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 | todd seaford
Join Date: Posts: 1 
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2000-01-16 11988
I have a JD755 4wd tractor with loader and boxscrape. when I try to pull the boxscrape to level the ground, the front wheels drop into small ruts and cause the boxscrape not to level the ground like I want. What am I doing wrong or what can I do better. Thanks in advance.Todd
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| DanaT
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 138 Clay Center,Ks
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2000-01-16 11990
I've go the set up it works quite well! When you first start go in reverse & drive slow, just like a cat- if you keep enough in front of your blade & your tractor driveing over what you just did you will get the job done alot faster. Then when you get close to what you want then drive forward & go slow, never drive faster than you can control the 3 point lever to do what you want to do. Go in diferent direction's & big circles will also help (if you got room). But mainly it takes alot of practice & practice & practice. works for me. ....
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| CHRIS
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-16 12002
Could you please explain you method a little clearer. ....
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| Roger L.
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 0
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2000-01-16 12004
Todd, something is not making sense to me here...Your 3pt should be able to drop the box far enough down that it is "floating" on the surface of the ground
as you pull it. If you do this, then the box won't go up and down as the tractor pitches. When I use my box blade the 3pt control lever is pushed all the way forward (maximum drop) and left there. The aggressiveness of the cut is controlled by tilting the box blade with the upper link.
BTW, I think that a box blade is one of the most difficult implements to pull when it is working hard. It takes good traction and lots of horses. Lots of small tractors are paired with too large of a box blade and so the operator ends up trying to skim the ground by using the 3pt instead of just letting the box float. If this sounds familiar, you can try to shorten the upper link or get a smaller box.
....
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| bo
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-16 12008
The box blade is used to rough out an area. You can go backwards and get the area generally there when necessarybut forwards most of the time and then you can go forwards and drag a load of dirt for the low spots that you see visually. If you have a big dip then the box will follow the dip and it will stay a dip. This is where you have to play with the 3pt and lift it a little. This loose dirt will get dragged out of the dip if you aren't careful as you go over it. Most times for those small ruts, the blade will just fill them. As Roger says, you slam the control lever forward all the way and let the box blade do the work. the only time you play with the lever is when you want to move and drop dirt.
The rippers on the blade are used to break up the ground when the boxblade just won't. With my 870, it is unreal how well this works. After the general levelling is done then and only then do you mount the Gill seeder or whatever it's called in your area. Then you whip around and it not only pulverizes the soil clumps but also does a wonderful job of final leveling. I did a lot of this and the subsequent lawns are really level. Even better then a Power gill or pulverizer. Don't break up the dirt dust fine, seed likes little 1/2-3/4 clumps of dirt to hide under.
tried something new last September . Seeded about 2000 feet of lawn and didn't feel like raking it all in by hand. Took the seeder and raised it so that the back roller just hit the dirt, not the I beam and drove around until the seed was covered . Took 15 minutes would have taken 2-3 hrs by hand. A week later the rye was up and 2 weeks after that the fescue came. It worked........ Then......I destroyed the whole thing by having to drive on it. It'll probably come back and fill in in the spring. If it doesn't I'll put on the Gill and rip her up again. bo ....
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| bo
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-16 12009
forgot to say that if you want to move stone or major piles of dirt, you gotta load the boxblade and as you drive off, raise it a couple of inches to distribute the load. If you want to run it off to one side. tilt the blade with the 3pt screw. To make the blade cut you gotta to get the cutting edge in such a position that it will cut, again the toplink screw does this. If it just polishs the dirt and won't cut, load more weight on it, what ever you have , lead, steel however you can, or, drop your rippers. As Roger says, need a lot of tractor or 4wd or smaller box blade..bo ....
