Box Scraper Sheared ripper frame

[Drsmile]

Admitedly, I am a novice. I was clearing / grading an area with some debris (brush, limbs, etc...) on a piece of land I have only owned for 5 mos. Having fun and a good time today in the Georgia sun and 65 degree weather when all of the sudden - STOP... I looked back saw I was hung up on something and backed up. A stump just below grade that was not visible was grabbed by my middle scarifier and sheared right through the frame!! I pulled out the ripper and spend 3 hours getting the stump out so I don't damage anything in the future forgetting it was there. I am going to take it to a fab shop and have it fixed. It is a BushHog SBX720 - a stout piece of steel.

That was the back story. Now the question: should I have the ripper frame beefed up, or is it good that the scrape was the weak link in this chain? I guess I would rather tear up a scrape then hurt the tractor if / when this happens again... McCormicK CT50U is a great machine, and with only 200 hrs - I don't want to beat it up too bad. Also, am I a rube, or does this sort of thing happen to everyone as sometime or another?

[joshuabardwell]

That's mighty darn impressive.

[dex3361]

I have done the same thing to my box blade ripper and I just fixed it and I may beef it up a little. Your ripper shank will bend sometimes instead of ripping the tubing. It happens o all of us and the reason a lot of us learn to weld.

[xring100]

bummer remember if you reinforce this area to make sure that everything else from the shanks slot to the 3point mounting points is beefy enough to handle the kind of loads that you'll be capable of inducing. To bad they don't have a fuseable link like a shear pin
It would be a real bummer to trash the main beam worse than just a tear out

[Bigfoot62]

That big tractor of yours is obviously over-powered. You'll have to get rid of it. Seriously, BushHog's website recommends 35hp or less (FWD) for the SBX blades.
You should be able to find a welding shop that can fix it right up. Then, be really careful how you use it, or get a heavier blade.

I have a 6' Gill Roll-Over. It's 30+ years old, and I've had it behind 100 hp FWD tractors. Never broken or even bent it. But, it probably weighs 3x what your box blade does. (probably costs 3x too)

[Drsmile]

That big tractor of yours is obviously over-powered. You'll have to get rid of it. Seriously, BushHog's website recommends 35hp or less (FWD) for the SBX blades.
You should be able to find a welding shop that can fix it right up. Then, be really careful how you use it, or get a heavier blade.

I have a 6' Gill Roll-Over. It's 30+ years old, and I've had it behind 100 hp FWD tractors. Never broken or even bent it. But, it probably weighs 3x what your box blade does. (probably costs 3x too)

I'm at 38 on the pto. I'm chalking it up to being a novice and working soil I was not really familiar with. It did great ripping out roots and grading a dirt road that hadn't been touched in 7 yrs. That tractor stopped so fast my neck must have grown an inch when I hit that stump. Rippers were set up high, and top link was trimmed out so I was only cutting maybe 2-3 inches deep. Another learning curve! I would rather have to fix up a blade than the rear end on my machine.

[xring100]

I'm at 38 on the pto. I'm chalking it up to being a novice and working soil I was not really familiar with. It did great ripping out roots and grading a dirt road that hadn't been touched in 7 yrs. That tractor stopped so fast my neck must have grown an inch when I hit that stump. Rippers were set up high, and top link was trimmed out so I was only cutting maybe 2-3 inches deep. Another learning curve! I would rather have to fix up a blade than the rear end on my machine.

I think they meant 35 engine gross Hp. Also they really should rate these things based on operating weight its probably just as important as HP if not more. The heavy duty ffc box scrapers list max gross operating weight.

[spruce Deere]

I have done the same thing to my box blade ripper and I just fixed it and I may beef it up a little. Your ripper shank will bend sometimes instead of ripping the tubing. It happens o all of us and the reason a lot of us learn to weld.

Welders, scrap iron, equipment and tractors have a symbiotic relationship....

On my frontier boxblade, even with just a measly 27hp I bend rippers now and again....... Maybe I should have also mentioned a shop press in the first line also

[RDrancher]

After seeing your post, I checked out my MBX. I have a couple that are starting to tear, but not as bad as yours did. After banging down and reweldiing the tears, I think I'll take a length of #5 rebar, grind it flat on one side and weld it across the bottom.

[Drsmile]

Welders, scrap iron, equipment and tractors have a symbiotic relationship....

On my frontier boxblade, even with just a measly 27hp I bend rippers now and again....... Maybe I should have also mentioned a shop press in the first line also

I have a 120 MIG, but I think I will need more heat for this. As such, I was going to take it to a fab shop and have them work it over for me.