I'll officially be the owner of a new property in a few days. The property is all sand that's firm enough to drive on but has some grass so it's hard to tell where hills and other obstacles are. I'm hoping to use the grader to level it and scrape the grass off so I can see the layout better. I'll be putting a couple MX tracks in. I'm wondering the best way to go about it? If I'm taking just enough cut to scrape the grass off, can I just keep pushing the windrow over indefinitely or should I do smaller sections? I'm also wondering what's the best way to set the blade. It's 16' and I don't know if it will push that much especially in sand. Would putting the heel side, or the toe side, of the blade lower work better? It doesn't have to be real level, just enough to see the contour of the ground to make laying the track out easier.
How thick is the sod Windows can get big pretty fast. Not sure about sod, but an inch of gravel across 16 feet for the length of your grader would around 2 tonne
I'm not sure how thick the sod is. It's not as thick as if it was a dirt field. I scraped the weeds off the clay oval track today and a couple times it got hung up and wouldn't slide/roll across the moldboard. Maybe I should put the blade so it's just touching the ground and it will be enough to knock any high spots down. I guess I need to experiment some and see what kind of traction I have. I could try to scarify first and then strip the grass off.
Scrub Pullers advice on how to run a dozer applys here to. Start nearest to the stockpile area and work across from there.
Please explain. I'm wondering what is the most efficient way to smooth a field with some random hills hiding in the grass.
Running a mower over the area would expose the typography and be alot more cost effective than running a grader.
It's hard to see all the hills and berms in the grass. Maybe I should just drive around with the grader blade just skimming the ground to find the hills and knock them down. Then I could run the mower over the area. I want to keep the ground fairly compacted. I don't want to rototill because the tines would be gone in 30 minutes or less.
A grader is like a wood plane. Find a level spot. Put the mb down and start driving around. Don't mess around with right and left side up and down. That big blade would be like holding a 2x6 in the middle and trying to move the ends. Play with rolling the mb ahead and back. That raises and lowers both sides evenly. Same as angling. Find an angle and stick with it. As you rotate, unless your drawbar is level, rotating changes the height. Front goes down back comes up
I stripped the black dirt off the infield of the oval track pretty good and some dpots were sand. I think I'd have to leave a bunch of windrows doing a large area but could use the material to build sound berms. Apparently sand works good for building sound dampening berms. I'll probably drive the grader to the property next week and experiment.
Dave, Is the grass hayed off/dry? Is burning the grass off an option? Depending on the type of grass and moisture levels it can be a real nuisance when grading!
I would be afraid to burn anything at the moment.
Yeah, no burning. The ground is firm so hopefully I can scrape a little off.
Yep, just clip the high spots. Then repeat. After several passes you'll find level. Not sure how big area you are talking about? Maybe I missed that part.
I'd like to clear several acres but that might be overly ambitious. I heard back from the county and it takes month's to get approved or denied. I'd need to apply for rezoning which costs $5000 plus another $2000 for advertising in local papers. It is non-refundable. I replied it makes more sense to talk to the county about my plans and then get input from neighbors before applying for rezoning. I can use the input in my rezoning application. If I just apply I am basically anonymous. People won't be so quick to judge you (negatively) if they can meet and talk with you. I can see neighbors automatically being opposed to any kind of motorcycle facility.