Box Scraper Changing angle to use rippers only

[oosik]

I have two implements with rippers - ROBB and LPGS. If I want the rippers to go deeper - I have to manually drop them down and re-pin them. Angling the LPGS is out of the question. Angling the ROBB is counter productive. With the ROBB flat on the ground - that's as deep as the rippers will go - unless I manually lower them and re-pin.

 

[Rich B1]

I have a very basic box blade - King Kutter XB, with a basic tractor - New Holland TC21D. No hydraulic top link, that is manual too.

It is capable of using it was rippers only and there are times I have used it that way to get the hard pack material broken up. Drop the tines all the way down, tilt the blade using the top link until only the front corners of the side boards are on the ground. You definitely don't want the rear blades to be in contact. Set up like this, it does a nice job breaking up hard pack material. Drive slowly, watch your depth. You can also play around with the "pitch" of the blade to get the best penetration of the rippers, but you always want to keep the actual blade at the rear clear of the ground.

Actually, IME, most every thing involving a box blade involves "driving slowly' to get the best performance out of the blade. Speed is not your friend.

It takes time to develop a feel for best use of the blades. There is a fine line between cutting (rear down), moving material (near level) and spreading material (blade slightly up) with a box blade. There is also a fine line on spreading/smoothing material.

All of this is time consuming, but it is A LOT faster than doing it by hand. And it is a lot cheaper than owning much more sophisticated equipment. For my couple of times/year using the box blade, the trade off is worth it.

 

[Henro]

I guess I am missing something, but if you want to use the rippers only, are they fully down?

Just what I would do if I wanted to only use the rippers only...

Again, I could be missing something. I have enough adjustment with my top cylinder to get some engagement of the rippers when I want, but if I tilt the box back, the rippers no longer dig in...

If I tilt back more, then I can drag the contents without the blade digging in.

 

[ctgoldwing]

That guy is using that blade in perfectly prepared soil with nothing that needs to be ripped. You get those angles and hook a good root with that small tractor and something is gonna break. Probably won't be anything on the blade. The other thing is the soil has to be loose enough for the sides of the box to go down below the surface. That won't happen in the places I use it.

fwiw I redid about 3/4 acre lawn last spring in tough CT soil. Plenty of good sized rocks and no lack of roots near the trees. After killing everything with Roundup I used the box blade pretty much the way he demonstrated:

I was able to remove tons (literally) of rocks and rip up the surface roots so I didn't destroy my tiller.

 

[hOOPSNAKE]

Well, here's a video that I think demonstrates what the op is looking to do. The title may sound somewhat belittling, but that's not my intended point at all. Just watch the angles this guy is able to achieve with his box blade. It allows him to use his ripper teeth while they're still on the higher setting by steeply angling the box blade forwards. Later, he reverses the angle to raise the teeth and still use the blade.

I just remember watching this video a while ago, it kind of opened my eyes to the actual capability of a box blade with a proper 3 pt. setup.

Again, just a thought. I may be off the mark on what the op is looking to accomplish.

This is exactly what I’m trying to achieve. I just can’t seem to get enough angle.

 

[Woodstock Walt]

This is exactly what I’m trying to achieve. I just can’t seem to get enough angle.

Nice, that's kind of what I thought based on your description. As previously said, it sounds like you'd most likely need a shorter top link or longer bottom links to get the angle you wish to achieve.

It's definitely possible, though. I've spent many hours manually adjusting my box blade to use it in a manner similar to the video and ctgoldwing above ^. It has worked really well for me.

 

[hOOPSNAKE]

Nice, that's kind of what I thought based on your description. As previously said, it sounds like you'd most likely need a shorter top link or longer bottom links to get the angle you wish to achieve.

It's definitely possible, though. I've spent many hours manually adjusting my box blade to use it in a manner similar to the video and ctgoldwing above ^. It has worked really well for me.

Did you find that adjusting the turnbuckles between the lifting arms and the lower links changed anything? I’m thinking that all it will do is make the top link a bit lower and not change the angle like I originally thought. My top link is the one that was recommended and is the smallest cat 2 link I can find. If I needed to go smaller for the short angle, I’d have to go to cat 1.

 

[John0829]

Long story short, you have to have a shorter top link.

 

[Xfaxman]

Or add another top link hole above the existing one on the box blade.

Pictures of your box blade on the three point would help

 

[RalphVa]

Keep those turnbuckles tight! I bent the bottom lift arm bar when I let the turnbuckles get loose on my bush hog.

On my box blade, the turnbuckles would do nothing.

I'd say your hydraulic top link needs to go shorter or you need to lower the scarifiers more.