Thanks for this video. Daddy has always done my drive for me. He's gone now and I needed this video. Thanks again. Wish I could have hung out more with him when he worked.
Really enjoyed this video. I was raised on a farm but we didn't have box blades 60s-70s. I recently got a good tractor and some toys to go with it. This video was helpful by showing me some things I was doing right and some that I was doing wrong. My arm on the back wasn't tightened down good enough and my box blade started digging in more on one side than the other. Another issue I was able to correct was the grass/broom sage building up under the blade and lifting it up. I corrected this by removing the two outer teeth. I'm playing around on some of my property with it trying to develop skill. You're right, if the ground's good and hard you can only do a little at a time.
Like has been mentioned...the gravel works a lot easier a couple days after rain.... and I like to stagger each pass a little right or left of the last pass....this allows the rippers to dig into the hard areas left between the rippers from the former pass...Thanks for your good work!
This is a just in time video, Pete. Thanks. We have been waiting for the gravel road to dry up a little from a really wet spring and early summer. Now we can get out there and level those potholes and level the road. Great video.
This will be our first attempt at road grading with our new box blade. The road has lots of 6 in deep pot holes that need to be fixed. Our neighbor has dozer, and just respread the top layer, and it filled in the holes, and it better for now, but I know from experience that it will not last. I first tried to just fill the holes with crush and run gravel, but they reappeared within a couple of weeks, if not deeper ;) With research, I now know that we have to break down the walls of the potholes or they will always return because the form of the pothole still exists. And that makes sense if you think about it. Very excited to have a road (almost a mile long) that will not be a teeth jarring experience every time we drive on it. Note : On the plus side to the pot holes being so deep, I can see that there appears to be a very good foundation laid on the road in layers of Rocks, stones, pebbles and crush/run to at least 6+ inches. So that is good ;)
You can dig deeper faster if the road is not completely dry. A little moisture goes a long way in letting the rippers dig without overloading the engine and transmission.
That box blade is separating the large from the small. A rear blade put at 30 or 45 degrees will roll the materials together & can provide a surface much like asphalt, except that the crushed rocks should have a 4% slope to properly drain unlike the 2% required for asphalt.
We used to do this with a piece of old railroad iron ..... works real good.....allows the gravel to work over the top of it..... get some old rail ....you will be pleasantly surprised.....heck, hook it behind your box about 2 or 3 feet behind it.....yup..... but then again I'm just an old man ..... pfffft
When I regrade my road, I go a little faster, but not so fast as to cause the box to bounce. When the gravel is really packed, I put a 50 lb. weight on each side of the box.
Probably restating other’s comments, but rippers seem to only hinder pickup in the box even on a much softer road surface. I have found resurfacing is much faster by pulling them all the way up. With proper angle your box will fill sufficiently within in a few feet. Perhaps the rippers will work on other surfaces but they seem to more cosmetic than functional for my uses.
May I ask why you keep putting the prongs in the same place each time instead of different places to break up the ground better? I’ve found that if you move over a little bit each time it takes less passes. 😉
Thank you, Yes running a box blade to fluff your gravel driveway is very time consuming. You have to run it very slow or the gravel won't build up in the box blade. 🙁
It's a 40' x 60' x 14' high at the eaves. The three roll up doors are 10' wide x 12' high and the one roll up door on the end is 12' x 12'. Here's the video when I first had it built. ruclips.net/video/u1gdtR-bV3M/видео.html
I’ve been watching these types of videos and really appreciate the tips and tricks. However, I have yet to see what happens when your done dragging gravel and your box is still full. Do you just lift the box up slightly and let it exit out in a level fashion or do you end up with a pile somewhere? Thanks for your replies.
I am buying my first tractor and have a gravel driveway and was wondering how often this needs to be done? I am debating buying a box blade or just paying someone to do it depending on how often this needs to be done. BTW: great video, I learned a lot.
Looks like your driveway is all rocks, which is a poor road surface to begin with. you need some binder like class 5 or crushed concrete. That will bind together, giving you a better surface and not need to be graded so often. It you grade it right, once it's incorporated and sets up, it's almost like having a poured concrete driveway.
