How well does the Box Blade work

[jfischer]

Just about ready to go pic my 425 machine up.

Wanted to get some input to whether the box blade teeth worked well enough to brake a hard packed gravel road up, so I could fill some holes in.

I have seen it work on dirt, but wondered if the machine was big enough and had enough power to be worth its while to purchase one while I am down there.
Jeff

 

[Sprinklerman]

My kubota bx 24 does fine with a 4 ft grade box . I put the teeth down on the shallow setting and go slow.

 

[The Suburban Farmer]

I have the 5' box blade from Tractor Supply on the back of my 2320 and it works fine:



BUT, I have more HP (25 HP) than you are talking about with your 425 (only 20HP, I think?), so I would probably look for a 4' blade if possible based on my usage. I've found that mine works perfectly well for my tractor, BUT if I have all of the teeth down, I can only take VERY small passes at best or I start to lose traction. Generally, if I'm using the teeth, I only put down 3 at most, and sometimes just run it with 2 of the teeth, and not set at full depth. There were some old gravel paths that I wanted to rip up on our property and the 2-tooth, small-pass approach worked perfectly. I've hit a buried rock or two though, and it will stop the tractor dead in its tracks.

Like Sprinklerman, one of my buddies has a BX24 and he has the 4' blade and uses it for his gravel driveway all the time with very good results. Weight would be my concern with using a BB on a machine the size of a 425. You may run out of traction well before you run out of pull if you don't have enough mass. 20 HP should be plenty to take care of your gravel road after the FIRST grading, but you may have to take really small bites on the first grading.

Here's a video of someone using a 425 with a 4' box blade to make a gravel path. They aren't taking a very big bite...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=culxgkUoDXU

 

[jfischer]

The 4' one is what they make for the PT425 I am looking at, and it is a 25hp unit.

I have run them on a big tractor at one time in life and know how they work, I was just trying to get some idea if they would dig into a gravel based road, or driveway, and be able to smooth it out. Mainly just trying to do upkeep until the guy comes to do the yearly job on the road.

I have seen that video before, as I have been a JD guy since 1972, but was wondering how it worked on hard packed places, to fill a cavity, or pothole up. I just a Johnny bucket to do it now, and it just can't do what a larger box blade does, and especially one that you can set an angle to put a crown on something.

 

[SpringHollow]

Just a thought but I bought a 3 pt hitch adapter designed for a skid steer but they welded a PT attachment plate to it. Now I can use a 3 pt boom, box blade, etc. The biggest downside to that is that the adapter weight will reduce your lifting capacity which is already limited on PT's.

You can also just buy local used 3 pt attachments and make and weld on your own attachment plates. I modify used truck snow plows that way.

Ken

 

[jfischer]

Ken, I thought about that, but this is a 425 machine, not a big 1850 like you have, and really don't think it could pull more then a 4 foot blade of that kind with teeth. They seem to be hard to find, and the PT one doesn't really have the adjustable teeth like others I have seen, so just trying to get peoples ideas on there box blade.
I think PJ had one he was using, but mainly saw it on dirt, and just wondering if it was even worth getting to try on rock and gravel?
Jeff

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Just about ready to go pic my 425 machine up.

Wanted to get some input to whether the box blade teeth worked well enough to brake a hard packed gravel road up, so I could fill some holes in.

I have seen it work on dirt, but wondered if the machine was big enough and had enough power to be worth its while to purchase one while I am down there.
Jeff

This ancient video was what first got me thinking about a tractor.

 

[SpringHollow]

The DR Power Grader seems pretty pricey but most people seem to be happy with it. The PT 425 should have no trouble pulling it.

Ken

 

[oosik]

I have a 72" roll over box blade (Bush Hog RO720) and it will rip my hard as concrete driveway just fine with the teeth down. However, if I do any ripping on the driveway I most often use the Land Pride GS2584(grading scraper) with the teeth down. Its a little less aggressive and produces a more level final product.

A properly sized box blade should rip just fine with the teeth down. It may take multiple passes to get down to what you want but that's what seat time is all about. A box blade or grading scraper with teeth down is an awesome ripping implement.

 

[MossRoad]

Just about ready to go pic my 425 machine up.

Wanted to get some input to whether the box blade teeth worked well enough to brake a hard packed gravel road up, so I could fill some holes in.

I have seen it work on dirt, but wondered if the machine was big enough and had enough power to be worth its while to purchase one while I am down there.
Jeff

Since you are speaking about the PT425 box blade specifically, in the 14 years I've been here, I've only read one or two comments from PT425 owners with a factory box blade and as I recall, they weren't very impressed when it came to hard packed earth. Don't recall any posts about hard packed gravel drives, but can only guess you'll be disappointed. I don't have a picture of the teeth on it, but as I recall, they aren't typical scarifier type teeth you'd see on a conventional box blade. You may be better off finding a used 4' 3pt type box blade with adjustable teeth and adapting a quick attach plate to it.

On that note, be sure to check angles before mounting anything to a PT quick attach plate to make sure you can dump/curl it to the angles you'll need. Very few conventional attachments can be welded 90 degrees to a PT quick attach plate and end up working correctly. You'll need to weld the QA plate with some angled stock to get the proper angle.