Box Blade Question - Ripper Teeth Depth

[von-mil]

Today I was at the local farm retailer looking at a King Kutter 5 foot box blade. It has 5 ripper teeth that can be adjusted to 4 different depth settings. When the box is sitting level on the ground, only the 2 deepest settings have the teeth protruding out lower than the side frame rails of the box. The third setting has the bottom of the teeth an inch or two above the bottom of the frame and the highest setting is another couple inches above that. I don't understand how these two shallow settings are supposed to do any digging. The only thing I can think of is that you need to shorten the length of the top link considerably and have the side rails slice into the ground a bit and then the teeth can start cutting. Or am I looking at it all wrong?

I've looked at all kinds of box blade threads here but haven't seen this talked about.

The specs say that the weight of the BB is 441 pounds which I am thinking would be a good match for my 30 HP CUT. The price is reasonable and the store puts them on sale (10-15% off) every now and then.

I am looking for any advice, comments, experiences, etc that TBN can provide. Thanks

 

[s219]

The box blades I have owned generally have three settings for rippers. The lowest puts them about 2" below the sides, the middle puts them even, and the top raises them above the sides.

For most use, I leave the rippers even with the sides. With a short top link, they will dig. With a long top link, they will not dig. It's a good setting for grading work, where I need to do digging and smoothing interchangeably.

The only time I dropped the rippers all the way down was when trying to loosen up some compacted soil that had roots and rocks in it. That activity is not easy on the tractor, and I don't think it is very common. So I wouldn't think that setting gets used a whole lot.

Remember, the main point of the box blade is that the box can collect material, which allows you to A) dig, and B) remove material from high spots and deposit it in low spots while moving forward. The rippers are there to aid in that when needed, and to not get in the way when not needed. They are not really meant to be doing major work by themselves with the rest of the box in the air, otherwise you could get by with a different and better implement for that.

 

[Fawken]

That's how its done. Shorten top link for breaking soil loose with the teeth. I've found that once the top of the grass is busted you can then dig very well with just the blade.

 

[brown40]

It's to give you the options. Tilted forward with the teeth at the lowest setting is a root-ripping/ground opening configuration. Great for small stump removal. The rippers open up turf and hard areas so the blade can do its job. Been using mine today to take stumps and loam off a ledge--it works great, and much more nimble than a backhoe for small stuff.

 

[ovrszd]

The highest setting is to get them out of the way.

Top link adjustment can make the second highest setting useful. But that would require a hydraulic top link. Unless you wanted to get off and reset them a LOT.

With several hours of use, you'll get it figured out. Everyone uses a BB differently.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Today I was at the local farm retailer looking at a King Kutter 5 foot box blade. It has 5 ripper teeth that can be adjusted to 4 different depth settings. When the box is sitting level on the ground, only the 2 deepest settings have the teeth protruding out lower than the side frame rails of the box. The third setting has the bottom of the teeth an inch or two above the bottom of the frame and the highest setting is another couple inches above that. I don't understand how these two shallow settings are supposed to do any digging. The only thing I can think of is that you need to shorten the length of the top link considerably and have the side rails slice into the ground a bit and then the teeth can start cutting. Or am I looking at it all wrong?

I've looked at all kinds of box blade threads here but haven't seen this talked about.

The specs say that the weight of the BB is 441 pounds which I am thinking would be a good match for my 30 HP CUT. The price is reasonable and the store puts them on sale (10-15% off) every now and then.

I am looking for any advice, comments, experiences, etc that TBN can provide. Thanks

The very beginning of my commercial box scraper review shows max depth on my Frontier (most likely made by Woods/Gannon) angled in as deep as possible using a hydraulic top ram.

 

[von-mil]

Thanks for the replies.

That's how its done. Shorten top link for breaking soil loose with the teeth. I've found that once the top of the grass is busted you can then dig very well with just the blade.

Regarding breaking through and removing grass, how good of a job does a box blade do at this? Wouldn't the clumps of sod just get hung up in the box? Would I need to get off the tractor every x number of feet and clean out these clumps?

 

[jenkinsph]

Thanks for the replies.




Regarding breaking through and removing grass, how good of a job does a box blade do at this? Wouldn't the clumps of sod just get hung up in the box? Would I need to get off the tractor every x number of feet and clean out these clumps?

I have never found this to be a problem, grass with dirt clumps attached is heavy and falls out easily.

 

[s219]

Thanks for the replies.

Regarding breaking through and removing grass, how good of a job does a box blade do at this? Wouldn't the clumps of sod just get hung up in the box? Would I need to get off the tractor every x number of feet and clean out these clumps?

Clumps will only be an issue for final smoothing. What you will find is that loose fine material will sift out of the box as you're smoothing, and you will be left with a collection of larger chunks in the box. You may periodically need to dump those chunks (I usually reserve a dumping area off to the side). If you attempt to do final grading/smoothing with a lot of junk in the box, it can get caught under the edge and leave grooves in the dirt.

I normally make some rough passes to get up all the garbage, and then pull it off to the side and dump the box. Then start making final passes with clean dirt in the box and work towards final smoothing.

 

[jenkinsph]

Usually if you rip up the ground with a box blade you can make a few passes over the ground and break up the clumps enough to make it work. If you can break it up and wait a few days to allow the grass to wither it makes smoothing easier to do. Tilling would really speed up the process if you have one.