Blades on a box blade

[jenkinsph]

Thanks for your suggestions but this is looking like an issue of the holes being drilled to deep in the blades.

Either swap the blades for correctly drilled ones (first choice) or mark and grind the plow bolts square shoulders so they don't interfere with the holes on the box blade.

Are all the holes in the blade like this?

 

[crazyal]

Have Ea send you new a new blade, I'm assuming the other blade is OK. At this point in time I'm sure they gladly will and pay to have it painted. It looks like the holes were over countersunk. The only other option would be to try carriage bolts and see if they will work (doesn't seam desirable to me). put large washers between the blade and the steel frame (should work fine but some people wouldn't be happy), or to make the holes in the frame square. To make square holes you pretty much have to do it by hand with a file. I would just get a replacement.

 

[Deere Dude]

Either swap the blades for correctly drilled ones (first choice) or mark and grind the plow bolts square shoulders so they don't interfere with the holes on the box blade.

Are all the holes in the blade like this?

If the bolts are ground down I would think if they ever need to be replaced they would never come out.

 

[jenkinsph]

If the bolts are ground down I would think if they ever need to be replaced they would never come out.

You would only grind the part that is sticking through the blade causing the problem. If it was a problem a torch would make quick work of removal.

 

[dirt ditch]

My :2cents:, bolt the blade on, ream out the top link hole straight, then take it out and use it. Once you get to using it you won't notice it. At work I have changed hundreds of cutting blades on graders, snow plows, loaders, and backhoes. Removing worn blades usually takes an impact wrench and about 1/3 of the bolts have to be torched off. Blades never fit perfect, even on equipment worth 10s of thousands of dollars, but they will wear straight. Years ago I paid $750 for a new Land Pride read blade. I can't turn the blade around backwards without having to use a hammer to drive the pin in because the holes for that don't line up right. Never bothered me, I just make it work.

 

[ovrszd]

I too have changed hundreds of grader cutting edges. I've never saw this problem.

 

[Catman8]

I just read your guys last six comments and they are all informative. Yes I could grind down the square portion of the bolt so it fits through the round hole and I think I won't run out of threads because the thickness of the steel and the washers while leaving enough square so it won't turn.

Im guessing that either the blades are drilled to deep or a larger bolt goes into the blade and the holes in the box scraper were drilled too small.


Off the top of my head I think they are 5/8" do these bolt come in odd sizes like metric or different size heads that maybe I got the wrong bolts or does this style of bolt have a industry standard head.

I am also curious why the back of this blade is curved, i would think they should have more of a flat area on the back for more surface area for support, having it curved the only contact is in the middle of the blade.

 

[ovrszd]

If it's handy for you to do so, buy one bolt, size larger than the ones you have, try it in your cutter and see if the square shoulder protrudes thru?

My farm supply store is very customer friendly. I'd take the cutter with me, go in and pick out a bolt, tell them what I'm doing and go out to the truck and try it, without having to purchase said bolt.

It's possible the cutter holes are for a larger bolt?

Also understand that bolts are sometimes designed differently in regards to the head surface. My example below is with a bolt that has what I call a "bulging" head surface. Normally the bolt has a flat head surface or even sometimes a concave surface.

Excuse my crappy product. Here's an example of two cutters designed to be used with two different bolt sizes. I didn't have a smaller bolt to display in the cutter with smaller hole. But I did have a matching bolt for the larger one.

 

[oldballs]

Heck, even though there has been some contention, I'd call EA and have them send the correct bolt size. They probably grabbed the wrong set of bolts, since it was sent unassembled.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[ovrszd]

Mike, by his caliper measurements it doesn't look like a larger bolt will fit thru the holes in the frame. Rather looks like maybe the cutters are designed for a larger size bolt? That could be determined by getting a larger cutter bolt and trying it?

 

[Catman8]

Heck, even though there has been some contention, I'd call EA and have them send the correct bolt size. They probably grabbed the wrong set of bolts, since it was sent unassembled.
Cheers,
Mike

Could be, I'm not upset in the least, most of us here on TBN are hobbyist and are doing this all for fun, no life or death situation, I have a shop like most of the people here on TBN we are prefabbing and playing in our shops and learning and having fun. I'm sure when Travis figures this out or has a suggestion he will chime in and lend a helping hand, they are all pretty nice over their at EA friendly and helpful.

 

[Catman8]

Off to the hardware store for a larger bolt:cool2:

 

[ovrszd]

Here's an example of a flat head bolt.

 

[Catman8]

The hardware store only had 5/8" plow bolts same as the ones supplied, and the next size bolt up was 3/4" so from the pictures you can see that the holes in the blade are cut to deep and the 3/4" threads will fit through some of the holes and not the others unless you threaded them through. So it's looking like they are the correct bolts but the holes are cut way to deep and after looking at the square shoulder if I grind that off there will be nothing to keep the bolt from spinning. The bolt in the hole in both pictures is the 3/4" one.

 

[downsizingnow48]

These folks have all different kinds of plow bolts.

Trinity Bolt Catalog Pages Trinity Hardware Headquarters

 

[downsizingnow48]

Although I've used regular hex bolts instead and never had a problem.

 

[Catman8]

Thanks for the link Pat.

 

[kthompson]

On the blade only, are they made by the company who makes the box blade or by a specialty company? I would suspect many companies do not make the blade themselves rather they purchase them. I am not asking this of EA only, I had always assumed they were a specialty product made to industry specs by a few specialty companies. If they are made by the manufacturer of the box blade then having an old box blade who's manufacturer had gone out of business could be a problem.

 

[ovrszd]

The hardware store only had 5/8" plow bolts same as the ones supplied, and the next size bolt up was 3/4" so from the pictures you can see that the holes in the blade are cut to deep and the 3/4" threads will fit through some of the holes and not the others unless you threaded them through. So it's looking like they are the correct bolts but the holes are cut way to deep and after looking at the square shoulder if I grind that off there will be nothing to keep the bolt from spinning. The bolt in the hole in both pictures is the 3/4" one.

Yep, they are the right size. Bummer.

I don't understand how EA is assembling their BB without having this problem? They must just hammer the bolts tight with an impact and call it good.

I'd be curious to know if all of the cutters they have used from this provider have this problem?

I can't even think of anything to offer......

 

[ovrszd]

On the blade only, are they made by the company who makes the box blade or by a specialty company? I would suspect many companies do not make the blade themselves rather they purchase them. I am not asking this of EA only, I had always assumed they were a specialty product made to industry specs by a few specialty companies. If they are made by the manufacturer of the box blade then having an old box blade who's manufacturer had gone out of business could be a problem.

I doubt that any manufacturer of a BB also builds the cutters. In EA's case, I'm sure they outsource the cutters.