Hello all,
About a year ago I pulled the trigger on a JD 2038r with a 6 rough cutter and loader. Firstly I have to mention the rough cutter. JD wanted to sell me a 5 model, but the tractor has no problems with the 6 cutter and I love the little notch for holding the PTO shaft when not in use.
But onto the grader blade! I have a 450 gravel driveway that needs occasional maintenance and occasionally I need to clear snow, both of which I used to do with my old JD 2305 with either a box blade or a grader, especially for clearing snow. My old grader blade was a cheapo made-in-China blade I bought new for $150. It was nothing special, but it did clear snow.
I got my new EA blade in December, just in time for some snow to fall. EA was also very conservative, really wanting to sell me a 6 blade, but with persuasion, they reluctantly sold me a 7 blade. I really wanted the 7 blade for clearing snow so that I could reach out and clear snow well outside my tire tracks and still angle the snow off to the side. The 7 blade does this quite well, and better still is the offset function which really lets me clear the snow well off to the side.
We got a little blizzard about 3 weeks after I got the blade and I was impressed by how well it cleared snow. I cleared not only my driveway, but also about 1000 down our road to the stop sign. Having the offset meant I could first clear snow off the road and then really push it far off the side. Previously. I could never really get all the snow off the road, leaving a long pile that built up along the edge. Now that snow is in the ditch where it belongs.
When I had my old blade, I was under the impression that a grader blade was not really the tool for smoothing gravel. It was tool light and tended to skip across the surface. I would occasionally flip the blade around backwards and let it smooth the rough surface of the gravel, but only after adding 80# of weight. The new EA blade is entirely different. The metal on the blade is at least twice the thickness of my cheapo blade. It is also heavy, almost like a box blade. I still like the reverse action of the blade on gravel, but it now likes to dig in a bit, even while backwards and without weight. Again, I really love the offset as I can reach out to the side, gather gravel and pull it back into the driveway. It is actually easier to see the blade with it sideways and not behind me. I can easily smooth out ruts and washboards with ease.
I really love my new tractor and the EA blade is a great, heavy duty, well made product. I actually bought the lightest line of blades, but the EA light blades are more like a medium or even heavy duty blade by comparison to other brands. I just love the offset, being my single favorite features. Everything about the blade is solid. Previously I thought I might buy a box blade for driveway maintenance, but now I think that will be redundant, with the grader blade performing the function just fine.
SI2305 (old handle, new tractor)
2018 JD 2038r, loader, 6 rough cutter, 7 EA grader blade
About a year ago I pulled the trigger on a JD 2038r with a 6 rough cutter and loader. Firstly I have to mention the rough cutter. JD wanted to sell me a 5 model, but the tractor has no problems with the 6 cutter and I love the little notch for holding the PTO shaft when not in use.
But onto the grader blade! I have a 450 gravel driveway that needs occasional maintenance and occasionally I need to clear snow, both of which I used to do with my old JD 2305 with either a box blade or a grader, especially for clearing snow. My old grader blade was a cheapo made-in-China blade I bought new for $150. It was nothing special, but it did clear snow.
I got my new EA blade in December, just in time for some snow to fall. EA was also very conservative, really wanting to sell me a 6 blade, but with persuasion, they reluctantly sold me a 7 blade. I really wanted the 7 blade for clearing snow so that I could reach out and clear snow well outside my tire tracks and still angle the snow off to the side. The 7 blade does this quite well, and better still is the offset function which really lets me clear the snow well off to the side.
We got a little blizzard about 3 weeks after I got the blade and I was impressed by how well it cleared snow. I cleared not only my driveway, but also about 1000 down our road to the stop sign. Having the offset meant I could first clear snow off the road and then really push it far off the side. Previously. I could never really get all the snow off the road, leaving a long pile that built up along the edge. Now that snow is in the ditch where it belongs.
When I had my old blade, I was under the impression that a grader blade was not really the tool for smoothing gravel. It was tool light and tended to skip across the surface. I would occasionally flip the blade around backwards and let it smooth the rough surface of the gravel, but only after adding 80# of weight. The new EA blade is entirely different. The metal on the blade is at least twice the thickness of my cheapo blade. It is also heavy, almost like a box blade. I still like the reverse action of the blade on gravel, but it now likes to dig in a bit, even while backwards and without weight. Again, I really love the offset as I can reach out to the side, gather gravel and pull it back into the driveway. It is actually easier to see the blade with it sideways and not behind me. I can easily smooth out ruts and washboards with ease.
I really love my new tractor and the EA blade is a great, heavy duty, well made product. I actually bought the lightest line of blades, but the EA light blades are more like a medium or even heavy duty blade by comparison to other brands. I just love the offset, being my single favorite features. Everything about the blade is solid. Previously I thought I might buy a box blade for driveway maintenance, but now I think that will be redundant, with the grader blade performing the function just fine.
SI2305 (old handle, new tractor)
2018 JD 2038r, loader, 6 rough cutter, 7 EA grader blade
