3-Point Hitch JD x740 2WD pulling a box blade

[tlansberry]

I was planning on having the category-1 3-point hitch installed on my 2wd X740 then purchasing a 48" box blade from Everything Attachments. I want to maintain my 400' gravel driveway and also other uses such as clear and level areas for paver patios and walkways through my acreage, contour an area around a pond (if I ever get one dug), etc.

I had a New Holland 4wd TC30 with box blade, bush hog, and ph digger as my first tractor, but traded into the JD once the bush hogging turned into mowing around obstacles.

Before I spend the rather large sum to have all this done on my JD X740, I began to wonder if having only 2wd and turf tires would prevent me from having decent performance from the blade? If I need 4wd I'm pretty well screwed, but I'd rather know now than after spending ~$1500. The driveway (and the 12 acre parcel) are not flat - there aer some rollong hills, etc. Nothing real steep but near the end of the driveway it does slope down a decent amount. I use the 48" JD snow thrower in the winter using chains on the tires, wheel weights, and all extra rear suitcase weights to get traction. Any helpful comments appreciated.

 

[V1Rotate]

Maybe with weights and chains it might be ok but my BX 1500 has a hard time pulling a 5 foot landscaping rake unless it is in 4wd.

 

[megaboz]

Well you will have problems but you can do it with 2wd. I in advertantly forget to use 4wd now and then. You are not going to be able to dig deep in one swipe but if you are just maintaining the drive shouldn't be much of an issue.

 

[tlansberry]

I am thinking the cost is not worth it for me then - ~$1500 is alot for just doing light maintenance. If I spend that much I have to have several uses and at least one significant benefit. All I see is frustration. Maybe I can rig up something to drag behind....not in a good mood thinking now I have an expensive mower/sometimes snow thrower when I was counting on much more with all the hype in the literature.

 

[s219]

I think you're asking too much of a 2WD garden tractor (even if it's the cream of the crop). For driveway maintenance, I'd suggest you make up some kind of drag, or a type of land-plane arrangement you can tow. For the other tasks you mentioned, I'd think a heavier 4WD tractor makes more sense.

 

[jenkinsph]

I do quite a bit of boxblade and landplane work with my x749 and would think it would be very difficult to do without 4x4. Tillers, landscape rakes and many other tools can be handy and would work fine with the x740.

 

[tlansberry]

Thanks for the info - that's what I was afraid of - I have no use for a tiller, and a rake, while useful, is not cost effective if I have to install the 3-pt for $900 for the work I want to do. I guess I'll cancel the 3-pt install for now and look for some type of drag or land plane to do the driveway part.

It looks like the land planes mostly are 3-point attachments as well, so what about using a drag harrow with the tines facing forward? Something like a 4' x 4' or 4' x 8' pulled behind? Would be nice if someone has used one for driveway maintenance to know. Maybe add a little weight to the top with an old wood skid or other?

 

[jd3x]

Thanks for the info - that's what I was afraid of - I have no use for a tiller, and a rake, while useful, is not cost effective if I have to install the 3-pt for $900 for the work I want to do. I guess I'll cancel the 3-pt install for now and look for some type of drag or land plane to do the driveway part.

It looks like the land planes mostly are 3-point attachments as well, so what about using a drag harrow with the tines facing forward? Something like a 4' x 4' or 4' x 8' pulled behind? Would be nice if someone has used one for driveway maintenance to know. Maybe add a little weight to the top with an old wood skid or other?

I have a 425, and to maintain my driveway, I drag a set of harrows (points down) to break up the gravel and help level. Then I flip them over with a 4 X 6 bolted on the flat side of the harrows and drag that to do final level. The 4 X 6 is on the rear section of the harrows.

Good Luck,
Jd3x

 

[jcmseven]

I do not know whether one of the DR driveway rakes suits your needs or not. I have never seen one in use, but just know they are tow behind and show usage behind a smaller garden tractor than a 740. As for my opinion, it is a little different than some of those posted. It is true that a 740 will have some trouble pulling a full box blade of material uphill and that it will not work as well as a 4wd machine. However, one can make it work; it depends on how much one wants to spend. Chains or bar type tires plus loading the rear tires, plus running a 72 pound starter and 50 pound ad-on weight on each wheel would give you around 360# of rear ballast. Most limited cat one box blades weigh in the 180-250 pound range. It you were to find one on the lighter end of that, you likely could pull it OK. My driveway is about 20% at the top and until about 3 years ago it was gravel. I initially maintained it with a 595X series and a 48" box blade. It did fine in two wheel drive until I hit the really steep part then I would have to put it in 4wd (that model was not full time 4wd at that time). Many of the gradients were 5-10% even in the flatter parts and I was running HDAP tires, loaded rear tires and 72 pound starter weights only. Yes having all wheels driving meant I could pull a loaded 48" BB up or down hill, but if I did not need to be so aggressive I could do the same work in two wheel drive. With regard to your question I think the issue is doable v. easily doable.

