Broke something today

[TSO]

... Using my box blade tines to scarify an area that will become a garden. Apparently I snagged a root, pulling the front of the blade down as I crept forward. It actually bent the top link causing the BB to roll up even further in the back. Apparently the stress was too much and it sheared the metal on the BB near the passenger side 3pt pin.

 

[Guesseral]

Ouch!

 

[Gary Fowler]

Man your scarifiers must be tougher than mine, when ever I hang one it either bends sideways or breaks the tine. I have never bent a top link in my live so you have encountered a hopefully once in a lifetime experience. Looks like it is time to break out the welder for the box blade. I doubt that you can do much with the top link other than replace it. In the future, try not to operate it with it screwed out quite that far if possible. Luckily they are not that expensive to replace.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Looks like an easy fix on the BB, Glad it wasn't worse.

 

[Short Game]

I got what looks like that exact same box blade with my CubCadet. It came to me, beefed up with some structure to mount a Warn 12,000 pound winch, a receiver hitch put all the way through it, and also had the end plates doubled with a layer of 3/16 diamond plate. I don't know how much use it had had, but I broke it in the same place. It was not from ripping, but from grading an old drive with lots of nasty big rocks that stuck up and would sometimes snag very hard.

To repair it, I ground V grooves and made repeated welds to reattach the broken off end. I then doubled both of the inner sides where the break had been with 2 1/2" X 1/4" angle irons, welded anywhere I could weld them, and drilled those through for the pins.

No time for a picture now, but I will get some later if you want.

 

[Short Game]

Here's pics of the repair. When the one side broke, the other side cracked. So I ground grooves into the crack and welded it too. I know my vertical welds are nothing pretty.

Also, here is the modification it came with to mount the winch and the receiver hitch. I added pegs to store chains and the shelf for the chainsaw gas and bar oil. I figured out a way to store my homemade bucket forks on it too. I also have a place to mount and pin in my homemade wood splitter that runs off the remotes. All that and good ballast too.