deepest. The blade on the box does tend to ride over the grass a bit. A couple passes should get the grass off depending on the weight of your BB. Mine is about 575lbs. You could add weight to in the form of bricks, sand, dirt etc..

 

[RobS]

I had a miserable experience with the box blade and vegetation this weekend. I should have known better but I was trying to eliminate some construction ruts without tearing up the "turf" too much. The trouble is the box blade works best with loose, flowing material and the vegetation (particularly roots) act to keep everything knitted together. That makes big clumps and the box blade becomes a tangled mass of roots, weeds and stalks. In one area I did fully remove the vegetation (with scarifiers and landscape rake). Then the box worked just fine. My other areas look awful, all plowed up like you mentioned.

Best plan is a two step approach. First remove all the vegetation, then use the box to recontour the subsoil.

I'm going to borrow a disc and see if I can chop up the vegetation enough to make it flow in the box, but I'm not overly hopeful /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[normde2001]

You did not mention why the blade didn't work. Did the scarifiers fail to dig in, or did they dig so deep that you lost traction. I can't imagine any porous material that the scarifiers on my cheap 5' blade won't dig into, when set at the correct angle, and usually to the point that I lose traction. Got to be something wrong with the blade tips or the toplink angle.

 

[Clemson]

I should have given more information. This is a 6' box scrape behind a MF 230 diesel. It did tend to skip right over the turf with the scarifiers up. I managed to lose traction with the scarifiers all the way down, but that only happened in one spot (after a pretty good overnight rain). After drying out for a few hours I was able to pull the box with the scarifiers all the way down without bogging the tractor down. The tractor has Ag tires, by the way. 5 points in the ground represented a pretty good load. I had figured that the box would leave level, smooth ground behind it. I was just wrong. It appears to have been cut up, but not lifted. After several passes with the scarifiers, I was able to pull about 80% of the turf off the plot, but it still looks rough. Maybe that is just what I get for trying to do dozer work with a utility tractor. Any other ideas? How far forward should I tilt the box?

Weighting the box may be a possibility. This is a light duty piece of equipment from a company called "All American." The welds, gussets, paint, and general construction looked as good as several others that cost more, however.

Clemson

 

[JFarms]

I had hills and valleys in my field a few years back. Multiple passes with scarifiers loosed the hills and made things ugly. Next I raised the rippers letting the box move the ground around. My final passes were made with the box tilting back slightly so it could smooth the ground like a knife spreading butter, and things started looking good. Patience was the key. I couldn't start without the rippers, and avoided them in the end. A few years of rain, weeds and mowing and its looking fine. BTW, I was leveling in dry August. Can't say the same technique would work in wet clumping clay. Best of luck.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> "Best plan is a two step approach. First remove all the vegetation, then use the box to recontour the subsoil." </font>

Would running over the vegetation with a tiller before using the box blade work even better and easier?

 

[WVBill]

Clemson: Does your box have a rear blade? Fixed or movable?
If your box has a fixed rear blade then tilting the box back with the top link will make the rear blade ride on the ground behind the box and will keep the front blade from digging in. In the final grading process, this can be a good thing but for the initial scraping it gets in the way.

It's almost impossible to get a box blade to take that first "bite" in sod. The approach that's worked for me is to use a shovel to cut a slit in the sod and then drop the box blade into the slit and pull from there (no rippers). The sod rolls up nicely into the box.

 

[19th_VA]

I have no problem cutting into field grass (I guess not exactly sod) with my 625# 6 footer. Sounds like weight is one of the factors. I have read a bunch of posts about creative ways to add weight to a boxblade. Or, if you have a lot to do, perhaps sell the lightweight one get a heavy duty one.

 

[RobS]

<font color="blue"> Would running over the vegetation with a tiller before using the box blade work even better and easier?
</font>

Gary, I have to believe it would... trouble is I don't have a tiller. The local rental place that has a tph tiller no longer rents it without their tractor which pushes the rental price up quite a bit. I came close to running over to TSC and picking one up but that's a bit more money than I care to spend spontaneously /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Clemson]

Bill, The box xcraper does have two blades. I assume that the rear blade is fixed. I don't see a way to move it, but I haven't taken the cutting edge off. It seems to be reversible for wear. I have attached a picture of the blade for info purposes.

 

[WVBill]

On mine - an old Gannon - the rear blade is hinged at the top and there is a pin on each side that engages a hole in the side plate. Pull the pins and the rear blade just flaps up when pulling forward. Leave the pins in and the box "rides" on the rear blade when pulling forward if you extend the top link to where the rear blade is lower than the front blade. In the fixed position the rear blade acts kind of like a guage wheel would - but it also limits the "bite" that the front blade can take.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> I don't have a tiller </font>

I don't either. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I guess I was looking for some justification for getting one myself. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Like you, it's hard for me to run out and drop four figures on a tiller for something like this. I tried to justify a post hole digger but could only come up with a need for half a dozen holes and that even included one for the mailbox post. Hard to justify $75 a hole, even for me. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Cacinok]

Clemson,

If you have access to a disc use it to break up the sod. If no disc, only lower two of the scarifiers, this will concentrate the weight of the box on only two contact points and help them penetrate better. Also, as has been mentioned, add more weight. With any kind of blade, heavier is better.

Clint

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Well I will have to say that I have 4 years of using a box blade and leveled several acres and have used it extensivly. It stays on my tractor all the time. Its a 7 foot wide on a 45 horse tractor. The weight is an issue even though i dont have any on mine and never have, but it would definatly help. The more practise and experience the better you will get. I have broke sod ground plenty of times without first digging it up. The key is starting the sod. If you stay in one area about 3 or 4 feet and keep working at it until you get it started and the the rest will come easier because your lifting from under the sod and it should come alot easier. The teeth should not be all the way down because it will just look like plowing because the box cant reach the ground. I would start with the teeth just below the box maybe 2 inches and work it a few times and then pull them up and just use box. I now do everything with just the box and my teeth stay off. That will really level the ground and look better versus the plow looking effect. I also back up with mine to start the sod. If yours has a blade on the back then if its tilted right then backing up will dig in a lot more then pulling and you can start the sod that way and then pull everything. It takes time and practise and weight would also help. the bigger and heavier the better i think. The problem is once you pull a bunch of sod in a pile its a mess to deal with. Very hard to work with because it rolls on you and bunches. Box scraper much better on dirt with no sod. All comments on this from the others are very good.

roto

 

[bgott]

I cheat when I have to fill ruts. The county is always cleaning out the ditches around here and they will dump the dirt at your place for the asking. I just fill the ruts and then go back and pick the trash out. You get a full load, though, but all of my rent properties are in the general area so I can drive around the hood and plug ruts a bucket full at a time. Also,a lot of times people will see the dirt and the tractor and you can sell some of the dirt and some tractor work at the same time. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif