I want to level out an uneven backyard (approx 25x30 yrds) with topsoil. Some spots may be up to 3-4 inchs low/high.

I was thinking of making a box blade/drag leveler to pull behind the riding mower.

I would like to keep the construction to wood 2x4, 4x4, 6x4's as I do not have access to a welder.

I found two designs I think would work good. Are there any pros or cons to either design? Keep in mind both of these would be wood.


Minus the metal tines

What do you have for a riding mower? A true box blade will put a lot of load on a tractor, much less a mower.

The first picture is probably your best bet in terms of being able to pull it, but it's not going to work well (if at all) in sod.

If you can till up the sod first it might do an acceptable job as long as you take it a little at a time.

I have a 24HP mower. I will be bringing in top soil. This will be used more to spread a top dressing of soil to fill the bumps

It should work okay for moving loose topsoil.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, there's a LOT of difference between a 300 pound 24HP lawn mower and a 2000 pound 24HP tractor. Simple HP is only part of the equation, you need gear ratios that maximize the torque and enough weight to put it on the ground.

The best thing we have found for this type of work is to drag a piece of railroad iron across the terrain to smooth out rough spots. I have also dragged a tree trunk over rough spots with pretty fair results

Before my driveway got paved, I pulled a pallet loaded with cinderblocks behind my 4wd truck. Worked OK. It would collect the high spots and dump gravel into the low spots...

I have a drag I built out of spreader chain. The panels of spreader chain are connected to each other with u-bolt clamps. The leading edge of the drag is bolted to 2" rigid conduit. I have a piece of chain running from either end of rigid conduit to carabiners that I hook to my mower or 4 wheeler. This worked really well when I top dressed my lawn with topsoil and mulch earlier this year.

Before I built the spreader chain contraption I did use the pallet with cinderblocks which worked pretty well too.

I have used old bed springs with good results.

I’ll be the contrarian. Rent a skip & drag for a half day and do the job. It may not be cheaper than the cost of materials to build a wooden box scraper (that you’ll trip over forever after you finish the job, but if you consider your time and wear and tear on your mower you’ll be way ahead renting the right tool for the job.

^^^^^^^

This, rent a small tractor and a land plane grader. If you don't have any experience with a box blade I would suggest your yard is not the place to learn.

stu1000rr, do you have a pic that you can post of your drag?

 
I use this drag. The tines are 7/16", and it can be used with tines pointing forward (most aggressive), pointing backwards, or turn it over for the least aggressive drag.
 

I'm not sure the wood one has enough weight. That chain drag would work better I think.

Why not just buy a box blade for your tractor? I sold a six footer on Craigslist a while back for $250.

not enough information