Box Blade Usage

 In Jan2020 I bought a box blade from Tractor Supply.  The big advantage of the box blade vs. the original scrape blade is weight.  It also has teeth that can really cut down into the road.  We have developed a simple method for road maintenance, mostly with the box blade:

• Use the box blade with teeth down to cut into the road surface,
• Maybe put the scrape blade back on to pile dirt and gravel in the center of the road,
• Use the box blade with teeth up, not in road contact, to smooth the surface,
• Maybe compact.
  

The box blade's hard steel teeth are mounted on softer steel shanks.  The teeth that came with the blade wore out in 2020, over just 40 hours or so of work.  They also wore out on the backs, and not really on the cutting surface, so it is important to set the cut angle right.  This image shows the original teeth one year after purchase:

 

The box blade is County Line 4 ft.  It cost around $750 and was in stock at Tractor Supply Roxboro:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/countyline-box-blade-sub-compact-4-ft-working-width

The shanks are 5/8 inch thick and take teeth for a variety of equipment.  The first replacements were from Gannon Manufacturing via Amazon.  They seemed to be meant for a loader bucket that has teeth on the front, but they fit our shanks and were pretty cheap at $6 each:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KS3QNN1

Old teeth can be removed with angle grinder or cutting torch.  New teeth must be crimped on with heat using a "medium" oxy/acetylene setup with cutting tip.  A few of our neighbors have that capability, or a welding shop should be able to do it quickly.  Here is the procedure:

https://youtu.be/ilS5rJqZ3js

SETUP FOR CUTTING

To cut into the road surface, the back of the blade must be tilted up, so the teeth meet the road at a good cutting angle.  Using a top link with an 11.25 inch turnbuckle, close it up until only 3 threads are visible:

With the blade tilted forward this way and the shanks all the way up, the teeth dig right into the road surface.  Here is the view on the first pass with this blade setup:

 

All through 2020, starting with the blade flat, it took many passes to get to this point, and we never really got the blade to dig.  Tilting the blade fixes that.  This was the view after 5 passes in just a half hour:

SETUP FOR SMOOTHING

Nothing is free, so now when you reverse the teeth for smoothing you also have to relax the blade so it picks up dirt.  I tried smoothing with the blade tilted and it would not pick anything up.  So reverse the shanks as shown, then adjust the top link so ten threads are showing and the blade lays flat on the ground.

After a few smoothing passes, the road is ready to be compacted by normal car traffic:

Views of Chatham Gravel work

On 23Mar2019 I went to Shad Road in Apex (Google Maps says it's really in Wilson NC) to see some recent work by Michael Michaud of Chatham Gravel.  This is what I saw:

2018-19 Baer Hill Flat

The flat part of Baer Hill started having a lot of trouble in 2018.  Big potholes every few feet, and water running down the road, all the way from the lowest two houses, across the power cut, and almost to the mailboxes.

The first movement of the project was in Feb 2018:
http://elgneighborhoodmaintenance.blogspot.com/2018/02/09feb2018-saving-gravel.html

That made the road muddy, though, and we didn't have cash for gravel after fixing the culvert.  It eventually dried out but people didn't like it.  Throughout 2018 I tried different drainage features at the north side of the power cut.  None really kept the bad stuff from coming back.

I repeated the first exercise in December 2018, planning to use the last of the year's gravel money for gravel to reduce muddiness.  This time I was very aggressive with the east side where Baer Hill water flows into the power cut, losing traction in the mud a lot and getting stuck once.  After many passes with the tilted scrape blade, and some spade work, we had decent drainage at that point for the first time I can remember.

On the west side of Baer Hill Road, where tract 4407 meets the power cut, I used the Merry Tiller to make new drainage before a certain big pine that was kicking water across the road.  That was about an hour total, between breaking roots with the tiller and spading the dirt aside.

All this work was done with water flowing and mud soft.  2018 had a lot of rain, 62 inches measured at RDU.

Right around Christmas I bought 30 tons of Recycled ABC (RABC).  That reached from 4407 Baer Hill Road (formerly Olive's now Davida's), across the power cut, and about halfway to the mailboxes.  It ended just a little short of where the water has been exiting the road to the south anyway and running into the woods.

That gravel cost $775 and came in two loads from Mellott's in Carrboro (919) 967-2241.  Lessons learned:
* paint arrows in the road where you want the gravel to go
* mark the center of the track where the road is wide
* tell Mellot you want the gravel in the road STARTING AT an address.  They mistakenly put a whole load in Davida's driveway.

