Box blade width?

[Greenvalleymatt]

I got a good deal on a box blade and chain harrow when I purchased my used shredder, or so I thought. I was paying 675$ for a used 5ft shredder, but the guy had a 48 inch rhino box blade and a heavy duty chain harrow next to them, so I offered him 1000$ for all three. I figured 325$ for a blade, and chain harrow both in good shape was a great deal, but now I'm realizing my mahindra 1626 runs 5ft attachments to match the back wheels. What are the drawbacks to using a less wide blade than the rear tires, and is there a way I can set it up to prevent tire tracks from being an issue? I thought if I set the links to one side to match one tire maybe I could just work side to side to cover my tracks?

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

Pics of bx48 for entertainment purposes

 

[jeff9366]

GOOGLE SEARCH: what size box blade for 25 hp tractor


Mount your newly acquired Box Blade on the TPH and see if your Mahindra has enough hydraulic adjustment to set BX Box Blade solidly on the dirt.

The Mahindra TPH Top Link at its shortest may be longer than a BX Top Link at its longest.

Box Blade may pull dirt or it may not. The Box Blade you acquired is light and Texas soil is mostly tough.

Weight per unit of width is the key metric for ground contact implements.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

GOOGLE SEARCH: what size box blade for 25 hp tractor


Mount your newly acquired Box Blade on the TPH and see if your Mahindra has enough hydraulic adjustment to set BX Box Blade solidly on the dirt.

The Mahindra TPH Top Link at its shortest may be longer than a BX Top Link at its longest.

Box Blade may pull dirt or it may not. The Box Blade you acquired is light and Texas soil is mostly tough.

Weight per unit of width is the key metric for ground contact implements.

I understand how to use Google, most results take me here for tractor questions. The majority of the posts said the same thing, blade as wide or wider than the back tires. But in my case I've already purchased a box blade, before I knew this suggestion, and like I said when I picked up my mower it was sitting right there, and in too good of shape to pass up for the price. I'm more looking advice on wether people have used blades smaller than their tractor with with no issues, hoping someone would tell me it's no big deal, just more passes and whatnot.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

Pic of actual blade that I bought

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

This 48 inch blade will sit right smack dab between the middle of both rear tires, with about 7 inches of tire overhanging on both sides.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

GOOGLE SEARCH: what size box blade for 25 hp tractor


Mount your newly acquired Box Blade on the TPH and see if your Mahindra has enough hydraulic adjustment to set BX Box Blade solidly on the dirt.

The Mahindra TPH Top Link at its shortest may be longer than a BX Top Link at its longest.

Box Blade may pull dirt or it may not. The Box Blade you acquired is light and Texas soil is mostly tough.

Weight per unit of width is the key metric for ground contact implements.

Also thanks for that advice, I'll check that out once we get past our monsoon season this year. Would you think on the case of it not sitting flat on the ground that a hydraulic top link would be of any help with that?

 

[CoyPatton]

Whether or not you can live with the narrow box blade depends upon what you are using it for.
If your uses is to dress up a driveway or parking area, it can be done with extra passes, it will be time consuming but can be done.
Another issue with a wider box blade is overloading the traction of the tractor with the box full of material (a need for the smaller BB)
If you want to level a large area, the BB narrower than your wheel stance, means that after the 1st pass, you will always have one wheel on what has been bladed and one wheel on un-bladed ground. Yes this can be adjusted with the 3ph tilt function, but 1 adjustment is unlikely to be right for a large area as if soil was level, why are you leveling?

I do not know your 1626 at all. Can your wheel width stance be adjusted?

How does your wheel center mount to the rim? Is it 1piece welded together or adjustable by mount tabs and ears?

Is welded, can you change sides with your wheels? Dish in arrangement would make the stance narrower. Of course this makes the tractor less stable as you make the width narrow (bad ideal for any slope beyond very slight slope).

Often used 4’ implements bring a good price as not many of us want them. Most subcompacts require them. You may well be able to sell it for close to what a used 5’ BB will cost.
Depending on condition, and I did not study your picture but it appears you have all the scarifiers and the blade is in good condition, a price in the 60-75% of new would be reasonable. This means you get your money back out of it (maybe a bit more) and the purchaser gets a decent price. Only issue is how close are subcompact owners to your area.

