operating a box scraper

[corbin]

I want to use a box scraper to level out parts of my yard. Can anyone give me any instructions on what is the best way to operate one? Can I use it on bare ground, should it be tilled up, do I just lower it down and go??? See, I'm not sure how to use it.

[egon]

Perhaps find a spot that is out of the way and do some experimenting.

Egon

[Bird]

It's a bit difficult to just tell you how to use a box blade, if you've never used one. I suspect most of us (me, at least) needed quite a bit of practice before we were able to use one well. Yes, you can use it on bare ground. Of course, if that bare ground is hard ground, you may need to lower the scarifers (or ripper teeth) to tear up the ground first. Most of the time, you just lower it all the way. It's very difficult, if not impossible, to get the results you want by trying to raise and lower it with the 3-point hitch. So, with it lowered all the way, the critical thing then becomes how much it is tilted forward or backward, an adjustment that is made with the top link of the 3-point hitch. Shortening the top link tilts the blade forward and allows it to dig in more, lengthening the top link to make the blade level allows it to drag a box full of dirt to where you want it, and lengthening it even more to tilt the blade back allows loose material to feed out under the front cutting edge blade and be smoothed by the rear blade.

The best, fastest, and easiest way to make those adjustments is with a hydraulic top link; however, I've seen some experienced operators do good work with only the manual top link.

And the best way to learn to use one effectively is practice, practice, practice . . . ..

[chrisjbell]

Bird's (hi there!) reply is probably as good and concise an explaination as you'll find but if you don't know about TBN it is a sister site to this one and has more opinions about everything than you can shake a stick at.

I'd recommend doing a search ("using box blade" probably in the Owning / operating forum). If that doesn't get you more than you want to know post the same questionJust remind Bird that he doesn't have to reply to your post if you make one [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img].

[mfaley]

Corbin,
First off, Welcome to CBN.
Secondly I would say that all the information you have recieved so far is right on track.

My only input would be that if you are going to be using the box scraper to do a lot of work I think it would be worth the investment to get Top N Tilt. This, as mentioned previously, allows you to articulate the box scraper so that either the front or back can move up or down and tilt the sides up either way.

Mark

[Pat]

I have only accumulated about 200-300 hours of box blade time out of a total time just under 700 hours and I can not even begin to imagine trying to do what I have done without hydraulic TnT. It would be a very time consuming tedious chore (I actually don't know anyone with the patience/time) to try to do manually what I have done with my hydraulics. I also highly recommend hydraulic raise/lower for your scarifiers (digger teeth) as getting of and on the tractor, sometimes every 30-40 seconds, to raise/lower the teeth would be way too much motion but too little progress.

With hydraulic top link you can tilt the box and "spill" dirt with much more dexterity than raising or lowering the whole box. You can tilt the box to cut a crown or match your blade to uneven ground. I can tilt so far that I can scrape a shallow ditch with the corner of the box blade.

My box blade has a second blade mounted backwards to the regular blade so I can scrape in reverse and act like a small dozer. Hydraulic adjustment is definitely wanted here as there isn't much difference in blade adjustment between gliding over your dirt, scraping/moving dirt. and diging in and stopping the tractor. manual adjustment would not even come close to allowing this mode.

Last recommendation: Don't buy light weight. Get a HD solid unit. Made that mistake and had to trade up.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[AZPenner]

This thread is what led me to this Forum. Great place with a lot of info. So far yall have given some great advice on operating a box scraper. I have the T & T on mine and am slowly getting used to how it will work for me. I have a real stupid question and I hope I don't come across as some sort of moron in my first post. Here goes. The two levers that operate the 3-point hitch, the outside lever basically controls the up and down. What is the function of the inside lever?

[mfaley]

AZPenner,
Welcome to CBN.

I am not sure what tractor you are running so here are my thoughts.
1. I have another lever that raises and lowers the rippers.
2. Move it and see what moves as a result
3. How do you activate the TopNTilt? Do you use the bucket lever?
4. Trust me......there aren't any real stupid questions.
5. "AZPenner". I see horses are your hobby. Do you do Team Penning?

Mark

[AZPenner]

Mark,
Thanks for the welcome.
No, I have 3 hydraulic levers on the fender that operate the box scraper itself. One is for the angle of the blade, one is for the rippers, and one is for the tilt. The levers that I am referring to are on the tractor next to the seat that contol the3-point hitch itself.
Yes we do quite a bit of Team Penning.

[Pat]

AZ, 3 PH are not all alike. You have, of course, a lever to raise and lower the arms. You may also have a "float" control that auto adjusts implement height around your manual setting. I'm no expert on tractors in general nor implements in particular as I have only had one tractor and have only about 700 hours on it.

I would "play" with the controls to get an idea what they do. I'd politely ignore what Buckaroo Bonzai said to the Jeff Goldblum (sp?) character in the SciFi classic "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the 8th Dimension" when they were teamed together performing brain surgery... "I wouldn't tug on that if I were you, you don't know what it might be connected to." [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]