New blade broke!

[Johndeere3720]

Yesterday, I had borrowed my grandpa's JohnDeere 2210 tractor so I could grade some roads and clear brush from the land. I equipped the tractor with my new grader blade and boxblade to make the driveways and roads smooth. I used the blade to pull the gravel out of the sides of the road and used the boxblade to pull the gravel to the potholes. I had noticed that if I wanted to reangle the blade, I would have to pull really hard on the pin (broke 2 pins) andre angle to my needs. Once I broke the 2nd pin, I pit the blade on the ground and slid the new pin in easily.

Then, I used the blade to push under brush into a pile and level the area. My step dad had to get fuel for the tractor so I went next door and moved some firewood into my aunts shed. When I walked home I saw my stepdad playing (working) on the tractor, smoothing out an area for some logs. He stopped the tractor and asked me if I wanted to make some final grading to the area. I turned the blade facing rearward and leveled the area. Then I heard a snap and I looked back to see that the blade had fell right off the frame supporting it. I shut down the tractor and went to see what happend. A larde threaded bolt that was holding the blade to its frame had unscrewed putting all the pressure on the pin used to hold the blade at a desired angle. The pin snapped where the pressure built up and the blade fell off. I was able to screw the treaded bolt back on to the blade but I dont know if I should fix the blade or buy a stronger one instead. I also am wondering if this has happend to anybody else?

 

[Baby Grand]

Does the long bolt have a nut that gets secured by a cotter pin or does the bolt thread direcly into the blade? It sounds like the bolt unthreaded itself.

 

[djradz]

That does appear to be somewhat of a lighter duty blade, but I've seen much lighter too, especially in some of their frameworks.

Whether you get a heavier duty unit should depend on how muh heavier work you plan to do. For light grading or snow plowing, it should be OK, but if you're planning on pushing/pulling some heavy loads, like large rocks, stumps, etc, you might end up bending it if your using it on the pictured JD.

That bolt probably was never tightened properly in the first place or was missing a locknut, or use of locktite.

 

[Johndeere3720]

The bolt screws right into the blade. There is a washer that sits bellow the bolt and is very anoying when it bounces when I grade driveways. should I watch the washer and when I tighten the bolt, listen if the washer bounces to much? The tractor I pulled it behind is pictured bellow.

 

[Ken45101]

The blade looks fairly light duty. What horsepower is it rate for? What hp is the tractor?

When I first started out, I had a TSC grader blade on a 47 hp Kubota. I was a frequent customer at the local weld shop. I finally gave up and bought a medium duty Woods blade and haven't had a problem in the 9 years I've had it.

The old blade is sitting out by the barn. I'll make you a good deal on it ;-)

Ken

 

[Brad_Blazer]

It sounds like your problem had nothing to do with the strength of the blade.
There could be a design problem with that attachment bolt. Like has been said, it needs to be pinned to the captive nut in the blade or it will tend to loosen or tighten when you rotate the blade. Is there provision for a pin or jamb nut or does the threaded portion bottom out in the nut?

The connection will be strongest with the bolt as snug as possible while allowing the blade to rotate. If the pivot bolt didn't tear up while it was so loose I'm thinking it is fairly strong for your use..

 

[fishfighter]

The blade looks fairly light duty. What horsepower is it rate for? What hp is the tractor?

When I first started out, I had a TSC grader blade on a 47 hp Kubota. I was a frequent customer at the local weld shop. I finally gave up and bought a medium duty Woods blade and haven't had a problem in the 9 years I've had it.

The old blade is sitting out by the barn. I'll make you a good deal on it ;-)

Ken

Wish I knew about this a year ago.First day using a new TSC 6' blade,I bent the **** out of it.LOL I went to a woods too!

 

[Ken45101]

Wish I knew about this a year ago.First day using a new TSC 6' blade,I bent the **** out of it.LOL I went to a woods too!

Since then, TSC has started rating their blades, etc. for 35 hp maximum (I think). When I bought mine, there was no information on what the blades were rated for.

I think back to those days when I only had one machine and I probably abused the attachments. I did a lot with the tractor and a couple of attachments. Now I've added more toys to the stable and can use the more appropriate piece of equipment, hopefully without abusing anything.

Ken

 

[djradz]

Given the tractor you are using, I don't think there is an issue of it being too much for the blade. From the way it is designed, unless there is a way to keep the bolt tight, it will continue to happen and probably with an ever increasing frequency.

Maybe you could drill out the threads in the blade and bolt it through and use a longer bolt and locknut instead?

 

[Zephrant]

My brand new RB2072 does the same thing- I have to stop and use a pipe wrench to tighten up the bolt once in a while. Next time I find my thread-locker, I'll put some on it.

Seams like a poor design on a $1k blade.