Grading Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster

   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #1  

Tractor_Jim_CT

Silver Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2004
Messages
243
Location
Connecticut
Tractor
BX23
Thanks for answering the gravel driveway question.
Looking around for a box scraper and also notice a Northern Box Blade. Are Box scapers and Box Blades the same thing?Are there moving parts with a box scraper and powered by the PTO or do you just attach and scrape up the surface as you drag it along. Anything to look out for when buying?

Is a 4 foot good enough for the BX23. Any experience with Middle Busters. Are King Kutter cheap, low end stuff?

Wow..I though I had one question and started blogging. Thanks eveyone. BX23 with 20 hours of low experience
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #2  
I'll try to answer some of your questions.
I would guess a box scraper and a box blade is indeed the same thing. They do not use the PTO. They'll have tines (teeth) on the front of the box which rip up the dirt, the dirt then builds up inside the box. Then as your driving the dirt works its way out the back. This has a leveling effect to some extent ....but it takes alot of work to level something that is way off level.
A middle buster (aka potato plow) does not use the PTO either. It's like a big shovel blade on your 3PH. It will dig a trench 8 to 12 inches deep. I used mine to bury 4" drain pipe and it worked great. One disadvantage is you can only trench directly behind the middle of the tractor.

So, you can see, the box blade and the middle buster have totally different uses

King Kutter is known as 'low end' but many on here own it and have said that it does a fine job for them. I have a King Kutter 6' blade and it works fine.


Hope this helps,
Moon of Ohio
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #3  
At northerntool.com you can get a Howse brand middle-buster for about $120. A sub-soiler uses the same frame as a middle-buster. Northern has a combination where you can buy one frame and just change back and forth between a middle-buster plate and a sub-soiler tooth shank. You have less space taken up in your storage area, but have a quick change to do. On my BX, neither will penetrate the ground when my adobe clay is dry and hard. It must have the perfect moisture content. In MY soil, I'd need a heavier tractor with hydraulic rear down pressure to break the soil. I'm sure that's different in other soils.
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #4  
4' boxblade on my bx23 is a perfect fit. And Yes a boxblade and a boxscraper are the same thing.
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Hi Steve

What brand box blade did you get?

If you are comfortable .. the approximate cost and company?
Are the hard to mound?

Thanks
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #6  
Get a rockrake/yorkrake instead, especially for our New England rocky terrain. In my opinion it would be more useful for grading and leveling than a boxblade. Get 5' for more coverage past tires.
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #7  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Hi Steve

What brand box blade did you get?

If you are comfortable .. the approximate cost and company?
Are the hard to mound?

Thanks )</font>

I have a 4' Howse box blade. You don't want more than a 4' behind a BX.

It takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to change implements since I bought the 6' pry bar.

I bought a 6' long digging bar from Lowe's for about $30. It is actually made for digging and tamping but I use it to pry the arms off the implement and push them back on the new impelment. Sure beats trying to kick the darn arms off and on the pins with my foot. The bar is long enough that I can stick it in the ground and use it to move the BB, bush hog, or whatever I am working on a few inches to line things up.

Bill Tolle
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #8  
My 2 cents.....

Get a well made heavy box scraper. Its the weight the keeps it on the ground and keeps it from kicking up everytime you might hit a rock.

If you can swing TopNTilt its a great addition.
Mark
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #9  
Tractor Jim,
I got my box with the tractor and I think it was around 300-350 dollars. It is made by Rankin. It is a company out of eastern washington, so I'm not sure if they are nationwide. I have nothing but good things to say about the quality. I agree with Bill Tollie about the size. I don't think a 5' box on the bx would be the best fit. I can stall out my tractor with the shanks all the way down and the box full. If I had a 5' one I don't think it would allow me to dig as deep. As to the landscape rake, I have one and love it. It does a good job at raking rocks and smoothing out loose material, but for moving and leveling dirt I use the box.
 
   / Box Scraper vs Box Blade vs Middle Buster #10  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I bought a 6' long digging bar from Lowe's for about $30. It is actually made for digging and tamping but I use it to pry the arms off the implement and push them back on the new impelment. Sure beats trying to kick the darn arms off and on the pins with my foot. The bar is long enough that I can stick it in the ground and use it to move the BB, bush hog, or whatever I am working on a few inches to line things up.)</font>

Oh, I just couldn't deal with that. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Everything I have is on a dolly. Even the rear blade has a dolly with a post to support the front tongue. All are stored in the garage and wheel up to the BX 3ph with ease on the smooth concrete. "Li'l Persuasion", my hand sized sledge hammer, only needs to give soft taps to get arms on and off. Never even have to bring "Big Persuasion" out. Positional adjustments require the touch of a pinkie. Why use brute force when physics can do the job for you?

My 42" Gannon Box is the perfect match for the BX size.
 
 
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