ATTN: Heavy BOX BLADE Experts.....Give us your opinions please.

[oldballs]

I would just provide a top frame on existing BB so owner could easily add/remove weight in the form of rocks/pipe/weights/etc to meet weight needs.

That's what I will do if necessary for my 54 inch EA BB. But with a B2620, I ain't gonna move any mountains anyhow. I've got a couple 75 lb rail connectors that I'll hang on the back. So with the EA design that's a light weight (and easy on the pocket book) I can go with or without the weight.

 

[Halftrack]

An idea I was going to run by Ted a few months ago, slipped my feeble mind until I saw this thread. I was going to suggest a combination box blade and cultipacker, with the cultipacker pivoting down from a position above the box to behind the box for strickly cultipacker use. Then also being able to use it with the teeth extended for soil cultivation and as a fulcrum for soil leveling in combination with the box blade. I have a box blade and a cultipacker and sometimes you need both at a site and its a pain to move both. I would hope the combo tool would be less $$ than buying individual items as there is a lot of common steel in each. The 8' packer box might see limited sales but I could see the 4, 5, and 6' models in demand. I am sure Ted and the guys can figure it out from here. Sorry to deviate from the thread but guys asking for a heavier box brought this to mind.

 

[Xfaxman]

I like the lever that lifts or lowers all the scarifiers at once, like this Cammond. They raise straight up, out of the way.

I was moving silt with one that the scarifiers rotated back an up. The silt filled the BB and around the scarifiers, when you raised the BB the sticky silt stuck in there and would not fall out!

Don't need a hydraulic cylinder on the scarifiers, since I use the BB on a tilt-tach that takes the aux hydraulic connection.

 

[number9L]

I recently bought the Woods BSM72 and it's heavy duty built. 1/2" plate sides that roll over at the top for extra rigidity (I assume), added 1/4 or 3/8 (don't remember) added to the wear edges, and I liked the best that the scarifiers are mounted behind the cross tube in 1/2" brackets so all the force is on them and not wallowing the holes in the tube out over time. I wanted a heavy weight and heavy built BB. I looked at the ones you offer but they weren't as heavy as this one.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/285326-box-blade-kubota-l3800-5.html

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[xring100]

Ted is on a mission now....after repeated advice from several members that recommend heavy, heavy box blades.

Our ETA Severe Xtreme Boxblade is designed extremely well, has many nice features and hasn't let us down at all.

After seeing recommendations for heavier on a regular basis here on TBN, he wants to make an even heavier box blade and would like some opinions on which blades are the best in the 800-1,200 pound range.

Let us know what you think is the best heavy box blade on the market, why you like it and what you would do to improve it.
One of his favorites is the SR series from Woods. He is not interested in making a rollover box.

What do you think guys??

This will probably sound a bit harsh so I'll apologize in advance. As mechanical engineer I'm asked to make assessments based on the available information I've learned not to sugar coat my findings. I've seen co workers who have convinced management that something was great right up until the point it went on sale and then the customer says otherwise.... Guess who was right yep the customer ... then the backpedaling begins as well as a scramble to fix a problem. The brands image is now damaged by upset customers.

Executive Summary

Probably best to drop "Severe Xtreme Duty" from the name and replace it with medium duty, drop the horsepower rating too 60 hp. Adding a maximum machine operating weigh capacity to them For example 6000 lbs. If you dropped the HP rating and called it a medium duty it would probably be an ideal scraper . Other options would include adding 400-500lbs of steel in the proper locations to increase its durability.

Pro's
Made in USA
Price is right

Cons
Assuming 80-100hp category
I would not define this as extreme duty as the Gannon & FFC are made from 1/2 Steel and weigh considerably more 500-800 lbs more.
Hydraulic Retractable seem to be the price of entry although some do offer mechanical.

Competitive Benchmarking Comparison
Cammond makes a 4C4 rated for 100hp in manual shanks and it weighs 1200# for the 96" & 84" @1100#.