New to grading my own driveway. Question, so when we would maintain lease roads they would put down 3" then after it got a good base they would come in later with 2" crusher run, so my question is wouldn't ripping it damage the base?? I was always told we wanted good bases in our lease roads. Does it not get deep enough to disturb the base or what? Thanks in advance.
It all depends how deep you have the box blade shanks set, usually they're not that deep. You just want to fluff up the top layer while the box blade is filling with gravel and filling in low spots as you're moving forwards.
Double E Ranch if you live on a hill and have a steep driveway, don’t do this, if you loosen up the gravel, and get a heavy rain,trust me, you will lose tons of gravel. You’ll be trying to drag it all back up the hill. But you’ll still lose a bunch. It will fill your ditches and plug up your converts. Been there and done that. Good luck 👍
In the AZ HOA where I live we have many "retention/drainage areas where 3/4" decomposed granite was placed approx 10 yrs. ago that has become compacted over the years. The landscape contractor wants to bring in tons & tons of "NEW" granite to "replenish" the granite----which will result in the homeowners spending TONS of $$'s also! Many of us feel that the granite didn't just disappear--it has become compacted & covered by dirt & debris. (I've actually refreshed the granite landscape material in my yard simply by raking & getting the granite gravel back up to the surface & then leveling it.---kind of like "fluffing" it up--LOL) Anyone with opinions about whether this BOX-BLADING might work for our community. ----So that the HOA keeps some of the money in our account INSTEAD of throwing it all at the Landscape contractor & the granite supplier? Thanks for any comments!
Yes you're right, all gravel or limestone gets either compacted or settles down in the ground over time and that's what a simple box blade was designed to do is fluff it up like when it was new. Your HOA would save a ton of money by running a box blade over it several times, this would pull up all the granite up out of the ground.
Hi Pete. I'm as much a novice as you could imagine for anything rural. But I went ahead bad bought a rural property anyways. It has a gravel driveway in rough shape, lots of pot holes. Is there a reason everyone uses tractors to pull these instead of their truck/suv? I don't have a tractor. Could I get away using my SUV or so I need to buy a tractor? How about something like a deere gator?
I don't think an SUV or an ATV can go low enough in gear to go that slow to pull a loaded box blade, plus their transmissions are not designed for that.
Yes it's slow but if you go any faster the box blade will just skip over the gravel. Probably a good Idea to add a few hundred pounds on the box blade.
This may be a stupid question, but why is the box blade gathering up more gravel on the left side of the blade than it does on the right side? I did learn something by watching this video. Thanks for sharing it. Jay
Hey Jay, it also depends on how level the ground is in respect to the tractor or there just might be more lose gravel in a certain area then another. I know my blade is level because I leveled it in my garage on the concrete floor.
Pete, thanks for that excellent video. Just one question; after your make your last pass and your box blade is full of gravel how/where do you re-lay it?
As I get close to the end of the pass, I start to lift the box blade slowly so the gravel empty's out of the box blade...............Thanks for watching.
I wounder if the 2000 yards of left over road base material will be as packed as this. I been wanting to move it, just waiting on my box blade to get delivered. Some one attempted to build a shooting back stop which was a failure.
You do realize you have a box blade that you could have used to dig that out. I say that because I have a machine I can use to do it, I'm too lazy to use a shovel.
As I come to the end of the run, I start to lift the box blade up slowly so by the time I get to the end, the box blade is up and all the gravel is laid down.
I understand the “looks pretty”. I love fluffed up fresh gravel. But “keeps the weeds down”? I thought the gravel was so compacted and hard like concrete? So how can weeds grow through?? Just curious.
It's a 40x60 and I have a video of it being built here ruclips.net/video/u1gdtR-bV3M/видео.html but you can skip the first 10 minutes because it was all preparation work like tree removal that was done.
Finally, a SANE demonstration of driveway grooming with a box blade with actual instruction. Thank you!!!
Thank you 👍
Love this video and content! Great camera work, instant satisfaction!
Thanks for this video. Daddy has always done my drive for me. He's gone now and I needed this video. Thanks again. Wish I could have hung out more with him when he worked.
catbirdfeeder Thanks, I know how you feel, I wish I could of done more things with my dad too.
Thanks for sharing...... This comment makes me want to do more with my little girls!