Mellott charges sales tax, but is otherwise only a little more expensive than Scott's long time supplier, Ben Ferguson.  Ben retired, at least from ELG, in the summer of 2018 after a misunderstanding over gravel placement.  On this project, Mellott gave us the load they dumped in the wrong place, and only charged us for the gravel they put in the right place.  I count that as a win.

RABC, it turns out, has a lot more fines than ABC (aka crush run).  Even though the thick layer of RABC compacted well (thanks Art!) and established a new crown on that curve that prevented water from meandering back and forth across the road, people didn't like their cars getting muddy.

On 15Jan2019 we purchased 18 tons of 67 gravel from Mellott, to cover the RABC.  That reached much further than expected, from the 4407 driveway to the culvert by the mailboxes.  The driver agreed to make it a "light coat", or a 1.5 inch layer.  It seemed thicker near the end, but covered the RABC very well.  Lessons learned:
* 18 tons of 67 gravel comes in a truck that is much bigger than 15 tons of RABC.
* Tell Mellott that the driver should reverse at the mailboxes and back to the delivery point.
* Quarter the tonnage of ABC gravel to get the 67 topcoat weight.  To cover the original 30 tons of RABC, I should have ordered just 7.5 tons of 67's.

This is the new drainage pattern on the east (Anita/Audrey) side:

This is the new drainage pattern on the west (Olive/Davida) side:

2021 Followup: We had Marc Johnson Grading cut turnouts at these locations.  Drainage is very good now.

2018 Summer: Pond Road Hill

In the summer of 2018, the hill of Pond Road was in trouble.  Water was running down the road instead of the ditches, and puddling so badly at the bottom that the road was softening.  The project took about a monthto complete, but the big picture was this:

* set the tractor blade as described for Baer Hill flat:
http://elgneighborhoodmaintenance.blogspot.com/2018/02/09feb2018-saving-gravel.html

* Push black organic soil out to the side.  On the south side, it went into the ditch, which was too deep anyway.  On the north side, a new ditch-like feature emerged at the road's edge.

* Cut inorganic dirt to the center to reconstruct a crown.

* Get ABC gravel tailgate-spread up the middle to make the crown a little higher.

* Compact.  Because of the steepness of the hill, you have to orbit side to side, and overlap each time, to cover the hill.  The technique is described here:
http://elgneighborhoodmaintenance.blogspot.com/2017/10/14sep2017-gravel-and-compaction-on-baer.html

* At the bottom, dig out all roadside turf so water runs freely off the road into the culvert area.

* About halfway down the north side, move some cut wood back from the road and dig through with the Merry Tiller.  The area had silted up because of the wood sitting there.  That was one of the worst places kicking water into the roadbed.

This is how it looked at the end:

ELG List Posts:

30Jun2018 ROADS: Pond Hill Day needed

Neighbors -

This morning I propped my tractor up well enough to move some dirt around on Pond Hill.  The hill needs more work and some gravel, but the real problem is drains:

* The ditch flattens out on the north side (Art/Marion/Gail/Trace) about halfway down near a cut up tree that is rotting in a picturesque manner.  Because the ditch is clogged there, water kicks into the road.  This blockage is the root cause of the worst of the erosion on lower Pond Hill.  The tree needs to be thrown further back and the ditch redug for those 20 or so feet.  My Merry Tiller may help here.

* The low roadside ridges of dirt from today's grading need to be raked/hoed into the road center.

* The dirt I couldn't get to with the tractor, mainly mud and leaves, between the road and the ditch, needs to be dug out and removed so we can have one slope from the road center to each ditch.  That's a shovel job

* Leaves and muck need to come out of the ditch, entire hill, both sides.  I think the leaves are mixed with dirt and too heavy for a leaf blower.

* The new pile of mulch at the top of the hill on the north side needs to be removed before it washes back down.  It's up for grabs.

Once that's all done, and my tractor is fixed for-real, I can grade some more.  Then we can put some gravel up the middle and compact the whole shebang.

I'm flying next Sunday and really don't want to commit to road work the day before.  Coming back the following Saturday.  Who can come out on Saturday 21July?

If anyone wants to organize something sooner than that, you will not hurt my feelings.

Thanks,
Larry

30Jul2018 ROADS: Volunteers needed for Pond Hill compaction on Saturday morning

Hi folks,

I put a few more hours into Pond Hill on Saturday, and just arranged for a load of ABC gravel from Ben Ferguson.

