Box Blade Decision

rebelback · Sep 28, 2015

I have a 2010 Case IH Farmall 45 that I'm about to buy a box blade for this week. I've narrowed it down to either a Bush Hog/Rhino SBX72, Bush Hog/Rhino MBX72, or a Woods BSM72. The SBX72 weights in at 550lbs and is $895. The MBX72 seems to have all the same features plus a swinging rear tailgate. It weights in at 640lbs and is $1295. The Woods BSM72 weighs in at 680lbs and is $1265 for fixed rear or $1445 for floating rear tailgate.

I plan to use this thing to first redo my 50 yard driveway that has lost most of it's gravel in the last 40 years and turned to a dirt drive. I then have 3/4 mile of old dirt logging road I'd like to maintain a couple of times a year. For this type of use would I really notice the extra 90-130lbs that is $300 more? Would the floating tailgate provide any type of benefit for this occasional use?

Also, nobody has the heavy duty blades in stock. They are all 10 days to a month out if I order.

bcp · Sep 28, 2015

The swinging tailgate will let it cut faster/deeper, but on my ground, I can usually fill the blade in about 4-5 feet anyway. It probably makes more difference on very hard or rocky ground.

If you get a swinging tailgate, it should have a way to pin it closed so you can use it to fine tune the front blade's cutting action (using the top link) when you don't want to dig deep and fast.

Bruce

TripleR · Sep 28, 2015

Normally I recommend a swinging tail gate and "heavier is better", love my Land Pride HR3584, but for what you describe, I find the fixed blade works well and usually prefer to pin mine.

Before I bought the HR3584, I used a BB2584 at 593 pounds and felt it worked "OK" on roads, but we have a lot of clay and I added weights to it for dirt work. I'm sure you can probably get by with the lighter weight, it will just require an extra pass or two.

jeff9366 · Sep 28, 2015

In "average" conditions you need 100 pounds of Box Blade weight per foot of Box Blade width to do good.

jenkinsph · Sep 28, 2015

deltabowhunter said:
I have a 2010 Case IH Farmall 45 that I'm about to buy a box blade for this week. I've narrowed it down to either a Bush Hog/Rhino SBX72, Bush Hog/Rhino MBX72, or a Woods BSM72. The SBX72 weights in at 550lbs and is $895. The MBX72 seems to have all the same features plus a swinging rear tailgate. It weights in at 640lbs and is $1295. The Woods BSM72 weighs in at 680lbs and is $1265 for fixed rear or $1445 for floating rear tailgate.

I plan to use this thing to first redo my 50 yard driveway that has lost most of it's gravel in the last 40 years and turned to a dirt drive. I then have 3/4 mile of old dirt logging road I'd like to maintain a couple of times a year. For this type of use would I really notice the extra 90-130lbs that is $300 more? Would the floating tailgate provide any type of benefit for this occasional use?

Also, nobody has the heavy duty blades in stock. They are all 10 days to a month out if I order.

A land plane grader scraper would be a better tool for the jobs you mention. These will pull up the gravel to the top and leave a smooth finish in one or two passes. A 6 or 7' width would be a good match for your tractor.