What kind of box blade did I just buy?

[BadDecisions]

Picked up a box blade today, and just curious what it is I got. Can't really make out what's left of any names/labels on it. Been hunting the classifieds for a few years looking for one, and finally found one that fits my tractor and was within budget (which admittedly is much lower than it should be, lol).

Needs some work still, largely due to farmer "fixes" but it's more labor than cost, except the ripper shanks. One is broken, several are bent pretty badly, though I should be able to straighten them out pretty easily. May have replace 2 or 3. I'll also have to come up with a replacement rear scraper blade. Other things are little like fixing pin holes that look like they were opened up to use it on a larger cat hitch, which will be easy enough to turn some bushings on the lathe that I'll weld in.

I am curious about this flat bar that runs between the large round tube, and the ripper tube, that has an inch or two of up/down movement, in that I can't figure out what it's for...has a hook welded to it with a handle that looks like it was mounted somewhere to pivot the bar up.

And these two tabs on the very back, on the outside of the back wall. Looks like something hung off it at some point that could be pivoted up, that's since been broken or cut off. There's one either side, about a foot inboard of the side walls.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Dunno, but it looks like it needs the rear blades?

 

[dodge man]

It does look like open bolt holes where the cutting edge was. How much did you have to give for it? I’ve been looking for a used one on the cheap for a while. I can’t help with your other questions.

 

[scootr]

It definitely needs a rear blade. Operating without it will reduce the box to scrap. Looks like it is missing a large bolt where the toplink support attaches to the box. It looks like it has manual rippers that go up and sown together. Can you confirm? That piece that moves 2 inches may be a locking device for the rippers.

 

[BadDecisions]

Box cost me $550 plus a 4 hour round trip drive. Probably went through about $50 in diesel going there. That cost is probably high, maybe stupid high, compared to other areas of the country where this stuff is everywhere, but here in the Phoenix area it doesn't exist on a wide scale outside of Harbor Freight grade stuff.... And even then people want $1000+ for old beat up scrap metal. Especially when it's this smaller 5-6ft stuff. I have found a number of 8-10 footers considerably cheaper, but those would just be way too much for my tractor. I'm not even sure yet that my wee little 8N is going to be able to cope with this all that well either, but worst case scenario, I should be able to resell it for what I have in it pretty easily if it turns out to be too much for the tractor.

It does need the rear scraper blade, but the inside one is there and appears to be in usable shape. I found a guy that has a bunch of 6 foot blades locally that look like they will fit at $75/each.

Yes, it does have the ability to rotate up the rippers..took me a bit to realize that's what the extra handle welded on the ripper mount tube was for, and yep, the bar that moves up/down is a lock for the rippers. It became obvious looking at it in the daylight, and then also explained the extra long bolt right under where the top link attaches. It's missing all three of the 3 point pins, but I've got extras floating around here somewhere.

Definitely needs some cleanup, and a few parts, but I figure I'll be all in under $1000 on it, which is considerably cheaper than the $1500 I was about to spend at Tractor Supply for a Countyline box, and this should be a better performer.

 

[scootr]

I think it's a fair deal and good fit.
Iron prices are high these days.
I see junk on CL for $550-1000 dollars
Enjoy!

 

[BadDecisions]

Yep... Everything has gotten expensive, but the price situation has been this way down here even long before inflation really kicked in. Simple supply and demand - supply has always been slim, so prices have been high, especially so with the 20-30hp sized tractors and associated implements. I can buy old 100Hp tractors and massive implements dirt cheap all day long, but that's just way too big physically for my little 1 acre property.

 

[sandman2234]

Nice specimen for a used box blade. While it will need some work, it is basically in decent shape. I wonder if the two tabs on the back could be used to add trailing wheels, to help with the leveling effect that tractor box blades have issues with? (when tractor drops into a hole, the boxblade digs). I have considered adding trailing wheels to my box-blade, but since I have a landplane, it isn't a high priority. I would also add wheels differently than those tabs are, so they wouldn't do me much good as they aren't strong enough in that position to work well. (no easy stop tab)
David from jax

 

[BadDecisions]

They look like a factory attachment, rather than a hacked on later kind of thing though admittedly, anyone doing a clean job can make it look factory too. I could have sworn I had seen other box blades with something similar on the back, but of course I can't find anything now. It's really just more of a "am I missing a big feature that I don't know about?" kind of thing for me.

I don't really have holes to contend with on my property, at least not anything big. Tons of ground squirrel and rabbit holes all over, but nothing that should really upset dragging this thing around. For me it's more excessive rutting and crowning that I get to deal with on the driveway, along with several ridges that I inadvertently created the few times I ran over areas with the rear blade. The bigger thing for me is really just needing something with the scarifiers on it to break up the nearly concrete hard ground we get here in the desert, and waiting for rain to soften the ground up isn't really an option for most of the year. The rear blade eventually gets the job done, but the ground is hard on the blade, and I've already bent the crap out of the pivot bolt and plate (where the pin drops in to lock it in whatever rotation angle it's set it) after adding weight to it trying to get it to dig more than bounce.

I figured I'll run this box a few times as is, then decide if I really need to add gauge wheels to it.

 

[bcp]

Gannon had a model called "Landscaper" which might be what it says on the side plate.