Now I have a couple of requests for you-all:

1.  Could a few people come out Saturday morning to help compact the new gravel and the dirt that I have cut in from the roadsides?  It should be 3 or 4 person-hours so the more the easier.

2.  Could people take it easy driving on Pond Hill until Saturday, so not too much gravel gets kicked out?

This link shows what I want to do on Saturday:

http://elgneighborhoodmaintenance.blogspot.com/2017/10/14sep2017-gravel-and-compaction-on-baer.html

That job, on Baer Hill last September, washboarded.  But Baer Hill always does that anyway.  Pond Hill does not usually washboard, so I am hoping that compaction will allow the road to keep its new shape for a while.

I'm going to start around 9.  Feel free to come late and relieve me. Pond Hill is pretty steep, and you get tired fast.

If enough people come out, we might form a separate bucket crew for potholes.  It worked real well about 6 months ago to have people drop gravel off the back of a truck.  Potholes are like cavities in the road.  They reform in the same places until you fix the road.  But while we are getting around to the real fixes, we can fill the holes from buckets for less than $500/year.

Thanks,
Larry

There was a rain delay, but eventually this was posted on 18Aug2018
Re: [ELG] ROADS: Pond Hill work tomorrow morning:

I want to thank Joe, Senga and Rusty for coming out this morning.  Pond Road should be ok for a while now.  We improved drainage, raked some washout gravel back up, smoothed and compacted everything in less than 3 hours.

Thanks also whoever mowed the flat part of Baer Hill Road including behind the mailboxes.  It's been a couple of weeks now and I've been meaning to say something.  You're a great neighbor, whoever you are.

See y'all,
Larry

The mystery mower turned out to be Dick Snow.

09Feb2018: Saving Gravel

After 8 inches of snow from 19Jan  melted and some more rain fell, around 10 or 20 potholes opened up on the flat part of Baer Hill Road.  That's too many to fill with buckets of gravel, so I tried something new:

1.  Pulled the right side of the blade up with the turnbuckle as far as it would go, so it would dig in on the left side

2.  Angled the blade concave forward to dig, rotated to kick dirt to the right

3.  Used the top link to set the blade down pretty far so it would really dig in.

Then I ran laps on Baer Hill Road from the north end of the power cut to the mailboxes and back, keeping to the left.  The first two passes kicked a lot of dirt and gravel from the shoulder and berm onto the road.  At first I thought it would not be enough dirt, but then I started easing the blade back towards horizontal and running a little closer to the road's center each lap.

When I felt like enough dirt was on top of the road I reversed he blade so concave was backwards, and started smoothing.  On each lap I eased the blade a little more level on the side link, and a little higher on the top link.

At the end of each pass I was leaving a pile of junk where I raised my blade.  Eventually I started leaving that pile in the center of the road, and picking up up to start the next lap.

This (above) is what I call the "side link."  it controls the height of the right side of the blade.  Make Sure the chain turnbuckles are tight, or else the left side will just follow it.  To operate this link, push something through the holes in the turnbuckle body and rotate it.  If your hand goes left to right, you will be shortening the buckle and raising the right side of the blade.  Look at the threads if you get confused.

This (above) is what I call the "top link."  The blade is raised and lowered hydraulically, but this adjustment controls how low the blade sits when the hydraulics are all the way down.  This photo shows an old ratchet extension I keep with the tractor for the turnbuckles.  If you rotate the long end as shown up and away from you, the buckle will shorten and your down position will be higher.  That's good for smoothing.  If you turn it the other way, the blade will ride lower and dig more.

This (above) shows the blade set for digging, with the concave curve forward.  It is also rotated 2-8 o'clock, to kick dirt to the left.  On today's job, I had it rotated 10-4 o'clock, to kick dirt to the right.

This (above) shows the blade reversed for smoothing, with the concave surface pointing backwards.  Dirt would kick to the left.

07Dec2017: Grading Baer Hill

Today I graded with my Kubota B5200 for the first time.  It is a compact tractor, and did get stuck a couple of times, but getting unstuck is easy.  Overall I think it came out ok.  This is the little guy's second grading use.  The first was with Rosendo.  That time went poorly, I think because the road was dry.  This attempt was made after two nights of intermittent light rain and cloudy days, and it went great.

Blade Angle: my Tractor Supply blade does not have a tilt adjustment, but it does rotate 360 degrees with 10 preset stops.  With the cutting edge forward, the blade digs just fine.  With the blade turned all the way around and the cutting edge backward, the blade smooths pretty well.  With the blade on the first stop clockwise, ends at 10 and 4 o'clock, whatever you dig up flows naturally to your right eventually, but also piles up in the cup of the blade to fill in low spots.