The Cammond 2C2 Series is rated for 60 hp (Category 1) and is made from 3/8" side plate and their 76" model weighs 15 lbs more than the 96" EA model

Woods BSM84 is rated for 60 hp (category 1) 1/2" endplate and weighs 25lbs more than the EA 84"

Bush hog MBX 84 is rated for 55 hp Cat 1 & 2 3/8" weighs 15 lbs less than EA 84"

P.S. If you'd like to send me a demo unit that i can put behind my M8540 I'll gladly put it through the gauntlet I'm on all clay and rocks. The M series is one of the lightest 85 hp tractors out their but with ballast and loader i'm close to 9500 lbs. I would not want to be held responsible for turning it into a pretzel though. If i don't destroy it I will have to assume the other manufactures must have a heck of a safety margin, and error on the side of extremely conservative and give it my approval. The last thing anyone wants to do is drop over $1k and turn their implement into a conversation piece

An economical unit for you guys would be to just copy the one that you make now, just use some 3/8" & 1/2" steel. :thumbsup:

I seriously doubt that you will find a better unit than this one from Woods. All of the industrial units are the best that there are. That's why they are the units than come on the industrial use tractors. I don't know if it can be improved.

yes i've agree I've done a lot of research and the Gannon looks to be one of the best built which is why most of the skip loaders have them another one would be the FFC. The only way you could significantly improve either would be to offer the same unit at a lower cost

 

[Xfaxman]

I think it should be a "high-back" model, like these.

Pictures from Google Image Search.

Not like your standard style, that won't move as much dirt as a high back style.

 

[Deerherd]

I own the 96" ETA Severe Extreme box blade and after using it wouldn't spend the extra money on something heavier. At 815 lbs its plenty heavy enough to cut through anything I have on my property.

I have some real wet areas that I'm making into shallow ponds for the ducks and if I'm not careful watching the angle on the blade it will dig in enough to stop the tractor.

I've over filled it with gravel, wet and dry soil and turning this blade into a pretzel isn't something I am remotely worried about, even with my 88 HP tractor.

Maybe I'm missing something here so could somebody explain to me what material or conditions would dictate the need for a heavier blade? Up until I read this thread I was really happy with my purchase.

 

[TripleR]

I own the 96" ETA Severe Extreme box blade and after using it wouldn't spend the extra money on something heavier. At 815 lbs its plenty heavy enough to cut through anything I have on my property.

I have some real wet areas that I'm making into shallow ponds for the ducks and if I'm not careful watching the angle on the blade it will dig in enough to stop the tractor.

I've over filled it with gravel, wet and dry soil and turning this blade into a pretzel isn't something I am remotely worried about, even with my 88 HP tractor.

Maybe I'm missing something here so could somebody explain to me what material or conditions would dictate the need for a heavier blade? Up until I read this thread I was really happy with my purchase.

View attachment 332061

Hard to explain and maybe you don't need something different. I was pretty happy with our other box scrapers until I bought our Land Pride HR3584. I would have gone with an 8' Woods, but use mine on both our tractors and the L5740 couldn't handle it. When using both tractors, I put the HR3584 on the M8540 and BB2584 on the L5740, I can really tell the difference. The BB2584 is pretty sad on the M8540.

On our clay soils a regular box scraper just won't penetrate and even with rippers down penetration is shallow. The added weight is also really noticeable when doing loader work with either tractor.

 

[weathda]

I would just provide a top frame on existing BB so owner could easily add/remove weight in the form of rocks/pipe/weights/etc to meet weight needs.

I agree.

I agree as well. My brother did the same thing to his LMC MT 8' which he uses with his Kubota M9540. A year later I bought the same box blade and did the same thing for my 60hp FT. Mine is fixed so the weight is stackable. I have two of these 180lb weights. Only use one though.

 

[Ken45101]

Where did you get weights like that? Or did you make them out of thick steel?

I used to have some spare Kubota 100# front suitcase weights that I hung on the old BB.

Probably a quick solution would be some 50 or 100# body building weights that could be sat on a mounted rod on the BB.