John M

 

[jenkinsph]

I do not know whether one of the DR driveway rakes suits your needs or not. I have never seen one in use, but just know they are tow behind and show usage behind a smaller garden tractor than a 740. As for my opinion, it is a little different than some of those posted. It is true that a 740 will have some trouble pulling a full box blade of material uphill and that it will not work as well as a 4wd machine. However, one can make it work; it depends on how much one wants to spend. Chains or bar type tires plus loading the rear tires, plus running a 72 pound starter and 50 pound ad-on weight on each wheel would give you around 360# of rear ballast. Most limited cat one box blades weigh in the 180-250 pound range. It you were to find one on the lighter end of that, you likely could pull it OK. My driveway is about 20% at the top and until about 3 years ago it was gravel. I initially maintained it with a 595X series and a 48" box blade. It did fine in two wheel drive until I hit the really steep part then I would have to put it in 4wd (that model was not full time 4wd at that time). Many of the gradients were 5-10% even in the flatter parts and I was running HDAP tires, loaded rear tires and 72 pound starter weights only. Yes having all wheels driving meant I could pull a loaded 48" BB up or down hill, but if I did not need to be so aggressive I could do the same work in two wheel drive. With regard to your question I think the issue is doable v. easily doable.

John M

John,
Anything is possible but would you recommend he buy and mount extra wheel weights, 3PH, boxblade and maybe tire chains just to smooth out the drive?

I wouldn't.

 

[tlansberry]

yeah I've pretty much decided to put off the box blade idea due to the cost of the 3PH and blade are just not worth it to have a marginal performing setup. I'm probably going to take a close look at the drag harrows since I can use it for smoothing the area around a future pond after it's dug. At least that way if it doesn't work as expected for the driveway it probably won't go to waste. I'll still have to figure a way to ditribute new gravel and do some of the other jobs I had hoped to do with the box blade, but I'm not willing to gamble with $1500+ right now.

 

[jenkinsph]

tiansberry,
You might be better off hiring the spreading of the gravel. I got a call this morning about touching up a driveway with my landplane and it is near where I will be working next week. For a job a few minutes away with out the need for loading and unloading I charge $100 to smooth a typical driveway up. Might find someone local who can do this for you.

 

[Deere Dude]

I was planning on having the category-1 3-point hitch installed on my 2wd X740 then purchasing a 48" box blade from Everything Attachments. I want to maintain my 400' gravel driveway and also other uses such as clear and level areas for paver patios and walkways through my acreage, contour an area around a pond (if I ever get one dug), etc.

I had a New Holland 4wd TC30 with box blade, bush hog, and ph digger as my first tractor, but traded into the JD once the bush hogging turned into mowing around obstacles.

Before I spend the rather large sum to have all this done on my JD X740, I began to wonder if having only 2wd and turf tires would prevent me from having decent performance from the blade? If I need 4wd I'm pretty well screwed, but I'd rather know now than after spending ~$1500. The driveway (and the 12 acre parcel) are not flat - there aer some rollong hills, etc. Nothing real steep but near the end of the driveway it does slope down a decent amount. I use the 48" JD snow thrower in the winter using chains on the tires, wheel weights, and all extra rear suitcase weights to get traction. Any helpful comments appreciated.

I have a X740 with 2 sets of wheel weights and fluid in the tires, chains and a cat.1 3PT hitch. I have a center blade which works pretty well for grading things to level it out. I can get a pretty good gulp of dirt with that. I have a 6' read blade for grading the driveway down which worked fair to midland. That was cheaper than a box-blade and it seems to work. Since then I bought a 3720 I use that now for that stuff. I still use the 3 PT on the 740 for jockying trailers around and pulling other smaller ground engaging things like a smaller cultivator / cultipacker, and also lawn seeder/roller. I would have a difficult time not having a 3 PT hitch for as useful as they are. I wouldn't have a problem pulling a 48" box-blade with it. I'm sure a full box-blade would stop the tractor, but a 6' box-blade will almost stop a 3720 also.

 

[jenkinsph]

Deere Dude,

I agree that the 3PH and rear pto are both very handy to have and I use about 10 small implements with mine but the OP didn't seem to be interested in other implements. When you have plans for rearblades, tillers, landscape rakes and spin spreaders it does make more sense to buy the hitch.

 

[jcmseven]

No, I would not, but it seems that his inquiry was about whether he could make this endeavor work with his current 740. I think he could with perhaps a tire change and maximal ballast. Whether the projects he mentions merits the amount of money he would spend I suppose would be a personal decision for him. I do not think either of us would do this personally because we are used to machines with 4WD, but I can say that when our driveway was gravel I smoothed it about three times a week to keep it tidy the way I wanted so a big chunk of my time was spent doing this job. I could see if this task is a big component of his use of a machine that it might be worth it to look at getting the equipment. At least in our area he could pay for the project with the sales tax difference he would have trading into a new four wheel drive machine to perform this duty. Our neighbor as a 455 with a 48" BB and bar tires with 72 pound starter weights and no fluid in the tires and can do quite a lot of work. His property is quite a bit flatter than ours and he is not as efficient but gets it done nonetheless.

John