Rear Blade or Box Scraper

[JimHam]

I have 55 acres of reclaimed mine land with lots of rocks in the soil. Some huge boulders too. Parts of it are eroded and I have some pretty substantial gullies that I need to fill in and install erosion control on. Other areas (total about 1 to 1-1/2 acre) are acidic exposed slate and need to be limed and covered with a couple feet of soil from the surrounding area. Need to do some road building and push up some levees in a low area that will eventually be a dog training pond. Gonna build the technical aspects of the pond, i.e. points, islands and levees that will eventually be flooded and create "technical water" for training. Also road building and maintenance. I have a Kubota 85 HP tractor with a bucket loader. Been looking at rear blades and box scrapers in the 8ft range and very heavy duty because of the rocks I will be hitting. I like the blade for the grading and leveling aspects but the box blade looks like it might move dirt quicker and I have the advantage of being able to push dirt in reverse. I have no experience with using either attachment so I would appreciate opinions on which implement would be better for the kind of projects I am looking at. I know, what I really need is a Cat D-9 but unless I win the lottery that ain't happening.

 

[Sid Post]

A box blade will drag a lot more dirt than a rear blade. The rear blade will be better at crowning a road or dragging a gully.

Based on your soil description, I think you will find you are HP limited with an 8' box blade. If you aren't 4WD you may be traction limited.

A box blade and rented road grader sound like your best option.

 

[geneP]

I agree that you need a dozier for that scope of work, but if I had to choose just one of your options, I would go for the box blade. You can use the tilt on the three point hitch for a limited amount of ditching but you will need the box for moving the amount of dirt you have to move.

 

[jeff9366]

I like the blade for the grading and leveling aspects but the box blade looks like it might move dirt quicker and I have the advantage of being able to push dirt in reverse. I have no experience with using either attachment so I would appreciate opinions on which implement would be better for the kind of projects I am looking at.

You have it figured out in the above quote.

You may wish to buy a Ratchet Rake for your FEL bucket. Ratchet Rake is very handy when using either a rear blade or box blade.

LINK: http://www.ratchetrake.com/images/ratchet_rake_brochure.pdf

 

[JimHam]

My tractor is a 4WD with new ag tires and the rears loaded with fluid. It is 6.5 feet wide so based upon what I have read here an 8ft would be just about right. I am looking at a Gannon 8Ft. box blade with hydraulic rippers. I want to be wider than the rear tires so a 7ft would do but I wanted as much capacity to move dirt as the tractor could handle that's why I was looking at 8 ft rather than 7 ft.

Gene P, I will be retired when I start the bigger projects so what I don't have in equipment I can make up for with lots of time to work. My grandfather built himself a pond with an old IH farm tractor, a double bottom moldboard plow, and a small bucket loader with manual dump. He is my inspiration.

 

[nybirdman]

You would want to use a box blade for that scope of work;just use caution if trying to "push"with a box blade,they are not designed(tractor isn't) for that.
You may also want to look at some sort of push blade for the front of the tractor.

 

[TripleR]

I use a Land Pride HR3584 on our M8540, I would have gone with a Gannon 8', but I use the HR3584 on my L5740, you won't have problems using an 8'. In addition to fluid in your tires, you may want to add some wheel weights. We also pull a 10' drag scraper.

 

[JimHam]

I have thought about a front blade for the loader. Most of what I saw on Tractorhouse were snow blades. If I could find a blade heavy enough to handle pushing dirt and hitting some rocks once in a while that would be ideal. Are tractor loaders designed to handle a front blade pushing dirt?

 

[blucoondawg]

I also believe you will be fine with an 8 foot blade with that large a tractor, I have a kioti dk50se hydro and have used my 6ft medium duty Woods back blade to tear out and repair hard packed granite driveways and it handled it easily and I have r4s with no fluid, ag tires loaded you won't have any issue, weight is your friend with ground engaging implements, not so much horsepower. Sounds like you have a ton of work lined up, I would definitely go with a box blade but I think you will find a rear blade will work better for shaping up the road once you have all your site moved in with the box blade. A land plane may be beneficial to clean up and maintain the finish product.

I don't care for digging with a loader, they aren't built like a dozer or even a heavy commercial tlb loader, I wouldn't chance it. I just use the loader for grading or moving lose dirt or plowing snow

 

[jeff9366]

I have thought about a front blade for the loader. If I could find a blade heavy enough to handle pushing dirt and hitting some rocks once in a while that would be ideal. Are tractor loaders designed to handle a front blade pushing dirt?

The blade will not fail, your FEL arms will fail. FEL arms are not designed to push, they are designed to lift.

Blades have to be chassis mounted or 3-Pt. mounted.