Rear Blade Rear Blade quality

   / Rear Blade quality #1  

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Just found this forum in time, maybe someone can help.

Looking to a 6' rear blade for snow removal and driveway maintenance for which any of the light duty blades should work. I have researched most blades I know of - Woods, Land Pride, Befco, King Kutter, Southern, Bush Hog, and a host of 'no names'. They all are pretty much the same specification wise. Disregarding pitch, offset, etc., the spec that seems to make the most difference is the weight ( an indicator of the amount of steel and hence the strength?)

What about moving some earth, scraping sod, and cutting down a few inches? Will the above lighter duty blades handle it?

This brings me to the Monroe Tufline which is 100 lbs heavier than the above. Problem is they are also $200 -$300 more expensive than the others.

Any problems with the above lighter blades or any great experiences with theTufline to justify the purchase.

By the way, i was quoted $575 for the Tuffline 6'--- high or low?

Thanks in advance. 30 hp Kubota
 
   / Rear Blade quality #2  
I'm certainly not a blade expert, but there is NO doubt that weight is critical. There seem to be a lot of people who add weight onto blades they have. I bought a Farm King blade because I needed a blade and didn't have a lot of $$ sitting around. It is ok, but I certainly could not "cut down a few inches" with it. My suggestion would be to buy the most well built and heaviest you can afford without paying an unreasonable amount of money. If I had it to do over again, I would buy a blade more like the Monroe product for more money. At least you know it is going to do everything that a blade is capable of on a tractor of your horsepower.

Kevin
 
   / Rear Blade quality #3  
jbarry,

I bought a Woods RB60 which is basically a light weight blade. I have a JD 4100 and have been surprised at what it can do (along with the mistakes /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif). I cut out an area 12' x 10' about 8-10" deep in about an hour with the rear blade and my FEL w/ toothbar. Now keep in mind that I've never really done any type of work like this before. The soil was very dry and rocky.

I paid $325 for my Woods. The RB72 was around $50-75 more.

Look around a see what works best for you.

Terry

P.S. - here come the box blade suggestions also...../w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / Rear Blade quality #4  
My 2 cents as I am buying a new blade this weekend. I've done a lot of searching locally. I was not interested in a cheap blade that wouldn't last. For price/performance I have settled on a blade from Southern States. I'm not even sure what brand they are to be honest. They are a heavy blade...not as heavy as a $600 blade but heavy enough. The nice thing is it has 3-way adjustment. The blade angles like most blades do but also tilts to crown roads etc. It also swings out to either side of the tractor. It is a 7' blade and with all those adjustments I consider it a deal at $379.00.
 
   / Rear Blade quality
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Hey Terry,

Did you need to break up the soil with your teeth, or could the blade cut into it?

Unfortunatley looking around is a two hour trip in either direction

Thanks for help
 
   / Rear Blade quality
  • Thread Starter
#6  
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RearBlade.jpg


<font color=blue>…Looking to a 6' rear blade for snow removal and driveway maintenance…What about moving some earth, scraping sod, and cutting down a few inches? Will the above lighter duty blades handle it?…</font color=blue>

Any 35 hp/light/regular duty rear blade will remove snow and take care of the crown on a gravel driveway… it’s the ditching, yanking out roots, grabbing the unmovable rocks that bend/twist/break the cheap blades.

Usually the A-frame hitches survive the torture but the moldboard ends up taking the beating, mostly bending like a pretzel… so look for a thicker moldboard, but not so heavy that the front end of your tractor is floating sometimes in the air gasping for breath while you struggle to steer the darn thing…

On soil, if you plan on taking a few inches off the top… then weight and mass is the answer… you need weight on the blade to dig in and mass in the tractor to pull it… otherwise without weight you end up skimming the top {but adjusting the top link does wonders!} and spinning your tires gets you nowhere…{the dirt and snow just sit there and laugh at ya…}

You can still adjust the “tilt” of the blade even if the blade is not equipped with the “tilt” feature… How?… Glad you asked… just adjust your “right side” lift arm adjustment up or down depending which tilt direction… {remember some adjustments don’t have a “stop” built in and will unscrew completely dropping the implement on the ground… still half hooked up!}

In the Northeast US, I haven’t found the boxblades to be that popular as the rest of ya’s, we end up using end-plates on our existing medium/heavy duty rear blades… one nice thing about the end-plates is you can use one on one side and leave the other side open… very good technique for taking the crown off the road quickly…

Basically, if you can afford it on day one... spend a little extra for a decent medium or heavy duty rear blade... it will last as long as the tractor... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
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   / Rear Blade quality #7  
If you're looking for a heavy blade, you might also want to look at the heavy duty King Kutter model.
RearBladeHD.jpg

I bought one of the 7' models. It weighs in at 700#. I dropped in on my driveway that is AB3 rock we've been driving on for 10 years and it dug through it like going through hot butter. I bought mine at Atwoods. I think the regular price is around $625.00. Mine was the last one they had on the lot at the time and it had a couple of dents in the frame. Got in for $550.00.

Hoss

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   / Rear Blade quality #8  
Most manufactures have multiple "grades" of products: light duty, heavy duty, etc. For example Land Pride has the RB1572 (72" blade), RB2572 (72" blade) and the RB3572 (72" blade). One manufactures' light duty might be anothers medium duty so be careful.

Is there any particular reason that you are disregarding all the adjustability (pitch, offset, etc)? I have the RB3584 (7' blade) and I've used every one of those features.

Peter
 
   / Rear Blade quality
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I was only disregarding those features to simplify the post and the responses since I'll only buy a blade that has those options. The variable I'm concerned about is the durability.

Stepping up to the heavy duty lines puts me beyond my budget so I was looking for the 'best of the worst'.

However, now that king kutter's site is back up I've looked at them again after the other responses, which I am very appreciative of. If I can get the heavy duty KK in that price range its a done deal. I still have to confirm that the KK HD rotates 360, offsets and will pitch independent of the adjustable link arm.

Thanks again for making me look at the KK site again. The HD land prides and bush hogs are just a little too much $.
 
   / Rear Blade quality
  • Thread Starter
#10  
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If the $650. is your price range/limit... check out a leftover Woods Medium duty RB600/700 {lots of blade and features for the money} or the new replacement model shown above {now also carried by JD as a Frontier line implement}

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