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.