Grading Cheap rear blade

[oosik]

I went with Land Pride RB3596. Its heavy & HD, but you know what. My driveway dries out and turns to a material that is even tougher than that rear blade. Now, I mainly use the RB to move snow or grade large quantities of dirt on a newly opened piece of ground. I tried to maintain my mile long gravel driveway(summer time) with a rear blade for 25 years and finally gave up. I even have a 400# block of cast concrete that I'd put on the rear blade - it still bounced down the driveway like a rubber ball. Then I saw a video for a LPGS - land plane grading scraper. I finally broke down and bought a Land Pride GS2584 - grading scraper with scarifier shanks. It took two passes with the scarifier shanks down and then two passes with them up. The driveway is now back to the way it was when we had it built 33 years ago.

 

[DKCDKC]

I have a JD 3038 and a fairly light old blade I got for a swap for a $100 value item. But a tractor under 40 hp doesn't seem to me to be able to exert enough force to hurt a light blade anyway... Unless you are going too fast. My old 68 hp JD bent a HD blade easily, but I've never had a problem with this blade and a smaller tractor. If I hit something like a rock, the tractor simply stops. No harm no foul. For most folks, I think a used blade is a good bet. It's not as if you can't see everything about the blade when you look at it.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I have a JD 3038 and a fairly light old blade I got for a swap for a $100 value item. But a tractor under 40 hp doesn't seem to me to be able to exert enough force to hurt a light blade anyway... Unless you are going too fast. My old 68 hp JD bent a HD blade easily, but I've never had a problem with this blade and a smaller tractor. If I hit something like a rock, the tractor simply stops. No harm no foul. For most folks, I think a used blade is a good bet. It's not as if you can't see everything about the blade when you look at it.

Actually HP has little to do with it, more like the operating weight of the tractor. My 32hp tractor weighs 5000lbs. That's as much or more than some 50hp tractors.

But as far as the light weight blades, it's not that the tractor is able to do damage to the implement or not, it's that a light weight blade is simply to light to be able to actually do any real work. Unless you are working with loose material, (dirt or snow), you won't get much done. Get something that has some weight to it and it will cut and do something.

Just my :2cents:

 

[dragoneggs]

I have no idea what my Rankin 72in blade weighs but it is sure heavy. Supposedly way too much for my little BX. I cut some serious dirt roads out of rocky dirt and the limiting factor is traction. HP is not an issue. Thinking of cutting about 5 inches off each end just because it sticks out too far from the tractor. Love the heavy duty build though.

Good first project when I get a plasma cutter I think?