Boxblade or Scraper Blade?

[nybirdman]

I have a use both..seven ft.Bush-Hog branded rear blade(medium duty and fairly heavy) that angles and tilts and a Bush-Hog box blade,again medium duty.Both have their places.I use the rear blade mostly for snow removal along with a FEL mounted 8ft. Curtis.The box blade has a longer learning curve but I find it very good on level/contour my drives and landscaping.I do not push back-wards with either one(tough on the three point).

 

[MtnViewRanch]

All good thoughts, gentlemen. Please, keep them coming.

When I say "gravel that's blown off to the side", I don't mean much further than 12 - 18" from the wheel ruts.

No rear hydraulics on my 1533 so all adjustments are going to be manually done.

How would the box blade move material from the side to the center seeing as how the blade is straight? I would have thought the blade would have to be angled back in order to move material in that direction. As well, why would the box blade be less likely to skip/bounce over the center hump vs a scraper blade?

I think that it is common for people in general to think of a rear blade as being light weight thus skipping along not getting anything done. The same holds true for a box blade, if it is light weight, it won't do much to hard ground either. A good rear blade weighs about the same as a good box blade. Both should be within 10-15% of each other and should be close to the maximum of what the tractor can realistically handle under a load.

Just my opinion

 

[bcp]

You can tighten a nut with pliers, and file flats on a screw head then use a wrench, but the right tool works better. You need both wrench and pliers.

Bruce

 

[billybobjimmyjoejack]

This thread reminds me of a story about a horse trainer that was also my realtor when I was looking for some semi-rural property. This guy had been around horses all his life and he was in his late 60's. We decided on a location and size and some amenities that we needed and we told him we needed to be able to keep horses on the property as well. He asked what breed of horses we had and we told him, his response was, "I know that breed they are very versatile, they do everything poorly".
Both of the implements that you are interested in are really versatile. They can do a lot of things but they don't do any one thing really well.
You only mention driveway grading as a task that you would use this implement for and again both the box blade and scraper blade will work with practice but the best tool for this application is a grader/scraper or a utility grader.
Everything Attachments (as stated earlier in this thread) has great videos of all three of these implements in action with a good explanation of setup,adjusting and there limitations.

 

[babzog]

Re: Rear hydraulics... I was referring to the hydraulic top link and tilt control that some have mentioned in this thread.. I have no rear remote hydraulic connects on my tractor - dealer wants nearly $2k to add that on - so whatever adjustments I'd make to a rear attachment, I do manually. I'd love to get a set of remotes... log splitter, etc etc.

Snow removal - I picked up a (well used) blower last year which makes that job so much easier.

Yes, grading the driveway was the only task I had in mind at this time, but after watching some vids, I can already picture using the box blade for another project (re-grading around the house).

Only ad I've seen (locally) for a used box blade is a Rhino BX72 for $600. Looks to be in pretty good shape.

 

[JB4310]

Only ad I've seen (locally) for a used box blade is a Rhino BX72 for $600. Looks to be in pretty good shape.

Sounds like a decent deal, but what is the HP of your tractor, and do you have 4X4?

I have 32 hp w/4x4 and 5 feet is the right fit for this machine for the box blade. I have a 6 foot rear blade and since I just use it for snow on mostly hard smooth surfaces, that seems to be the right size as well. I also have a 6 foot rake also a good fit.
The box fills up and can get heavy, also with the rippers down it really loads the tractor, so smaller is gonna cut better.

JB

 

[babzog]

Sounds like a decent deal, but what is the HP of your tractor, and do you have 4X4?

I have 32 hp w/4x4 and 5 feet is the right fit for this machine for the box blade. I have a 6 foot rear blade and since I just use it for snow on mostly hard smooth surfaces, that seems to be the right size as well.
I have a 6 foot rake also a good fit, the box fills up and can get heavy, also with the rippers down it really loads the tractor, so smaller is gonna cut better.

JB

Tractor is a MF 1533. 33HP, 4x4. Tractor isn't very heavy, only about 3000 lbs (about as much as my van).

