Adding hydraulic scarifier control to my box blade

[SLM1294]

I picked up a Bush Hog BX-600 box blade a while ago and decided it would be handy to be able to control the scarifier depth using hydraulics. I decided that building a frame on top of the box blade and having it hinge as far back as possible might work since there is some slop in the cage that holds the scarifier shank. I drew this all up on the computer and determined that it could be made to work.

I drilled a new hole as high as possible in the scarifier shanks to accept a clevis pin and fould a hydraulic cylinder that could be attached to the existing frame of the box blade by drilling a few holes and using a cat 2 top link pin.

The frame was constructed using some surplus angle steel and the whole thing hinges on the box blade using four 3/4" grade 8 bolts with nylon locking nuts. A bracket was fabracated and attached to the top of the frame to accept the other end of the hydraulic cylinder. The scarifier shanks are attached to the frame using clevis pins.

Since faily close tolerance must be maintained on the attachment point of the scarifiers so that they don't bind, the box blade had to be measured carefully and the hinge points drilled accurately. It seems that the box blades are sort of hand made and nothing is quite square but measuring several times paid off since it all fit together well.

At maximum depth the teeth don't quite go a deep as they can go when manually placed but this has not been a problem. This system will still allow the old system of holding the scarifiers to the box blade with a clevis pin to still be used.

This all went together well and works great. For most of my usage of the box blade I don't need the scarifier teeth but when they are needed it is nice to just adjust the lever on my rear remote from the seat. This same system could probably be made to work on most other box blades as well.

[3RRL]

This is a GREAT idea!
I love the idea hinging it on the back of the box like that.
I wish I would have thought of doing mine that way. When I did mine, I used gears and racks in THIS THREAD. Yours is so much more simple than my idea. On your design, when it rotates back to lift the scarifiers, is there plenty of room for them to move or did you have add some clearance? I realize the higher the frame pivots, the shanks start to tip back a little.
Nice job and good thinking. Having the control like that has save me hours of fiddling around adjusting the shanks!

[SLM1294]

Rob,

Thanks again for the comments. I designed the size of the frame so that when the cylinder is fully retracted the ends of the frame actually just sit on the box blade and the scarifiers are extended as far as possible. When the cylinder is fully extended the scarifiers are raised as far as they can go. So far this has kept them well out of the way but if I was trying to dig deep with the blade they might get in the way. If needed the scarifiers can be removed, as before, by just pulling the clevis pins (or set upside down). The computer modeling really helped out here to visualize things and get all dimensions correct.

Steve

[Lasgambler]

Nice Job! Looks like it adds some good weight to the BB. Weight is good on the BB.

[akpilot]

Great job!! thanks for sharing, this is something I would like to do to mine. maybe this winter.

[mjncad]

Darn good idea and excellent work to boot.

[RedDirt]

Ditto all above comments. Nice job.

[teg]

just found this thread, missed it the first time around...

I really like the work, and it's all bolted together vs. welded!!! Good job

[NOTV8]

That was very good job and I don't see any welds... all bolted together? That's a lot of holes....