Why didn't I get a Boxblade sooner?

[Dmace]

If I had got this thing last year I would be much farther ahead in my yard work. It's amazing how you put the teeth all the way down and shorten the top link to really rip the rocks and roots out and then you can put the teeth at the top upside down, lengthen the top link a little and grade a driveway smooth as glass.

I went with the 48" unit because my ground is as solid as concrete full of rocks and roots. I had a few times where it would grab a large rock and stop me in my tracks. Although a few times I was able to lift up the 3pt hitch and it would pull the rock right out, amazing. Is this bad for it at all, I can't see it being harmful and it works great.

Some pics:

Tractors are just incredible machines.

 

[TBDonnelly]

Why didn't I get a Boxblade sooner?


Because you were waiting to get a second tractor to store your backhoe on.

Don

 

[TractorLegend]

I cant say enuff how much I enjoy my rear blade since I installed the single remote and the tilt cylinder. My driveway is crowned this way and that, the blade was about useless without it. The adjustment holes built into the Kioti blade were a joke...the first hole off center moves the blade a whole 30 degrees! With the tilt I have infinite adjustment. woo hoo.

 

[curly]

I have my hyd top link in the mail from Wallace. Can't wait. He gave me a price on the side link too, but I didn't swing for that yet. When you put the side link in do you move the adjustable one over to the left side? When you put the back hoe on do you remove the hydralic links, or how does that work?

I've only got about an hour on the bush hog, so still an ameteur there But I'm an expert on the boxblade...I have at least 3 hours on it so far Just kidding about the expert rating, but I was able to get the road to my pole barn drivable with mine. And honestly, previous to the 6 weeks ago or so when I started looking for a tractor, I would have been out there with a shovel, axe, pick axe...whatever. And there were a million roots.

Yes, tractors are phenomenal work savers.

 

[irwin]

Why didn't I get a Boxblade sooner?


Because you were waiting to get a second tractor to store your backhoe on.

Don

Hey!!, I resemble that remark!!!! Well I do need to finish several jobs that need the backhoe. ( I made the subframe, so of course it's a BEAR to get it back on...so I don't want to take it off yet.... ) Once I get those chores done I'll be getting a boxblade directly...or...like you said: I'll have to get another tractor..

 

[TractorLegend]

I have my hyd top link in the mail .

I'm not sure how a hydraulic top link would benefit blade useage?
Tilting side to side with the hydraulitc side link is pretty self explanatory- but fore and aft with the top link? How could this help??

 

[Highbeam]

The only time you can really hurt the BB is when cruising along pretty quickly and you catch a rock or root on one tooth and this can break or bend the tooth along with tossing you out of your seat. Once you've hooked something, using the 3ph hydraulics to lift the box plus the hooked object is the norm for me. You want to get rid of whatever you're hung up on so it doesn't happen again. The tooth should fail before the box unless the box is made of tin foil.

The other way to cause damage is when going in reverse and using the rear of the BB as a bulldozer. It works extremely well since your tractor is driving on leveled soil while the blade is creating more level ground to drive on. Operator input is minimized this way unlike when going forward where the very dips and rises that you are trying to eliminate are causing the BB to rise and fall which creates more dips and rises. While dozing in reverse if you hit a stump or big rock the lower 3ph arms are subject to compression forces which can lead to buckling.

As a former dozer owner I frequently resort to the backwards method for initial smoothing. The BB makes a fine counterweight for loader work too. Skidding logs with it is very effective but somewhat unsafe. You set the box down, chain the log closely, lift the box which lifts the tree's nose and then skid it. Be careful not to pull so hard that you flip the tractor. I've drug three logs at a time this way.

It is a must have implement and part of my intitial purchase along with a mower and FEL.

 

[Rexb]

Dmace that's a nice job and Beootiful woods you have -- post more pics of the work and woods

 

[curly]

I'm not sure how a hydraulic top link would benefit blade useage?
Tilting side to side with the hydraulitc side link is pretty self explanatory- but fore and aft with the top link? How could this help??

Do you mean Box Blade usage? Just keeps you from having to get off the tractor and turn the top link by hand to tilt the bb back for blade or forward for teeth.

If you mean some other blade...I don't know

 

[TractorLegend]

ahh....I have the blade (not box) so i think i see now.

 

[curly]

ahh....I have the blade (not box) so i think i see now.

Thought so after I went back and read this thread.

I would like to see some pics of properly 'crowned' driveways so I will know what to shoot for.

I assume crowning means cutting the sides a bit lower? Is that sorta rihjt?

 

[TractorLegend]

My property is just up off the Cowlitz valley in WA so its all an incline (or decline however you look at things!) I need some crown so the rainwater washes toward an existing ditch...I dont think theres a hard and fast proper way...just matters if you have slope where you want the water going. Or not going.

 

[Highbeam]

There's a poster here named 3rrl that has done an extensive set of modifications to his box blade. Besides checking out the cool fab work you can also check out his many many pictures and even videos showing the use of the BB. He owns a really long dirt driveway with a crown, shoulder, and gutter. The BB is used to reshape these features when they are washed out during his heavy rains. He has some really good photos of the crowning.

You don't want too much crown and you don't want too little crown. We shoot for 2% crosslope on a paved road which is about 1/4" per foot.

A road without a ditch is a ditch.

 

[curly]

I just got my hydralic top link today and put it on. Hadda go play with the bb for 30 minutes just to use the new functionality

 

[TractorLegend]

I just got my hydralic top link today and put it on. Hadda go play with the bb for 30 minutes just to use the new functionality

Shhhhh! Its not play. This is serious business...er work! If my wife finds out it seems like play the funding may be cut off for future "needed" tractor stuff!!

 

[Spiveyman]

If I had got this thing last year I would be much farther ahead in my yard work. It's amazing how you put the teeth all the way down and shorten the top link to really rip the rocks and roots out and then you can put the teeth at the top upside down, lengthen the top link a little and grade a driveway smooth as glass.

I'm very impressed with the smooth as glass thing, I only have a few hours on my BB, but I for sure need some work on smoothing roads. I haven't messed with the top-link length that much, so maybe that's my problem.

I had a few times where it would grab a large rock and stop me in my tracks. Although a few times I was able to lift up the 3pt hitch and it would pull the rock right out, amazing. Is this bad for it at all, I can't see it being harmful and it works great.

Highbeam addressed this nicely. When you stop a machine like that in its tracks, there is a chance something will give. Hopefully it will be one of the teeth if something has to. This happened to me recently when I hit a rock:



Bent one of the scarifers. $9 and you are back in business, that is if you even decided to replace it. Hopefully the box itself is strong enough to take the beating. Chances are if you use the BB much you'll have a collection of those things. 3RRL referenced above has a nice collection going.

A road without a ditch is a ditch.

That's a great line!

 

[Dmace]

I'm very impressed with the smooth as glass thing, I only have a few hours on my BB, but I for sure need some work on smoothing roads.

I found that flipping the teeth upside down like in the pictures and lengthening the top link to the point where the rear blade is lower than the front makes for a real smooth drag. I do this after I have roughed it to be pretty level and want a finished look.

You did a good job on that tooth, how fast were you going? When I have the teeth fully down and the box tipped forward, I crawl about has slow as I can in Low gear with the HST. Mostly because my yard is made of rocks and stumps.

I will post a new thread with pictures of my front yard mess in the Projects section when it's done.

Why didn't I get a Boxblade sooner?
Because you were waiting to get a second tractor to store your backhoe on.
Don

If only I were that rich!

Over here is my backhoe tractor right next to the tractor for grading and the other one for snowblowing.

 

[Spiveyman]

I found that flipping the teeth upside down like in the pictures and lengthening the top link to the point where the rear blade is lower than the front makes for a real smooth drag. I do this after I have roughed it to be pretty level and want a finished look.

I'll have to give that a try when I get a project that warrants a smoother finish. The biggest thing I've done so far is spreading out old pond muck where I still leave some contour to the land and am not too worried about the finish.

{QUOTE=Dmace]You did a good job on that tooth, how fast were you going? When I have the teeth fully down and the box tipped forward, I crawl about has slow as I can in Low gear with the HST. Mostly because my yard is made of rocks and stumps. [/QUOTE]

At that time I was crusing along in 3rd gear (out of 8), so not too fast, but I've got a decent size tractor with lots of weight (10,000 lbs-ish) and HP. Guess that was enough to bend that sucker. I worked up to 4th gear at some points with lots of rmp's. I always started out in 1 or 2 when covering new areas because there were holes big enough to dump my tractor in, but once I knocked the edges off a bit I started gearing up. There were so many rocks in that muck, I added several more FEL loads to this pile:


Several of them popped up and rolled over raising my BB up and over it, but only the one stopped me cold. Mind you I'm not recommending running along that fast with the teeth all the way down, but I got tired of covering so little ground. Some people have noticed a lack of patience in me through out my life. Not sure why. One thing, I think it was 3RRL that mentioned, pull the BB up when you turn because the teeth aren't as strong laterally and will bend more easily that way.

 

[irwin]

These are the rocks I could not easily lift, most I could barely move by hand, and some I couldn't budge without large machine.



The hundreds of rocks 75# and under went on top of existing stone walls. Someday I'll be proud enough to post stonewall pictures.

This is the only pic I took of in process work, it shows just a few of the rocks that came out while digging up trees, there were many more. I'd leave them on the surface and come back later to move to my pile or to a stonewall.



I need another tractor. I like the backhoe where it is. Must work on the much better half!! make her see the stark truth, irrefutable truth. Yeah, that's the ticket.

 

[caver]

Any particular brands to avoid?

Retired co-worker was telling me some time back to get a box blade.