Mlm
Really enjoyed this video. I was raised on a farm but we didn't have box blades 60s-70s. I recently got a good tractor and some toys to go with it. This video was helpful by showing me some things I was doing right and some that I was doing wrong. My arm on the back wasn't tightened down good enough and my box blade started digging in more on one side than the other. Another issue I was able to correct was the grass/broom sage building up under the blade and lifting it up. I corrected this by removing the two outer teeth. I'm playing around on some of my property with it trying to develop skill. You're right, if the ground's good and hard you can only do a little at a time.
I'm always learning something new when using the tractor.....Thanks for watching.
I agree with kanine. shorten your top link and sink the rippers to the lowest possible position to dig more.
Actually if I could put a few hundred more pounds on top of the box blade, it would of really helped. That lime stone gets packed rock hard.
Like has been mentioned...the gravel works a lot easier a couple days after rain.... and I like to stagger each pass a little right or left of the last pass....this allows the rippers to dig into the hard areas left between the rippers from the former pass...Thanks for your good work!
Thank you
Very instructive thank you! Just bought a new tractor now I feel more confident to do my drive way.
Thank you 👍
First time I've really been able to see how a box scraper works. Nice video. Thanks.
Thank you
I’ve got a small tractor in a box blade you help me out a lot thank you
On the final passes, it helps to have the ripper teeth up.
This is a just in time video, Pete. Thanks. We have been waiting for the gravel road to dry up a little from a really wet spring and early summer. Now we can get out there and level those potholes and level the road. Great video.
Thank you.
This will be our first attempt at road grading with our new box blade. The road has lots of 6 in deep pot holes that need to be fixed. Our neighbor has dozer, and just respread the top layer, and it filled in the holes, and it better for now, but I know from experience that it will not last. I first tried to just fill the holes with crush and run gravel, but they reappeared within a couple of weeks, if not deeper ;)
With research, I now know that we have to break down the walls of the potholes or they will always return because the form of the pothole still exists. And that makes sense if you think about it.
Very excited to have a road (almost a mile long) that will not be a teeth jarring experience every time we drive on it.
Note : On the plus side to the pot holes being so deep, I can see that there appears to be a very good foundation laid on the road in layers of Rocks, stones, pebbles and crush/run to at least 6+ inches. So that is good ;)
My drive way is about 1500 ft long but yours being almost a mile long is very long. Just make sure you stay hydrated in the hot sun.
You can dig deeper faster if the road is not completely dry. A little moisture goes a long way in letting the rippers dig without overloading the engine and transmission.
That box blade is separating the large from the small. A rear blade put at 30 or 45 degrees will roll the materials together & can provide a surface much like asphalt, except that the crushed rocks should have a 4% slope to properly drain unlike the 2% required for asphalt.
We used to do this with a piece of old railroad iron ..... works real good.....allows the gravel to work over the top of it..... get some old rail ....you will be pleasantly surprised.....heck, hook it behind your box about 2 or 3 feet behind it.....yup..... but then again I'm just an old man ..... pfffft
👍
When I regrade my road, I go a little faster, but not so fast as to cause the box to bounce. When the gravel is really packed, I put a 50 lb. weight on each side of the box.
Yes putting weight on the box blade is an excellent idea. Thank you
Probably restating other’s comments, but rippers seem to only hinder pickup in the box even on a much softer road surface. I have found resurfacing is much faster by pulling them all the way up. With proper angle your box will fill sufficiently within in a few feet. Perhaps the rippers will work on other surfaces but they seem to more cosmetic than functional for my uses.
May I ask why you keep putting the prongs in the same place each time instead of different places to break up the ground better? I’ve found that if you move over a little bit each time it takes less passes. 😉
Looks great
Nice 4550!
The top link needs to be shortened by at least a third. Its too flat.
Thank you. Very good overview of the process.
Jg Hartman Thank you
Put a couple of flywheels from old balers on there. That will put some weight on it for you.
Nice video Pete. Give that thing a little gas and a higher gear. Time is a burning!
Thank you, Yes running a box blade to fluff your gravel driveway is very time consuming. You have to run it very slow or the gravel won't build up in the box blade. 🙁
Great video! I will attempt to do my driveway tomorrow. Thanks!
