Rear Blade Recommended rear blade size/features for JD 790 ??

[gordon21]

I would like some input on what size rear blade to get for my 790 to maintain a 1.5 mile long mountain gravel road that is in decent shape. I looked at the Kingcutter model that offsets. The same two bolts when loosened adjust the offset and tilt. I worry about them loosening on their own. The Frontier brand has a drilled hole and pin system for the tilt and the offset requires actually unbolting the moldboard and repositioning it. Because the blade would only be used for the same road tasks all the time, I would offset the blade 12" to the right and be done with it. If I get the 6' model and offset it 12", then that would give me only 18" of blade sticking out to the right side without any angle. Is this enough? The tractor is 5' wide. Once you start angling, you will lose some width. I would like to be able to work the ditches without putting the tractor itself into the ditch. There are lots of steep banks along the way, so that is the reason for keeping the tractor in the road itself.

The budget is about $600 so that means only manual models; no hydraulics. Will 28HP be able to pull a 7' or 8' blade angled about 30 degrees and get satisfactory results? I have an i-match that I will want to use with it if that changes anyones recommendations. I want it to be i-match compatible without a bunch of adapters and work.

Will the weight of the blade itself (about 285#) be enough? I have 6 suitcase weights I can hang on it if necessary. I already learned that suitcase weights on a box blade completely change the usefulness of a box blade by several fold.

 

[RobS]

Lewis, I have a 6 ft. King Kutter on my 790 which I pretty much only use for snow. Even with loaded tires the blade pushes the tractor around a lot as the 790 is not very heavy. Might be different on a gravel drive. FWIW, I use my landscape rake for gravel drive maintenance. The tines tend to stir up the gravel and the fines better than the smooth blade. Years back I remember a site promoting rakes for gravel drive maintenance. They sold rakes to mount on the front of a truck. Their motto was "rake fast and rake often". It does work.

 

[fishhead]

I maintain and plow a little over 1/2 mile of gravel rd with a woods hbl72 with tail wheel behind a B3030. I think 7 foot would be too much particularly with snow- I have loaded rears and chains front and rear and still get pushed around- esp. when offset.
Though over your budget the HBL series or similar from others will do what you are talking about- offset, tilt (key for ditching),weigh much more, be much stronger and have a higher moldboard that helps a lot w/snow
I learned the expensive way by starting out with a landpride 1572-and it literally would not cut it-too light and fairly easy to bend or damage-mold board too short.
Too, I would consider a tailwheel or guidewheels as they really help with both grading and plowing.

 

[gordon21]

No snow to worry about here. This will be for maintaining the dirt road. My tractor always has the FEL on it and loaded tires. Both replies talk about the tractor being pushed around?? If I am pulling the blade behind me, how does the blade push the tractor around?

 

[RobS]

Even on the back, with the blade angled it will tend to push the back of the tractor sideways. On snow/ice the tractor will move forward at an angle that nearly cancels the angle of the blade. Shouldn't be as bad on dirt/gravel but it will happen some.

 

[easygo]

Gordon,

If you use the blade angled on gravel or dirt it does not push the tractor around nearly as much as if there is snow involved. My little Kubota weighs less than the 790 and I used a 6' blade to do some gravel driveway maintenance and it didn't push the tractor around. This morning I plowed 10" of snow and the blade angled made the tractor go sideways just like a car in a power slide. The six foot blade plowed only a 2' path going forward. (not the way to go)
I would guess that 6' width would be ideal for the 790 because it is kind of big for my machine. Another thing you might want to look into is getting gauge wheels. It really helps to keep the blade where you want it and not copy the humps and dips that the tires get into.

 

[mjncad]

I have the Frontier (Woods) 6' blade and I've never offset it as it looks like a hassle to me. The rest of the adjustments are easy enough to do. If you get a Frontier, Get the bolt on end plates for it. They can make life easier by funneling dirt to one side when the blade is angled. Of course that only works with just one end plate attached.

I haven't tried using the rear blade for snow removal.

 

[Champy]

Gordon21....in my PMs I forgot to mention that i also experience the tendency to get pushed around by the rear blade when plowing snow. My JD990 with MFWD still gets pushed off track by the 6' blade in snow...especially if I am trying to turn or moving going too slow with heavy/wet snow. Pulling straight on is only affected slightly. I have to use the wheel brakes independently to keep the machine straight sometimes. Oddly enough, plowing dirt/gravel does not seem to have the same effect so it's probably related more to traction/weight distribution.

 

[bialecki]

Look at the Woods RB-72 (6 foot rear blade) Woods Equipment Company - 60'', 72'' & 84'' Standard-Duty Rear Blades - RB Series

This RB has the nice feature of being able to tilt which you may find useful especially with such a long road.