Box blade or grader blade

[MitchellB]

Thanks MitchellB. I found an outfit that gets $61/day for a 6' box blade. I'm going for later this week.

I just looked back and we only paid $156 for the Tractor Supply grader blade new, but that was many years ago; looks more like $400 today, but I've got my moneys worth out of it and then some. I also use that blade to move snow off our gravel driveway in winter and sometimes the paved street in front of our house (city never plows it). We live on a incline that never gets much sun and it can get pretty slick after a snow. By turning my blade around backwards angled 45 degrees, it does a pretty good job of pushing off most of the snow to one side without pulling up the gravel in our driveway. Here in NC, snow is only a big deal a few times a year. You guys get some pretty serious storms up where you are.
New box blades are expensive, but I got my used United 5.5' box blade just a few years back for only $300 in a Craigslist ad. So keep an eye out, deals can be found if you act quickly before someone else grabs it up. I had several truck loads of dirt to level over a depression where an old building once stood and the box blade worked great for moving that dirt around. I know you are not supposed to push backwards with them, but I did use it as a bulldozer quiet often, but carefully kept the loads small so as not to bend up my tractor arms. Good luck and show us your project pictures soon.

 

[keegs]

I just looked back and we only paid $156 for the Tractor Supply grader blade new, but that was many years ago; looks more like $400 today, but I've got my moneys worth out of it and then some. I also use that blade to move snow off our gravel driveway in winter and sometimes the paved street in front of our house (city never plows it). We live on a incline that never gets much sun and it can get pretty slick after a snow. By turning my blade around backwards angled 45 degrees, it does a pretty good job of pushing off most of the snow to one side without pulling up the gravel in our driveway. Here in NC, snow is only a big deal a few times a year. You guys get some pretty serious storms up where you are.
New box blades are expensive, but I got my used United 5.5' box blade just a few years back for only $300 in a Craigslist ad. So keep an eye out, deals can be found if you act quickly before someone else grabs it up. I had several truck loads of dirt to level over a depression where an old building once stood and the box blade worked great for moving that dirt around. I know you are not supposed to push backwards with them, but I did use it as a bulldozer quiet often, but carefully kept the loads small so as not to bend up my tractor arms. Good luck and show us your project pictures soon.
View attachment 560040

I set up a search notifier in CL this morning.... we'll see how it goes. I've been looking everyday for a few days now and haven't come up with anything yet. There's some out there for sale as a package with a tractor and so far no one's selling separately.

The house is on a little bit of a rise and at the bottom of the rise the snow drifts get up to 6'. If I'm not on top of it with the blower I get snowed in.

Watched a video of a guy grooming an grown-over gravel drive with an 8n and a box blade. It came out very nice. Hope I have similar results. I'll post pics when I'm done.... gonna try to get the BB over the weekend. I think they only charge you for 1 day.

CK

 

[WranglerX]

Couldn't one just put shoes/skids on bottom (at sides) of scraper to essentially make same ground skimming action as a box blade ( not discussing need for rippers here)..... Of course if 3PH has no down force there is always ways to add weight..

Similar to product below but adapted to scraper blade instead of front bucket...

Edge Tamer - Move Snow With Your Tractor Loader Bucket R2 Manufacturing

Dale

 

[Stomper]

I just picked up a rear blade for a specific job I need done, but I will be making some sides for it that can be bolted on and off easily. Similar to the picture below but with out the round cross tube, will make it much better for moving material around and the angle iron on the bottom would act as skids. I'm big on multi purpose/use equipment. As far as the land plane goes, I built a small light duty plane/leveler, and I am impressed with what it does on my driveway. It is more of a "resurfacing" tool. Loosens up the hard pack areas and levels it and smoothes the gravel like it was just put down. It also works great for weed control. I HATE weeds in my drive way. When the weeds start growing in the driveway, I just run the land plane over it and it digs up and kills the weeds and resurfaces it again.

