First time using a box blade. I'm impressed!

[Marveltone]

When I bought my used Ford 1010, it came with a 60' rear blade, which I've used for smoothing out my gravel drive way. It's pretty lightweight, but for that use, it did an admirable enough job. Well, a couple of weeks ago, my dad borrowed my tractor to try smoothing out some trails going through the woods behind his house, and the limitations of this little rear blade were really beginning to show themselves. I've been considering buying a 60" box blade to do some of this heavier work (as well as adding some much needed ballast in the rear) and saving the angle blade for lighter tasks such as snow removal.

Today, my cousin just bought a Grizzly 6' box blade for his NorTrac 254, and spent the morning working up his motocross track. He said his tractor handled it just fine, and noting the similar sizes of our tractors, suggested I hook it up and give it a try to give myself a better idea what I might want to buy. I noted his NorTrac had R1's and wheel weights, while my 1510 had turfs and no weights, so I was skeptical, but thought I'd give it a try.

I headed out to my dad's place and made a beeline for the same wooded, rocky trails that bent my angle blade. Boy, was I impressed! I used it to break up sod, level out humps in the trails, dig up roots, and even bowling ball sized rocks. The tractor had plenty of power, and the only time the turfs lost traction was when I snagged the occasional large tree root or large rock. Even then, I could generally rip through the roots after a couple of passes from each direction.

I guess I really misjudged what a little 22hp tractor is capable of doing. I also didn't give the turfs nearly enough credit. They're much better than I've been led to believe. I also think I'll bee pricing out some 72" box blades in the near future, although the Grizzly seemed a bit on the light side, so I'll be looking at the heavier duty options out there.

I love it when my tractor surprises me!

 

[Raspy]

I really like my box scraper too. I'm pulling it with my 29 HP New Holland. It took me a while to get it set up right so it would cut a bit but not just dig in. Mine is a 72" also. I found I can pull it in third gear, mid range and really get something done. Also, using it in a light rain works wonders. My buddy was there one day when I was running it in the rain and couldn't believe I was actually having fun. :laughing: I guess you either get it or you don't.

Seems like the thing it needs now is a hydraulic ram to tilt it. I'm alway trying to get the angle of the road right and getting on and off to set it manually is a pain.

 

[dcyrilc]

Seems like the thing it needs now is a hydraulic ram to tilt it. I'm alway trying to get the angle of the road right and getting on and off to set it manually is a pain.

I'm right there with you on this one. Time to start thinking about a top-n-tilt.

 

[Marveltone]

My only concern is, while it was ripping through the sod like crazy, I only had the chance to fill the box with the sod that was coming up. How much heavier will it get when digging deeper and filling it with dirt? I'd suspect quite a bit. So far, I have no problem with the front end raising when I hang up on stuff, as My FEL adds a good amount of weight, and the turfs break traction before anything gets out of hand, so the tractor feels quite stable and planted to the ground.

I'm just wondering if I should stick with my initial plan of purchasing a 60" BB, or take the chance with the 72" based on my initial test run?

Any advice?

 

[gwdixon]

Given your set-up, I'd recommend the 60" BB. Once a six-footer gets loaded and with turf tires it will act like an anchor.

My 36 HP Kubota L3650 4WD pulled a 72" BB with R1s but it didn't like it when it loaded up.

 

[Raspy]

Marvel,

It's important to not completely fill the box. It just recycles the cut and runs along with a partial fill.

Also, the ripper teeth are a handy option.

It seems important to get one wider than the tractor for the best finish or getting up close to a wall or the edge of a cut. Granted, wider is harder to pull if you are cutting aggressively, but I think you'll hate it if you can't cut right up next to some rocks or a wall, or get the full width of the driveway without running over the plants along theh side. It seems like it needs about 4-6" on each side for this purpose.

 

[Deadman]

My JD 2520 has like 25.5 HP, and I have R4's and a 5 foot Frontier box blade on it. If I put it in sand, I can stall the tractor in low range with ease. If I just use it for general leveling, its awesome and pulls really easy. When you load it, it gets REALLY really heavy, but then you just raise it a bit and you can pull it much easier. It all depends on when you plan to do with it. I would NOT get a 6 footer, especially if you plan on pulling much dirt, or scraping with the box mostly full of dirt.
I would say a 5 footer would be almost a touch big for digging, but work realy well for all around usage.

