Tractor and Box Blade

[WillingtonPizza]

My wife and I are looking to by a tractor, B2410 or larger.
We need to be able to maintain a 1600 foot driveway that has a habbit of washing out when we get those hard Connecticut rains. We also have a large lawn and want to be able to use a brush hog to groom our trails and a camping area that the boyscouts use. Is there a small brush hog that can handle thick sapplings? Will a box blade be able to maintain our driveway or would we be better off with a pulverizer. We also do a lot of raking, my moto is if the soil is on top it must be top soil so rake it and plant more grass. Does a landscape pulverizer handle harsh treatment? How big of a tractor do we need?

 

[glennmac]

WillingtonPizza,

Tell us more about the size of your property. How big a lawn. How big the area to be brushhogged. Do you see loader work.

I do not have a pulverizer or boxblade so I won't comment on them. I have a B2910. I mow 3 acres with a 72" belly mower. I have another 8 acres of rougher grassland, brush and woods. I use a 5 foot medium duty brush hog to cut brush, long grass and cut trails on part of those 8 acres. I also do a lot of cleanup work with the loader.

All brush cutter manufacturers rate their cutters generically as light duty, medium duty and heavy duty. Strength, weight, cutting ability and price go up accordingly. A light duty is usually rated to cut 1" stems, but you will hear reports of people perhaps being able to cut slightly thicker stuff depending on what type of wood. Medium duty cutters aren't necessarily rated to cut thicker saplings, but I would try mine on 1 1/2 inchers. I suspect it may take more than one pass to cut that size. (I'll know for sure in about a month when I build a bridge over my creek to get to my really thick brush.)

As I said, give some more details.

Glenn

 

[Bird]

WillingtonPizza, I have a B2710 and would recommend it or the B2910 for your use. I don't know what I would do without a front end loader and box blade, but have never used a pulverizer (I do use a tiller though to prepare ground for planting). How thick is a "thick sappling"? I've mowed down inch a half stuff with a light duty brush hog, but most, if not all, the manufacturers make light, medium, and heavy duty ones at least in the 5' or larger size. There are also 3.5' and 4' brush hogs available, but I don't know whether they are also made in heavy duty models.

Bird

 

[WillingtonPizza]

We take care of about 30 acres and our finish mowing area is 4 to 5 acres. We currently have use of a very old yanmar tractor and use the bucket all the time so we know we would use one. We love to "groom" the woods.

 

[glennmac]

With that much land and finish mowing, I think you should be looking in the 2710 to 3710 range. The 3710 is the largest Kubota to take a belly mower. If you have hilly, rocky land and will be cutting woody brush, I think the brush cutter you should be looking at is a medium duty with a slip clutch.

Glenn

 

[Kubota-monkey]

It is really wise to purchase a loader with a smaller sized tractor. I would highyl recommend purchasing a loader even if you dont think you will use it. I guarntee you will.

 

[tbarber55]

So you must be the owner of the famous Willington Pizza.
The food must be good, the place is always packed.The Eagle
next door must help your business/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif.
Someday when it's not so packed, and there is place to park I will eat there./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
Tom

 

[WillingtonPizza]

Not the owner, kitchen manager, been there for 11 years now. Big change from my past job, general manager of a large day cruise line. Couldn't take the hours any longer or do the many things that I hated as a kid and love as an adult. (working on your own property)

 

[W5FL]

The 2910 has a lot going for it in additon to the added HP. It has extendable links on the 3 point and a couple of other nice features. A medium duty Bush Hog with chain guards and slip clutch will work nicely. A rake is inexpensive, and a tiller is wonderful for preparing soil for a nice seedbed. A pulverizer is of little use to me and a tiller does a better job. A box blade is the least expensive way to handle driveway maintenace, but a 1000# variety is not real cheap (Gannon) but is a long term investment and works well and is versitile in use. A Roadmaster type grader attachment is better, but that is about the only thing it is good for (and it works well).

 

[WillingtonPizza]

If the Roadmaster grader blade is what I think it is (belly blade) I would like to get more info on the, does anybody know where I can?

 

[geneP]

Willingtonpizza, there was a short thread on another board concerning the use of a belly mounted blade for grading. A person who was familiar with them said that they do not work well on a smaller tractor because the down pressure on the blade causes weight to be taken off the front and a loss of steering control.

 

[Doctor]

I think with what your doing the B2910 would be my choice. Good luck with your purchase.
Doctor

 

[W5FL]

Search this site for additional information on the Road Master Grader. The one I want is about $1600 and is approximately 6 ft x 6 ft by 2 ft high and contains two road grader blades (same as on good box blades). It is a CAT II 3 point, but they make a lighter one for CAT 1 tractors. They work very well and should do a much better job than a belly mounted blade which works well on road graders with a length about 4X a tractor for wheelbase. The problem with road maintenance with ANY short wheel base vehicle is that you get the up and down roller coaster motion. The Road Master solves this by having an effective long wheelbase by disconnecting the blades (2) and pulling them on 6 ft long skids behind the tractor with enough weight to do some good (that is why they are usually CAT II).

You can do as well with a heavy duty box blade, but you have to work slowly and pay attention and do a lot of work in reverse to get a smooth cut to start with. Any blade works pretty well if the driveway is pretty smooth to start with. A good box blade will set you back about $1200 to $1500 also. A hydraulic top link makes the work about 10X easier and runs about $300 if you have a set of remote hydraulic valves already on your tractor. A tip hydraulic link is really nice, but I couldn't afford adding a second set of external remotes as well as the tip hydraulic link for the few times I need it. Now if I were a landscaper, it would probably pay for itself in a couple of weeks.