 

[keegs]

I just picked up a rear blade for a specific job I need done, but I will be making some sides for it that can be bolted on and off easily. Similar to the picture below but with out the round cross tube, will make it much better for moving material around and the angle iron on the bottom would act as skids. I'm big on multi purpose/use equipment. As far as the land plane goes, I built a small light duty plane/leveler, and I am impressed with what it does on my driveway. It is more of a "resurfacing" tool. Loosens up the hard pack areas and levels it and smoothes the gravel like it was just put down. It also works great for weed control. I HATE weeds in my drive way. When the weeds start growing in the driveway, I just run the land plane over it and it digs up and kills the weeds and resurfaces it again.

View attachment 560141

Yeah.. Jeff mentioned this in an earlier post and attached a video from EA. It's the bomb....but it'll tie up a lot of storage space in the garage, it may be closer to a single purpose device and I'll likely use it once every other year. There's a used one for sale down state but it's close to a grand. That's rich for me. I'm thinking the BB will fit the bill ....just need to make sure this weekend.

 

[keegs]

Today I picked up a 5' box blade at the local rental outfit. It's a heavy duty Woods... weighs about 450 lbs. I set the scarifiers on the top position and brought the top link all the way in. It took several (more like 5 or 6) passes to break up the top layers of sod, compacted stone and loam before the material was malleable enough to move and shape. It seems the more I dig into the material the more gravel gets exposed. There's a fair amount of loam in the mix which concerns me somewhat. I'll know better what I have after a few weeks of rain and sunshine. I'm only into it for about 4.5 hours and i have most of the driveway material broken up. I have it for another day. There's still a fair bit of shaping to do. I want to see if I can put a crown on the driveway and there's a few stretches where I side gulley might be in order. I think it's best to keep the tractor speed to about 4-5 mph while I scraping. I used low 3rd gear. It seems to spread the material better at that speed. Here's some pics.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Can't beat a box blade! Def the most versatile attachment IMO.

You're doing a great job. One rain will wash a lot of the dirt down and expose your rock. Keep at it. More passes are better.

 

[keegs]

Can't beat a box blade! Def the most versatile attachment IMO.

You're doing a great job. One rain will wash a lot of the dirt down and expose your rock. Keep at it. More passes are better.

Thanks...it's my first time at it.. not that hard getting the hang of it. Someone mentioned they drag an old piece of chain link fence over the surface to smooth it out and bring up more of the gravel. Sounds like a good idea.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

For maintaining my driveway, which is similar to yours, I box blade in 3 steps. 1) BB level, teeth down just 2" (you want to dig to a depth equal to your potholes), multiple passes SLOW to loosen everything up. 2) remove teeth, more passes to level and redistribute the gravel. At this point the driveway will be pretty much flat (no crown). 3) BB slightly angled and tilted for final light passes down each side to create a crown. By the time you're done, the grass is gone. Pretty simple.

If I've been aggressive on step 3, perhaps to ditch the side a little or slightly correct a grade, there may be too much gravel down the center. So I reverse the direction of travel so the angle/tilted BB will tend to throw the gravel to the edge, and do two very light passes (BB raised up a little); one pass up just to the right of center, and one down, the same. This will redistribute some of the gravel back toward the edge.

If you need to dig ditches or change your grade anywhere that adds steps and complexity of course. I find the project to be very relaxing, and every time you drive it, you can brag on yourself a little.

 

[keegs]

For maintaining

If I've been aggressive on step 3, perhaps to ditch the side a little or slightly correct a grade, there may be too much gravel down the center. So I reverse the direction of travel so the angle/tilted BB will tend to throw the gravel to the edge, and do two very light passes (BB raised up a little); one pass up just to the right of center, and one down, the same. This will redistribute some of the gravel back toward the edge.

Thanks .. set the blade on an slight angle about an hour ago. I'll keep this in mind. Here's one back to you ..... a cold piece of watermelon when you're done.