LEVELLER Vs GRADER BLADE Vs BOX BLADE

[GILLYS CHILLI FARM AUSTRA]

Any comments or opinions from people who have used all three as i have an MX5100 HST 4 WD 4FEL on order with SLASHER and have a long gravel driveway to repair and extend...

so i do need to be better prepared before i order the next implement.

I decided to get a local contractor to do the Rotary Tilling to save me the $5000 it costs for a SIGMA as I wont be using it every week.

Any comments on any of the above would be greatly appreciated

 

[corey9212]

Any comments or opinions from people who have used all three as i have an MX5100 HST 4 WD 4FEL on order with SLASHER and have a long gravel driveway to repair and extend...

so i do need to be better prepared before i order the next implement.

I decided to get a local contractor to do the Rotary Tilling to save me the $5000 it costs for a SIGMA as I wont be using it every week.

Any comments on any of the above would be greatly appreciated

I have a rear blade, box blade and grading scraper and whenever I do my driveway I always use the grading scraper cause I find it's more forgiving and produces a better finish. That being said there are also a lot of people on here that use a box blade and get results I could only dream of getting with mine so it all depends on skill and seat time.
Do you know anyone or anywhere that you can try them out before you buy so you have an idea what to expect from them?

 

[Bluegill2]

I use a box blade only, on a 1 mile gravel drive.

 

[crazyal]

All three excel at doing some of the maintenance on a driveway. The box blade is great when heavy work needs to be done. It's the best choice for moving dirt any amount of distance. If I was building a road it would be my choice (if I didn't own a bulldozer). The back blade is great for cleaning out ditches and pulling the gravel in them back on the road. The grading scraper is by far and away the best choice for maintaining a gravel drive. Both the box blade and the back blade require the operator to keep doing minor adjustments while the scraper you just drop your 3pt to it's lowest position and drive. If you have lots of bumps and ruts you'll want to get ripping shanks (both the box blade and some grading scrapers).

I've borrowed a box blade in the past to see if it was want I wanted and I own both a back blade and a Befco grading scraper with ripping shanks. A few weeks ago we got about 4" of rain in an hour and being on the side of a mountain I often have to do a lot of repairing. A fair bit of it is pulling the gravel back up the hill. I was a little worried at first that the scraper may not be able to do it but it easily did the job. I don't ever see myself buying a box blade and I'm thinking of selling the back blade to a coworker. I've even used the scraper to level out rough spots in my lawn to make it easier to mow. If I was to buy only one of the three for maintaining a road it would be the grading scraper.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I agree pretty much with what the others have said.
I have a mile of road to maintain. I did it for ten years with just a rear blade. Now I also have a landplane grading scraper. For my road, and everyone's road is different, I use the grading scraper much more often than the rear blade now. But I still need the rear blade at times to reset the drainage contours the way I want them. Especially on sloping turns. Some places I crown and some I keep a flat pitch all the way across to one side.

There are lots of interesting and informative threads on your question. Try doing a little search on driveway or road maintainence or boxblde vs landplane type thing.