KingKutter BoxBlade, Never Again...

[DIYGuy]

Hi All,

Last year I posted about my BoxBlade death due to user error. This spring it was injured again doing light duty work.

One of the tines was driven back, bending the back edge of the tine support, and pushing the tine 3/8" through the front of the support.

I will never waste money on KingKutter ever again.

The first picture shows the tine bent back. It took a 3lb maul to get it unstuck.

Notice the bowed section of steel directly behind the tine.

 

[DIYGuy]

Here's the top of the tine. The front edge of the tine cut into the support about 3/8".

 

[AndyMA]

DIYGuy

I'm sure you know this but without welding on some strengthening plate the bend will occur again only sooner this time as the whole thing is weaker. if you need to cut a piece of plate we can do it in my shop with the plasma cutter.

Andy

 

[DIYGuy]

Here's the project I was doing, just grading an access path to get to the bottom of my gully.

 

[DIYGuy]

Perhaps I'll throw it in the van for the next TBN NE/MA/CT lunch...

 

[RobS]

Mark, I've got the same box blade but have had no problems. Can you provide more details about the conditions you were working in? Soil conditions, speed etc, tractor hp, weight etc. For reference, my box is 66", tractor is 30hp about 2500 pounds, generally pulling slow to mid speed with the tines down and my soil is sandy with some softball sized rocks /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[DIYGuy]

Soil was loose, rocky with soccer ball sized rocks. I was pulling in L-1. (About 1/2 walking speed).

Tines were all the way down. It's a 48" box, my tractor wieghs about 3000 lbs. It just covers the rear wheels of the tractor and with the trees that I have, I can't really go to a larger blade.

 

[RobS]

Did the metal tear or did a weld break? Any idea if it was a single occurance that caused it or repetitive occurances (fatigue)?

I'm pretty sure if I snagged something firmly enough to rip the ripper out, my tires would loose traction first. Did you have all the rippers down or just one?

Sorry for all the questions, it's my nature /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[DIYGuy]

Don't mind the questions at all, I'm still learning.

All the tines were down. All the damage is torn/bent metal. The tine itself is undamaged.

I don't know if it was a single occurance or fatigue. I was using them full down to tear up the soil and move it around. Then I wnet to pull them up to do the final leveling. At the beginning of the project, there was a 6' tall mound of dirt at the top of the gully, and the top was much steeper than the bottom, so I pulled the mound onto the steep section and leveled it all out. The first pass was so steep that the pucker factor was way outside of comfortable, and it took diff lock to get back up.

 

[Soundguy]

Wow.. maybee you just got a bad one... were you pulling it behind the jinma?

I have an old beater I picked up on the side of the road for 100$ I think it is an oxen brand... and I pull it behind my NH 1920.. and I havn't been able to hurt it yet.. like I say.. maybee yours was a monday morning/friday afternoon job.. or they fired the guy in the morning or something?

All of my KK ground engaging equipment has held up fine.. including my boom pole that I know I have overloaded by 2X its stated weight limit.. and my 30" scoop that has moved tons of dirt.. literally.... with no noticeable wear on the pins or cutting edge.

Soundguy

 

[theboman]

Any time heat is applied to steel it weakens.

My BB is a no name but looks exactly like yours and what little I've done I've hooked some nice roots (living) and nice sized rocks and not a thing.

L1, that's slow enough.... I think you may have gotten a bad BB.

 

[gone]

Ill agree with andy m you need to add steel to top front and rear bottom at the shank, also pulling down that hill gave the tractor an advantage on force applied to the box it wouldn't of had on the level.

 

[shade2u2]

All of my tines are bent a little like yours. I bought a used 5' KK boxblade for $100 so I can't complain 4 years (& 3 cleared acres) later with it still doing what I need it to. Your use looks similar to mine with all the tree roots that can really do a number on the tines...

 

[jimgerken]

Have you tried contacting KK and asking if they'd be interested in a failure? Often times they are interested and someone would come look at it. They may offer to replace or repair it, and I have had an implement rep provide materials for repair with the understanding that I would perform the labor (sort of a compromise). It would not hurt to try, before you start welding and cutting on it.

 

[DIYGuy]

To answer everybody's questions...

Just pulling it along with the Jinma 224. Turfs, 4WD. I hadn't thought about the additional force applied by pulling down hill. I can see where that could apply additional force, but I can't remember it struggling to pull anything.

Fixing it will be easy, I'll just add a small section of 1/4" plate to the main support member in front of each tine on the top and on the bottom in the back. That will double the amount of metal supporting the tines.

 

[AndyMA]

My Landpride 8' boxblade is also somewhat torn in from of the tines. If you look at the design of most box blades, it doesn't take much to twist a tine socket out if you actually grab something hard. Just too mcuh leverage exerting all it's force on a couple of small spots. Most BoxBlades appear to have no reinforcement at this point.

Andy

 

[SPIKER]

it must be that *** china made tractor! everyone knows they can't pull anything and will break down first time you try to start it.! lol

Ya that hill I would say contrubuted to the blade ripper problem. probably found a nuther one of thos PEBBELS you have laying around up there! I used my 6' howes the past weekend to rip up old lake bottom. didn't catch anything but ran tiller through later and even at 8" depth wasn't picking up any rocks worth worrying about. still have afew to back hoe around and chain out though... I took a few pictures of my stream and have them posted here also some rocks posted here

Mark M

 

[Lazy]

Hi
I have a kk box blade and the part the tines go thru is a box looks like made from 1/2" steel. Is the part the tines fit into on yours open on the bottom? and how thick is the metal? I have had mine about 10 years, maybe they are making them out of thinner metal now. I have handle mine pretty rough used it to ram stumps and big rocks and it looks like it might out last me.

here is a couple of pics.

 

[DIYGuy]

If it was a chinese Box Blade, it would weight 1200lbs. and be made of cast iron. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

And I didn't hit a pebble this time. Granted there were a bunch of soccer ball sized rocks, but none of them halted the tractor one little bit.

I guess I'm just irritated that I have to spend a few hours fixing something that doesn't work as advertised..

 

[Lazy]

and another