 

[JB4310]

Tractor is a MF 1533. 33HP, 4x4. Tractor isn't very heavy, only about 3000 lbs (about as much as my van).

6 foot may be a to big based on my experience, like I said the smaller box will cut better, but the wider one will level and finish better. So I guess it's a bit of a trade off.

For the major jobs I've done with mine, which required digging down deep for a patio base, driveway base and the drainage swale, the 6 footer would wouldn't of worked as well as the 5 footer.

JB

 

[babzog]

6 foot may be a to big based on my experience, like I said the smaller box will cut better, but the wider one will level and finish better. So I guess it's a bit of a trade off.

For the major jobs I've done with mine, which required digging down deep for a patio base, driveway base and the drainage swale, the 6 footer would wouldn't of worked as well as the 5 footer.

JB

Well, I've got all winter to watch the ads. I'd like to do a pass now on the laneway but it's no big deal to let it sit the winter. I like hitting the farm auctions in the spring and summer but surprisingly, I don't recall seeing a box blade at one of them. A few rear scraper blades, some overpriced, many with hydraulics (useless for me), many too large for my tractor and many that look like they've been around since the dawn of time.

What's the best way to deal with potholes using a box blade... how deep do you set the scarifiers to dig - to the depth of the pothole, shallower? Or are they really needed at all for that job?

 

[KU Gator]

I don't mess with my drive this time of year because I don't really want to break it up and have a lot of loose rock on top which will just get pushed to the side when we get the 1st snow before the drive is frozen. I will work on it in the spring. Plus right now we haven't had significant rain since last spring, so mine would be about like trying to break up concrete.

To work on it in the spring, I will wait until after it thaws and we have some moisture to get started. Then I adjust it to where one side is lower than the other. I put the rippers at their lowest setting. Adjust the top link until the box blade is flat or just slightly raised in the front to start as I usually am not wanting to move a lot of material. Then start down the side of the drive with the low side of the box blade to the outside. Come back up the other side. This should loosen material and gradually move it up to the center of the drive and it will drop out as the higher side of the box blade is off the ground.

I agree with NYBirdman (nice looking pointer by the way) that the learning curve is a little steeper with the boxblade, at least to the point that how it works is not quite as intuitive as the rear blade. But I think it is considerably more forgiving than the strait blade for working on a drive way.

 

[jenkinsph]

I haven't found a boxblade or rearblade to be a better choice rather they perform different tasks and both can be necessary. I would think you need to have both implements and maybe a landplane/graderscraper too.

Which one to get first?
If the most severe problem is recovering the gravel on the side then get a rearblade.
If the most severe problem is potholes in the drive get the boxblade.

 

[babzog]

I haven't found a boxblade or rearblade to be a better choice rather they perform different tasks and both can be necessary. I would think you need to have both implements and maybe a landplane/graderscraper too.

Which one to get first?
If the most severe problem is recovering the gravel on the side then get a rearblade.
If the most severe problem is potholes in the drive get the boxblade.

What if the most severe problem is "all of the above"? LOL

I think I might go the BB route. Thinking as well, that it would be useful to re-spread the pile of gravel that accumulates in my snowdump after it all melts. I made a mess of it last spring trying to skim off the hump of gravel using the FEL (dug in and brought up the base of the driveway... now I've got dirt and big rocks where I should have 3/4" stone).

 

[boggen]

*ughs* rocks in side yard from snow removal.

good old metal hand rake. but perhaps a 3pt land scape rake. eerrr i mean a large size metal hand rake. but made to fit on back of your tractor.

===============
i can do a pretty job just using the FEL and general duty bucket back dragging and getting things fairly smooth. not as smooth and level as a box blade, but enough to get job done. granted after enough patch jobs. it looking pretty ugly. but works for now.

on other hand. if i had a scraper blade, to bring rocks back into the drive way, or better yet, be able to drag or push snow off the drive way without constantly backing up and going forward every couple feet it might be even better.

 

[jenkinsph]

What if the most severe problem is "all of the above"? LOL

I think I might go the BB route. Thinking as well, that it would be useful to re-spread the pile of gravel that accumulates in my snowdump after it all melts. I made a mess of it last spring trying to skim off the hump of gravel using the FEL (dug in and brought up the base of the driveway... now I've got dirt and big rocks where I should have 3/4" stone).

