box blade or rear blade

[tony binkowski]

hey guys, just pondering on which blade to get first? all info would be great! i have to maintain 2 miles of field road and move snow in conjunction with 63in. front blower. b3000 is coming in apirl, maybe also who makes the best bang for the buck on implements? thx tony

 

[TripleR]

Do you run ditches along side your road?

 

[tony binkowski]

no i do not run the ditches.

 

[Johndeere3720]

I have both and It really depends on what your terrain is like. Is there pot holes or deep ruts in the road? Is the road hard packed or softer ground? Is it gravel or dirt? For general filling in pot holes, ruts, and leveling hard packed dirt roads, I would look no further than a box blade, 6' for your new Bota. But when it comes to snow removal, i favor the rear blade. With a rear blade you can angle it, some can offset and tilt which is great for digging ditches and does an excellent job on putting the perfect grade on your roads. Here is my rear blade grading our driveway.
Using my blade on the driveway - Tractor Videos - Kubota, John Deere, New Holland and More Mine doesn't have the fancy tilt or offset, although i plan to add it later. anyways you can see how my rear blade works, I added some weights to it to improve digging effort and custom gauge wheels to get both the perfect grade on roads and for improved snow removal. One thing that a rear blade lacks is the ability to cultivate hard packed ground and it cannot hold material like a box blade, it will just pile it up either on both sides or to the side it is angled to which is good if you need extra gravel to move with a FEL but it requires the time to be smoothed out.

 

[tony binkowski]

what brand should i buy, landpride look nice. thx for the videos, thats a nice set up. thx tony

 

[TripleR]

no i do not run the ditches.

I have box blades and back blades. The back blades spend their time in the shed while the box blades spend their time on our tractors. I have not used a back blade in over a year and put it away shortly thereafter.

I am going to hook up to one some time this year, probably to get some of the rock back onto the road where the grand kids have been hitting the corners a little too fast.

I personally would buy the box blade first and it is obvious which brand I prefer though some of the more economical work quite well. I have an LMC for our BX2660 and my brothers use the LMC on their Ford 600's.

 

[Tom_H]

I have both the BB and the RB. For 2 miles of road, neither is the right tool. I recommend a Land Pride Grading Scraper, or its equivalent. It is much more effective than the other two, and for that much road, I think you need the best tool possible. Before you buy, you really need to read the following thread in its entirety:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/138952-land-pride-grading-scraper.html

 

[kidstrustfund]

I am using a friends ford 4x4 1708 with a box blade now. It is the first time I have used a box blade. His box blade has a second blade on the rear of the box. When you go forward you get the box blade working. When you go in reverse you push the material like a dozer. The tractor has an adjustable link so you can create a crown. It has 5 large teeth that are adjustable. They pull the box blade down into the material. They also create a gage that sets the blade up a bit when you go in reverse. The blade is very robust and the weight is very heavy. Its the most impressive tool I have ever used to grade. I am clearing some land and grinding the stumps which is leaving lots of roots and brush. I go forward and cut down into the roots and start to level the ground. I then go in reverse and push the piles of debris and further level the ground. I then use the FEL and pick up the piles and move the them to a large pile . The FEL also is being used to back drag the material. I can't believe how quickly I am getting a good sub grade going. My old skid loader would take 10 times longer to do the same job. Tom

 

[srs]

hey guys, just pondering on which blade to get first? all info would be great! i have to maintain 2 miles of field road and move snow in conjunction with 63in. front blower. b3000 is coming in apirl, maybe also who makes the best bang for the buck on implements? thx tony

Interesting video to watch here.

How To Series - Snow Removal - Tractor Rear Scrape Blade - Tractor Videos - Kubota, John Deere, New Holland and More

 

[MtnViewRanch]

For 2 miles of road, you definitely need a land-plane grader blade. These are the single best implement to maintain a road. It's nice to have a box blade and a rear blade and you may find yourself wanting one or both later on, but hands down a LPGB is the best implement to maintain a road with.

Land Pride Grading Scrapers

GradeMaster Grader Blades

 

[number two]

Tony,if I recall you're getting the cab model?If so,they come with the quarter-inching valve or position control,depending on getting the cold weather package or not.This may affect your implement choice.
I've got several Woods implements,72" rear blade for use in the winter behind my 63" front blower,and 60" box blade for dirt/gravel work and counterweight for loader work.In retrospect,I should have gotten a 65" or 72" boxblade,but the 60" is nice working in the woods doing firewood duty with the loader.
Woods is good quality at a fair price as are others.Good Luck!

 

[crazyal]

I'm not sure how well a grading scraper will work in the winter.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I'm not sure how well a grading scraper will work in the winter.

True, but does he not have a blower? With a simple modification the grading scraper would work just as well as a box blade. But I do agree, I would not want to use a grading scraper for snow removal.

 

[TripleR]

The grading scraper is an excellent road maintenance tool, but for all around use, I prefer a box scraper. Now if I could afford both...

 

[MtnViewRanch]

A land -plane grader blade has many uses, not just road maintenance. But I'm sure that ground conditions along with many other circumstances contribute to how and what can be accomplished with any certain implement.

 

[TripleR]

A land -plane grader blade has many uses, not just road maintenance. But I'm sure that ground conditions along with many other circumstances contribute to how and what can be accomplished with any certain implement.

I use my box blade for digging and moving lots of dirt as well as quantities of rock. I also use it to push dirt and rock as well as brush up into piles. With a good responding 3-point and hydraulic top-link, I can get a really good finish on a road with my box blade also. From my experience and use, I just can't see a land plane grader working as well for me, but as you say conditions/need vary.

 

[tony binkowski]

thx for all the info, i will have to put alot of thought into this before i buy!!!! do we all agree that the box or the rear blade will add good ballast for front snowblower?? thx tony

 

[Tom_H]

I use my box blade for digging and moving lots of dirt as well as quantities of rock. I also use it to push dirt and rock as well as brush up into piles. With a good responding 3-point and hydraulic top-link, I can get a really good finish on a road with my box blade also. From my experience and use, I just can't see a land plane grader working as well for me, but as you say conditions/need vary.

Have you ever used a land plane grader? I have all three and in my own experience, it is superior to the box blade and rear blade for road use. Now granted, the BB is a more versatile tool, but for road grading, I find my Land Pride Grading Scraper better, and for two entire miles of road, there's just no way I'd settle for anything less than the best implement.

Tony: some rear blades are not all that heavy and may not give you the ballast you think it will.

 

[crazyal]

thx for all the info, i will have to put alot of thought into this before i buy!!!! do we all agree that the box or the rear blade will add good ballast for front snowblower?? thx tony

Box blade, yes. Rear blade, probably not going to give you a lot of weight. When you said you wanted a blade for snow removal I assumed you meant for light snowfalls or cleaning up after snow blowing. If you're thinking of it more for ballast then that's a whole different subject. The grading scraper will give you as much weight as the BB but is a lot longer so if you are working in tight areas it'll really hinder you.

For simple rear ballast I took a 55 gallon drum and turned it into a ballast box for real cheap (i had a drum, some scrap steel, and a bunch of 80lb bags of cement that hardened before it got used).

 

[Redneck in training]

Here is my take on the subject. Box blade is used not only for grading but also dirt moving. Then I would get a landscape rake instead of the rear blade. Then in the winter attach a piece of conveyor belt (some people use horse stable rubber mats) or similar material to the rake. You can cut it quite wider (in example two pieces one slightly larger than the rake and the other three or four feet) Single piece is used for mud scraping from concrete and both for snow. I also use the rake with every other tine removed to spread material or to rake branches or large rocks without dragging dirt in front of the rake.