Box Blades & Graders in Kirbyville, TX

Not by itself. Three tractors can share a horsepower rating and be built for three different jobs. What a box blade needs is weight, traction and a hitch that can lift it. A heavy blade on a light tractor takes weight off the front wheels and spins the rear tires. A light blade on a big tractor rides over ground it ought to cut. So look at the tractor's frame, its weight and its three-point lift capacity together. Then pick a width that covers your tractor's wheel tracks, so the blade wipes out its own ruts. Bring those numbers to our Buna store.

Work from the edges toward the middle. Set the blade to cut a little, and pull dirt from each shoulder toward the center with a pass down each side. Then run down the middle with the shanks up to spread the pile. Repeat until the center stands a few inches above the edges. The crown's what sends water off the lane instead of down it. On loamy ground like the land around Trout Creek, a lane with no crown can wash into a gully after a few storms. Finish with a light, slow pass to smooth it all out.

Yes, and it's a job a box blade does well. Have the load dumped in a few piles instead of one big one. Back up to a pile, drop the blade and pull forward so the box fills. Then lift a little and let the material spill out the back as you go. Keep the shanks up, or they'll mix the gravel into the dirt underneath it. Leave the edges of the spread for last, once you've got the middle done. For fill dirt, lay it down in thin layers and drive over each one to pack it before the next. That keeps a pad from settling unevenly later on.

Let it dry until it'll carry the tractor, then cut the ridges down first. Drop the shanks to break up the hard tracks. Make a pass or two to loosen everything, then raise the shanks and level. Pull dirt from the high middle into the wheel ruts. Keep each pass shallow, because a deep cut pulls up more than you'll be able to spread. Cattle raising goes back a long way around Kirbyville, so a road that carries both hooves and tires is familiar ground here. Finish with a crown so the next rain runs off instead of sitting in the tracks.

A box blade carries dirt, and a rear blade pushes it. The box has side plates and a back wall, so material stays in front of the cutting edge while you pull. That's what makes it the better tool for filling ruts and leveling a pad. A rear blade's a single blade you can angle. It's handy for pushing dirt or gravel off to one side, cutting a shallow swale or back-dragging a lane. Mahindra makes both, rear blades and the box scraper. If most of your work is filling and leveling, start with the box. Ask about either one at our Buna store.