Rear Blade choice

[MtnViewRanch]

MechanicalGuy,
Even if it will be used for dirt grading and cutting? I won’t need it for snow removal, just dirt work. I was concerned about tweaking the blade at that length. Thanks

A 9' blade on your tractor would definitely be the tail waging the dog with anything more than a very light cut.
You will not tweek the blade with anything less than a 15,000lb machine IMO.

I have a 13,000lb setup and a difficult cut can put me side ways. These are cat 2-3 hitches. You better have a cat 3 tractor if you want to make serious cuts (anything over 2") with the blade angled more than 30-35*.

My recommendation is to get an 8 foot blade that is in the 800-1000lb weight category.
I highly recommend skid shoes, they really help to prevent blade tip gouging.

Just my 2 cents based on my experience.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[MechanicalGuy]

MechanicalGuy,
Even if it will be used for dirt grading and cutting? I won’t need it for snow removal, just dirt work. I was concerned about tweaking the blade at that length. Thanks

My mx5200 weighs in at 7300lbs in current form and I do daily dirt work at a large 2000 acre farm and 8' is the least I would want in a scraper. You can anchor your tractor down with as little as a 6 or 7' blade if you wanted to, but the length is needed when you angle your blade for dirt work. I would be looking at 9' if your tractor is bigger than mine.

8' would suffice, it's not so small that you'd regret it, 7' you'd cry that you bought one so small. My 8' is perfect for my tractor, if they made 8'6" that might be perfect for yours. Think it over and take everyone's advice, this is a seriously expensive purchase.

 

[MechanicalGuy]

A 9' blade on your tractor would definitely be the tail waging the dog with anything more than a very light cut.
You will not tweek the blade with anything less than a 15,000lb machine IMO.

I have a 13,000lb setup and a difficult cut can put me side ways. These are cat 2-3 hitches. You better have a cat 3 tractor if you want to make serious cuts (anything over 2") with the blade angled more than 30-35*.

My recommendation is to get an 8 foot blade that is in the 800-1000lb weight category.
I highly recommend skid shoes, they really help to prevent blade tip gouging.

Just my 2 cents based on my experience.
Good luck with your decision.

You can anchor your tractor down with a 6' blade if you wanted to, (in clay), an 8' with hydraulic offset is a very powerful tool behind my tractor. I would like to get shoes too. They would indeed come in handy.

An 8' blade gets skinny real quick when set to an angle behind a tractor. This tail wagging the dog stuff your taking about only comes into play when using the offset. When it's a straight pull it's just your tractor working against the dirt, like any other implement.

Do you use draft when scraping?