Joe McFarland Thank you
Another way to get material moved or loosened is to go backwards and use the back blade to dig.
Drew6709 @
Looks great. Doing mine this weekend. 😀
What size and hight steel building is that? That’s exactly what I’m looking for.
It's a 40' x 60' x 14' high at the eaves. The three roll up doors are 10' wide x 12' high and the one roll up door on the end is 12' x 12'. Here's the video when I first had it built. ruclips.net/video/u1gdtR-bV3M/видео.html
need to adjust the angle on the box blade so that front blade is leaning down more alot of times you can do this and dont even need the rippers down.
That's a good way to mess up a blade.
I’ve been watching these types of videos and really appreciate the tips and tricks. However, I have yet to see what happens when your done dragging gravel and your box is still full. Do you just lift the box up slightly and let it exit out in a level fashion or do you end up with a pile somewhere? Thanks for your replies.
Yes you start lifting the box blade gradually as you near the end.
good video Thanks for sharing
thats awesome, never knew this even existed
👍
Great work!
👍🙂
YOUNG MAN ,
ABOUT STONE , U ARE COMPLETE RIGHT
Thank you👍
So what do you do with the gravel left in the box blade?
I am buying my first tractor and have a gravel driveway and was wondering how often this needs to be done? I am debating buying a box blade or just paying someone to do it depending on how often this needs to be done. BTW: great video, I learned a lot.
Thanks, generally you'll have to do this ones a month to keep it looking nice and keeps the weeds down.
Looks like your driveway is all rocks, which is a poor road surface to begin with. you need some binder like class 5 or crushed concrete. That will bind together, giving you a better surface and not need to be graded so often. It you grade it right, once it's incorporated and sets up, it's almost like having a poured concrete driveway.
Pretty work
Thank you
adjust your top link pitch it down. Get those shanks to bite
I've tried that in the past but that limestone gravel gets really hard when it's been packed down.
You can get the teeth to bite so much they stall the tractor...
5 passes and great results.
Not overloading the engine and transmission.
He did a good job. Stop being a keyboard expert.
Why are you passing the exact same ruts you made on the first pass, over and over? Wouldn't it make sense to make new ruts with each pass?
New to grading my own driveway. Question, so when we would maintain lease roads they would put down 3" then after it got a good base they would come in later with 2" crusher run, so my question is wouldn't ripping it damage the base?? I was always told we wanted good bases in our lease roads. Does it not get deep enough to disturb the base or what? Thanks in advance.
It all depends how deep you have the box blade shanks set, usually they're not that deep. You just want to fluff up the top layer while the box blade is filling with gravel and filling in low spots as you're moving forwards.
@@petebeasttexashomesteading Thankyou
Double E Ranch if you live on a hill and have a steep driveway, don’t do this, if you loosen up the gravel, and get a heavy rain,trust me, you will lose tons of gravel. You’ll be trying to drag it all back up the hill. But you’ll still lose a bunch. It will fill your ditches and plug up your converts. Been there and done that. Good luck 👍
In the AZ HOA where I live we have many "retention/drainage areas where 3/4" decomposed granite was placed approx 10 yrs. ago that has become compacted over the years. The landscape contractor wants to bring in tons & tons of "NEW" granite to "replenish" the granite----which will result in the homeowners spending TONS of $$'s also!
Many of us feel that the granite didn't just disappear--it has become compacted & covered by dirt & debris. (I've actually refreshed the granite landscape material in my yard simply by raking & getting the granite gravel back up to the surface & then leveling it.---kind of like "fluffing" it up--LOL)
Anyone with opinions about whether this BOX-BLADING might work for our community. ----So that the HOA keeps some of the money in our account INSTEAD of throwing it all at the Landscape contractor & the granite supplier? Thanks for any comments!
Yes you're right, all gravel or limestone gets either compacted or settles down in the ground over time and that's what a simple box blade was designed to do is fluff it up like when it was new. Your HOA would save a ton of money by running a box blade over it several times, this would pull up all the granite up out of the ground.
Hi Pete. I'm as much a novice as you could imagine for anything rural. But I went ahead bad bought a rural property anyways. It has a gravel driveway in rough shape, lots of pot holes.
