Box Scraper Ways to tie a railroad rail to a box blade?

[8NLUGNUT]

I was over at the scrap yard again today and bought a 4 foot length of rail to put on the 5 foot box blade to add a little weight.

I could weld it but then I couldn't move the box around.

I was told to chain it but I think that it might move around.

I want to be able to remove fairly easily with out it wanting to fall off all the time.

Any ideas?

 

[CCWKen]

I don't know how you'd move that 4' of rail around but weld J-brackets to the bottom of the rail and just hang it on the back of BB. Quick on, quick off.

 

[Eagleview]

Race cars use a system for adding weights . They just use two long bolts going through the floor with large washers top and bottom of the floor to stop cracking . The bolts go through the floor from the top with one nut on top , then a washer , the floor plate , another washer and the other nut last . The bolt heads are cut off and a taper ground on the cut ends . An 'R' clip hole is drilled through the top of the bolts to secure the weight .

So you have two pins sticking up that you lower the weight onto with two reciprocating holes , and then the 'R' clips for safety .

 

[actionaj]

How about a couple of big U-Bolts that way the rail is secure and you can remove them easily.

 

[skipmarcy]

I'm planning on adding some heavy scrap iron to my boxblade too and I think I'm just going to use some strapping iron. I'll position the metal across the top rear of the box where it will rest by itself and then just wrap with straps and use one bolt hole per strap to hold the iron from bouncing off. Should be easy to remove when needed. I have an old trailer made from the bed of an old Datsun pickup and I needed to add some weight forward some and used the strapping iron to mount some old railroad rail pieces - it has held up for quite a few years like that now. As long as you get the straps tight enough to keep the iron from moving around, it should be fine.

 

[tommu56]

This might sound odd but make a stand to hold it above the back blade but not on it.
Hook up the bb raise the 3 point to lift it off stand drive away?
This way you can move the BB around to hook it up with out the weight or use bb with out it for light weight jobs.

tom

 

[john_bud]

Weld up some hangers and hang them off the back and across the top.

My box it too heavy to move by hand naturally, so I would just add the the weight. You can still nudge it with a 5' bar.

jb

 

[Ductape]

Ductape......................................

 

[Redbug]

I welded some pieces of angle to my box blade and use chain with hooks to hold it in.

 

[Peej]

I'm a big fan of ratchet straps. Especially the good ones from sams club.

 

[Sackett2]

I'm getting some good ideas with this thread..
I have access to rr iron (my b-i-l works for 'em) and we were talking about adding some on for weight. How much is enough? My BB is a lighter one, works wonderful when loaded up with gravel, but need some heft to settle it down when the road is a bit hard.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

C clamps

 

[AKfish]

I did something similar to Iron Dog's suggestion with rail iron on my rear blade. I welded 1" x 3" bolts along the top edge of the blade and drilled holes in the railroad rail and stacked on top. Secure with a washer and nut.

AKfish

 

[Gary Fowler]

How much is the going rate for heavy rail now. Do they sell it per pound at scrap prices or what. I could use a few sections for weight and for a drag behind my disc.

 

[KentT]

How much is the going rate for heavy rail now. Do they sell it per pound at scrap prices or what. I could use a few sections for weight and for a drag behind my disc.

Rail makes a great drag to level the soil with, if you weld eyelets or something to the rounded (rail) part, leaving the flat edge of the base at the rear when pulled... especially if you pull it at a slight angle (with a chain or something similar) so that one end is slightly ahead of the other. We used to use a piece to drag the infield of baseball fields, and it will even scrape and level the high spots of hard ground.

 

[8NLUGNUT]

I ended up having it welded on to the back.

I aint used it yet but should here in a few weeks.

It may end up being aft heavy and need some weight in the front to balance it out but then again maybe not.

Down pressure would be nice.

The only problem is it is a little harder to move around by hand but I shouldn't be doing that anyways!

Thanks for all the input everybody.

 

[wushaw]

My BB is 830lbs, I can't move it by hand and most of the weight is on the back.

 

[Eagleview]

I did something similar to Iron Dog's suggestion with rail iron on my rear blade.

AKfish

Ive been downgraded again , Ive gone from Iron Horse to Rusty Pony to Iron Dog .

 

[Highbeam]

Bah! Forget about little lightweight chunks of rail. I had some hardpan to scrape up and the box wouldn't bite in, the rippers just scraped along the top, so I attached a closed end barrel to the top of the BB with regular old nylon motorcycle tie down straps and then filled the barrel with water.

50 gallons of water at 7 lbs/gallon (or is it 8?) is several hundred pounds of adjustable ballast. That much weight drove the ripper shanks right into the hardpan. I needed all 30 HP and low range to do the job.

When done, just dump the water out of the bottom bung and put the barrel away.

I own some chunks of rail that are several feet long and only weigh 60-80 lbs or 30lbs per foot or so. That's fine for a little weight but when you need ballast you need to go big or go home.

 

[Eagleview]

It's a wonder your blade does'nt look like a horse shoe now .