Rear Blade rear blade questions

[hospitaldoc]

A couple questions about back blades...

Are all brands of back blades about the same or are some better than others?

Are there different "grades" of backblades? ie light/medium/heavy duty and if so which one would be for snowplowing and light/medium loam pushing/spreading

When using the back blade for spreading loan or plowing snow, does one drag with it driving forward or push with it driving backward or some other method?

This will be used on a kubota bx23.

Thanks for the advice

Larry

 

[Birdhunter1]

Yes there are differences in teh quality between manufacturers, then most manufacturers have different "grades" as in light duty, medium duty, and heavy duty.
Rear blades work best when they are pulled (as AG tractor tires are directional tread, not sure of industrials so much as I haven't used them and don't plan on it), they work good for pushing stuff backwards but what happens with directional tread tires is they have no traction when going backwards so they don't push as well.

If the blade is alot wider than the tractor and really grabs some bite it will have a tendency to push the front of the tractor around.

For a small tractor like yours prolly a 4 or 5 foot max and light duty should work fine.

 

[44trxfun]

Welcome to the forum Hospitaldoc. I have a 5-foot "standard duty" Leinbach Line backblade which works great on my similarly sized tractor. I use it for both gravel drive maintanance and snow clearing. For dirt work, I pull the blade concave side toward tractor. For snow, I often swing it 180degrees (concave out) or run the tractor in reverse so the blade doesn't dig in to the driveway. At the suggestion of someone here, I had a welding shop weld me a post on the blade that I could stack 25-pound weights on, depending on snow density. (With wet heavy snow the bare blade would often slide on top of it.) If I were to do it again, I'd consider shopping for something with tilt capapbility, but the cost of those (usually more heavy-duty) might have ended up scaring me off.

I haven't used it much since this new look/system has been running, but I suggest using the "search" feature (at the top of the page). If you can enter BX and backblade (or something like that) I know you'll find a lot of past threads on this topic.

Good luck and "be careful out there"!

 

[AB4D]

Larry,

There are differences in blades, in not only grade, but also features.

For example, I have two rear blades, one is a Woods 60" (RB60) which I used on a BX23. The blade worked great on the BX and is fairly heavy duty which is a plus for snow removal and grading, but this blade will only tilt, angle, and run 180 degrees. However, the other blade is a Linebaugh line 84", the Linebaugh is not quite as heavy as a comparable Woods blade, but it is more versatile because it has double offsets, (front and rear horizontal offset pinions). The blade can be set up to run at an angle, offset angle, offset straight, rotate 180 degrees, or tilt.

[When using the back blade for spreading loan or plowing snow, does one drag with it driving forward or push with it driving backward or some other method?]

For spreading loam/dirt, I usually use a combination of both draging and pushing to get an even spread. I can't give you much advice about snow removal because I just don't get that much snow. However, I think you would want to push the snow backwards because if you drag it, I believe that you would end up with a lot of snow between the blade and the tractor that would just bog you down.

Jim

 

[Slamfire]

The trick to plowing snow is to keep the blade out of the gravel, allowing a half inch or so of unplowed snow. If you don't you'll push gravel into your drainage ditch and have a heck of a time getting it out come spring.

 

[mrutkaus]

A blade that tilts up and down is handy for making ditches and putting a crown on dirt/gravel drives.

Mike

 

[Woody_NH]

I have a Landpride RBT 1584; tilt blade, 84" wide. They make several series of blades depending on tractor HP, see their web site.

A tilt blade is handy for ditch lines. Skid shoes are useful for snow removal on a gravel surface and they are also useful for spreading material.

For snow plowing I pull forward for some situations such as clearing in front of garage with blade straight and making a long run with blade angled. For pushing into a pile I rotate the blade 180 and push back.

For leveling gravel I pull forward. Play around to see what works for you.

 

[GeneD14]

I used to have a cheapo TSC blade. It broke the first year and it was to light to do any heavy grading. Then I got a Woods RB84 and it is about twice as heavy which is great because it won't float up over obsticles as easily. It has more adjustments like offset and I have had it about 6 years and haven't found a way to break it.
There are alot of good blades out there like Landpride, Frontier, Woods, etc... I think as with alot of things you get what you pay for.

 

[HomeBrew2]

I have a Woods 5' blade and it does seem stout. It will snag and yank cantalope size rocks out of my concrete clay.

My box blade weighs 430# and that seems to be a good weight for the BX. The grader blade is a little light and I plan to add weights.

Unless I'm just scattering loose material, I always pull the blade. If I want to do a lot of "back blading", I'll spin the blade 180° and pull the "dull" edge.

A blade can be extremely aggressive and the BX is way too short and has poor 3PH control ... I highly recommend buying or making gauge wheels.

I don't know anything about snow.

Cheers!