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| JonB
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-17 12010
Todd, I also have a lightweight tractor, JD 4100, am new to tractoring, and agree with the comments above. I use a 48" box scraper with 4 rippers. Last summer when my ground was more like concrete, I used it to level some large ruts and mounds of dirt--ground that was challenging just to drive across let alone level. I had to set the rippers deep to break loose the mounds and ruts--keeping the box up high. When the rippers got too deep in the soil, I'd get stuck, raise them hydraulically, and try again but without letting them go so deep. I couldn't float the box at this point because the ground was far too uneven. My 20 HP featherweight couldn't "float" the box through or across this ground at first. But after the rippers broke up the large ruts and mounds of dirt, I could lower the box and eventually allow it to float. At this point I even removed the rippers. It took several passes and some practice to get it right. There were times I had to keep my hand on the control level and raise or lower depending on the ground condition. All said, the tractor did a great job of leveling it out and I was happy with the result. But I still need lots more practice. Best of luck. We'll both get it right in time. JonB ....
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| Doug Huebner
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-17 12016
I am a beginner at the box scraper also. I found that tilting the box slightly forward so that the front blade is tilted down and the back blade slightly up and then going backwards worked well. The back blade shaves the bumpms and pushes enough material to fill the ruts. The front blade smooths it all out. I did a driveway in a few hours [after five tandem truckloads of gravel were dropped off]. I tried in the forward direction and was getting nowhere but created even more ruts. ....
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| bo
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-17 12017
yup going backwars does smoothen things out. Going forward can get a little tricky. What I do is back up and grab a box full of stuff and haul it to where I want to drop it, raise the blade a inch or two and let fly. then I go backward to compress and level. you gotta play with it. Image what you would have to do if you didn't have the box blade, it'd be horrible. bo ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada 
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2000-01-17 12025
If you have limited power, or 2wd, or are doing just minor grading, try picking up a set of 'runner' type skid shoes from a 3pt rototiller or snowblower and mounting them on the sides of the box-blade, this will limit the depth of cut, therefore reducing the amount of push (or pull) power required. This also makes it VERY easy to do for someone without much experience to do a first rate job. Best of luck. ....
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| charlie
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-17 12038
i learned to operate a box blade from the best. my dad. he went in bussiness in 1947 with an 8n.he always said think of the blade as your hand and the 3 point as your arm.if you think about it that's the way it works.if you want to dig'push down on your arm and cup your hand.so we put the 3 point down on roll out the top link.another thing to remember is always keep some dirt in the blade.that way you can fill the areas that need it as you move across the area your grading.if your filling deep ruts don't cross them,stradle them and fill them with the dirt your carrying in your blade.just don't overdo it.your can grade a yard until it's flat as a pool table'but it will be just as hard.the best grading tractor iv'e ever owned is a 335 ford with a gannon 3 way hydralic 3 point and gannon box.i've also got a 1530 with a 6 foot danuser box for smaller yards.my dads gone now but this year we celebrate 53 years in bussiness so we must be doing something right.good luck and good health.charlie ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962 
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2000-01-18 12047
I started using a box blade a little over 4 years ago for the first time, and I think I've gotten "pretty good" at it, but I've sure seen a lot of folks that were better. And when I can afford to put a hydraulic top link on my 3-pt, to tilt that sucker forward and backwards from the driver's seat, I think I'll do better without so much work. Bo, What's a "Gill"; never heard of it? ....
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| bo
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-18 12048
Bird- A "Gill" is Gill manufacturing co. it is a brand name. We just refer to them as "Gill"s . I paint you a picture. visualize a 6'wide 10" H beam attached to the beam on both flanges are 3/4" by 9" spikes . they are put on with u bolts. These are the ripping and pulverizing spikes. The 3pt hitch attachment is attached to the H beam. The H beam also acts as a leveler of the soil field. Attached to the H beam and behind it are one or two 6" rollers with a whole bunch of 1" studs in them the purpose of the rollers are to futher crush the soil and two remove the spike drag marks and make the soil field perfectly level. The origins of the gill is from farming. They had a hopper above the H beam and it dribbled seed into the little furrows left by the H beam rippers and the rollers came along and buried the seed. In our neck of the woods it is very popular , now they have power pulverizers but I still like my one roller Gill, I think it does a nicer job. Hope this is clear enough. I'm sure that youve seen it, but it probably isn't called a Gill. It is the final step in lawn bed preperation. bo ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2000-01-18 12060
bo, If I ever saw a Gill, I don't remember it; sounds like a right handy implement though. ....
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| Jack in IL
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-18 12067
Bird. To see a picture of a soil pulverizer, go to www.woodsonline.com and look under landscaping tools. The Woods company now owns Gill. Gill is credited with inventing this implement so many people refer to them as a "Gill." Same kind of name association as referring to paper tissue as "Kleenex" or a landscape rake as a "York Rake." Several other companies including your old friends at BushHog now also make soil pulverizers. ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2000-01-18 12068
Thanks Jack, That does look like a nice piece of equipment, but even after reading the specs and seeing the picture, I can't recall ever having seen one before (of course, I'm getting to the age where there's a lot of things I can't recall). ....
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| charlie
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-18 12073
the gill is a great finish tool.if you have a rough finish it will put in down.in hard ground you can roll in the top link, go in reverse, and the teeth will loosen it right up.you can pull dirt with it like a blade too.the seed box does make it 2 tools in one but,for the best seed incorperation you can't beat a brillion. ....
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| Roger L.
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 0
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2000-01-18 12077
All this talk of Gills and fancy Gannon box blades makes me realize how much fun is still out there waiting for me.
Now when I really want to put the smoothest surface possible on some good dirt -when I want it to look "polished" - I finish it with the tractor going slowly backwards, with just enough downpressure on the loader bucket to lift the front wheels, and with the bucket tilted so that only the flat of the lip is sliding over the ground. If I'm feeling like an particularly artistic dirt mover that day is when I'll gently work the wheel brakes as I'm back-dragging the dirt this way....making the bucket oscillate slowly from side to side.... just enough to put a pattern into the dirt. ....
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| bo
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-18 12078
Roger, did that but you ain't lived till you Gilled. bo ....
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| Nuclear_Weapon7
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-19 12081
Best and easiest land leveling can be done by using laser leveling device for hydraulic control. You can level any piece of land using by using these without touching hyderaulic lever, it moves the blade up or down automaticlly. I have seen these near by at TandoJam. Does any one know of a web site about these ?
Nuclear_Weapon7.
Hyderabad,
Sindh,
PAKISTAN.
....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2000-01-19 12082
I've done that, too, Roger, and on larger areas, I've tilted the bucket the same way, but put it in the float position and run backwards pretty fast for a final smoothing. Works pretty well on loose material, but not so well with big hard clods or wet clay. Nuclear_Weapon7, you're talking about something else I've never seen, but I don't think I need to worry about it. If such exists, I have no doubt at all that it would be far out of my price range. ....
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| Chris
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-19 12095
The pulverizers look pretty useful and I realize you can put a seedbox on top, but is there anything available along the lines of a 3pt broadcast spreader and is it worth having? ....
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| Steve Hansen
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-01-19 12098
For more information on laser controlled land leveling go to http://www.meilaser.com and click on products. I live in NE Arkansas and laser land leveling is a big industry here. The objective is to ensure that rice and cotton fields are flat and that all rain ware run off is minimized. Farmers want every drop to go to the crop. ....
Link: Laser Land Leveling Info
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2000-01-19 12100
Chris, in answer to your first question, are there 3-pt broadcast spreaders; yes, I've seen them at Tractor Supply Co. Your second question: are they worth having? I have no idea, never even seen one used. ....
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| Bird Senter
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 962
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2000-01-19 12102
Very interesting, Steve. Even us old dogs learn something new every once in awhile. I had sure never heard of that laser land levelling. ....
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| turfman
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 97 midwest
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2000-01-19 12104
the gill is also known as a scarifier. This is the best way to level an area known. go to this site to see one http://www.landpride.com/lp/products/soil_pulv.html
there is even one with a seedbox attached. I have leveled hundreds of acres with one of these. I don't know about the seedbox,always used a brillion for that. ....
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| DanaT
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 138 Clay Center,Ks
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2000-01-20 12127
Chris-I use a broadcast spreader for alot of different seeds and ice melt as well. For the money I think there worth it but I use mine alot. ....
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