If you adjust the box blade right with the lift it should take the top off the high spots and drop dirt in the low spots. I always load the box blade up with dirt first then adjust the box blade to ride ground level and it will do a good job of ,leveling.
On the backhoe remember, load your front bucket up with a load of dirt for front weight, it helps hold down the front end when digging with the backhoe. Also the ground is your friend, when digging with your digger things like tree roots if you keep the digger on the ground and slide the bucket under the root and curl the digger to dislodge or cut the root, the ground under the root acts as a fulcrum and takes the pressure off trying to dislodge or cut the root by lifting. You can use this the same way when digging, dip, curl, then lift.
I have a big backhoe where you can rip a longer line when starting a dig, with a small backhoe don't get to aggressive to start with.
On the backhoe remember, load your front bucket up with a load of dirt for front weight, it helps hold down the front end when digging with the backhoe. Also the ground is your friend, when digging with your digger things like tree roots if you keep the digger on the ground and slide the bucket under the root and curl the digger to dislodge or cut the root, the ground under the root acts as a fulcrum and takes the pressure off trying to dislodge or cut the root by lifting. You can use this the same way when digging, dip, curl, then lift.
I have a big backhoe where you can rip a longer line when starting a dig, with a small backhoe don't get to aggressive to start with.