 

[jeff9366]

Would you think on the case of it not sitting flat on the ground that a hydraulic top link would be of any help with that?

Do not consider trying to adapt your Mahindra for an incorrect, too light implement.

Sell the light, narrow width box blade you have.

Find a heavy box blade the correct width for the way you intend to use the box blade.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

K thanks!

Do not consider trying to adapt your Mahindra for an incorrect, too light implement.

Sell the incorrect box blade you have.

Find a heavy box blade the correct width for the way you intend to use the box blade.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

At this point I'm going to try and level my mother's yard with it. Mainly filling low spots and perhaps working on the grade if it seems necessary. Other than that I have no use for it currently.

 

[jeff9366]

Probably half of 25-horsepower tractor are powered no more than 60 engine hours per year.

Few 25-horsepower tractors in residential/non-commercial use see more than 120 engine hours per year.

For low hour operation money for rear hydraulic ports is better spent on carefully researched, carefully selected implements.

 

[jeff9366]

At this point I'm going to try and level my mother's yard with it. Mainly filling low spots and perhaps working on the grade if it seems necessary.

This may not work out well. Box Blades are for moving bare soil. The rigid box blade will tear up the lawn. Better to use topsoil fill deposited with the FEL and smooth, manually with a hand bow rake.

 

[JohnnyMX]

I am in the same boat. Started with a 20hp tractor and 5' blade and now could have a 50hp and could use a larger boxblade to cover the tires. It hasn't annoyed me enough yet to spend 2K to resolve it My main application was grading a gravel driveway. If I were to correct that I'd go 6' landplane and just keep my boxblade. For moving dirt and smoothing piles in the fields is just fine as is.

I agree that it depends on application and efficiency. In a perfect world, I would have a 6-7' box blade that weighs about 2-3x what my current one does and sell my old one.

 

[Greenvalleymatt]

At this point I'm going to try and level my mother's yard with it. Mainly filling low spots and perhaps working on the grade if it seems necessary.

This may not work out well. Box Blades are for moving bare soil. The rigid box blade will tear up the lawn. Better to use topsoil fill deposited with the FEL and smooth, manually with a hand bow rake.

I also have a heavy duty chain harrow, the yard is 1 acre so it's not small, and at this point ripping up the lawn/weeds is not an issue due to the terrible condition its in, it is a marsh unless we haven't had rain in a few weeks. You think the chain harrow would do well spreading it out after using the fel to fill low spots?

 

[jeff9366]

Your Box Blade is rigid.

The Chain Harrow is a flexible mat.

The Chain Harrow mat with points oriented skyward will remain in ground contact and smooth without tearing up the yard. It will not transport much fill dirt but it will smooth.

 

[plumbstraight]

Has anyone converted a box blade to a front loader? With the down pressure it would sure move the dirt with rippers leading the way

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I found this post:

And for something completely different, a box blade on the forks.

Pictures from 10 years ago. A 4' cat0 box blade bolted through existing holes in the forks.

View attachment 449426

View attachment 449427


Spreading a pile of loose dirt/grass.

View attachment 449428


Turned it around with the rippers down, loader in float.

View attachment 449429

View attachment 449430

Post 61

What else do you do with forks besides lift pallets?

Is it worth it to buy a set of skid steer forks that I might be able to get on the cheap? They will fit the skid steer loader adaptor I had built for my Deere 5520--85 hp-- . The forks are the HD version and I think either 3000# or more and 48" long. Problem is, I only lift a few pallets a year...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[Xfaxman]

Worked so well that I removed the 3 point hitch From the 4' box blade and can now push or pull it:

Box backwards:

Box forward:

 

[Xfaxman]

Has anyone converted a box blade to a front loader? With the down pressure it would sure move the dirt with rippers leading the way

I have not needed to put a SSQA plate on the back of the 6' yet. It works very well on the three point adapter.

Dozer mode:

And can be digging in float mode in reverse: