Rear blade recommendation for 45hp 4WD tractor

[arrow]

Thanks for your input. After reading through it and looking at the options, I am coming to the realization (as Brian mentioned) that it is difficult to meet my current and potential future needs with a one time purchase and stay on budget. For that reason I am only going to focus on my current needs at this time. I'm going to be with my current property and machine most likely for 12 years minimum. I'll can figure out the future later. See - you guys are so good that you answered a question i didn't even know I had!

So now my questions are:

1. End plates vs. hydraulic angle. If I got end plates, I doubt I would want to take them off and on all the time but I suppose they would negate the hydraulic angle. Question: Which is more useful for twice a year maintenance of a gravel driveway, an blade with hydraulic angle or a blade with end plates?

2. For my current tractor only (45hp 4WD), would the Bison NVHA be suitable in either 7 or 8 ft width? It's about 400 pounds and has a 60hp rating (I didn't see it specified if that is 2wd or 4wd)

3. Any others that I should be considering given that we are now only sizing for the current tractor?

I don't mean to throw a wrench into this but what worked for me way better than a scraper blade to maintain gravel drives was a box blade with scarifiers. Certainly the snow plowing aspect of the rear blade is an important one but trying to fix up a hard packed gravel drive I found rather an effort in futility with the rear blade. Saying that, some people call loose stone -"gravel". If that is the case, a rear blade would certainly help to crown the road and dredge up shoulders.
I would still maintain that a high moldboard 7 footer will do you quite well. For snow removal, an end plate would also come in handy.
To answer your question, nothing will beat the efficiency of a hydraulically controlled rear blade that you are manipulating from your seat.
So here is the summary: If you are removing snow and have a gravel stone drive, get a blade that you can add hydraulics to. If your drive is "hard packed" gravel, get a simple rear blade that you can manually set for snow plowing and then invest in a box blade for maintenance.

Brian, (Mountain view Ranch) has done some excellent work on his roads with a box blade. Perhaps he can post some of these pics and you can see how nice his drives come out after a pass or two.
Also, his recommendation of the Land pride RB 37 was exactly what I envisioned for your use.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I don't mean to throw a wrench into this but what worked for me way better than a scraper blade to maintain gravel drives was a box blade with scarifiers. Certainly the snow plowing aspect of the rear blade is an important one but trying to fix up a hard packed gravel drive I found rather an effort in futility with the rear blade. Saying that, some people call loose stone -"gravel". If that is the case, a rear blade would certainly help to crown the road and dredge up shoulders.
I would still maintain that a high moldboard 7 footer will do you quite well. For snow removal, an end plate would also come in handy.
To answer your question, nothing will beat the efficiency of a hydraulically controlled rear blade that you are manipulating from your seat.
So here is the summary: If you are removing snow and have a gravel stone drive, get a blade that you can add hydraulics to. If your drive is "hard packed" gravel, get a simple rear blade that you can manually set for snow plowing and then invest in a box blade for maintenance.

Brian, (Mountain view Ranch) has done some excellent work on his roads with a box blade. Perhaps he can post some of these pics and you can see how nice his drives come out after a pass or two.
Also, his recommendation of the Land pride RB 37 was exactly what I envisioned for your use.

Thanks for the compliment, but I think that you actually mean 3RRL. Go down to post # 8. :thumbsup:

As far as the OP, I would check into the Land Pride RB3784 for your current tractor. Get the skid shoes, get the hydraulic from me and don't worry about the end plates. You really need a blade that is at a minimum of 600lbs or you are going to end up with a blade that is not going to perform very well. Weight is your friend when it comes to grading, get as heavy as you can afford.

 

[EMB5530]

As for end plates, if you end up wanting them any metal shop could make you a pair down the road sometime and I would make them where you can adjust them about 3" above the bottom of the blade. As this works great for depositing the overabundance of material that builds up in the blade from time to time.

 

[oosik]

I will reemphasize the statement on a rear blade for driveway work - weight and LOTS of it is your friend. I finally gave up using my rear blade for summer driveway maintenance. No matter how much weight I put on it - 400 lb cast concrete block - it still created washboard. The rear blade, Land Pride RB3596, is now used for snow removal - if we ever get any.

I purchased a Land Pride GS2584 land plane grading scraper. Its design works on my driveway without extra weight and does exactly what its designed to do and does it very well.

To say that my driveway turns to concrete during the summer is a gross understatement.

