Anyone have experience with Bush Hog/Dirt Dog Rollover box blades?

[sdef]

I am narrowing my 72" box blade options and believe I want something in the 700 pound range, like the RO72 rollover model. I also like the standard type box blade, ETA Xtreme for $1240 delivered, but am not sure its 630 pounds is heavy enough for my rocky, clay soil and would rather have the additional weight in the BBs construction vs. just adding additional weight to the BB to compensate.

Does anyone have experience with this rollover box blade?

Thanks

 

[jeff9366]

I pull a Bush Hog (brand) 60"/630 pound Rollover Box Blade.

You will need a minimum of 38-hp in a 3,000+ pound tractor/loader to pull a 72" Rollover Box Blade. If your soil is exceptionally rocky clay you will need 45-hp+ in a 3,000+ pound tractor/loader.

In order to PUSH dirt with the ROBB you will need rigid stabilizers supporting your 3-Pt. Lower Links. Turnbuckle check chains will bend when PUSHING with a ROBB. I have personal experience. Some larger compact tractors come with rigid stabilizers standard, some do not.

If you will NOT have rear hydraulics, consider a Hydraulink Top Link as an accessory. Hydraulink is very helpful in Box Blade work.

T-B-N LINKS:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/285687-kubota-b3300su-rollover-box-blade.html

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/261489-rollover-box-blade-difficult-load.html

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...rket-telescopic-stabilizers-check-chains.html

If you have hydraulics installed at the rear of your tractor I do not think 10% greater weight of ROBB (710/630) will make any "real world" difference.

Without rear remotes, additional eighty pounds will provide a small performance enhancement.

ROBB's were originally designed for tractors before rear hydraulics were available. ROBBs still work great but they are relatively costly due to relative complexity, so not too many are sold new.

( We will see what MtnViewRanch has to opine. I defer to Brian's post in advance. )

 

[sdef]

Thanks Jeff9366. The tractor will be either a LS R4041h/R4047h HST or a Kioti DK40/45SE HST with 3 remotes, loaded tires, 48" rock grapple bucket, T-N-T and R4 tires. Weight should be ~ 6500 pounds without anything on the 3PH.

My concern is that I buy a BB that is heavy enough. I am glad to hear you do not feel the weight difference of 80 pounds would make much difference.

 

[npalen]

I have a 72" Gannon Earthcavator that I've used on my Kubota B9200 22.5 HP and about 2800 lbs including the FEL. I've not used it a whole lot yet but I can tell that the 740 lbs scale weight is a bit heavy for the B9200 although the FEL makes a good counterbalance. I've decided to put it up for sale as I have since bought a used LandPride 5' BB that is a better fit for the small tractor.

Edit: The picture with the blue tractor was posted sometime ago by Brian of MountainViewRanch.

 

[jim_wilson]

I seriously contemplated getting a rollover box blade to pull behind my B3200. In the end I decided against it and went with a Cammond Industries (Cammond Industries) box blade with swinging rear gate and hydraulically retractable rippers.

Going to the blade with the retractable rippers and the swinging rear gate got me most of the functionality I wanted and was cheaper than the rollover blade.

 

[PhysAssist]

View attachment 329975
I have a 72" Gannon Earthcavator that I've used on my Kubota B9200 22.5 HP and about 2800 lbs including the FEL. I've not used it a whole lot yet but I can tell that the 740 lbs scale weight is a bit heavy for the B9200 although the FEL makes a good counterbalance. I've decided to put it up for sale as I have since bought a used LandPride 5' BB that is a better fit for the small tractor.

Edit: The picture with the blue tractor was posted sometime ago by Brian of MountainViewRanch.

Hi Mr. SDEF,

The thing about roll over box blades is that they are massively heavy duty single job at a time implements.

As has been previously stated, they are the older design from before tractors had rear hydraulics, but since it concentraes your tractor's force on that one job, you can really work it.

They are more expensive that the simpler box blades, but also heavier in duty.

With my smaller, simpler (no rear remotes) tractor, it was a simple call.

With your bigger tractor, and rear remotes, either one would work fine, but you may find yourself having to adjust those remotes a lot with a regular box blade, in comparison to the rollover style.

As the others have said, Brian seems to be the local expert both on rear remotes and rollover boxblade use.

Thomas

 

[gabby]

Rollovers are great. One reason why is you can do final grooming in "back blade" mode. Turn the blade to cut/push in reverse but pull it forward and you have a very effective float/smoothing action that you can't do with a box blade.

If you have remotes, get a hydraulic tilt control on one of your side links. It's much more useful that a hydraulic top link. I have both and I never use the hydraulic top link with my blade but I constantly use the hydraulic tilt link. You can even tilt it way up and dig ditches with it. The tilt link is also great for augering post holes and keeping the holes plumb.

Also I have my rollover framed up so I can hang suitcase weights on it and that's very helpful when digging tight dirt or digging ditches.

 

[sdef]

Gabby: That is an idea I had not though of, using the back blade in forward motion.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

You may want to check on this one. 800lbs and a bit more heavy duty. My feeling is while 100lbs per foot width works pretty good, 125lbs and up can work that much better. The ETA Extreme boxes appear to be built pretty good, I just wish that they would offer some of their units built with heavier steel to get the weight up to 125+lbs per foot width.

On a side note, you can get the same smooth finish with a regular BB vs using a ROBB being pulled in reverse. You just have to extend the top link so that the tail end of the box is the only part of the box touching the ground.

 

[sdef]

MtnViewRanch: I contacted that OEM several weeks ago for this same ROBB- 72" with 7 shanks, and they referred me to a distributor in my part of the country. I emailed the distributor and have yet to hear anything. I could call them, but seem to have deleted the email, apparently once it was obvious they were not going to respond.