If all of the above then get the boxblade, rearblade and landplane. I have all of those plus the landscape rake and can tell you there is a place for all of them.

About the gravel from snow dumps, some of that is inevitable but with experience you learn to grade above the gravel. Try to build up a frozen layer to drive over. I add sand above the ice layer on slopes or grades and at the street end of driveways, this is less trouble to deal with in the spring.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

If all of the above then get the boxblade, rearblade and landplane. I have all of those plus the landscape rake and can tell you there is a place for all of them.
.

While this is very true, I have the same, in fact have different sizes of the same implements except the landscape rake. But not everyone can afford multiple implements, so if a person can only get one for the time being, which one do you get to start with?

If I had to deal with these things and snow on a regular basis, I would get a good rear blade to start with.

 

[babzog]

While this is very true, I have the same, in fact have different sizes of the same implements except the landscape rake. But not everyone can afford multiple implements, so if a person can only get one for the time being, which one do you get to start with?

If I had to deal with these things and snow on a regular basis, I would get a good rear blade to start with.

That's just it... it's hard to afford all of the tools. Even at auction or used prices (which often aren't far off new prices), good implements are expensive.

I have a blower for the snow, so no need for a snow blade.

 

[hrcarver]

For keeping up a gravel rd, you need a scraper. You can change the angle left to right or change the tilt up and down from the seat. I have a rake and a box blade, the rake is OK for touching up. Box blade is almost worthless on a gravel rd, just leaves it flat destroying the crown. If you need to rebuild the road from pot holes and ripples, a scraper is the only way to go.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Re: Rear hydraulics... I was referring to the hydraulic top link and tilt control that some have mentioned in this thread.. I have no rear remote hydraulic connects on my tractor - dealer wants nearly $2k to add that on - so whatever adjustments I'd make to a rear attachment, I do manually. I'd love to get a set of remotes... log splitter, etc etc.

Snow removal - I picked up a (well used) blower last year which makes that job so much easier.

Yes, grading the driveway was the only task I had in mind at this time, but after watching some vids, I can already picture using the box blade for another project (re-grading around the house).

Only ad I've seen (locally) for a used box blade is a Rhino BX72 for $600. Looks to be in pretty good shape.

If your drive is truly your main concern, then a land plane grader blade is the best implement for maintenance of that drive IMO. As has been mentioned, each implement has it's purpose and excels at those purposes, but a LPGB is by far the best implement to maintain a drive.

Just my :2cents:

 

[greg_g]

Box blade is almost worthless on a gravel rd, just leaves it flat destroying the crown.

Completely unfair to the boxblade. A capable operator can actually build a good crown. Don't let your BB rust in the shed, take it out and actually learn how to use it!! I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Hint1: lower the scarifiers and tear through the potholes
Hint2: not all scarifiers need be lowered
Hint3: use draft or position control if so equipped (to keep BB from digging too deep)
Hint4: for crown work, set one lower lift arm on the tractor a little higher than the other. Then work the road 1/2 at a time (higher side of the BB in the center of course).
Hint5: light finishing/smoothing work can be performed in reverse by adjusting toplink to raise rear of BB higher than front.

//greg//

 

[hrcarver]

Completely unfair to the boxblade. A capable operator can actually build a good crown. Don't let your BB rust in the shed, take it out and actually learn how to use it!! I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Hint1: lower the scarifiers and tear through the potholes
Hint2: not all scarifiers need be lowered
Hint3: use draft or position control if so equipped (to keep BB from digging too deep)
Hint4: for crown work, set one lower lift arm on the tractor a little higher than the other. Then work the road 1/2 at a time (higher side of the BB in the center of course).
Hint5: light finishing/smoothing work can be performed in reverse by adjusting toplink to raise rear of BB higher than front.

//greg//

I'll give you the correction, box blades may be capable, but are more work than a scraper. With a scraper you hit one remote lever for your tilt, hit the other lever for your angle and go. Never even have to get off of the seat.