I've never had end plates for my rear blade. The offset and angle keeps even the deepest snows - 18" - contained.

 

[Underdog57]

I have the Land Pride RB3784 with Hyd angle and it works great on my 41 hp tractor. (I tried to post pics of it but couldn't ....again!!!!)

 

[gladehound]

Thanks again everyone. My drive is more of a loose stone drive way than gravel (I guess). I didn't realize the difference. I've been using a light 6 foot blade (250 pounds) on a 20 hp tractor and that works fine. However, I sold the 20Hp and only have the 45 hp and am afraid I will permanently bend the light blade if I use it for landscaping. I'm just going to give the light blade to the guy who bought the tractor (since he is the one who gave it to me many years ago in the first place [family]).

I had also considered a box blade. Do they work for keeping vegitation from growing in the driveway? That is a big problem too and my light blade goes right over the driveway. If I got a box blade that was big enough could I remove the scarfs (is that the right term) and use it in the winter to pull snow away from buildings? I was thinking about a box blade before I posted but thought I'd get more use out of a hydraulic blade. I've used my light blade for 8 years. I've never used a box blade.

 

[arrow]

Thanks again everyone. My drive is more of a loose stone drive way than gravel (I guess). I didn't realize the difference. I've been using a light 6 foot blade (250 pounds) on a 20 hp tractor and that works fine. However, I sold the 20Hp and only have the 45 hp and am afraid I will permanently bend the light blade if I use it for landscaping. I'm just going to give the light blade to the guy who bought the tractor (since he is the one who gave it to me many years ago in the first place [family]).

I had also considered a box blade. Do they work for keeping vegitation from growing in the driveway? That is a big problem too and my light blade goes right over the driveway. If I got a box blade that was big enough could I remove the scarfs (is that the right term) and use it in the winter to pull snow away from buildings? I was thinking about a box blade before I posted but thought I'd get more use out of a hydraulic blade. I've used my light blade for 8 years. I've never used a box blade.

I'd stick with what I know. Depending on what part of the country people are from depends on what's considered "gravel". A box blade with scarifiers will certainly tear out the grass but will also mix in the stone with the bottom dirt. Your drive will pack like iron after a while. If you do not mind losing the visual "stone" effect, the box blade will do or you can get a bunch of weed killer and just do with the scraper blade.

 

[gladehound]

Guess I'll stick with a blade then since both my wife and I like the look of the stone on top.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Ron, while you have been using a light blade in the past and I suppose that since that is what you know, you would probably be satisfied with a new bigger light rear blade, if you were to get a heavier blade, you would be amazed at the difference.

Reminds me of people that go on about how great their new 600-700lb box blade is and why would anyone want or need a 1000-1200lb unit?. While I'm sure that everyone of those people are satisfied with what they have, the heavier units simply work much better. Reminds me of me, my first rear blade was a 680lb 8'wide unit. I figured that it worked fine, and it did. But after a few years of being behind a bigger tractor than it should have been behind, I upgraded to a 1200lb unit. Let me tell you, about the only fair comparison between the two is that they are both rear blades.

Just my :2cents:

 

[arrow]

Ron, while you have been using a light blade in the past and I suppose that since that is what you know, you would probably be satisfied with a new bigger light rear blade, if you were to get a heavier blade, you would be amazed at the difference.

Reminds me of people that go on about how great their new 600-700lb box blade is and why would anyone want or need a 1000-1200lb unit?. While I'm sure that everyone of those people are satisfied with what they have, the heavier units simply work much better. Reminds me of me, my first rear blade was a 680lb 8'wide unit. I figured that it worked fine, and it did. But after a few years of being behind a bigger tractor than it should have been behind, I upgraded to a 1200lb unit. Let me tell you, about the only fair comparison between the two is that they are both rear blades.

Just my :2cents:

This brings up several good points Brian. 1st, a heavier blade will "dig in" better. Does Ron want this to happen with a stone drive? Secondly, the heavier blade will put more stress on the tractor as it is lowered to ground level and becomes "unsprung weight". While Ron has a tractor with enough guts, some others reading this thread might think "bigger is better" and over size their tractor with a blade too heavy and that takes too much bite and carries more product out in front of it increasing the weight to over come even more. I agree with Brian's assessment of blade type. For your use, I do not think you need a blade much heavier than 400 -500 Lbs. Plenty strong enough to move snow while not being so heavy as to dig into your stone topping and carry it places you do not particularly care to have it to go.