box blade question

City_Boy · Feb 1, 2004

Is one of the standard uses for the boxblade to push dirt backwards? Can I break anything if I lower the boxblade and drive in reverse? I dug a 4' x 12' hole a couple of feet down yesterday for a burn pile, and I noticed that it dug better in reverse.

Bird · Feb 1, 2004

If it dug better in reverse than it did forward, I would assume you had it tilted back. If you adjust the top link to shorten it, then it should dig better going forward. Now, as to your question about whether you can break something going backwards, yes, you can. The two lift arms (lower links) are designed to withstand more tension (pulling) than compression (pushing), so you might bend those arms, as some of our forum members have done. Naturally, it depends on how much pressure you put on them when you're pushing backwards. I've pushed with my tractor until it simply ran out of traction and couldn't push any further and never damaged anything. On the other hand, I wouldn't get to rolling backwards and ram something.

Glenn9643 · Feb 1, 2004

It is a "standard" use for the boxblade to push dirt backwards if your boxblade has a blade designed to go either way. All I've seen are. However, I believe that it's easier to damage your linkage pushing backwards than when pulling the blade. You should have your sway bars, horizonal stabiliizers, or whatever you call them as snug as possible to prevent side to side movement. You can adjust the "cut" of your blade when pulling forward by shortening the top link adjustment to rotate the forward blade edge down a little. You'll just have to play with it until you get it right! A hydraulic top link makes this much easier to do.

CTyler · Feb 1, 2004

You'll need to use a bit of caution pushing backwards if using 4WD. Using 2WD you just run out of traction when it digs trying to lift the rear. Usng 4WD the fronts will have enough traction to keep driving. The tractor wil pivot on the BB lifting the rear tires off the ground. I had that joyfull experiance the first or second time pushing backwards with the BB. As long as you stop right away or have the BB tilted corectly its' not a problem. Its' been said a million times on this board, you have to pay attention all the time. You just have to work at having fun /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

jinman · Feb 1, 2004

I'm wondering if your boxblade has scarifiers? One of my blades doesn't have them (removed by previous owner) and that blade actually seems to cut better in reverse. I think it's because the sides of the box act like small skids enough to keep the blade from digging in properly. On my other boxblade with the scarifiers all the way down, it digs better going forward and also catches and drags more dirt in the forward direction. Sometimes as the boxblade fills with material the digging action slows due to the amount of dirt in the blade. That's a good thing. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif If the box is full, that means I'm moving a lot of dirt. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

City_Boy · Feb 1, 2004

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Jinman, I've got scarifiers, but did not have them down at the time. I was just slicing a couple of inches of dirt/clay at a time, going forward, then backward, making pass after pass. I'm sure it worked better in reverse due to the angle of the boxblade. I'll adjust it next time to pull rather than push the dirt. I'm just happy I got to play a little.

SPIKER · Feb 1, 2004

Yes you can damage the box blade in revers ike others said, it is much harder to PULL appart the welds and the links holding the blade, but it is much easier to Bend the box blade if you hit an imobile object as the box blade arms them selves will bend and possabley snap other stuff and lift the rear up & puncture tires with scarfers, if you don't belive me ask "DIY guy" he has a good post on Deat of a boxblade, when his JINMA 22 hp hit a big rock!

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Phred · Feb 5, 2004

cityboy,

your bio does not say how big a tractor we are talking about?

I think the backing up depends on the tractor and box blade you have. If you have a utlitity tractor and a marginal box blade, cat 1, for that unit you will probably break the blade long before you damage the tractor. On a lighter weight compact with a heavy cat 1 blade you might tear up the lift arms.

With all the said I fall into the first cataegory with a 7 foot cat 1 box blade on a cat 2 tractor. So far no problems. The box I have is on the heavy side of the cat 1 scale and I do not use it in 4 wd.
I do use it to push & pull dirt and gravel.

Fred