Box Scraper Beaten box blade

[Tscott9330]

So how many others besides me are really hard on their box blade?


I got the generic (a.k.a. Cheap ) box blade when I got the branson a year ago. Well needless to say within the first 2 weeks I had managed to **** near pull one of the scarifers through the frame and have since done it a second time (**** tree roots). I backed into a stump and twisted the entire 3 pt support frame. I'm not complaining, I just want to know if anyone else has been rough on their box blades and how you go about reinforcing the weak links.

Tom

 

[mikim]

I knew I was going to be rough on it so I bought a Woods to begin with .... I've bent a couple of the scarifers on roots...but no damage to the box blade. I'd say you have 2 choices -- go buy a better one...or break out the welder and keep it at the ready.

 

[310-510]

Dealing with Arizona topsoil (rocks up to 4' diameter), I have put about 30 hours dragging my Land Pride box blade often hitting rocks that will stop the tractor in its tracks. The box is holding up very well and the only drawback to the Land Pride is weight. It could use a couple of hundred more pounds to make the scarifiers engage the ground better. I have managed to bend up the 3 point hitch drag links but not the box.

 

[billbill1]

I bought the cheapy J-Bar box blade and the stabilizer bar from the top link bent by catching on rocks. I replaced it with a 1/2" thick piece of flat bar. It has held up since but hasn't been used as hard since the landscaping if done.

 

[Tscott9330]

I have not managed to bend the actual box assembly itself. It seems the week links are the scarifier mounts and the "A" Frame that attach's to the 3pt. The mounts fro the scarifies are pretty sorry, there is a section of 4" box steel running from the left side of the box to the right. Then to mount the scarifies, they simply cut a rectangle hos in the top and bottom of the square tubing and put a pin through them. So when I hit a good sized root the scarifer pulls straight back through the steel tubing and peels it like a tin can.

We just moved our stuff into the new house, so I brought my handy dandy stick welder with me. If that dont fix it ain't nothing will. I Think the brand of box blade is a Howse, so if you want a tough one steer away from this brand.

Tom

 

[john_bud]

I've beaten and bashed my box blade lots and lots. Nothing has ever complained, cracked, cried or even cringed. You get what you pay for. It's a Gannon Landscaper from the Industrial scraper side. 2x the toughness of the Woods brand products and probably 10x the cheapo deluxe you got. (and probably 3x the price too! Ouch, the truth hurts).

Still, if you didn't have rocks and hard pack soils, the Howse would be ok for light duty uses especially with smaller lighter tractors. It's not the Howse fault you are doing HD activities with a LD tool.

Does the box currently have captured pins or fixed pins for the lower 3pt mount? If fixed, it's real nice to have captured and since you are warming up the welder anyway....

jb

 

[RonR]

For a contarian view, I'd be happy the box blade failed BEFORE it held and damaged the tractor linkage.

If you keep beefing up the BB or buy a stronger one, you run the risk of making it strong enough that force will transfer to the arms and break something there. If I were in that tough of conditions, I'd just reweld stuff as it broke, being careful not to make the BB indestructable.

I have a King Kutter BB on my BX. It looks strong enough that if I backed into something immoveable, it could damage my lift arms, so I take it easy.

My two cents.
ron

 

[greg_g]

It seems the week links are the scarifier mounts and the "A" Frame that attach's to the 3pt.

This is the only kind of A-frame that I'd ever consider for aggressive boxblade work. And the tubular scarifier bars are at least twice as sturdy as flat or angular. Your local machine shop should be able to fabricate an A-frame and scarifier bar on this order - to beef up your current box.

//greg//

 

[john_bud]

what about this type?

 

[sandman2234]

I posted a while back about some damage I did to my box blade. I considered seriously reinforcing it, but decided that it would be better to break the box blade again and again, rather than making it stronger that something else broken instead. In reality, pound for pound, the box blade is a lot cheaper to fix than almost any part on the tractor, and if one of the stronger parts breaks, you pretty much have a problem getting them straight.
David from jax

 

[johnk]

Here's a pic of my King Cutter Med duty Hinged Back Box Blade. I use it all the time and haven't broken anything on it yet....

 

[sandman2234]

JohnK,
Usually the paint is the first thing to go, then something else tears up.(*but not always) Let us know when you get the paint gone, and we will see how long it takes from that point, lol!!!

 

[johnk]

It was KK Yellow. That' s fresh Kubota Orange...This pic is close to right after the paint job..

 

[daBear]

Since I am a novice tractor operator fortunately I had a good dealer who advised me to spend a little extra and get a Woods Box. In my 3.5 acres of trees and stumps I have whammed the box and tractor to a dead stop on more stumps than I can count and the Woods hasn't bent a bit. I think the cheap brand was about $300 and this woods was $450 or so and I could not be happier.

 

[Tscott9330]

At least I am not the only one. As for reinforcing it too much, I don't think anything I did to the blade would have damaged the tractor if the blade was "Indestructible". The worst was first damage which pulled a scarifer through the mount. It hung on a tree root and pulled the tractor to a stop. I was in 4th gear mid range at about 1500 rpm, and about went over the front of the loader. I didn't even realize the scarifers were in contact with the ground, and I was dragging the entrance road to the property so i was obviously not planning to find any tree roots.

I think there is some definite room for improvement in the design, and I seriously doubt I could hurt the 3pt with any of the stuff I could do.

Tom