# Using a backblade for ditching



## jimfromcanmore

Am wanting to use my rear blade to recut the ditch along the side of a gravel road where the grass has grown up. The blade can be offset to extend beyond the rear tire, plus angled down. I had trouble getting he blade to cut in and it kept skipping over the longer grass. What's the technique required?


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## ErnieS

I assume you have scarifiers?
You should play with the top link to make sure you are getting both penetration of the teeth and blade. You might also try adding some weight to the box blade. I have a 6' long piece of 14" oak I tie on top of mine. Makes it a pain to adjust the scarifiers, but it adds a couple hundred pounds and cuts a lot better.


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## jimfromcanmore

A regular rear blade, not a box scraper. The box scraper requires the wheel to be over the edge, which is a drop off. For the top link adjustment, how angled back does the blade need to be in order to cut in? Should I also be taking small shaves?


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## pogobill

Maybe you need to angle the blade in towards you to get it to cut, with the long end down in the ditch closer to the tractor. I tried to cut a swale through my horse paddock with my blade and I totally beat it up. If you have an exiting ditch, cut the material up and pull it up out of the ditch on the first pass, then grade it back in on the next. Not too much of a bite or you'll break something. 

All this being said, you never mentioned what size scraper you have, or how big your tractor is!


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## pogobill

Maybe you need to angle the blade in towards you to get it to cut, with the long end down in the ditch closer to the tractor. I tried to cut a swale through my horse paddock with my blade and I totally beat it up. If you have an exiting ditch, cut the material up and pull it up out of the ditch on the first pass, then grade it back in on the next. not too much of a bite or you'll break something.


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## MBTRAC

Using blades is an art & depends on the tractor/blade/soil conditions - photo's of your equipment & task would assist in providing advice - I suspect the top link in your condtions should be set so the blade cutting edge is at or slightly less than 90 degrees than the intended cut.

Sounds to me if it's jumping over grass the float control may not be locked on your TPL hyd's.

You may have more success with adjusting your bottom TPL for the tilt than the blade, & it may also respond better to an angling adjustment on the blade - & only if it's possible on your ditch width/angle to retreive the material, angle the blade to push the inital cut towards the ditch then angle the balde to clear the displaced material ( or reverse the blade & clear the material when backing the tractor...), take several partial initial cuts (i.e less than the blade width) rather than using the total blade width will work much better for maintaining consistent drain angles. 

It's always better to take it easy & not too deep when blade grading , keeping the material "flowing", otherwise damage/excessive wear to equipment may result.


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## st3gamefarm

To begin with, plan to make multiple passes. Taking a little at a time. 

Angle the blade forward so as to pull the cuttings up and out of the ditch, The forward angle, will ensure that the corner of the blade gets a good bite.

A small task to get the idea can be had with your hands, a hoe, and some dirt. 
The hoe represents the scrape blade, and you represent the tractor. When you get the hoe set at the proper angle to do what you want to do in the ditch, set the blade on the tractor to that. And give it a go.


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## jimfromcanmore

Thanks for the suggestions, I think I have experiments


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## jimfromcanmore

Think I have enough to run some experiments this weekend, thanks


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