Rear Blade Cheapest rear blade with tilt?

[Bowhunter]

Hi all, I've been wanting to get a rear blade for clearing the very infrequent snowfalls from my driveway and was about ready to buy a 6' Wallace from Rural King. For snow and some gravel grading I figured it didn't need to be real heavy duty and the price was right ($170). After doing more reading on the subject I can see where the ability to tilt the blade (moreso, the ability to pull the tilt pin and let the blade follow contours) would be a great asset.

Does anyone know of an inexpensive 6' rear blade with tilt? I don't want to spend a lot on an implement that won't be used very often. Thanks.

 

[djradz]

Unless your ground is extremely uneven, I don't think you'd want such a feature. In almost 20 years of using a back blade, I've never desired it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Also, if you go that route, what happens when you want to push backwards with any force? I would think the blade would just go every which way and follow the snow piles rather than really pushing it. Also, even going forward, I think a light blade would give you one heck of an uneven plowing job. With something like that, what happens when you lift the blade? Seems likely one side will go up and the other down, and then you're gouging the ground. Most blades have a little bit of slop in them anyway and will slightly follow the ground anyway once you've completely lowered the 3-pt. If you still think this is important, I'd suggest you just look for a blade with a little more slop in the structure and go with that. I think you'll have far less problems. Good luck. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[ELMO67]

I have a Landpride RBT1584 rear blade on my L3010. The "T" stands for tilt, I thought I'd need it for snow and maintaining the crown on my 1300 ft. gravel driveway. I have used the tilt function ONCE, while plowing snow without the pin so that the blade would follow the driveway contours, but it was really just a big PITA. If you need to put pitch or crown on your driveway or any other project, adjust the 3 pt. hitch accordingly. Take the extra money you save and put it towards the next heavier series blade available, in the case of Landpride, that would be the "25" series. These have a thicker, taller blade and a heavier frame- this is important if you are using it for additional counterweight as I am. PS- my rear blade is for sale, I haven't posted it yet in classifieds, though.

 

[jfdlaw]

I have to disagree with the other two replys. I do exactly what you describe. I pull the pin from the tilt adjustment and let the blade float. That way when I go over a bump, or the grade changes the blade does not dig into the blacktop. Also, if you keep the tilt fixed, you have to spend a lot of time aligning the blade so that its level side to side (so one corner does not dig in) With the tilt pin out it doesn't matter. It adjusts. I have a bushhog blade, more expensive than you want, I don't know if it would be any heavier, but it works great.

 

[L3010Ken]

FWIW - I have a tilt blade and I have locked it into a steep angle a couple of times to form a bench cut in a hill side.

In this case the tractor was at a slight angle and the tilt of the blade made level. I have perhaps 16 hours of run time doing this and I was able to terrace my back yard nicely in preparation for rock walls. Would have been a pain without the tilt.

 

[SPT]

I have a 6' Midwest RB22 rear blade that I recently purchased to plow 400+ gravel drive. It has tilt (and offset) but haven't tried pulling the pin to plow. Maybe next time. (Forecast is for 3-5 inches of snow and single digits.)
I drive forward over the snow and that works well. Have had to reverse the blade due to ground not being frozen solid yet. That also has worked well. I think skid shoes were a $100 option that I decided to wait on. My driveway is fairly level and floating the blade really hasn't been necessary. The Midwest blade is very heavy and even turning it backwards for the last storm of snow, ice and slush, it did a good job of cleaning it off. I believe the blade weighs 300lb+ and you know you have some weight on the back when you raise or lower it. I had used a rear blade years ago for the same purpose only it was a 5' and much longer drive. I think a rear blade is faster and easier to control than a FEL for plowing. Of course there are still places where the FEL does the job.
Hope this helps.

 

[rameye]

I have 500ft of steep uneven driveway with a strong crown (thanks to me). I pull the tilt pin and leave it out. Works well going forward or pushing up piles backwards. Its a woods/gill 7ft blade. Probably stays put in reverse due to the weight..Heavy.

 

[Bowhunter]

Thanks for the info everyone. I picked up a 6' KK rear blade (no tilt) at the closest TSC on Saturday. I went with that one over the Wallace because I think the blade is bigger and beefier, and it was still only $219 plus tax.