5' or 6' Box Blade

[beeser]

My Bobcat CT2040 has a rear wheel width, outside to outside of 62". I may get a different tractor that has a width of 68". Is there any downside to getting a 6' box blade for either tractor?

 

[Thomas]

Most like rear box about 6" each side wider than tire print.
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[Midniteoyl]

Get the 6' regardless. Tractor can handle it no problem.

 

[CoyPatton]

My Bobcat CT2040 has a rear wheel width, outside to outside of 62". I may get a different tractor that has a width of 68". Is there any downside to getting a 6' box blade for either tractor?

There is a potential great downside to a BB that is narrower than your tractors rear tire tread width.
If you want to level an area—yard, pasture, whatever. 1st pass is no biggie, but for second and on you either have to get off and tilt the BB to offset that one tire is in graded area and the other is in non graded area. If it were 1 adjustment and that was it, it is a pain but manageable pain. The problem is you want it leveled. Which means your ground likely is not even already and will need adjustments ever few feet to yards. No problem if you have TNT, but most using a 5 or 6 ft BB do not have this function.
The other option is to skip and area on each pass narrower than your inside tire width. This sounds like a great option, but go back to your uneven ground you want leveled. Unless using a laser leveling system, it is unlikely the passes that skip ground will not be at the exact same depth.
When you want to fill some low spots, they will happening from settling/compaction of soils, same problems will be in place.
Get a BB at least a few inches wider than the rear width of your tractor’s rear tires and avoid the headaches. Not to even touch on you get more work done faster with a wider blade as long as your tractor will handle the width.

 

[beeser]

Thanks for the responses. Looks like the 6' box blade is the way to go. I have a similar question regarding an angle blade which I'll include in another thread.

 

[CoyPatton]

Thanks for the responses. Looks like the 6' box blade is the way to go. I have a similar question regarding an angle blade which I'll include in another thread.

Question if your current tractor can handle an 8’ straight rear blade, would it handle a 7’ BB? Do you have any places where you plan to either use the BB or transport the BB that would be an issue for a 7’ BB?

 

[oosik]

I have a 72" roll over box blade. My rear tires are 80" - outside to outside. I've yet of find that the narrower width is any real disadvantage. After I grub around with the ROBB - I will usually finish the project with my Land Pride 2584 LPGS or Rhino 950 rear blade @ 96". If I need it to be super smooth.

 

[beeser]

I ended up getting the 6' box blade and 7' angle blade. I would've got the 8' angle blade but the suggestion of checking my door width made the decision on the angle blade width for me. The wider blade would've been a tight fit.

 

[DieselBound]

My box blades have been wider than wheels and have all had rear blades on them and those allow one to smooth in reverse. Going narrower will result in an uneven surface for the wheels to travel on if the box blade is narrower than the tractor's wheels.

Regarding limitations on widths, I've got a couple of places where I need to mow that I cannot mow with my 7' flail (even with side shift) which I was mowing with a 6' RC. Fortunately I can do a quick touch-up using my B7800 and its 5' RC (can get the job done faster than swapping implements on the NX).