Box Scraper How much weight to add to 5ft box blade

[bigrich954rr]

I have a 5 foot box blade on a Branson 4720h
It痴 not cutting real well and Is losing traction on the rear tires how much weight would be the minimum to put on the box blade to make it work better?

Thinking about building a metal box that I will fill it with concrete but I want to keep it off the top of the blade a little bit so dirt and stuff can still come over the top

 

[ericm979]

More weight on the box blade won't help the traction problem. Maybe try lower tire pressure. Or fill the tires. Mine was ordered with filled tires so I don't know how much difference it makes, but it'll be some. Perhaps someone who's done before and after tests will chime in. Adding weight to the BB will make it cut more aggressively.

You can also adjust how aggressive the BB cuts with the top link. Shorter top link puts a steeper angle on the blade so it cuts harder/deeper.

 

[4570Man]

None because you already can’t pull it.

 

[bigrich954rr]

Itsｴ not filling up and getting stuck when I lower the blade it sits mostly on top of the rocks and tires start to spin to much weight over the front end of the tractor

 

[bigrich954rr]

If I catch a root with one of the cutting teeth and pull the box blade up a little it stops spinning the rears and pulls right though the sand and rocks

 

[Jaylegger]

Blade will start digging into hard compact concrete type gravel effectively at about 125-150 pounds per foot of blade.

 

[4570Man]

If I catch a root with one of the cutting teeth and pull the box blade up a little it stops spinning the rears and pulls right though the sand and rocks

Which is transferring weight on the tractor. If the tires aren’t already loaded start there. I’ve got a 5” box blade that’s probably above average construction but a far cry from a half ton Gannon and with the rippers down it would bring my L3240 to its knees. Adding more weight to the blade would be useless if not worse. You need more weight on the tractor.

 

[jeff9366]

I have a 5 foot box blade on a Branson 4720h
Itç—´ not cutting real well and Is losing traction on the rear tires how much weight would be the minimum to put on the box blade to make it work better?

Itsï½´ not filling up and getting stuck when I lower the blade it sits mostly on top of the rocks and tires start to spin to much weight over the front end of the tractor

If I catch a root with one of the cutting teeth and pull the box blade up a little it stops spinning the rears and pulls right though the sand and rocks

Box Blades for compact tractors are not for road construction in tough conditions. Box Blades for compact tractors are more of a pothole treatment and smoothing tool for completed dirt and gravel roads.

Road builders use bulldozers for initial road construction. Box Blades utilized by road builders for secondary preparation, such as Gannons, may weigh 500 pounds per foot of width.

Waiting until your road site is moist after a soaking rain will decrease draft force resistance load on the tractor by 50%.

Do you have scarifiers? Have you tried making several passes with the scarifiers only in dirt contact to loosen the rocks, before engaging the Box Blade cutting edge? You must be prudent in the load you put on the scarifiers. Scarifiers can be broken individually.

Try pinning the INBOARD end of your Top Link is the several pairs of paired adjustment holes available. These adjustments will vary the angle of attack of the Box Blade in slightly different ways from adjusting length of Top Link alone. Most likely one of the two lower pairs of pin holes will be optimal. ( PHOTOS 1 + 2)

I concur with your other advisors that adding weight to your Box Blade will not help if your tractor tires cannot maintain traction.

 

[TripleR]

Efficient use of a box scraper is not as simple as it looks. As mentioned, proper weight of the implement as well as the tractor and of course angle of attack must be right to get the best effect; oh and of course skill of the operator. We have them from 4' to 7' along with a 10' drag scraper.

I only use the drag scraper and 1100 pound Land Pride HR3584 with my L5740HSTC with filled tires and added wheel weights or our M8540HDC. Used properly both tractors and implements work well, if not they will leave either spinning the wheels anchored in place.

Sometimes skill will make up for less than optimum equipment; sometimes not.

I have used these things for years and I'm still learning with the advice of some really skilled TBN members.

 

[Rock Crawler]

I have a Titan 60" that I have 250 lbs on each side of, or 500 lbs added. I can pull it pretty dang well unless I grab a large buried concrete chunk or set of steps with it. I'll tear concrete block and such out of the ground with it and rarely stop the tractor. Heck, I am ripping the cross pin brackets off of it from catching so much immovable buried junk in my land fill area that the tractor works! Using it without the 500 added pounds.... useless. It bounces over the buried asphalt and concrete chunks and often just slides aver the ground making a bunch of noise and accomplishing a bunch of nothing.