Rake Box blade and landscape rake... what size?
- Thread starter orange1
- Start date
Yalerider
Silver Member
I bought a Branson 3510i with 35 horsepower. Have a 5' box blade and 5' hog. Could probably go bigger but I want to be able to fit between trees etc. Also blade covers rear tire tracks which is what you want.
Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,503
Much of this depends on conditions and intended uses but for a rough guideline for a 30 to 35 hp tractor:
~4-to-5 PTO HP for every 12" of Rotary cutter (lower end of the scale for grasses, higher end of the scale for H.D. use)
~3-to-4 PTO HP for every 12" of finish mower
5' box blade is about perfect for H.D. use in hard clay or rocky soil, you can go larger if you are only spreading gravel or loose material or have lighter soil conditions
6' grader blade for H.D. work, 7' for light grading, modest snow removal, etc.
7' landscape rake should be no problem
~4-to-5 PTO HP for every 12" of Rotary cutter (lower end of the scale for grasses, higher end of the scale for H.D. use)
~3-to-4 PTO HP for every 12" of finish mower
5' box blade is about perfect for H.D. use in hard clay or rocky soil, you can go larger if you are only spreading gravel or loose material or have lighter soil conditions
6' grader blade for H.D. work, 7' for light grading, modest snow removal, etc.
7' landscape rake should be no problem
mississippi mud
New member
i have a JD 950 27hp. 2 wd. tractor with adjustable ( 72" - 59", outside to outside) wheel widths. am at odds about what size BB would be best. i will be doing mostly driveway maint. (spreading gravel and smoothing) and occaisional dirt moving ( leveling and smoothing of small mounds ) i guess the question would be.. a) a tight wheel spread, and a 5' BB or ..b) wide wheel spread and a 6' BB
JerryG
Super Member
Given that your tractor is 2wd, you will need to limit the size of the box to a smaller size than what a 4wd could use effectively. I wouldn't go over a 5' at the most and a 4' would be more effective. I know that I will probably get some flack from this, but 2wd really does limit the amount of power that a compact tractor can get to the ground without using a huge about of weight in the tires and wheel weights. If you put fluid in the wheels and install wheel weights, then you would be alright going with a 5' box. I know some older members on TBN will probably be shocked with me suggesting fluid in the tires. I have always pushed wheel weights, but when a person is using a 2wd tractor, they really need more weight than what wheel weights alone will supply. When I worked at a dealership, I put fluid in many, many tractor wheels.
mississippi mud said:
Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,503
First, I would question why you are getting a box blade to do driveway work? If the main purpose is driveway work then why not buy a land plane or similar dedicated tool for driveway work, they work better/faster than a box blade.mississippi mud said:
Glowplug
Veteran Member
If you could ask your dealer if you could look at the owner's manual for the Kubota there is a chart that gives recommendations for the implement size for that tractor based on tractor model/size and whether it is 2WD or 4WD. I imagine there would be something similar for the other manufacturers as well. Personally, I would set the tires as wide as possible and get a box blade that would be wide enough to cover the rear tread width.
mississippi mud
New member
searched this forum for pics. or discription of a 'land plane', found nothing. can these implements pull from a large pile of material and drag within a given width of driveway without spilling from the sides ? seems like a BB could contain the gravel until desired placement before smoothing ,also done with the BBBob_Skurka said:
Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,503
Land Plane and other similar brands of dual blade grader blades will not move dirt from a pile to another location. A Box Blade can do that, at least to an extent, but it really is not designed to do it and is not very effective at doing it. That is what a front loader is designed to do.mississippi mud said:
What a land plane does is cut the ruts and bumps out of the driveway, makes it level, dresses the top, and leaves you with a smooth layer. It also moves the gravel from the edge to the middle of the drive giving you a crown. It does so in one pass or two passes in each direction.
Here is a link to one brand and below are photos of another: Landscape LR Series Landscape Rakes - Monroe Tufline
Also, here is a thread I started a while ago, it has some discussion of these devices about 3/4 of the way through the thread, but it also has a lot of information about box blades. Whatever you buy, it would probably be a service to all others here on TBN if you would post photos of it and give a review of your purchase in this thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...rision-brands.html?highlight=photo+comparison
Attachments
mississippi mud
New member
thank you for your input. maybe i should explain. i will be adding gravel to different stretches of the drive. ( 2200 ft ) the gravel will be trucked in by dumptruck and dumped in given areas for spreading. no matter how good the dump operator is, there will be sporadic highs and lows requiring dragging and smoothing. a FEL is great to carry for a distance then dumping. however i will be basically dragging and spreading from the original dump locationBob_Skurka said: