Contemplating a box blade

[FERLING]

I was going to order some gravel from the local ready mix place for my two driveways until I bought my Box Blade. I put the scarifiers down, dug it up some, leveled the hump in the middle that likes to grow grass, filled in a hole here and there, adjusted the drain a bit without much problem. After a few rains, it looks pretty darn good. Much better than it did before.

It's really handy to have a Box Blade. It's one of the more useful tools you'll have. Plus, it balances your FEL a bit. I can uproot a small tree here and there and put more in my bucket. It's 400lbs worth of ballast, no charge

Try out one of these for raising gravel back to the top on a gravel driveway. It will save you from buying a lot of extra gravel.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Yes, Everything Attachments is behind, mainly due to a sketchy supply chain and constant demand, but hopefully the new facility we're working on will help to remedy the wait.

As far as box blades are concerned, we've upped the bar, big time, with our new WICKED easy adjust ripper shanks, which are 100% Hardox 450. It eliminates the need of those pesky, welded on tips, which are known to pop off.

EA Box Blade Full Lineup

We can talk about it, but it's more fun to prove strength..
Travis

 

[Fxfymn413]

The key words you used here are "pushing dirt back into a swale from a pile you create". 'Loosened' material, if you try to push unloosened or heavy material, you will bend or break parts..

I guess I have extraordinary luck since I have used the box to dig up virgin soil going forward and backwards and have for well over 30 years now without any issues.

You can break or bend anything if you don't pay attention to how your machine is acting. Pay attention, work with the machine, and go slow when slow is called for and you can do a lot that you are not supposed to be able to do according to legend.

 

[jyoutz]

My box blade just sits after purchasing a landplane. Haven't used it in 4 years. Most of my leveling is road maintenance so the landplane is the go to piece of equipment.

I don’t have a land plane, but I had both a box blade and rear blade for my last tractor. I used the box blade several times to level out a pad for a few sheds/carports, but never liked it for road maintenance. I have about 2400’ of gravel road to maintain and snowplow. I found the rear grader blade to be the better tool for that purpose. When I bought my new MX, I declined to get a box blade and spent the money on buying a heavy duty six way rear blade. Having offset capability is truly what is needed for road maintenance.

 

[s219]

I guess I have extraordinary luck since I have used the box to dig up virgin soil going forward and backwards and have for well over 30 years now without any issues.

You can break or bend anything if you don't pay attention to how your machine is acting. Pay attention, work with the machine, and go slow when slow is called for and you can do a lot that you are not supposed to be able to do according to legend.

You are very lucky then. A standard 3-pt hitch linkage geometry only works in tension, when pulling. When you push backwards it's equivalent to pushing with chain, and the parts have to go into a bind before they can resist the compression. It's not an ideal arrangement.

I've had no problems pushing backward on softer materials with my box blade. Be careful/aware and it should be a non issue.

 

[jk96]

I don’t have a land plane, but I had both a box blade and rear blade for my last tractor. I used the box blade several times to level out a pad for a few sheds/carports, but never liked it for road maintenance. I have about 2400’ of gravel road to maintain and snowplow. I found the rear grader blade to be the better tool for that purpose. When I bought my new MX, I declined to get a box blade and spent the money on buying a heavy duty six way rear blade. Having offset capability is truly what is needed for road maintenance.

With your driveway being 2,400ft a landplane would be one of those tools you can't believe you went without. You will need a hydraulic top link to get the best use out of it. Our driveway is 1 mile long and can't imagine maintaining it without the landplane. Use the rear blade or rake 1 or 2 times a year to pull the edges back in before dragging.

 

[jyoutz]

With your driveway being 2,400ft a landplane would be one of those tools you can't believe you went without. You will need a hydraulic top link to get the best use out of it. Our driveway is 1 mile long and can't imagine maintaining it without the landplane. Use the rear blade or rake 1 or 2 times a year to pull the edges back in before dragging.

The thing that I don’t like about the land plane is loosening up the gravel deeper than I like. I like the road to stay hard packed and just pull the gravel in from the sides and smooth out a few bumps. It seems like when I have loosened the gravel too much, the road develops bumps and potholes. My 1000# category 2 Bison blade doesn’t skip like lighter duty blades and therefore probably acts a bit like a land plane. The land plane looks like a great implement, but is pricey and I’m able to do a good job with my blade.

 

[jk96]

The thing that I don’t like about the land plane is loosening up the gravel deeper than I like. I like the road to stay hard packed and just pull the gravel in from the sides and smooth out a few bumps. It seems like when I have loosened the gravel too much, the road develops bumps and potholes. My 1000# category 2 Bison blade doesn’t skip like lighter duty blades and therefore probably acts a bit like a land plane. The land plane looks like a great implement, but is pricey and I’m able to do a good job with my blade.

Most have adjustable blade depth. But if what you have works well then no need to change that.

 

[mo1]

I'm thinking about getting a box blade to level out soil.

Anyone have/used the TSC ones?

Otherwise, what's good?

I use a pretty beaten up and worn 6' unit that came with a used tractor. I no longer have that tractor but kept the blade. I don't know what brand it is as it has no identifying marks, it had been poorly repainted, it was originally orange. It looks like about any other nondescript 6' box blade. I use it to level out gravel and loose dirt, and it does that well, so I am not sure how much having a "good" unit really matters if all you do is work with loose material. I would probably look at a used one instead of a new one if I ever needed to get a different box blade as they show up fairly frequently.

 

[bigcharliec]

Every implement has pros cons. What’s missing from your question is what do you need or want to do with it? Move piles of material, digup and regrade fields, maintain gravel roads? Answer this first to get more informed response.
I have a 5’ box blade, 6’ scrap/grading blade, a 6’ landscape rake, a potato plow, and even bought a DR grader (before land plane graders became popular). Each is good at something, not so good at another.
Of all I use the landscape rake more than anything - it’s most versatile of all - to maintain 1 mile of gravel subdivision. Used box blade for a few years on the road until I really learned how to use the rake - now the only time I used box was to rough grade a newly cleared acre. Haven’t used it since. If road gets really bad, i have a dump truck of gravel spread, furrow it with scraper, flatten in one pass then go back to raking.