 

[BigD23]

I've really enjoyed using my boxblade behind my Orange BX23...Mostly dirt/gravel driveway use...Driveway's about 1,000 feet and after quite a few passes and have turned it, I'll put on my landscape rake and put a "finish" to it...Good luck.

Don

 

[Rogator]

I also have a 2520 with r4s and 60" box blade. I can not stall mine even if i snag a root. It will spin out before it stalls. My old 2520 had 380 lbs of fluid in the tires and 210 lbs of front weight and it would not stall.
Are you running at full pto rpms?

 

[Rustyrat]

I recently bought a United HD 72" BB. It arrived a little over a week ago and I LOVE it. I have dragged several areas on my property and it worked great. I angled the box to cut the side of the road that was a little high and it worked great. Probably everyone knows this but I had trouble lengthening the link on my 3pt hitch. I lowered it to the ground and it was easier. Then I put a 2x4 in the center of the BB and lowered it onto the 2x4. I could lengthen and shorten the link with ease.

 

[merrickvilleguy]

I've got a 6' and I've been using it to bust up and level the center hump on my road ... works great, especially when it rips up roots 4" across without even breaking stride ... the annoying part I am seeing is it is lifting some rocks 4-6" across out of the ground ... going to need a rake or labour to sort that out

 

[b2910]

I will be using a box blade for the first time later this week if things go as planned. I bought an inexpensive 5' blade from ASC but I think it is enough for doing the simple jobs I will do. The primary use will be for repairing my dirt driveway which is hard packed Georgia clay with gravel and some larger stones in it. Over the years my car tires have rutted it but there are a few larger stones that are bumps in the ruts. I don't want to tear the larger stones out, been there for years and they are very stable, so I was thinking of only using the ripper teeth on the edge not the center of the blade; that is raise the middle ones so they never engage. Is it OK to not have all the rippers set at the same depth or am I asking for some trouble?

I have some new #57 gravel to help fill in the ruts but since my driveway is about 800' long I need to knock down the high sides into the ruts where possible. I don't want to end up with a huge loose pile of dirt and gravel since there is a significant slope and with hard rains the gravel runs downhill pretty easily at times now, despite being packed in from use. Thanks for any tips.

 

[Marveltone]

After my first experiment with my cousin's 6' BB, I ordered a 5' HD Tarter from my local Fleet Supply store. The local International/New Holland dealer carries Buhler/Farm King, but I don't like how the scarifiers are attached, as the pins seem hard to grab for adjustment. So I went for the Tarter, which seems to be more or less a copy of KK, and it fit my budget better as well. It should be here by the weekend, so I'll be able to give a report on my initial findings.

 

[3RRL]

...I was thinking of only using the ripper teeth on the edge not the center of the blade; that is raise the middle ones so they never engage. Is it OK to not have all the rippers set at the same depth or am I asking for some trouble?

Yes, that's OK to do.
I often use only one or two or whatever the job calls for.
I got a 5-1/2 footer (Grizzly) for my wife's 284 Jinma (28hp). It sticks out past the rear tires even at the widest wheel setting. It's construction is good enough for whatever load that tractor will put on it. With all 6 rippers down in my hard decomposed gravel, even with R1's the tractor tires just slip. It's also a good idea to use them all, but only put them down slightly so there is not so much resistance. Just do a couple of extra "tear-up the ground" passes.
BTW, I'm a boxblade fan. I love hers and my 7 foot boxblade (for my 55hp Kama 554).
Rob-

 

[b2910]

Yes, that's OK to do.
I often use only one or two or whatever the job calls for.
I got a 5-1/2 footer (Grizzly) for my wife's 284 Jinma (28hp). It sticks out past the rear tires even at the widest wheel setting. It's construction is good enough for whatever load that tractor will put on it. With all 6 rippers down in my hard decomposed gravel, even with R1's the tractor tires just slip. It's also a good idea to use them all, but only put them down slightly so there is not so much resistance. Just do a couple of extra "tear-up the ground" passes.
BTW, I'm a boxblade fan. I love hers and my 7 foot boxblade (for my 55hp Kama 554).
Rob-

Thanks, I would like to only tear up the ridges that have been pushed up by my car tires over the years and it sounds like this is feasible. I have never had any luck using a scraper blade, just follows the ups and downs of the tractor and makes matters worse. Once I read some of the comments about the box blade, always wondered what they were, I was half convinced that it was what I needed. I am hoping somebody can explain what the rear facing blade is used for on the box blade, it would appear to be more like a scraper blade.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

Thanks, I would like to only tear up the ridges that have been pushed up by my car tires over the years and it sounds like this is feasible. I have never had any luck using a scraper blade, just follows the ups and downs of the tractor and makes matters worse. Once I read some of the comments about the box blade, always wondered what they were, I was half convinced that it was what I needed. I am hoping somebody can explain what the rear facing blade is used for on the box blade, it would appear to be more like a scraper blade.

The rear faceing blade, I would say, is to lay down the finish....nice and smooth.

Use your top link to adjust the forward faceing blade slightly higher than the rear faceing blade. Go slow and that should give you that nice finished look.

 

[b2910]

The rear faceing blade, I would say, is to lay down the finish....nice and smooth.

Use your top link to adjust the forward faceing blade slightly higher than the rear faceing blade. Go slow and that should give you that nice finished look.

Thanks for the tip, so it actually uses the backside of the rear blade.

Just editing my previous post to leave 3RRL's link post at the bottom. Thanks 3RRL for the great links, just started reading them but already see a lot of good tips. And thanks dcyrilc for getting 3RRL to provide those links.

I did some box blade work today, first time, and I also am impressed despite my poor skill level. I have a vacant lot from a home demolition that I needed to straighten up so my riding mower can handle it in the future. I had tried leveling the high spots backing up with my FEL pushed down but it seemed to temporarily stop working which scared me that I might have messed up the hydraulics so that was incentive enough to buy a box blade. Of course the FEL doesn't float so it is not a great bulldozer blade anyway. I had decent success with the box blade using the scarifiers but the big problem were the large rocks and brick debris left from the demolition. I had to pick those up by hand and put them elsewhere. In the end I got it cleared and leveled enough for my riding mower to handle it, with a few hundred more smaller rocks to gather over time; but at least I could spread some grass seed and feel like I wouldn't destroy it by any future leveling. Then I tried the box blade on my driveway. I dumped fresh gravel on the deepest ruts and raised the scarifiers so only the blades did the work. I did extend the top link some to get that smoothing action and it looks like this will work well for me. I don't really want to tear up the high spots as much as fill in the low spots. I have only done about 5% of the driveway so far - plenty of practice coming up.

Now back to reading those threads 3RRL linked in. Thanks to all of you, this is great information. I hope there is something in there to help with removing the blade from the 3PH, it was a bear getting it off today, not enough room in the garage with it attached, I think I had drag bars too tight against the box blade.

 

[dcyrilc]

Thanks for the tip, so it actually uses the backside of the rear blade.

Check out 3RRL's threads on using his rear blade or drop him a PM. Great guy.:thumbsup: He uses the rear cutting edge a lot. I'm kinda suprised he hasn't spoken up about it's use yet.

 

[3RRL]

Thanks for the plug Cyril!
I do use the rear blade a lot for pushing, instead of pulling the dirt. I didn't want to take up this thread with how I use the boxblade, because I have so many threads and posts about it's use(es) already. I'll provide some links to the threads though. They are comments from myself and many other TBN members and most of them have lots of photos that really shows how to use it.
Here are some links to some of the threads. Some are from other members and some are ones I started...

Beginners guide to using a box blade
Techniques for basic box scraper
Plowing Food Plot with Boxblade
Various Boxblade Uses
Some videos posted in this one Box Blading in Reverse
There are lots more if you do a search.

 

[Scrambler82]

I picked up a 48 BB for my little tractor, 24 HP CCY.
I am a first time user and novice at best in tractors but 24 HP CCY pulled it and cut up the area well enough.
I hoped for results like I got but didn稚 konw and now glad I got it.

The unit is a United HD448 and it is built better than some of the Land Pride 48 Units I have seen. ($400 shipped to the door)