Box blade advice

[ripHST]

New to these so I've read most of the threads and understand that I want max weight/foot of blade, and to cover the rear tires. My tractor (will be delivered Friday) is 63" wide at the tires....66" bucket. I've noticed the BBs get lighter per foot as they get wider......not surprising.

The question is, do I go with a 65/66" BB to just cover the rears, or go with a 60" and be just shy of the width of the tires and bucket and get more weight/length (and save some money)? Or, do I go the other way and jump up to a 72"? Is it splitting hairs or am I really better off one way or the other?

My usage:

-300' gravel driveway (10-12' wide I would guess...I'll measure when I get home), need to tune up and add crusher run, then yearly maintenance
-"yard" grading...new house and the builder did a poor job of grading the yard and the area surrounding the driveway.
-I'm trying to keep to the $1000-1500 range so the weight/length class I'm in seems to be 80-95.....so far the Taylor-Way, EA and Kioti seem to be the best value but I'm still getting pricing (Land Pride, Woods and Bushhog).


thanks for the input.

 

[DB Pilot]

I have the EA 66" box blade. It is a little wider than the tires for my L3800 Kubota. When I make a pass there is nothing but smoothed ground behind and that's a great look. So A little wider is good but I think too wide and you start hitting things. Can't remember the weight of the BB but it is a beast. I had a little BX size BB and it was just too light and narrow to be of real use. This EA does the job. I like to straighten up the driveway by tipping the BB back a little so the front blade is about 1/4 -3/8" off the ground and the back blade smooths.

 

[JJT]

I have a 72" brush hog box blade, very heavy, and I'm very happy with it. My tractor is an Kubota L3710, 37 horse power. I wouldn't get one smaller than your wheel width, and I certainly wouldn't get anything much bigger than what I have. With a full box of crusher run, or dirt, 4wd is a must. Over the past 20+ years I've done serious grading and driveway work with mine, and rarely use my rake.

 

[ripHST]

You guys have me leaning toward the 72”.....my driveway is 12’ wide and has a circle in it so the extra width would be handy. I imagine it’ll pull it okay based on what you’re telling me. Finding one to buy might be the biggest challenge. My dealer only has a 7 footer and the other local dealers don’t have anything. I’ll need to call around.

 

[oosik]

I have a Bush Hog roll over box blade( ROBB ). 72" wide - 730#. Outside to outside on my tractor rear tires - 80". I find it to be NO disadvantage to have the ROBB narrower than the rear tires. It still does everything it's supposed to - just fine. There is a definite advantage to having scarifiers on the box blade. Loosen the top soil - easier to scoop up with the box blade.

 

[s219]

You really want to cover the tracks. You can usually be a little narrower than the tire width (to sidewall) and still cover the tracks.

Run the tractor across some medium-soft ground and measure the outside width of the tracks. That will give you the minimum box blade size that is feasible.

 

[jeff9366]

My tractor is 63" wide at the tires....66" bucket.

Do not believe outside-to-outside tire width will be anything until your tractor arrives and you can measure the width yourself.

If you have a 66" bucket and your tires are 63" to 66" outside-to-outside order a 66" or 72" wide Box Blade.

 

[ripHST]

I have a Bush Hog roll over box blade( ROBB ). 72" wide - 730#. Outside to outside on my tractor rear tires - 80". I find it to be NO disadvantage to have the ROBB narrower than the rear tires. It still does everything it's supposed to - just fine. There is a definite advantage to having scarifiers on the box blade. Loosen the top soil - easier to scoop up with the box blade.

I've seen references to these....how do they work? What is the advantage over a regular (fixed?) blade? I gather they're pricey so may not be in my budget anyway.

 

[jeff9366]

ROBBs have three latch positions.

1) to pull soil

2) scarifiers only (this differs from a standard BB which can rip and pull soil at the same time)

3) smooth soil (and) push/bulldoze soil if TPH has strong, rigid stabilizers.

ROBB advantage is weight and less need for adjustment if towing tractor does not have hydraulic Top Link and hydraulic Lifting Rod adjustments.

You have to pay for the weight, usually ~~120 pounds per foot of width.

 

[ripHST]

You really want to cover the tracks. You can usually be a little narrower than the tire width (to sidewall) and still cover the tracks.

Run the tractor across some medium-soft ground and measure the outside width of the tracks. That will give you the minimum box blade size that is feasible.

I hate to ask such a basic question, but what's the concern about not covering the tracks? It comes up a lot, but I guess I never got why it's a bid deal. Is it just to end up with an undisturbed path? I feel like I'm going to be going up and down the driveway a lot afterwards so it might not make a lot of difference. I posed the question about the 5' blade because all the blades I was looking at were heavier/foot at that size and so I figured it would have better cutting power, but maybe it's not a big enough difference to worry about. Sounds like the consensus is that a bit wider is better than a bit shorter.

Do not believe outside-to-outside tire width will be anything until your tractor arrives and you can measure the width yourself.

If you have a 66" bucket and your tires are 63" to 66" outside-to-outside order a 66" or 72" wide Box Blade.

I had the service manager measure it for me.....so I expect 63" is close. but s219 makes an interesting point about the track being narrower than the tire. maybe this is your point as well Jeff.

I'm probably thinking too much about it....I have a tendency to do that. I just like to understand the reasoning behind the recommendations more than anything. In reality, it's probably going to come down to what I can get, but the only one I know I can take home now is 7' and I think that's too much.

 

[CoyPatton]

2 recommendation (with conditions)
1st recommendation:WIDTH—
For your drive way, with means more passes as it is established. At 5.5’ BB and probably at 5’, with practice and regular grading, you will be able to grade it in 3 passes. I doubt that with a 6’ blade you will be able yo do it in less than 3 passes as a general rule. Those passes would be each side then down the middle.
For smoothing your yard or leveling areas, width is more of an issue, if your BB is not wide enough that your tires will be on the same level during passes, you will be frustrated with your results. An experience operator, with additional pieces of equipment (several approaches to deal with this) can overcome this issue, but there is a steep learning curve.
I suggest a slightly wider than your rear tire stance for this to be readily overcome.

2nd recommendation:Weight
Simply the wright of your implement determines the ground engagement of the implement. A BB I would consider to be a ground engaging implement.
So my recommendation is to get the heaviest BB in the width that you need. 2 conditions on this your tractor needs to be able to lift it with out struggles and your budget. Width and weight are both price factors even in the used BB market.

One final comment covid has done a number on the availability and price of new and used market. Research what you need then if/when you find that BB that fits your needs, but it right then! NEW OR USED DO NOT HESITATE!

 

[jeff9366]

If your BB is much narrower than your tire spread, and you pull in one alley repeatedly, your tires will soon be up on narrow ledges and the centered BB will not touch the ground.

Tractor tire weight will mash down minor differences of 1" to 1-1/2" per side.

In the attached photo, two years old, the 60" wide community burn pit is now 40" below grade. Just removed ashes and dirt last evening. Note: Bush Hog (brand) Rollover Box Blade.

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[SuperHerb]

I also recently got my tractor, a Kioti DK4710SE, and my tire width was about 67" and I bought the Kioti (made by Woods) 72" box blade. It's well built. I would not go narrower than the rear tires after using it. It's a bit lighter than the commonly recommended 100lb/ft width at 550ish pounds but I had no issues easily using it to generate soil for a berm for my shooting range that is about 30 ft wide by 6.5 ft tall. My soil is heavy clay with a lot of small rocks. I did it when the soil was still somewhat moist from spring thaw and I never felt the need for more cutting ability, I could easily adjust the hydraulic top link to bring the tractor to a halt with the rippers one notch down if I wanted to yet it was easy to generate a full box blade of soil in a 20' run with a bit less aggressive angle. When I went to break up the dry compacted clay after driving over it continuously while building my berm I used only the rippers, same thing....traction limited me as to how aggressive I could adjust the blade. More than anything, a hydraulic top link is a must!

I wouldn't want to go any lighter than the Kioti blade, but I don't feel that heavier is completely necessary. I was prepared to add additional weights to the blade but didn't need to and I think what I did will be the hardest it will ever work. A driveway will be less stress. Frankly, the biggest thing that a heavier box blade would do for me is help better balance the usage of the front end loader and that would have been nice. Carrying a full 72" bucket of clay soil just generated by the blade made the back end feel a bit light and bouncy, and that was with 110 pounds of ww fluid in each rear tire. I'm working on a concrete counter weight but if you're generating soil with the box blade and want to move it with the loader, switching the back end counterweight is gonna be a pain in the butt extra step and that's where a really heavy box blade would really shine imho.

 

[ripHST]

This is a lot great info guys....I really appreciate it.

One final comment covid has done a number on the availability and price of new and used market. Research what you need then if/when you find that BB that fits your needs, but it right then! NEW OR USED DO NOT HESITATE!

you aren't kidding.

If your BB is much narrower than your tire spread, and you pull in one alley repeatedly, your tires will soon be up on narrow ledges and the centered BB will not touch the ground.

Tractor tire weight will mash down minor differences of 1" to 1-1/2" per side.

In the attached photo, two years old, the 60" wide community burn pit is now 40" below grade. Just removed ashes and dirt last evening. Note: Bush Hog (brand) Rollover Box Blade.

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• 
  DSC00071.jpg

  4.9 MB · Views: 592

That picture illustrates it perfectly. It should be on the cover of the BB buyer's guide, wherever that is.....well I guess that's TBN.

More than anything, a hydraulic top link is a must!

I'm getting that impression. I think I'll be researching this next. I'm getting a TYM T474 and I saw a series of posts about the remotes not being set up to work well with a hydraulic top link, which has me worried, but I don't recall if it was actually a design flaw or an implementation problem. I'll need to look into that.

I've been texting with my dealer as I've been writing this and he's got a 72" Taylor-Pittsburg coming with my name on it. Should be here first week of June. Thanks Coy for the reminder to not hesitate. it might be the only BB in NYS! Not the heaviest one I could have gotten but the price is right and it's available. I'm sure I'll get some work done with it.