Is there a reason everyone uses tractors to pull these instead of their truck/suv? I don't have a tractor. Could I get away using my SUV or so I need to buy a tractor? How about something like a deere gator?
I don't think an SUV or an ATV can go low enough in gear to go that slow to pull a loaded box blade, plus their transmissions are not designed for that.
Good video, better explanation that many of the others.
👍
Hmmm, think I might add blades. Seems painfully slow. This quite a heavy tractor also, there must be a way to improve the situation.
Yes it's slow but if you go any faster the box blade will just skip over the gravel. Probably a good Idea to add a few hundred pounds on the box blade.
This may be a stupid question, but why is the box blade gathering up more gravel on the left side of the blade than it does on the right side? I did learn something by watching this video. Thanks for sharing it. Jay
I have a tractor like this and sometimes the blade can get really uneven, and in the video it looked like that was his issue.
Hey Jay, it also depends on how level the ground is in respect to the tractor or there just might be more lose gravel in a certain area then another. I know my blade is level because I leveled it in my garage on the concrete floor.
Pete, thanks for that excellent video. Just one question; after your make your last pass and your box blade is full of gravel how/where do you re-lay it?
As I get close to the end of the pass, I start to lift the box blade slowly so the gravel empty's out of the box blade...............Thanks for watching.
@@petebeasttexashomesteading Thanks Jack, that was my question too!
injoyed the video too
Quiet one Thank you
I wounder if the 2000 yards of left over road base material will be as packed as this. I been wanting to move it, just waiting on my box blade to get delivered. Some one attempted to build a shooting back stop which was a failure.
The limestone that was put down is a mix of rocks, sea shells and fine powdery limestone which is what holds it all together.
You need to compact it with a mechanical compactor. anything short of that is a waste of time.
nice doge truck
Thanks
i dont think u need to go so
slow
but. looks good
For my compacted gravel which is lime stone, if you go any faster it will not collect the gravel in the box blade and just bounce on top.
what width is the box blade-what is the hp of your tractor
nice job
Thank you, That tractor is a 50 HP and the box blade is 6ft wide.
You do realize you have a box blade that you could have used to dig that out. I say that because I have a machine I can use to do it, I'm too lazy to use a shovel.
Grades much easier after a rainfall.
Paul Weatherby Yes I agree, I noticed that two days after it rains the limestone is still moist but not muddy and super easy to box blade.
I suspected an adjustment was needed, but didn't want to come across as being critical. Jay
Yeah I tried tipping the box blade to dig more but that lime stone driveway is like concrete when it's packed and dry.
Do you have the box blade set level front to back and left to right or how do you have it set?
I have it slightly leaning forward to dig but this lime stone was so packed that it was like concrete.
What do you do with the extra gravel
As I come to the end of the run, I start to lift the box blade up slowly so by the time I get to the end, the box blade is up and all the gravel is laid down.
You make my really cautious because you spin your camera back and forward.
Were you lifting the blade at the end of each run to empty the box blade?
Yes, I started to gradually lift the blade so it would look even and not like a mound of gravel.
You're going too slow on first pass... Go a little faster, that will cause the teeth to bite in and start to fill the box
why would you want to resurface it
To keep the weeds down and it looks pretty.☺
I understand the “looks pretty”. I love fluffed up fresh gravel. But “keeps the weeds down”? I thought the gravel was so compacted and hard like concrete? So how can weeds grow through?? Just curious.
I've watched some of the other videos of people doing this and it seems like something's off here
What do you mean "off" ?
It looked like a great job to me. :)
all the boost Of
You need to raise the throttle more, and drop it lower
It was in low gear and first gear as slow as it will go.
@@petebeasttexashomesteading Oh well I have a koyker 195 loader and I put my boxblade down and put it into second gear and raise the throttle heavily
what size is your metal building? Was looking to have something similar put in on the property.
It's a 40x60 and I have a video of it being built here ruclips.net/video/u1gdtR-bV3M/видео.html but you can skip the first 10 minutes because it was all preparation work like tree removal that was done.
That's when you don't have dirt. Mine is all dirt.
Yaxshi
I meant naucious.
almost good as me...