Box Scraper Box Blade and Grader Blade

[widefat]

About Box blades and rear grader/scraper blades - do you have both, or just one type?
Which wold be more beneficial to own?

My intended use -
Gravel road, about 3/4 mile - flat, but is does wash out a bit in heavy rain.
Snow removal on about 1/4 mile of said gravel road
finish grading around the farm
whatever else I can think of to get myself in a pickle.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Welcome to TBN. You have asked a very emotional question and will get many opinions. They are both great tools with their own specialties. But there are many things that they can both do. The operator just learns or develops the technique for whatever tool he has.

I do not have a box blade and do all the things you listed and more with a rear blade.

gg

 

[w1ebb]

Get a box blade first, and learn how to use it.
Then get a grader blade. You will use the BB 10 times as much as the grader blade, but when you need a grader blade, nothing else will do. Good luck.

Scott

 

[Baby Grand]

I have both. Got the rear blade, first, for snow removal. Also used it to create a drainage swale. It's only 340 lbs, so it doesn't cut-in very aggressively, but it moves loose soil around just fine. I picked up a nice, heavy box blade for a road building project that involved getting from a field down into a stream valley and it did an outstanding job. Especially good for cutting into a side hill to make a roadbed where there was just a steep slope.

Both implements have their strengths and there's also quite a bit of overlap in capability, though some tasks are clearly better done with one than the other. Weight and build quality will also weigh on what you can & can't do with either implement. Both implements will benefit greatly from TnT (Top-n-Tilt) hydraulics.

 

[DB Pilot]

I have a BB but rarely use it. :confused3: Most of the time I have the grader blade on. :thumbsup: EA has some great videos on how to use attachments and the BB one is very informative. In order of use for me it is grader blade, rake, land leveler and finally box blade.

 

[jenkinsph]

I agree with Baby Grand, this late in the year you would likely benefit the most having a rear blade for snow removal duty. That said I have two sizes of grader blades, box blades and land plane grader scrapers. The one I use the most is the 7' heavy duty box blade, the one I use the least is the 4' box blade.

The rear blade while the best of the three for clearing snow for your winter access is also the best for cleaning up the ditches after the winter too. At that point depending on the road condition I would consider a land plane grader scraper or box blade to fix up the surface.

 

[nybirdman]

I have and use both;the rear blade mostly for snow work,hard to beat a box blade for moving dirt and road repair.

 

[paulfun9]

Rear blade for most tasks you mention. The weight of the rear blade is key to how well it works between my rear blade and last year getting a land plane I honestly don't think the box blade has been out of the barn in over ten years! I would go for the rear blade first assuming you plan on getting a good one.

 

[TripleR]

We have both and haven't used the grader blade in years, it does better in snow, but we don't usually get much, so when we do, we just get by with the box scraper. If I could afford it, I would love to have a LP grader with hydraulics as I have three rear remotes and TnT. Also like these, but right now I have more "needs" than $$$$. GS25 Series Grading Scrapers | Land Pride

 

[/pine]

I can only relate about the type of terrain here (glacial till and hard clay) and gravel roads...
The angling ability of a rear blade or rake gives them an added advantage over a box blade especially when removing and smoothing out areas that tend to washboard...But in my experience a pothole can never be fixed... without disturbing the hole and the surrounding area at least as deep as the bottom of the hole...it can be filled and smoothed over with a blade or rake but it will be back in a short time...therefore the use of scarifiers/rippers is paramount...

Personally, I have medium duty 5' BB but it is on the light side (250# stock) compared to my much older and heavier 6' MF scrape blade (about 500#)...I would not want to be without either one but because the box blade is capable of so many things it is my go to implement to begin just about any grading, road work etc...

As I said...I would not want to give up my scrape blade (mostly because of it's size/weight) but I could do all the same gravel road repairs and maintenance with just a box blade and a landscape rake...the latter of which IMO is one of the most under rated tools for grooming and maintaining gravel lanes...

One more thing...having hydraulic T&T will greatly reduce the learning curve of any of the above mentioned implements...

Good Luck...