DOES THIS HAPPEN MUCH?

TEXASHUNTER · Apr 13, 2006

I bought a new 7' box blade and hit a rock that
tore one of the blades back through the mount. Has
anyone ever done this?

npaden · Apr 13, 2006

What brand of box blade is it?

From my understanding on the lighter, less expensive ones this is not an uncommon occurence.

TEXASHUNTER · Apr 13, 2006

Quite frankly-I just got it and cannot remember the
brand. It's built pretty heavy duty-1/2" sides and all.

rdln · Apr 13, 2006

I went to you Bio to find out how big your tractor is and you gave no info. This is fine but now I gotta ask how big/what make and model is your tractor?

It could be you hit something immoveable (rock) with something pulled by an unstoppable force (too big of tractor). Implements are saved by either passive mechanisms like pto cluches and spring trips or by the tractor loosing traction. If your tractor didnt lose traction the weak point suffers.

Or you just hit the rock "just so"

I have not seen an immediate failure of box blade teeth/mounts but have seen the pockets worn so much thru use that enough metal depletion could have caused failure.

Farmwithjunk · Apr 13, 2006

Heavy, higher horsepower tractor vs. lighter-to-medium duty implement= Bent/broke almost every time.

Got a Woods box sitting behind my shop that was MEANT for 40 to 60 HP type tractors. It was hooked on a tree stump (slightly buried) and mangled by a 90 HP tractor that was rolling along at a fairly good clip. Box never had a chance.

They bend, they break.

LarryD · Apr 13, 2006

I've got a nice little bend to one of my ripper bars. I have no idea how it happened. There have been times I lost traction because I thought the box was digging too deep, maybe one of those times it just one of those icebergs. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

KiotiJohn · Apr 13, 2006

I've read about, and have known others who have done this. In nearly every incident, the boxblade was not sized properly for the HP of the tractor, i.e. too much HP and large framed tractor for the quality of the box.

Often, in these cases, the operator was moving way too fast as well, and the lighter construction of the boxes couldn't withstand the impact.

A properly sized box will rarely have this happen.
There are such a variety of boxes out there, and it's easy to choose something that was really appropriate for a lighter-weight, lower HP tractor.
John

JerryG · Apr 14, 2006

I tore one like that. Ripped the middle shank out the back of the square tube. Cut the damaged area out and weld a thicker piece in its place.

Casey1 · May 1, 2006

Have any of you had the rippers snap off? If I am going any speed at all (slow)and hit a hidden stump or even a strong root they will snap off like a twig. I have a 3130 and a 6ft Modern boxblade. The boxblade itself is seemingly indestructible but the rippers break very easily. I even went back to the dealer and he replaced them but the new ones broke just as easy. They looked like cast, I was also wondering if anyone knew where to get forged rippers for a reasonable price?

N80 · May 2, 2006

The original poster said that the sides of his BB were 1/2" thick. That is a heavy duty blade if true. Most of the Howse and KK type blades have 1/4" side plates. The Woods, Bush Hog, Landpride and JD/Frontier standard and medium duty blades have 3/8" side plates. So anything with 1/2" plates is likely to be a heavy duty unit. However, I don't know if the wall of the box tube is thicker in the HD models but you'd assume so.

So if he ripped through the box tube of a HD blade, before breaking the ripper, then he must have a high HP tractor or was really going fast.

I'm new to box blades so I've been doing rough work at a very slow speed. I've hit many rocks and a few stumps using a 6' Bush Hog BB on a 45hp 4wd tractor. The majority of the rocks crumble of pull up and roll under the blade. The only big rock I hit was so big and flat that the whole unit just scraped over the top of it. I've had several stumps stop the tractor cold (tires spin in loose soil though) and have done no visible damage to the blade or tractor. I think going slow is the key in the rough stuff.

3RRL · May 2, 2006

I've had it happen...several times. Bent, broken scarifiers and then elongated shank slots in the boxblade. My 7' Howse has 3/8" thick plates and the square tube that holds the scarifiers are also 3/8" thick. My breakage was due to snagging a large root or rock and my tractor just pulled past it. (55hp Kama). I've posted pics before of the damaged scarifiers, but here it is again.

3RRL · May 2, 2006

I ended up re-enforcing the scarifiers with 5/8" thick plates that surround them along the sides and the back. I have had zero trouble since making this improvement. Here's a picture.

Casey1 · May 2, 2006

That is an excellent idea. I am probably going to have to do that myself.

It just seems that somebody should be able to make a high quality ripper shank that would not break just because of a hidden stump.

N80 · May 2, 2006

I promise I'm not trying to be a smarty pants, just sort of thinking out load, but something has to break in such situations. What do you want it to be? I suppose, if you hit that immoveable object the tractor might just stall or the tires might spin if the soil is loose enough but if the force was sufficient to break and bend rippers, what will be the next weakest link in the chain? I guess with an HST tractor there might be some 'give' in the transmission. Less so in a gear drive. Just wondering.

Mowers and stuff have shear pins and/or slip clutches to prevent excessive shock loads.

3RRL · May 2, 2006

N80,
Nothing "smarty pants" about that thinking because I thought about myself too.

This is just my opinion, but I think if my tractor's usage was doing that to the implement before, than my goal was to make the implent stand up better to the tractor's usage. So yes, did I make it too strong? Well, I don't think so. I think those shanks will still snap off before anything on the tractor breaks. And why do I think that? Because I have had the tractor stopped dead in its tracks several times with just the tires spinning. Lucky for me I have no pavement or asphalt where I work it.

When I first got the tractor, I used to just "run over" (or try to) whatever the obstacle was, however, I learned as soon as I feel or hear it catch or start to bog down I jam in the clutch and brake. Secondly, some obstacles during what I thought was normal operation did snap off or bend the shanks. Well, I don't want to break the implement nor the tractor. My idea behind re-inforcing the implement is to reduce the chance of breaking it, giving me a the opportunity to stop before it breaks and back up.

But nevertheless, your point is well taken.

Casey1 · May 3, 2006

Yes I thought about that as well. I was going slow in 2nd or 3rd in low range. I have snagged the blade on the box blade before at those speeds and justs stops the tractor cold it jerks me as well but my foot is pretty fast to the clutch. I was pushing some brush with the fel when I caught a stump at surface level. It didn't rip off the bucket. Since the fel and boxblade theirselves did not sustain damage nor did the tractor then using a stronger ripper or the reinforcement would IMHO be a good idea.

My point is is that I am using inferior cast ripper shanks and I was wondering where I could find some higher quality forged shanks.

3RRL · May 3, 2006

Casey,
I did some other things to beef up my boxblade. If you have a chance, check out the thread I posted on it. Beefy Bosblade
You may have already viewed it but it shows some of the things I did to make it better.

Casey1 · May 3, 2006

3RRL that is some boxblade! I have not even thought of that concept. I lack the skills to do anything like that. I would never get to play golf again if I started a project like that. That is one of the best combination of form, function and imagination I've seen here. I think I will steal your reinforcing idea though. Thanks for the info.