Box Blading in Reverse

Ricco · Jul 1, 2004

You guys are lucky if all you did was bend your lift linkage. I just fixed a tractor. The guys was blading in reverse with his boxscraper. He hit a stump, probably at high speeds. Yes he bent one of the lower link supports. But when he hit the stump his lift arms were actually forced down against hydraulic pressure, because his arms were not all the way down and the mechanical pressure on the upper lift arms and shaft actually shoved the piston rod right through the piston on his top deck. This was on a Kubota L4610. Unbelievably he didn't damage the top deck or cylinder too bad, so we honed it out and replaced the rod and piston and other seals necessary due to disassembly and his parts expense was only $70, of course the labor was over $500, but he got off lucky, if he had damaged the top deck or cylinder housing it would have cost $500 by itself. So don't push with you three point arms. Only pull.

To20Chris · Jul 3, 2004

I think most damage to tractors is done by impact! I've run the box blade til the tractor wheels spun both forward and backwards, and the FEL too (forward only), and I've never felt the tractor was stressed at all. But then I'm a slow poke and try not to push my equipment.

OkieG · Jul 6, 2004

This past weekend, a professional landscaper tamed a neighbor's drainage ditch with his TC40D (loader and boxblade). He used his boxblade both directions, but he did the "real" business backing with the boxblade. That is, knocking off the sharp edges of the ditch. Worked well. His equipment is a year old. 3PH lift arms seem to be in good shape.

OkieG

_RaT_ · Jul 7, 2004

Your right. I don't slam my blade into known hazards like rocks or stumps. To say we are lucky as was mentioned is not true. Most tractors can handle boxblading in reverse. Severe impact in reverse can be more damaging because for one thing, the box has no escape like it does going forward. It cannot ride up on the sides of the box blade like you get going forward. If tractors were not meant to box blade in reverse then the manufactuers of box blades would have stopped fooling with a rear mounted blade years ago. I have yet to see a box blade with only a forward blade.

Ozarker · Jul 7, 2004

I believe that the rear blade on my box blade is there to move/spread loose materiel. Not to make cuts in undisturbed soil. The lower arms simply don't have the strength to do a lot of pushing. Particularly since they are at an angle to the direction of the push.

I recently tamed the drainage ditches along my drive but I broke up the ground with the scarfier teeth first and did all cutting while pulling the box blade.

_RaT_ · Jul 7, 2004

"I believe that the rear blade on my box blade is there to move/spread loose materiel. Not to make cuts in undisturbed soil. The lower arms simply don't have the strength to do a lot of pushing. "

I believe that your boxscraper was designed with no regards to what tractor it would be used on. Rather, it's purpose was not to fail regardless of what it was attached to within reason. In this case, your Yanmar may well not be able to take full advantage of the box scrapers ability.

If after examining your lower links and you feel they are simply not made to adequately handle reverse blading, then by all means, I would not do it. Our NH 2120 is a perfect example. The lower link arms are very poorly designed. They bend like noodles right where the hole for the lift arms attach. On the other hand, my Kubota L3830 is very stout and the issue of box blading in reverse is frankly, not an issue. The same applied to my L48 and my old Kubota L4850.

jinman · Jul 8, 2004

( I broke up the ground with the scarfier teeth first and did all cutting while pulling the box blade.
)

Ozarker, my guess is that you don't have top-n-tilt on your 3PH. You could make the argument that the tractor was not designed to have TnT, but many of us would argue that point with you, too.

I have TnT on my 3PH and a boxblade that is a joy to use by tilting the box and cutting in reverse. Moist soil will actually peel up and roll behind the blade as I make grading type cuts in reverse. Because my tractor has far less traction in reverse than forward, there is very little chance of overstressing the arms even if I get my cut too deep. The wheels spin until I lift the box enough to continue. I don't make running starts and slam into anything whether I'm going in reverse or going forward.

Recently, I had some hillsides I needed to cut a road thru. I'd cut in reverse, lift the box after I had a lot of material behind it, then pull forward with a full box to the area I wanted to put the dirt and spread it. I believe that's just one of many jobs the boxblade was designed to do.

As RaT mentioned though, if you feel your lift arms are too weak, by all means do not use your boxblade this way.

MicroPilot · Jul 8, 2004

I'll have to look at some other tractors, but on my Century 3035 I would think the weak part of the lower arms would be the pins where they attach to the tractor frame. The arms on this machine look VERY sturdy.

normde2001 · Jul 8, 2004

I'm totally with you, Ozarker. This ad leads me to believe the boxblade is intended to be pulled, and the rear blade is used for smoothing and leveling.

jinman · Jul 8, 2004

( ...I would think the weak part of the lower arms would be the pins where they attach to the tractor frame. )

When you think about it, at the attach points, there is no difference whether you are moving forward or reverse because the pins are essentially perpendicular to the force. If anything, the pins would have more strengh when being pushed on rather than pulled on. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif