Rear Blade Do I need Tilt on a rear blade?

[hazmat]

I am visiting the NH dealer tonight. If the price is right I might sign the deal.

Question is, Do I need a rear blade that tilts? Primary use is plowing snow. Secondary maintaining gravel drive. Terciary, leveling to plant new lawn. I don't plan on digging ditches, but you never know.

Deere dealer quoted $313 for land pride RB1560. $467 for land pride RBT1560. Both 60" Is tilt worth the extra $150? How much angle can I get by adjusting the 3ph? Will I have buyers remorse if I don't get the tilt.

 

[couchsachraga]

Yes and no /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I've been enjoying my woods blade with tilt and swivel to re-introduce ditches to a road (picture a nice, crowned road. Now picture the exact opposite with the sides higher than the vehicle ruts. THATS my road /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif ). The tilt is essential for that sort of work (to get the ditches deep enough), but I've found for just grading the road (crowning) that the 3ph adjustment works great.

The biggest downside to having a tilting blade is it's one more point on the blade that can be stressed (yes, I've already bent mine-2nd day out. Blade is straight, but the connection to the rest of the implement is not (due to the design of the blade so it can swivel)).

Cheer,
Couchsachraga
P.S. I have the 7' light-duty Woods blade.

 

[EdKing]

What I ended up doing on mine is I added a hydraulic tilt cylinder on one arm of the 3ph, and left the adjustable on the other arm. I have a LandPride RB1572 blade, 72 ", got it for $300 at my dealer. You might want to check into the cost of a second adjustable link for your 3ph, will give you quite a bit of tilt and you can use it with any implement.

 

[JohnMiller3]

Here's a little "tilting" with my MD Ford 8' rear blade...
{see attachment}

 

[JohnMiller3]

Personally if you are going to spend the extra $150... I'd buy a medium duty blade with a thicker moldboard so you can do ditching and heavier grading...

I feel the "15" series is good for snow removal, but not for serious ditching(moldboard too thin) or grading(unit too light weight)... I'd consider upgrading to the "25" series instead... (but I don't really know what size your tractor is) ...the md rear blade should last a lifetime with a smaller compact tractor...

In essence, the better grade blade is more important than the tilt aspect... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[duanet]

I live on a hillside, so when I plow snow, I remove the tilt locking pin and let the blade "float". When I come from the road onto the driveway there's a big angle change and floating the tilt lets it follow the contour. Also, until the ground is frozen, I reverse the blade - ie, push with the back of the blade to keep it from digging in. I also do ditching with it, so it is worth the extra money to me.

<font color=green>Duane</font color=green>

 

[Spencer]

Duane, I like the idea about removing the tilt locking pin. Hopefully I will remember to give that a shot next winter.

 

[hazmat]

Thanks again for all the info guys. I signed the papers on a TC18 last night. I went with the non tilt blade, I will use Ed's suggestion of a second adjustable link if I need more tilt.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hope you don't regret the nontilt blade. On my 4310 Kubota I tried both the less expensive non tilt lighter blades and then a bushhog brand 70 series with tilt, angle and offset. There is no substitute for a blade like the latter, in my opinion. The tilt allows you to do things you cannot do with just the adjustment on the lift arm. Also the extra weight makes it easier to get the blade to do its assigned work. Since the tractors dont have downforce on the 3 point hitch, the weight of the implement makes it work or lets it skip along on top of the ground without digging in. The best advice I can think of is try both kinds for yourself before buying. Sometimes the cheaper ons are actually false economy.
Just my 2 cents adjusted for inflation.
Greg H