Moving topsoil

[Missouribound]

Let me preface this by saying I am a homeowner with some property and my yard here in Missouri is a mess.
So much ledge rock and the previous owner just spread topsoil over the rocky spots and seeded it.
Fast forward a few years and now the soil has washed away from torrential rains and I have some hole and ruts from runoff. I plan to have a load of topsoil dumped and I will go about spreading it around as needed.
Keeping that in mind.......what would you use to accomplish that?
I do have a box blade and a loader for my B2023 and that's all so far.
What implements would suit my needs the best, in your opinion, other than just dumping the soil and using a rake? And I have no problem doing that.....but anything speeding up the process would be helpful.
I did want to get a back blade for handling the driveway grading and the occasional snow we get here in the Ozarks, so that's a consideration as well. I don't want to be a landscaper.....just somewhat informed as to how to handle this Ozark rock / lawn combination.
Andy advice will be taken with appreciation.
And here's what the yard should look like.........before the inclement weather took over.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If can use the box blade to level it but that takes some work and skill.
A back blade is going to do the same thing.
A landplane will work really nicely at leveling it all out and then you can use it on your driveway.
A landscape rake will work too, just not much else to do with it after that use.
You could see if a local rental company has a three point Harley Rake, that is by far the best thing to use.
Over seed then then use a lawn roller after that.

 

[trueg50]

A box blade or back blade would do the job. I found for smoothing lawn the FEL will work just fine to move then smooth by backdragging. When I needed to move 7 years of top soil to smooth out my back yard I used the back blade a little for an area I wanted smooth and level. For the rest where I just wanted it smoothed out I fount the FEL much faster and easier.

 

[JimmyJazz]

That yard looks better than mine. I would not worry about it. Good luck.

 

[GeoHorn]

That yard looks better than mine. I would not worry about it. Good luck.

That’s his BEFORE pic…not the current situation. How ‘bout it Missouibound..? Current pic..?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

another option...
for 'holes and ruts'
get a bucket of top soil and ' tap curl down' while going in reverse, then hand rake.
It's easy and 'controlled' , you'll get real good at 'tap-n-go' after a few runs.


yet another option...
for more severe damage needing more material
use a 'spreader'. I have a Millcreek 25G and it's GREAT at both 'broadcasting' and 'strip' restoration.It's also fast as it holds 3 BX23S buckets of soil.

 

[UpNorthMI]

I find that a chain drag harrow does a great job of smoothing out and dressing areas, you can use your four wheeler to drag it around, not too expensive TSC carry a range of sizes. So use front bucket to move and rough spread dirt first.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

'too expensive' ! lol
A used chain link fence gate and some weight works well.....

 

[Missouribound]

That’s his BEFORE pic…not the current situation. How ‘bout it Missouibound..? Current pic..?

I will work on that today........

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

how much topsoil are we talking about?

Many many ways to tackle this project but if me.....

Hard to know without seeing pic's of what you working with now but for whats it worth i have seen way to many people with small tractors make a real mess of this type of project trying to learn / use equipment on lawns. Normally the 2320 came with Ag tires which would not be kind to existing grass as well.

You mention 1 load of top soil so guessing not very much. I would go with what GreensvilleJay suggests about going in reverse and using curl to dribble out the top soil then raking with a large concrete style rake with small tines..

you mentioned 1 load of top soil. I did 70 yards of 4 way mix last year using an slightly bigger tractor (L3301) on my own yard and it took me 4 days dribbling it out like GreensvilleJay mentioned and final rake by hand.

 

[Vigo]

I would recommend the landscape rake for this project, and the back blade for a combination of this and the driveway IF you are trying to change grade, like create crown.

If the driveway itself was not damaged by the torrential rains it probably is ok at its existing grading in which case the landscape rake becomes my preference for that one as well.

It's worth pointing out that unless you change the drainage situation on some level, whatever these torrential rains did will happen again with the next torrential rains. Unless your ground conditions are pretty soft it would be tough to change a drainage situation with a landscape rake, but they ARE tougher than some people think and can cut into soft dirt and channel to one side very similarly to what a back blade would do, just with a much lower strength limit.

Of course you can smooth and level soil with the loader bucket but it's tedious in my opinion. Time vs money, the usual! What's your time worth? Rhetorical question...

Landscape rakes are really great at 'dragging out' a pile. Set your top link as short as it will go, lowest hole on the tractor end. This lifts the end of the rake higher when 3pt is lifted all the way. Back up to the pile, drop the rake pretty high up on the pile, and pull away.. you can drag out a huge pile pretty quickly and then just cruise around in random patterns spreading it. Quicker than using fel bucket IF you can get the pile dumped directly on the area you want that material to end up in. If you don't want to back a dump truck/trailer across the lawn and have to carry from one place to another then that's FEL.

If you're talking about a smaller pile spread over a smaller area then the FEL might get involved and no point changing your top link setting if you use the rake.

 

[The Plunk]

'too expensive' ! lol
A used chain link fence gate and some weight works well.....

Better yet, a mattress spring set, cinder blocks with two 80lbs little boys on the springs, and a dad going as fast as he can up a driveway in an old beat up ‘79 F-150. Drags stuff very well