Rear box blade for 2650

tk tom · Apr 7, 2015

I went back to the dealer over the weekend and had him put my name on the next LandPride BB1560 box blade that he had coming in. I feel as though the tractor is plenty capable of handling it, but as usual part of me is questioning it and thought I should come here. The BB1260 is about 100 pounds lighter, and only 350lbs. The BB1560 is about 450-460lbs I believe and it built much heavier duty. It will be working in 2 driveways, each approx. 300feet long, twice a year. It will also be handling a lot of yard shaping and gravel spreading over a couple acres.

Biggest question - Will the 2650 have the traction to drag this thing around? Will I be messing around with dumping some of the load so I can continue on then have to go back and clean it up?

I've always like the idea of heavier duty and buying something to last, but I don't want that to get in the way of the simple fact that I need it to work, plain and simple.

EverythingAttachments · Apr 7, 2015

tk tom said:
I went back to the dealer over the weekend and had him put my name on the next LandPride BB1560 box blade that he had coming in. I feel as though the tractor is plenty capable of handling it, but as usual part of me is questioning it and thought I should come here. The BB1260 is about 100 pounds lighter, and only 350lbs. The BB1560 is about 450-460lbs I believe and it built much heavier duty. It will be working in 2 driveways, each approx. 300feet long, twice a year. It will also be handling a lot of yard shaping and gravel spreading over a couple acres.

Biggest question - Will the 2650 have the traction to drag this thing around? Will I be messing around with dumping some of the load so I can continue on then have to go back and clean it up?

I've always like the idea of heavier duty and buying something to last, but I don't want that to get in the way of the simple fact that I need it to work, plain and simple.

For counterweight, i'd lean toward the heavier of the two.

Based on the LP literature and 2014 price sheet, our ETA 30-70 Box Blade is a better value.

Weights and dimensions are very close, but it's the little things that make our box blade a better overall value.
Our hitch is much better. Rather than using a bolted on, flat steel hitch that would be cheaper to ship, ours is laser cut, solid welded and much more rigid.
The shank attachment points are heavier on ours.
We weld an extra plate of steel on the front leading edge for wear resistance.
We weld a horseshoe shaped plate of steel behind the shanks on the bottom of the tube for extra durability.

Travis

s219 · Apr 7, 2015

I would stick with the heavier blade. Usually the weight that stops you will be from the load of dirt/gravel in the box, and +/- 100# from the box isn't going to make or break you. You will benefit from those 100# in other cases.

I have a 60" box blade on my heavier L3200, and it needs to be in low to pull around a full box blade with efficiency, but I haven't run out of traction yet. The only time I need to stop and empty it is when grading new homesites with a lot of garbage in the soil, since pretty soon it starts spilling out the top of the box and accumulates in front of the box (will start filling in between the rear wheels if I let it). For dirt and gravel I haven't had issues. However, I had a 50" box on my previous B2920, much lighter and smaller, and that tractor would get stopped with spinning tires in many cases. I imagine your B2650 will be somewhere in the middle. It's not a big issue as you can adjust the box angle to find a happy medium.

Top link length and box blade angle is a huge factor in box blade work -- shortening the top link will make the forward cutting edge more aggressive, while lengthening it will make the forward cutting edge less aggressive (and at some point it will feather and the box will be smoothing with the rear cutting edge only). There are many adjustments in between. For most grading, I find a very light bite is good, which allows the box to fill up with material, knocking it off high spots and dropping into low spots, all without really removing too much material. For final smoothing, I lengthen the top link so that the front cutting edge is off the ground, and the rear cutting edge is smoothing. With good control of the top link, the box blade is a very versatile tool. Once you master that, you will want a hydraulic top link, so start budgeting for that....

I do most of my grading with the box blade all the way down in float (lowest setting on the position control lever). There are tons of horror stories here on TBN where people run into issues, and it's almost always because of the wrong box blade angle (i.e., top link adjustment) and not using float. So drop it down all the way unless you have a good reason to do otherwise. That will let it ride the terrain rather than bob up and down with the 3-pt arms, which in turn would cause dips and bumps.

Good luck!

newtattoobob · Apr 7, 2015

I have a Bb1560 that I use with my B2650 with R4's and I'm happy with it.

oldballs · Apr 7, 2015

Heck if you do and heck if you don't. I wish that ETA had recommended that heavier and wider BB when I bought one. But, the 26 HP Kubota is probably in the middle of what is most efficient. In my case I bought the ETA 54 inch lighter model that has 4 shanks, but have wondered if the 60 inch 5 shank heavier model would have worked better.

It could be that the Kubota 2620 model really can't handle a wider and heavier model as far as traction is concerned. On one occasion, I had a buddy (200 lbs) ride the box to compensate for the weight. That worked okay for that job. The top link adjustments would help in any case however.....guess I'd better get a hydraulic top link regardless of the BB model.
Cheers,
Mike

tk tom · Apr 8, 2015

I guess the top link alone might be the biggest factor in the success or failure of a box blade project. I'll keep that in mind as I go forward and report back how it does and/or how I do. I planned on running in low range while using it for less strain on the drivetrain.

Jbuice123 · Apr 11, 2015

Buy the heavier of the two! My 2620 handles it fine

tk tom · Apr 11, 2015

Jbuice123 said:
Buy the heavier of the two! My 2620 handles it fine

That's what I like to hear!

TripleR · Apr 11, 2015

Buy the heavier one whether it's Land Pride or ETA, I have two LP scrapers and bought too light the first time so it gets little use and I later bought the right size.

If used too aggressively or improperly many scrapers, even a light one may anchor your tractor. My M8540 is rated for a much bigger scraper, but our LP3584 will leave it spinning all four wheels under the wrong circumstances. Used properly, weight up to a point is your friend when using a scraper.

I highly recommend a hydraulic top link no matter what you buy.