Replace Worn Boxblade Blade

[3RRL]

Thought I'd share a little story about changing out the worn inner blade on my trusty boxblade. You've seen the wear I've gotten of several years use on my hard decomposed granite roads and all the roads, trails and foundations I've built with it. The front of the side plates on the box itself have rounded and worn down about an inch, at least. I'll weld some plate back on another time.

The blade itself has worn over an inch too. Worse is that in the center, the blade has worn down 3/8" more than on the ends. You can see the difference on the tape measure. So when I drag the boxblade, the cut is no longer flat. We decided to remove the inner blade and flip it over to use the good edge on it.
Here is Loretta helping me chisel all the caked on dirt which is packed between the inner and rear blade so we can get to the nuts and bolts. Also some photos showing the wear of the blade at different points with the measuring plates. I'm not too unhappy since I've probably got what ... about 400 hours of good use out of this one.

 

[3RRL]

The change over is pretty straight forward, but as always, there has to be something about it that makes it interesting ... and annoying.
The bolt threads and nuts underneath got smashed up hitting rocks and dirt so they are going to be a bear to take off. They are like flat headed carriage bolts, I guess? So it's important to keep the square part inside it's pocket when twisting on them. I used K-Clamps and a 1/2" thick bar to keep them in position.
The photos below show how all the bolt threads and nuts look like. And also the method I used to retain the carriage bolts in place while I torqued them off.



R

 

[3RRL]

OK, the best thing to do would be to have a whole new set of nuts, bolts and lock washers for the repair, but if you're a cheap SOB like me, you'll want to save the old ones if they are still good enough to hold on a lousy blade. Plus, getting stuff like that ahead of time takes planning and we all know how that goes.

The secret to not wasting the nuts completely while torquing them off those gubered up threads is to grind away the destroyed threads so the are crisp and clean on the edges. Then the nuts can come off easily without any damage to THEIR threads as well...and you can reuse them if you want.
Below are some close ups of what that looks like. All I had to do was change out a couple wiped out lock washers.



Below is a close up of the ground away destroyed threads so the nuts can come off. I used a little WD-40 to help since there was rust all over them too. This one has been cleaned up and is ready to reuse. Then shown after that is that same bolt and nut reinstalled on the cutting blade. Maybe if I get lucky, they will wear down to nothing for the next changeover.
BTW, look how much that good side of the cutting blade sticks out now.

 

[3RRL]

Here are a couple photos I got from the game camera as I graded my dirt roads. I had forgotten about the camera until I downloaded the photos. It's a good thing because I didn't take any while I was working. I would say that is a pretty fair finish comparing the road to what it looked like in the first picture to the second. I found the new blade edge to be really great. I'd forgotten how easy it was to get that heavy boxblade to cut nicely and easily like that.
Adjusting the top link yielded a pretty smooth surface.



Thanks for looking...

 

[billbill1]

Nice job Rob!! I was thinking, as mich work as you get out of Loretta up at 3R, maybe you need to convince her that you can't get TV reception at the new place. That way you can keep her outside working.

 

[Ductape]

Rob, with all the battle scars on your Dr. Frankenstein boxblade...... glad to see it is still hard at work. Like yourself, i would have re-used the damaged bolts ........ because i'm thrifty (cheap) like that !

 

[john_bud]

I would think that 400 hours is low. That "soil" you have must be hard as asphalt.

The high end boxes have replaceable side skids. You may want to add that as your next modification, or else your box will be getting shorter and shorter and shorter!

jb

 

[3RRL]

Yeah, that DG is like concrete when it is dry and hard. You should see how much the scarifier tips have worn down...I'd say about an inch and a half now.
I'll have to remember about the replaceable side plates when I do an overhaul on the boxblade. It would come in handy for what I have planned. I might try another mod where I can angle the boxblade much like a rear blade to windrow dirt...hydraulic of course. I could take the trailing side off or maybe both if needed.

 

[john_bud]

Sounds interesting! How you thinking about doing it? A pair of cylinders to pivot the blade forward or a moving box mount to the 3pt?

jb

 

[Charlesaf3]

intersting as usual!

no impact wrench? They are a godsend. One of those "how did I get along without this?" sort of things