Grading Cheap rear blade

[ovrszd]

While I have bought some used equipment; for the most part I prefer new.

I take very good care of my stuff, always stored indoors, cleaned after use. So if I buy new, it will still be new in 10 years. Meaning it will look and perform like new. Got to admit, it cost a lot more to think that way.
Next on my new list is a 3 point V-rake.

I agree in regards to technical equipment. A rear blade, I'll go used every time.

 

[ovrszd]

What is it like to operate a tractor with attachments in a "bubble wrapped" environment?

Any tool, or attachment, or whatever that I've bought new and it still look new in 10 years was money wasted. I obviously didn't need it and haven't used it to justify the cost. Don't get wrong here, I'm seriously OCD about taking care of my stuff. But I use it, and there's no way it will look new in 10 years.

 

[mj007]

Look for a length that will give you some blade sticking out past the rear tires when angled on the first 'notch' on the blade's adjustment holes - this will let you cut a bank for a fence and so on - 'Little Rhino' is a good brand but there are others (don't be 'brand blind' but get the features you want/need) - you can guess the use that's on a used blade by the condition of the cutting edge and the amount of wear in the pin holes and pin on the blade's angle index. Make sure that you can turn the blade 180 degrees for 'back-blading' (using the backside of the blade) which is handy for smoothing loose dirt or gravel or plowing snow on dirt or gravel driveways.

 

[RDrancher]

So I guess that the $3600 that I paid for mine 8 years ago is out of the question?

Richard, maybe where you are at there are all those used implements. I have had my eye open for implements for over 10 years. I have once, and only once seen a rear blade that I would even consider purchasing for any size machine, let alone anything that I would actually want. All the used stuff that so many of you say is around you, well that is around you, not everyone else.

This sort of reminds me of all the dealers that so many people say that they have around them, and the dealers that let you actually take a tractor home to try out. I read these things and think to myself, "What world do these people live in?" Because it sure is not anywhere that is within a 100 mile radius of me.

I'm not saying that anyone is lying, just that circumstances vary immensely from area to area. You would think with California being the #1 money producer of AG products in the USA and San Diego County being # 12 of all counties in the USA, (a 5.1 billion dollar Ag market), that there would be all kinds of these places around. WRONG, I can think of 4 dealers that actually stock a few new tractors and the Kubota dealer really pretty much probably sells 80% of what is sold locally.

So we are back to, what is true for one area, is not for another. Circumstances vary, there is no doubt about that.

Regions do vary a lot. I lived in SoCal for a long, long time and had a heck of a time finding any used attachments...unless they were all used up. The rear blade I have now is very heavy duty and pretty old. A can of equipment yellow was all that it needed to make it look new again. I got it for free when a customer asked..."Can you haul this thing out of my yard?" There are always a bunch of used implements for sale around here on CL and I have two used implement dealer lots within 30 minutes.

 

[bcp]

Regions do vary a lot. I lived in SoCal for a long, long time and had a heck of a time finding any used attachments..

Long, long ago, when I lived there, dealers from Mexico would travel the countryside, asking almost every farmer if they had any old implements they would sell. I saw many truckloads of old implements heading south.

Bruce

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Regions do vary a lot. I lived in SoCal for a long, long time and had a heck of a time finding any used attachments...unless they were all used up. The rear blade I have now is very heavy duty and pretty old. A can of equipment yellow was all that it needed to make it look new again. I got it for free when a customer asked..."Can you haul this thing out of my yard?" There are always a bunch of used implements for sale around here on CL and I have two used implement dealer lots within 30 minutes.

As mentioned, it is definitely a regional thing. But the other thing is what level of implement a person is looking for. A lot easier to find a very good old rear blade that was occasionally used on an 8N vs a 1000lb rear blade with hydraulics on it. Just like box blades. You see light weight box blades and cheap, far more often than any Gannon with hydraulic actuated rippers.

Just the way that things are. Is the good heavy stuff out there? Sometimes, but how far are you willing to search and how long are you willing to wait so that you can save some $$$$? Again all depends on the person's needs.

All variables that apply to everyone on an individual basis.

 

[RDrancher]

Right now on the local CL there's an LP 72" for less than $500 and an LP 11' with hydraulics for $1k. Both look to be in great shape. I also found a 66" ROBB for cheap and a 6' Gannon with handle actuated rippers for $900 that's in better shape than mine. Lots of good stuff around here.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Right now on the local CL there's an LP 72" for less than $500 and an LP 11' with hydraulics for $1k. Both look to be in great shape. I also found a 66" ROBB for cheap and a 6' Gannon with handle actuated rippers for $900 that's in better shape than mine. Lots of good stuff around here.

Some people just live in the right place.

 

[RDrancher]

Some people just live in the right place.

Usually...'cept for the humidity and Tropical Storm Bill rolling through all morning. Old Bill will put me another two weeks behind on work. Rain does beat fire though!

 

[dragoneggs]

I agree in regards to technical equipment. A rear blade, I'll go used every time.

Yep, completely agree.the only used thing I have purchased for my tractor was a 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?