Still learning (boxblade question)

[RAD10]

Okay I just sold my old tractor, brush hog and box blade. Now to purchase new implements to go with my new JD 3320 tractor. My knowledge of all this tractor stuff has come from here with more experienced users, as I'm very green but having fun playing.

I plan to buy Frontier, really only because the dealer I purchased the tractor from ony sales Frontier and I have a good relationship with him i want to keep in case i have problems with tractor later.

So I'm looking at the MX5 which I'm pretty set on and the box blade 2060.

My questions are around the bb2060. Just curious how important it is to worry about fix or floating tailgate? I mean since I'm a beginner with tractors and bb anyway will it make much difference when i'm smoothing dirt or gravel to have the fixed or floating tailgate?

Other question, is the frontier brand good?

 

[John_Mc]

I believe the Frontier brand is actually made by Woods (whether that was all Frontier branded stuff, or just the implements I happened to be looking at at the time, I'm not sure). Woods generally makes good equipment. It's been a while since I loked at any Frontier equipment, but my impression was that it tended to be lighter duty than the regular Woods "Standard Duty" stuff.

A quick and dirty measure of how "heavy-duty" a boxblade is is weight per foot of width. 100 lbs/ft seems to be a good rule of thumb for homeowner use. For example the Woods GB60 5 foot box blade weighs 463 lbs. I have the GB72 (6 foot), which weighs 572 lbs. While I occasionally wish it weighed more, I've not damaged anything yet despite some pretty heavy use behind my NH TC33D (33 HP) tractor

Check into the weight of the box blade, and the rated horsepower. I'd tend to be a bit conservative with the HP ratings. For instance, mine is rated for tractors up to 45 HP, but I'd be a bit more careful if I actually hooked my boxblade up to a tractor that size.

John Mc

 

[wushaw]

See if the floating tailgate can be pinned to make it fixed and if so good. The floating tailgate is good for smoothing soil like what a tailgate on a tiller does.

I don't know about the Frontier brand, I have have had KingKutter (ok), BushHog ( better ) and now a Cammond industrial grade BB
( excellent )...none with a floating tailgate, I just never saw the need for what I do.

 

[RAD10]

The box blade weight is 465lbs for the 5' one. I've seen it once and it appears to be put together well but I don't have a lot of experience so not sure what to compare it to. It is new and is selling to me for $700.

Does this weight and price seem reasonable? Also how does one decide if 5' or 6' would be best?

I thought about Cammond also but the dealer closest to me that dealt with cammond did not have any on site. So i defaulted back to frontier to where i purchased the tractor.

 

[wushaw]

Cammond only builds as an order comes in, they do not do an inventory with a dealer. So it's buy sight unseen. A five foot Cammond like mine would weigh 765lbs if that gives you any reference as how who uses thicker metal.

You need a BB that is just a little wider than your rear tires as a minimum...for example my rear outside tire width is 60" and I got a 66" BB to give me 3" on each side.

That 465 pounder is a little lighter than the Bushhog one I had previously, It worked fine but I wanted hydraulic scarfiers and a little more weight and I got that with the Cammon unit.
Cammond will paint it whatever color you want also....they should for what it cost...

I am now spoiled with hydraulic scarfiers and the hyd top link, it is the cats meow

 

[RAD10]

I thought about the hydraulic scarfiers but could not justify the extra $$ so I will go with simple bb. So someone educate me here, how important is the weight of the bb?

It seems like most are aound the same weight for standard to medium duty, do I need a heavy duty around 700lbs or so to work the occasional landscape or gravel road?

The comments about weight have me thinking I either need to spend more money for heavier bb or design some way to add weight, please comment.

 

[john_bud]

I thought about the hydraulic scarfiers but could not justify the extra $$ so I will go with simple bb. So someone educate me here, how important is the weight of the bb?

It seems like most are aound the same weight for standard to medium duty, do I need a heavy duty around 700lbs or so to work the occasional landscape or gravel road?

The comments about weight have me thinking I either need to spend more money for heavier bb or design some way to add weight, please comment.

The weight you NEED depends on the soil you are working. Clay and the caleche of the southwest require a box in the 1000+ for a 66" box! If you have sand, loam or a mix, you will be fine in the 500# range. You still may need to stack on weight for some jobs. Probably more economical that way. If $$ is not a strong factor, get a heavier box. Several listed above are good. I am partial to Gannon (industrial series from Woods - 930# 66"). Cammond is a "knock off" of the Gannon boxes. That's not a slam - it's a good design to emulate and they appear to make it well.

The fixed / floating tail gate response above is not the way I understand it. You unbolt the tail to allow the box to dig more aggressively. The box will put weight on the tail if it is bolted down - taking away the down force that makes it dig better. When you are finishing, you bolt down the tail and tip up the nose slightly (front blade 1" or less into the dirt. The box is now basically riding on the rear blade and smoothing out the path.

jb

 

[John_Mc]

I thought about the hydraulic scarfiers but could not justify the extra $$ so I will go with simple bb. So someone educate me here, how important is the weight of the bb?

It seems like most are aound the same weight for standard to medium duty, do I need a heavy duty around 700lbs or so to work the occasional landscape or gravel road?

Standard to medium should do you fine. I've got a Woods standard duty that has taken a beating over the years and is still going strong. I use it to maintain about 1/4 mile of gravel road/driveway, do some grading around the house and yard, and as part of my process to install and maintain trails in 80 acres of woods.

The comments about weight have me thinking I either need to spend more money for heavier bb or design some way to add weight, please comment.

Others have found the need to add weight to theirs (rocks, cinder blocks, weightlifting weights), but that has not been necessary for me. If the blade won't dig in on its own, I just lower the scarifiers a bit... they catch and help dig right in. Once the area is loosened up, I raise the scarifiers back up for finish grade and smoothing. I've got mostly clay and rocks (CHamplain Valley of Vermont is famous for that) which are pretty demanding conditions for a boxblade.

Whether you will need to add weight depends on your soil conditions, what you are trying to accomplish, how much you are willing to get off and make adjustments (hydraulic toplink and side link are great for this), and -- probably most importantly -- your skill with using the implement. A boxblade takes some practice... knowing what angles to set makes a big difference.

I've never found a need for hydraulic scarifiers: I typicaly only use the scarifiers once at the beginning of a project, then get off and raise them for the rest of the project. I just haven't seem the value in paying for something to avoid having to make those changes manually, since it's not something I'm constantly adjusting. Of course, if I actually had them, I'm sure I'd love them.

John Mc

 

[SFish]

I declined the hydraulic scarifiers when I bought my last rig with top & tilt because I know that they are not as important with the hydraulic top link. Because the rippers are at the front of the blade, when they are set to just touch with the blade flat, tilting the blade forward drops them. You can do the same with a mechanical top link. It is a pain to move all the scarifiers up and down.

I agree with John_MC concerning weight on a box blade. A packed gravel road is about as tough as you can find for a box blade. Setting the rippers down just a little will break up the surface. I don't think the tractor would go at all if the scarifiers got down very far in the packed gravel.

Steve

 

[N80]

I think getting the angle of the box blade set is the most critical aspect of all. Weight is very important and so is the depth of the scarifiers, but the angle is the key. You learn by trial and error. So without a hydraulic top link, trial and error means a lot of getting on and off the tractor. A hydraulic top link would drasticly reduce the learning curve. I sure wish I had one!

For what its worth, I have a Bushhog standard duty 6 footer. I think it weighs about 600 pounds. It is beefier than the typical KK and Howse units. It has served me well in fairly tough clay soil. Weight has not been an issue so far.