“the box blade“
By David S Dobb donate to help Dave's channel here paypal.me/daveknowshow?locale...
its all about the angle of the dangle! lets get on it! if you want to remove a lot of dirt to fill in holes or low spots you angle the forward cutting blade by shortening the top link. this makes the box blade tilt forward and towards the tractor making for a aggressive cutting action. three things happen here first the ripper teeth cut into the soil, second the blade cuts into the soil, third the box fills up with material. leaving the box blade / three point adjusted all the way down will allow the box blade to fill with dirt and deposit dirt inside of any holes that you drive over. It will only fill holes smaller than the width of the box blade. if you wish to move a box blade filled with dirt to a low spot let the box fill on the high spot and when you arrive at the low spot simple raise the rear lift arms as your moving forward. This will drop or unload the box blade. Drive to the high spot again and lower your three point to begin the heavy cutting action again. In this adjusted position you can also back up with the box blade to spread dirt or gravel piles. The rearward blade will be up high allowing a few inches of gravel or dirt to slip under as the front blade is angled down it will ride up and over the portion being spread.
Now lets look at running a box blade at level. At level the box blade’s forward and rearward cutting blades will both scrape the ground but not cut aggressively. The box blade will fill with materials dirt or gravel when moving forward. Lowering the ripper teeth will fill the box blade faster and cut a little deeper. Raising the ripper teeth the box blade will fill slower and not cut as deep. In these two situations the box blade will make liter cuts and fill small holes that do not exceed the width of the box blade itself. You can also use it as before by letting the box fill and then raising the box when you approach your low spot to empty the box out over the low area. In the level position with rippers raised the box blade does not aggressively cut pulling forward or backing up. You can spread material by pulling forward or backing up by simply raising the three point on the tractor.
Now lets tilt the box blade backward. In this position the box blade will not cut pulling forward but it will drag loose material to some what level although not very fast. I use this setting for finish grading to smooth out material I have already spread. Of course in this position the box blade will cut aggressively when backing up if the three point is all the way down. If you raise the three point of the box blade driving in reverse will push and spread piles of material to a set thickness based on how high the three point is raised
I typically use this to back fill a ditch when I need to back up to the ditch. A good example of this is filling in against a house foundation you can back in with the box blade and fill right up to the house’s foundation.
Now lets angle the box blade. When you need to cut a long ditch to divert water the box blade can be used by tilting the blade to one side and pulling it along to cut a drainage ditch. I find keeping the box blade level helps to remove a little material over a longer span as apposed to tilting forward and cutting aggressively over a shorter span. Take your time and make multiple passes as needed. Once the ditch angle is established you can level the box blade and simply drive down the ditch line to remove any loose material to another location. Also even though many people use the box blade for this I find a road blade is better suited to cutting drainage ditches. This is just my opinion and not necessarily true.
I hope you enjoyed this over view of the box blade and I hope this helps remove some of the mystery of using one. Remember there is no instructions that take the place of common sense and experience. So simply get out there and do it! You will make mistakes but you will learn from them.