Educate me on box blade size for uses

[BMan2005]

I'll be buying or building a new box blade soon. I have a 60hp 4wd tractor that weighs roughly 8k-8.5k lbs with loader attached. I'm going with a stout design and need to know to go with a 7' or 8' blade. Tractor is 6' wide and my uses will be cutting swales, ditches, grading the drive, fields, yard (new grounds) and of course all the other uses for it. I've read where people have a slight controversy with going to wide for cutting swales or ditches, but I do like the idea of 8' for grading the drive that will loop the property totalling at least 4000 feet, haven't measured exact yet.

Ideas and opinions

 

[skipmarcy]

My 6' boxblade just exactly covers the tire tracks on my 40 hp tractor and for probably 90% of what I do with it that works just fine There has been a couple of times an extra 6" on each side would have been great for some close grading, an extra 12" would be a little much, I think, especially if cutting a ditch/swale on one side - could potentially have enough leverage to bend some stuff at the 3 pt area.

Since I built & installed one about 14 years ago I wouldn't even consider a boxblade without having a hydraulic toplink - whole different animal with that adjustability from the seat on the fly. A side tilt would be gravy but I don't have one on mine. It's amazing on how little of an angle change affects the way the boxblade works.

 

[oosik]

Makes no difference - you build a heavy duty 7' or 8' BB - you can easily stop your 60hp 4WD tractor by taking a deep cut. I have a Bush Hog 720 roll over box blade and I can take a deep cut and have all four wheels digging. My rear tires are 80" - outside to outside and the 72" ROBB works just fine.

Make or buy the 8 foot box blade. Its easy to take a shallower cut and keep on going. Like a rear blade - weight is your friend.

Just a thought - a 60 hp tractor that is only 72" wide - outside to outside on the rear tires - probably does not have the centers/rims set at the widest setting.

I have a FitRite hydraulic top link. Its a real God-send of help in using any ground contact implement.

 

[Phillip w]

I got an 8 ft big ox blade. I'm dragging it along behind my allis. It will tilt so one side will dig deeper than the other. It is great for dressing up terraces. It is not worth a toot on the drive way, just to heavy. If you really get to tying into terraces with that blade, you need a horse of a tractor on it. Id get a box blade for the drive and a big heavy blade for other applications.

 

[Rmart30]

Im running a 8 on a L4600. Use it sensibly and it works just fine. Load it down and it will stall it. I like the wider swath of it. Yours should do fine with a 8.

 

[YLee Kioti]

If your cutting swales and plan on building I'd like to share this morning's experience.
Been grubbing roots for a few days. Today is the second pass of this 3/4 acre area where the scarifiers are set all the way down and blade is tilted about ten degrees.
Even though the blade using draft control is about an inch above ground the teeth are cutting so well that the vegetation now collects on the cross member where the teeth are attached to. rather then the dirt boiling over and dropping it just gets all clogged up.
This forces me to stop raise blade move up a bit and then drop blade and push it all back and then reset. rinse and repeat for the entire plot. Very time consuming.
Soon after this, a swale is in my future as well; to help rain run off into the south creek.
However having just bought a landscape rake, selling this blade for a different design is not feasible.
The 605 lbs did a great job of popping roots like mad! ha...
So kindah keep in mind the possibility of vegetation build up and thus reducing depth of cut as blade gets loaded up.

Regards...

on edit running a 6 foot armstrong ag MBB6
Armstrong Ag - Earth Moving Equipment

 

[BMan2005]

All good information here. I may go with a 7' and just get a decent land plane in the future for grading.

 

[Fallon]

All good information here. I may go with a 7' and just get a decent land plane in the future for grading.

A LPGS doesn't do grading. Its wicked good at smoothing, but that's it. So great for fixing ruts or potholes in a driveway or making a field smooth (not level). But you need a box blade or heavy back blade if you want to do grading & move material more than a foot or 2. I have moved material a few feet with a LPGS, but a real blade would have been a lot better. It was a small project & not worth swapping to my real box blade thoug.

 

[Texasmark]

Answer wasn't for the listed implement. Senior moment, sorry.

 

[BMan2005]

A LPGS doesn't do grading. Its wicked good at smoothing, but that's it. So great for fixing ruts or potholes in a driveway or making a field smooth (not level). But you need a box blade or heavy back blade if you want to do grading & move material more than a foot or 2. I have moved material a few feet with a LPGS, but a real blade would have been a lot better. It was a small project & not worth swapping to my real box blade thoug.

Just reread what I wrote and it didn't explain what I meant well. By grading I was referring to smoothing out ruts and keeping the road smooth, maybe grading is the wrong term to use? But what I was meaning is ho with a 7' box blade, and then later get a land plane for keeping the drive e smooth (where I may have misused the term grading).