Grading 3320 & Box blade size

[DanD78]

Will a JD 3320 handle a 6' box blade working road rock or dirt. I am looking at Land Pride or Frontier. I would like to be able to have the box full of dirt and be able to drag it around.

The Farm and Fleet ones look pretty light duty but are a few hundred less money.

Just wondering what others are doing with tractors in the 32 horse power range. Is the hinged rear blade worth the extra money?

Thanks
Dan

 

[Cocre]

I have a 3320 with an old 60" box blade and have few issues with the setup. On dirt the R4 tires lose traction long before the motor runs out of steam. My old 8N actually pulls the box blade through some situations better. In very loose deep sand the Ag tires on the N just dig in and go. The front of the tractor will come off the ground requiring me to steer with the brakes, but the tractor continues to go forward. With a full load in the box the 3320 with R4s stays flat on the ground with the tires basically just spinning on top of the sand.

 

[Mech]

Will a JD 3320 handle a 6' box blade working road rock or dirt. I am looking at Land Pride or Frontier. I would like to be able to have the box full of dirt and be able to drag it around.
Dan

I have a 5' Land Pride (model 1560) on my 27 horse 790. It handles it easily but I have Ag tires and I have weight on the Box blade to help it dig in. Even with Ag tires I almost always run out of traction before power.

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

I have a 3320 and r4's and run a woods 65" box. I was going to go with the 6'
but the dealer recommended the 65" since I'm in NE and have hard pack and rocks. As others have said you'll run out of traction long before the engine bogs down. Depending on soil conditions the 3320 will pull the 6' without question.

Matt

 

[jcmseven]

Dan,

A 3320 will pull a 72" BB, just not well--unless you go with R1 tires. They make a big difference in pulling performance. I have had 2 3720's and both would pull a 60" fine, but would struggle with the 72" in some situations (I tried before I bought). Additional HP here does not help you, as the chassis weight is the same for a 3320 and 3720. My advice would be to either go with a 60" BB and your choice of tires, or a 72" with R1 tires. I do not feel you would be pleased with the performance of a 3320 with a six footer without aggressive tires. Honestly, having all different sizes of tractors with all different sizes of BB's, I cannot tell much difference in speed between them in most cases. In short, a 3320 with an appropriate sized BB would do more work more quickly than the same machine struggling to pull a larger one.

John M

 

[mfreund]

DanD78,

I have a 4310 with R4 tires which has 32 hp, mine is e-hydro so I likely put less to the ground. I do not have fluid in the tires. I own the 72" King Kutter Box box blade from Farm and Fleet. Adjusting the shanks is poorly designed but the quality of the rest is great. I mostly use it grading gravel drives and some dirt (replaced the septic system last summer). In 4WD I have no trouble pulling it with dirt or gravel spilling over the top. I wish it was bigger, but 84" would not fit in the shed. We have almost no rocks and the dirt is black as oil around here. If you were going to use it most of the time where there is rocks and roots I might go smaller, but normal work you should be fine.

Instead of hinged rear, I would buy a hydraulic top link for the same $

 

[jcmseven]

Matt makes an excellent point. A great deal of the size of box blade one can operate depends highly on soil condition and terrain. I live in WNC, where it is very hilly and rocky and the gradients frequently are quite steep. A 72" BB here behind a 3000 series tractor is a boat anchor, but if you live in the flats or have lighter more porous substances to move it might work better than I think it will. Here, no way.

John M

 

[SFish]

I have a 72" Gearmore box blade on my 3320 with R4s. It works great in the very steep forest land of the northern California coastal range. The ground is very heavy compacted clay and decomposed limestone. In my opinion, it is my top & tilt kit that makes the box blade into an excellent tool. I have no trouble filling and moving a full box of material. My last big job was digging a 33 inch deep crawlspace for my new house. During all but the last few inches I was ripping and moving about 10 yards/hour.

Steve

 

[jcmseven]

The 72" posters must have a trick I do not have. There is no way either of my 3720 tractors would move a 72" BB without substantial feathering of the RSC. I suppose a top and tilt would really help a lot, though. As I mentioned in my initial response, the 3000 series machines I had would pull the BB, but no without some creative throttle and RSC work. I am not proposing that a 60" is better, but that with confidence I could recommend it would do the job, regardless of terrain. As I noted, my 3720/5' BB was comparably fast doing gravel drive work and general leveling as was my 4520/6" combo.

John M

 

[SFish]

Here is a little clarification about how I work my box blade. I got the 72" box blade because it is very difficult to dig the edge of a work area, or widen a work area, if the blade doesn't stick out beyond the wheels a substantial amount (~6" on each side in my case). When digging and moving dirt the box blade is in the full down position (no feathering of the rockshaft). When ripping with the scarifier teeth, shortening the top link rotates the blade such that the rippers are down, and when extended the blade rotates back to a float position. I work with the RPMs above 2,000 and the tractor in the A range (lowest gear).

When ripping in heavy clay that is not too dry the teeth can dig in deep enough to stall the tractor, so I modulate the top link (depth of the rippers) so the tractor is pulling well. In my hard decomposed sandstone I keep the rippers down all the way and go very slow to pull up angular blocks of stone. In soft dirt I keep the rippers down just enough that I break the ground and pick up a load of dirt at the same time.

When moving dirt that is very soft, or has been ripped up, I lengthen the top link so that the rippers are just touching and the cutting blade will pick up a full load in the box and float it along easily. Tilted all the way back the blade will lay out a thin layer of dirt and I do this when spreading gravel. It is useful to remember that in hard ground, and the top link shortened, the front edge of the boxed sides of the blade will ride on top and lift the rear cutting edge and spread dirt.

With the top link control I can make these adjustments quickly while working and the tilt control can be adjusted for ripping and moving dirt when I want to level an area or make a crown in a road. On my previous tractor I used to get off and make all these adjustments by manually cranking the top and side links. I could do the job, but it took many times longer. The only further addition that would help is hydraulic rippers to adjust the depth of the scarifier teeth, but I would only get this if I were a professional or doing a lot more digging and moving of dirt.

I hope this helps. Steve