Matt,
I know everyone seems to recommend what they have, and it's not like your new to all this, so I'll just remind you about the box blade you should have bought in the first place :laughing:
I personally wouldn't want anything narrower than 6.5' for a box blade with my tractor. I think I'd like the 7' version when using it (I don't think it would be too much with all the
ballast I have) but I don't know if I would have it on "all the time" like I do with my 6.5' version, mostly because (as you know) I do a lot of "woods work" and I think the extra width might be noticed when going through the forest.
I'm hesitant to say, "This is what you need" or "buy the one I have" because I hate to sound like the guy who just recommends everything they own, simply because they own it. Honestly, it sounds like the HRL3578 would fit you perfectly? What am I missing? I know you are familiar with it so how come your not just 'adding to cart'?
The only thing I would like to change, is if they made a highback model, but for the most part, I very rarely, if ever, have spillage out the back. A little more weight WOULD be nice though.
Regarding hydraulic scarifiers, and whether you will get $4k dollars of 'value' out of the blade, well obviously that's your call, but I know you tend to like the better quality things (truck, trailer, tractor, snowplow, side by side, sawmill, etc) and we share opinions on buying quality equipment.
I wouldn't have paid 4 grand for my box blade......but now that I have it, I've changed my mind and I would certainly go for the more expensive version, even if it meant either waiting for used, or getting some more overtime in and saving up for the right one.
I use my scarifiers 10 times more than I ever would if it was inconvenient or time consuming to raise/lower them. I literally get much more "value" out of the box blade simply because of the hydraulic up/down of the scarifiers.
(A good compromise may be the manual retractable model as well)
