Rear Blade Agonizing over rear blade decision

[leonz]

Well I am agonizing no longer. Picked up a slightly used 84" Befco BRB 284 with hydraulic angler from Craigslist. Now it won't snow-you may well be correct CompactTractorFan but at least I am prepared! I will find other uses as well. Thank you all as always for your input - went with the heavier option and i don't think i will have any regrets. This thing is stout. I will probably try plowing moving forward first and if for some reason that doesn't work as planned, then figure out how to turn it around and push it. The hydraulic angler is a sweet bonus!

One other question- my driveway is paved - should I get the skid shoes?

Thank you Dana

You need the shoes pronto, You will be unable to plow with the blade in reverse otherwise as the snow wieght will stop you if you do not angle the rear blade severely.

I hope that for your sake you do not end up snow bound as the rear blade will be of little use.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

You need the shoes pronto, You will be unable to plow with the blade in reverse otherwise as the snow wieght will stop you if you do not angle the rear blade severely.

I hope that for your sake you do not end up snow bound as the rear blade will be of little use.

At 59 I have seen a few blades and questionable operators but I have NEVER seen a rear blade with shoes. We often call them scrapers because they SCRAP the surface.

 

[Topkicker]

I have a Land Pride 84in rear blade with the optional shoes. The shoes work great on gravel drives. They allow the blade to float just above the gravel and keep you from digging in to your drive. When plowing on my concrete drive, I move the shoes all the way up so the blade makes full contact.

 

[Chilly807]

You need the shoes pronto, You will be unable to plow with the blade in reverse otherwise as the snow wieght will stop you if you do not angle the rear blade severely.

I hope that for your sake you do not end up snow bound as the rear blade will be of little use.

Leonz,

Have you been smokin' da herb again??

 

[bp fick]

You need the shoes pronto, You will be unable to plow with the blade in reverse otherwise as the snow wieght will stop you if you do not angle the rear blade severely.

I hope that for your sake you do not end up snow bound as the rear blade will be of little use.

Leonz,

Have you been smokin' da herb again??

Now that's funny!

But seriously, thousands of guys plowed out just fine, yesterday, with back blades without shoes.:confused2:
Me included. Good grief!!!

 

[RalphVa]

Worked fine without shoes in our 56 inches of snow last winter.

Ralph

 

[Chilly807]

I've got shoes, but it has more to do with a love of keeping gravel where it belongs than anything else.

Sean

 

[93Mustang]

Well let it snow! Hear the northeast may be in for a bit this weekend. I was pleased that the blade works well with the Imatch. Had a set of hoses made that run from my diverter so I can use the offset on the blade while also having the toplink functional. Just ran them along the floorboard for now. Usually not excited about snow but can't wait to try this out. One sort of odd thing I noticed-there seems to be a little hole in each of the fittings that the hydraulic couplers attach two on the blade side- is there a reason for this? One of them seems to "bleed" a little hydraulic fluid. Only thing I can think of is they are there to relieve pressure for some reason?

- Dana

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Dana, your rig sure looks nice.:thumbsup: Question for you, which side do you normally look to, to watch an implement? If it's your left side then your all set, but if it is to the right, you may want to change sides of your offset cylinder and maybe put the extending end out at the boom, that way your hoses aren't always moving so much. My thinking is that you will need to angle the blade all the way (45*) and then use the offset for about 12"( your blade will then be at about 25-30 degree angle) and you will be plowing snow out and away from the tractor. A little experimenting and I'm sure you will find where it works the best for you. Can hardly wait for the action shots.

You know that now you need that tilt cylinder for your 3pt hitch to fine tune your rear blade. The tilt of the blade changes as you angle your blade.

Good luck and I hope that it snows a lot for you.

 

[David Devuono]

Hopefully you will get reasonable snow depth. I had to go with a blower because anything more then a couple of inches would move the rear of the 2wd tractor when the blade was angled. My tires are loaded and I have chains. 4x4 will help you . I actually find it better to push the snow. Again we are talking about deeper snow and it the loss of traction associated with the tires in the snow pulling a blade. Without tire chains I can't push or pull the snow on any grades. Anyway, google says your average snowfall is 45 inches. I predict tire chains in your future unless you can be home during storms and hit the driveway often. I'm still jealous.