Boxblade Usefulness Survey

[Anonymous Poster]

Umm, I don't think Glennmac actually took the test. He's just saying that it looks hard /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif.

I have had a Howse box blade for years. It doesn't have an hour-meter, but I have put at least 100 hours on it. It is the best implement I have for digging up soil and moving it in a straight line on the ground. It will do many other jobs, too, in a pinch. But an ordinary rear blade with tilt and offset is better for ditching and finish grading and moving snow, and a landscape rake does final surface prep better than anything else. I don't think the box blade and loader compete in the same game at all, but are quite complementary.

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>then what is in the specifications?</font color=blue>

A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case about a dozen:

I concede that one dimension is given -- the one that's already embedded in the model number. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

The bottom of the page (not shown here) gives the torque values for all the bolts, but that's all there is.

Now, for your further bemusement, the Trouble Shooting section (half page) begins with:

"In this section we have listed many of the problems ...", and then presents the following list (and this is the entire list):

-Blade/shanks won't penetrate the soil
-Blade or shanks digging in
-Blade or shanks skipping over soil (This is somehow different from the first one?)

Apparently their definition for "many" came from the same dictionary that defines "specifications".

Oh, and here's the respective "causes":

-Blade too light
-Blade too heavy
-Traveling too fast

And finally, the "solutions":

-Add weight to frame
-Remove weight from blade
-Slow down

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[GlueGuy]

That is just too much /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Apparently, things like height, depth, and weight don't qualify as specifications. ... or maybe they're too specific? /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[John_Mc]

<font color=blue>Oh, and here's the respective "causes":

-Blade too light
-Blade too heavy
-Traveling too fast

And finally, the "solutions":

-Add weight to frame
-Remove weight from blade
-Slow down</font color=blue>

I guess they must be using a tractor with a "fixed" top link?/w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[curly]

Any of you folks that were involved in this 7 yr old BoxBlade discussion change your minds about what you bought. Or what you thought about the usefullness of the BB?

Do you

1. Wish your BB were heavier
2. Wish you had a rollover type
3. Did you finally break down and get TnT
4. Does the box blade just sit there gathering rust

I'd love to read more about the boxblade

Thanks,
Curly

 

[bravo36]

I'd love to read more about the boxblade

Thanks,
Curly

Makes 2 of us, specially since I just bought one and have yet to use it.

 

[sandman2234]

The neighbors who live down the private road across from me are sure glad I bought a boxblade since the guy that used to maintain the road went to the big tractor auction in the sky. I take a few minutes whenever I have the boxblade on the tractor and hit the road once coming and going and it makes them happy.
Rear scoops are great for ditches if you can straddle the ditch.
David from jax

 

[Tig]

1. Wish your BB were heavier
2. Wish you had a rollover type
3. Did you finally break down and get TnT
4. Does the box blade just sit there gathering rust

1) No, Mine seems to work well. Although a bit of moisture in the ground helps.
2) No, but I don't know the benefits.
3) Yes, I built one with the help of MadReferee and the TBM membership. Fun to build, fun to use. Much easier to get things done when you have no experience.
4) That could happen when building and grading projects are complete. To get more use from it, I am moding mine to perform better as a road grader. It will be used at least twice a year to groom a half mile of laneway.

 

[SkunkWerX]

For all ground engaging attachments soil condition needs to be taken into consideration.

During the last ice age, glaciers moved through New England scraping a lot of the topsoil off the land. So, what is left, in a lot of cases is a small layer of soil, on top of granite. In a river valley, where soil deposits have settled, a box blade may work fine, it could vary from town to town.

In the midwest, corn belt, the glaciers deposited massive amounts of soil, and that is why it is the most productive land on the planet.

The bottom line is that I can't sit here in Maryland and tell someone in California what works best in their soil and vice versa. The best advice is going to come from someone in the region where the question is being asked.

Along the East Coast, here, I can drive 1 hour East, and be in sandy/topsoil easy to dig 4 foot down and further. I can go one hour West and a pick axe will hit rock 2" below the surface and bounce back.

The soil condition is going to be one of the prevailing factors in how well a box blade, or any other ground engaging tool is going to work. Even the moisture content of the soil can make a measured difference.

 

[bjr]

I guess what is old is now new, posts that is. Anyway, I'm Pacific Northwest, desert area of WA. sandy loam soil, 6' flip tail KK box blade. It's held up good (no weld breaks and nothing bent up) and I load it up pretty heavy at tiimes. The thing I would like to invest in are guage wheels. Good heavy duty guage wheels that can extend at different lengths to the rear. I don't know what to think about the TNT add-on hydraulics, they're pretty spendy and maybe more mechanical work than I care to get involved with. I've got literally a small hill to move for backfilling a basement and then landscape the rest. I get the rolling lumps when I get to trying to move too much dirt at one time and I think guage wheel might help. A box blade is essential implement for me because I don't have a FEL and need to move a relative large volume of soil with a 35hp tractor. I think a box blade is way more efficient in moving large amounts of soil a short distance compared to a FEL anyways and I've used both. bjr