First Day, New Boxblade, Broken

   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #31  
One bright note from all your additions on that box. You have provided some very good before and after data on how the results improve with a heavy box over a light one. Being a "weight bigot" myself, I always like to hear how people add more weight and are even happier with the performance when it gets heavy.
jb
I couldn't agree more with you John.
Weight is a huge factor for the boxblade when cutting, digging or ripping....even smoothing. Loose material is easily moved without the weight, but once you need it to cut into any hard ground, weight is of utmost importance. Naturally, the construction of the boxblade needs to follow suit being well made for tasks like that.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #32  
I think John Bud and others made some good points when they said your tractor is overpowering the boxblade. You need to look at the parent material thickness and connections to the rear of the box. Their are inexpensive ways to beef up your boxblade by adding some scrap steel in strategic areas to gain performance and thereby weight too. But the stock box has to be built well enough in the first place.

When you start checking out 84" boxes you'll see a significant improvement in material thickness. I have a medium duty 84" Howse that had a very good base structure. The 3pt connection is a solid plate of 3/8 pre-hardened steel that spans from 3pt to the rear of the box. I know it's it's heat treated because I machined it. All the steel is 3/8" minimum with 5/8" bars running to the rear of the box. There scarifier tube is heavy too.
Here is a picture of the stock 84" Howse boxblade. I paid 500 bucks for it 3-1/2 years ago.



When I first got that box for my 55hp tractor I got lucky because I really didn't have a clue as to how heavy duty the boxblade should be. I knew I didn't want to spend 2 grand or more for a boxblade though. It's been through some pretty tough granite, clay roots and rocks. In my case, the scarifier carrier tube was strong enough, but the scarifiers weren't. I bent and snapped several off with that boxblade, so there was no question the box itself was strong enough.



The first thing I did was get some scrap steel and made some supports for the scarifiers. This was not an expensive addition and save on scarifiers. I did the welding myself at my camp. You need to create a generous fillet when doing the final passes.



After that, realizing that I was moving the position of the scarifiers many many times for all the road and ground prep for my new home, I decided to change that too. It was just too time consuming with all I had to do. I made that same boxblade into a gear driven hydraulic model. It's given me years of trouble free work now. I did all the work myself to it and it was a little more expnsive than just adding the supports, but I don't think I have more than 400 bucks into parts total.
Now it's pretty heavy and pretty cool too.
So there ARE some things you can do to fix up a boxblade.:)



What can I say but WOW! That is the trickest BB I have ever seen. I am impressed.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #33  
can say ive ever seen that happen before.

ive seen plenty of busted/bent scarafiers but never that.

i guess the idea of down sizeing the cross tube to save some money on material was a bad choice.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #34  
My cousin just sold his old 6' Gannon at auction for about $500. It was a little beat up but nothing wrong with it. Doubt my Satoh Buck would even lift it. My approach to buying most things is look everywhere you can for it, classifieds, craigslist etc. and don't get in a hurry.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken
  • Thread Starter
#35  
I really feel bad about this entire issue because I believe that the dealer has acted completely and overwhelmingly in good faith. I truly believe that they had zero foreknowledge regarding the strengths/weaknesses of the product, and all of their representatives have constantly presented themselves as if this is their problem, not mine, and that they will ensure customer satisfaction. That is a commodity that is hard to find nowadays. I would gladly purchase an alternative (genuine heavy duty) box blade from them just due to their treatment of me throughout this issue.

More to come.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #36  
In the pictures, it looked as if the scarficiers were turned backward. It doesn't look as if they would catch on anything except if you were pushing instead of pulling, and that wouldn't make sense either. It must really be a weak piece of equipment. Sorry about your trouble.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #37  
It's easy to see why the tube split out.Hard to believe a company would build it without welded reinforcement sleeves to spread the load over the entire tube.Reminds me of the old days when I worked in a gas station and we would poke a screwdriver through an oil filter.....well,we all know how that turns out....don't we.I'm sure they'll make it right.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #38  
It's easy to see why the tube split out.Hard to believe a company would build it without welded reinforcement sleeves to spread the load over the entire tube.Reminds me of the old days when I worked in a gas station and we would poke a screwdriver through an oil filter.....well,we all know how that turns out....don't we.I'm sure they'll make it right.
RFB said this:
The dealer I bought it from was very responsive and said the manufacturer was as well. They called me back within an hour of notification and said a new one will be made and shipped for exchange.

This is a lot different than what is suggested in your post .... poking a hole in an oil filter. It doesn't look like it was their intent to rip anyone off to me. Might just be a bad design that they have to address, and with that statement, they are going to do so.
Did you exchange the filters you poked the holes in?
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #39  
I really feel bad about this entire issue because I believe that the dealer has acted completely and overwhelmingly in good faith. I truly believe that they had zero foreknowledge regarding the strengths/weaknesses of the product, and all of their representatives have constantly presented themselves as if this is their problem, not mine, and that they will ensure customer satisfaction. That is a commodity that is hard to find nowadays. I would gladly purchase an alternative (genuine heavy duty) box blade from them just due to their treatment of me throughout this issue.

More to come.

Except for one thing. The dealer should have spotted the fact that it wasn't put together strongly enough right away. He should have called the factory and asked them exactly what are they trying to pull with that kind of construction. At a minimum, he should have warned you to keep an eye on it and to make sure you stressed it while in its warranty period.
 
   / First Day, New Boxblade, Broken #40  
RFB, SORRY TO HERE ABOUT YOUR DILEMMA WITH YOUR NEW BOX BLADE. POSSIBLY WHEN IT WAS BUILT THE SUPPLIER SENT THE WRONG WALLED TUBING AND THE NEXT ONE WILL BE BETTER. I BOUGHT A MIDWEST 84" 4 YRS AGO FOR $400 AND HAVE NOT HAD ANY PROBLEMS. IT IS MADE OF ALL 1/2" STEEL AND THICK TUBING. I PULL IT WITH A 50 HP TRACTOR ON A ROCKY SHALE DRIVEWAY 3/10 MILE LONG. IT WILL STOP THE TRACTOR IF I CATCH SOMETHING. LET US KNOW WHAT THE OUTCOME IS. GOOD LUCK. FRENCHIE
 

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