Blade Height: The height adjustment has three settings: down (forward), neutral (middle) and up (back).  The up position has a linkage that returns the control lever to center when the hitch is all the way up, but you can leave the control lever in the down position to really push the blade into the ground.  The top link of the 3 point hitch plays into this too.  I have an extension that should allow the blade to push lower, at the expense of not being able to raise it very high.

Traction: On the East (Townsend) side of Baer Hill, there are a couple of low/soft places where the drive wheels lose traction going uphill with a full bucket.  So it is best to go downhill on that side and uphill on the west (Nofziger) side. 

Mower Deck: Peg the mower deck up as high as possible with steel straps, so it does not go up and down with the hitch and blade.  You can raise it much higher with a jack than you can with the hydraulics, then slip a steel strap with 9/16 holes at appropriate spacing on the end of the hinge pins to keep it there.  The rear center roller will still drag on things.

Brakes: The tractor needs brakes.  It is currently UNSAFE to stop on any kind of hill with the parking brake.  When you stop, stop the engine with the compression relief plunger and leave the tractor in gear.  Be sure to push the plunger back in and turn the mower off before attempting restart.

The 2 Hour Job:

• If there are leaves on the road, go down the West (Nofziger) side and up the east (Townsend) side with the mower on, to blow debris into the woods.  Turn the mower off after this step, so you don't shoot rocks.
• At the top of the hill, set the blade to 10 and 4 o'clock.
• Lower the blade and grade downhill on the left (east, Townsend) side to kick that dirt and gravel to the center.
• Raise the blade at the bottom of the hill, turn around, lower the blade, and cut uphill on the left (west, Nofziger) side, kicking all that dirt and gravel to the center.
• If you get stuck, raise the blade slightly until you dump just enough gravel to get moving again.  You could also try the low speed differential (tortoise/hare lever by your right calf), but I found the problem was traction, so super low gear didn't help.
• After 5 or 6 passes, the sides should be smooth and a large mound of gravel should be in the center of the road.
• To finish, reverse the blade and do a smoothing pass.  You can leave the hitch control lever in center position to reduce pressure on the blade.  You can also play with the blade straight across vs. angled.
• Before leaving the area, use a hoe to refresh any drainage features you may have filled in.  Try to pile dirt on the downhill side of such features to make little dams.

It's not rocket science.

Compaction would be best at this point, but it takes 4 hours to plate compact that hill and I did not do it this time.

The ditches are bad now because some gravel got in them and/or the outside edge of the blade made a gravel dam between the road and the ditches.  A little hoe work will be needed in the next good rain.

14Sep2017 Gravel and Compaction on Baer Hill

(written 23Oct2017, 5 weeks later)

On 14Sep2017 Ferguson delivered 14.25 tons of ABC.  He drove out from under it, starting at the top of Baer hill.  The gravel ran out just short of Anita's driveway, just over 500 feet.  It was concentrated in the center.  Without spreading the gravel out at all, I ran the compactor over it.  It took 3 hours to do the 500 feet.  The compactor ran out of gas once.

The delivery was sparked by complaints of washboarding.  Right after compaction, the road was much smoother.  Washboarding returned within 2 weeks, but there was very little gravel lost to car wheels.  There was no rain to speak of during that time.

Compactor Tips
The compactor should be started at idle and kicked up to full speed to compact. The manual says to change the throttle quickly.  At full speed, the compactor wants to crawl forward on level ground.  On Baer Hill, I worked in an oval pattern.

1. Straight across from west to east, with the compactor angled about 45 degrees uphill to hold its altitude.

2. Make a big loop back and uphill, going back over loose spots

3. Always turn to the right

4.  Overlap by 50%

Wear ear protection.

You can manage the compactor with one hand on level ground.

That's not a good way to do things, but it shows you don't need to use a lot of muscle, most of the time.

After compaction, there were still two low spots.  I filled them with buckets and compacted more, leaving small humps where the holes had been.  I also marked the spots with rocks in the weeds, to watch them change over time. 

In the 5 weeks between this work and the grading on 22Oct, the two spots behaved differently.
* The smaller downhill one became a hole again
* The larger uphill one kept its hump, but a new hole developed within a foot uphill of the compacted area.

If holes keep coming back in the same places, it may be that there are natural hard and soft places in Baer Hill road.

This view shows the difference between compacted and uncompacted areas on 14Sep: