Grading box blade for 4100

[jcmseven]

Gary,

I am sorry. I do not know why I thought Gary was from Cary. But, to not eat too much crow, I see you went shopping for tractor things in Greenville. Since it is flat there too, I do not feel too badly. Good luck and sorry for my confused state.

John M

 

[JB4310]

I have a 4100 HST and plan on getting a box blade to do about 1/2 mile of dirt road. I have r-4 tires. Is a 4' blade too small and too light? I have heard that you should go a few inches wider than your tires. Mine are about 47" wide.

Are you cutting a new road or maintaining an existing? if you are just maintaining you might want to think about a york rake with wheels, even though I don't own one, I borrowed a 72" land pride from a friend and I was impressed at what that thing could do, I have a short dirt/gravel path/road into the wooded part of my yard about 150' long, I started with my 60" box blade and wasn't doing to good of a job so I put the rake on thinking I would just fix what I messed up and was shocked at how much rough work the rake was capable of doing and with the gauge wheels it was almost to easy and leaves a perfect finish. I've been bugging the guy ever since to sell me the rake since he doesn't need it.
Like I said I own a 60" box blade and with my 32 HP 4310 I don't think it could handle much bigger though I really don't have much experience with it, it makes an awesome sod remover and would be good to knock down heavy rough spots and fill deep low areas but it is tricky keeping it at just the right height although once it's full it tends to ride up on the surface so you can move material quit a ways, with the rake I was pulling out 2" saplings by the roots and never even bent a tine.

 

[JB4310]

Wow I just went back and noticed this thread was started in may of the year 2000! is that correct or did some dates get messed up with all the site work, oh well a little late with the advice, maybe some one else could benefit.

 

[chopprjok2000]

I have a JD 4110, roughly the same tractor as the 4100, and as stated above, the 5 foot box blade works well with the tractor. It is an older JD box blade that has the scarifers and is really heavy duty. I am running turf tires, and maintain about a 250 foot driveway. It has never had a problem at all.

My dealer actually suggested the 5 foot box blade, as stated before, you want your blade wider than the stance of your tractor.

I have a 4 foot roto-tiller, and I often wish that I had gone to a larger tiller.

With the front end loader installed for balance, the 5 foot bush hog is still too big. The front end is light, and I would recommend a 4 foot bush hog.

I have recently acquired an old 4 foot finish mower, and it works really well behind the little tractor, but for my own yard, I still prefer the 54" mid mount mower that came with the tractor when I bought it.

Enjoy, they are the best form of stress relief that I have found.

 

[jimgerken]

I will give you one other thing to think about, as you make this decision. In my case, I bought the 4 foot KK boxblade for my 4100. It really doesn't completly cover the back tires, maybe an inch short. It weighed around 375. To this I added a slab of steel from the Used Iron yard (fifteen cents per pound), bolted onto the back wall of the boxblade. Now the BB weighs around 750 pounds. This makes its digging more effective, as if it is moving it seems to want to keep moving! Also, it makes a dandy loader-work counterweight. And since it is my heaviest implement and I use it quite often for the counterweight funcion, I am very glad it is not wider than the tractor. As far as work for the tractor (mine is hydrostatic), it can definitely stop the tractor cold with the scarifiers down. The four foot KK box has four scarifiers. I always follow boxblading with landscape rake, which is the six footer, so even when swiveled to the side completely it covers the back tires. This combo works well. I do not feel I am sacraficing anything with the boxblade the same or even a little less than the tractor width. I have used it to dig down 3 feet over an area of 32 feet by 35 feet for a building, including popping spruce tree roots out (trees were over a foot diameter).