box blade v. grader blade

[greg_g]

Take this story FWIW. I bought a small farm. I bought a tractor. In my ignorance, I thought a rear scraper blade was the right tool to maintain the gravel roads. Turns out it was a bad choice. I traded it in on a box blade and a landscape rake. No comparison whatsoever. Compared to the progress I was making with the scraper, they got the job done in nothing flat. That was 16 years ago, and I've never once thought about buying another rear scraper blade.

//greg//

 

[gwdixon]

The OP stated that the roads he need to maintain are dirt (for now). Dirt roads generally get tire ruts and potholes that need to be filled. For dirt roads the box blade would be the most advantageous. Scrape up enough material and just drive along letting the material fill the holes. The rippers can be used to loosen the dirt if it is packed. This can take some practice and fine top link adjustments but it can be very rewarding when done correctly.

Gravel tends to "slide" off of crowned roads and leaves bare spots. The bare spots could produce holes and ruts. A rear blade (or landscape rake) at an angle is useful to move the gravel back to the center. Top link and side link adjustments can fine tune the process - a Top & Tilt is a luxury worth having for this.

A grading scraper for roads is like a finish mower for lawns. It puts the final touch on that makes the road look professionally done.

GS25 Series Grading Scrapers | Land Pride

 

[Gordon Gould]

^^ Very well stated gw.

There seems to be alot of dislike for rear blades. I love using mine. It is the universal road tool. That is not to say there is anything wrong with a box blade. They are just a different tool.

For existing roads:
If you need to move material along the direction of travel i.e. move material washed to the bottom of a hill back up the hill. Use a boxblade.
If you want to move material across the direction of travel i.e. move material from the side to the crown or move material humped on either side of a wheel rut back into the rut where it came from. Use a blade.

For building a new dirt road generally both tools are extremely usefull. If I were grubbing out small roots, filling holes, or doing cut and fill where the material had to be move down the road. I would use a box blade. For side hill cut and fill, adjusting the final road contours, putting in water bars, and ditching. I would use the rear blade. The fact that you can angle the rear blade sets it apart from the box blade.

This, of course, is just my opinion and an over simplication of two tools whose function overlap tremendously.

 

[crazyal]

The OP stated that the roads he need to maintain are dirt (for now). Dirt roads generally get tire ruts and potholes that need to be filled. For dirt roads the box blade would be the most advantageous. Scrape up enough material and just drive along letting the material fill the holes. The rippers can be used to loosen the dirt if it is packed. This can take some practice and fine top link adjustments but it can be very rewarding when done correctly.

Gravel tends to "slide" off of crowned roads and leaves bare spots. The bare spots could produce holes and ruts. A rear blade (or landscape rake) at an angle is useful to move the gravel back to the center. Top link and side link adjustments can fine tune the process - a Top & Tilt is a luxury worth having for this.

A grading scraper for roads is like a finish mower for lawns. It puts the final touch on that makes the road look professionally done.

GS25 Series Grading Scrapers | Land Pride

This spring I decided I didn't have the time to make my own grading scrapper and ended up buying one. After shopping around I wouldn't recommend the Land Pride. While it looks well built the ripping teeth are optional. Also the 6' model is less than 600lbs. I did find a dealer that had them in stock but about 150 miles from me, they gave me a price of $1400. I looked at the Woods but nobody local carried it and the two dealers who gave me quotes were almost $2k shipped. I ended up with a Befco shipped to me for less than the LP. It weighs over 100 lbs more and it includes the ripping shanks.

I'm not sure where you get a box blade that's half price that's of equal weight. Weight matters. Unless you can keep your drive from getting potholes I would get the ripping shanks. With them you can rip up the gravel or dirt before leveling it. I also have to disagree about the box blade being the most useful on a dirt road. I have used the rippers on the GS to loosen up the high spots and then just used the front bucket to move the dirt to the low spots. I found that usually works better than trying to move dirt with the box blade. Once you've loosened the gravel after your first pass it's now much harder to get traction to pull a box blade full of gravel back up a hill on the driveway.

 

[jenkinsph]

I don't think there is a definative answer to this question, you will need more than one of these tools to get good results for most new operators. If I had to pick one to smooth up existing roads or trails it would be the landplane. I would likely wan't to add a rearblade and boxblades asap. Being able to work the side ditches and throw up this material in order to raise the road would be important to me before the rain season set in. This reply is based on having all of the above mentioned tools and I can tell you I get more use out of the landplanes than the boxblades, rearblades and landscape rakes.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I am like jenkinsph and have all of the different grading implements. I maintain over 2 miles of roads. I would not be without my land plane grader blade. As has been mentioned, Top and Tilt cylinders for the 3pt hitch will make all of your grading much much easier and faster to do. :thumbsup:

I would like to comment that any and all grading implements are far more useful the heavier that they are. This is best when the implement is built heavy with thick material. The best rule of thumb that I can recommend for grading is to always get and use the heaviest implement that you can afford and that your tractor will handle in most conditions. If you have little or no experience, then TBN is about the best place to get that info.

Just my :2cents:, good luck with your decision.