Which 48" box scraper

Anonymous Poster · Mar 5, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Happened to stumble upon a pic of my KK 60" box blade that I paid $299 for...hanging on the back of my B2910 Kubota.

Thought it might be of interest...Don't remember anyone posting a pic of the KK in this thread....

Anonymous Poster · Mar 5, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

I am prety sure that you can not buy Orange color in the Midwest line--Maybe JimMc could help us out on this?--Ken Sweet

Sweet Farm Equipment Co.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 5, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Does First Choice have a website? I'd like to see what they offer for box blades.

Inspector507 · Mar 5, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Ken,
JimMc used to offer orange as a standard color. Now that he has an arrangement with Kioti, I don''t know. I do know he is getting ready to offer grey/gray. They would look good hooked up to a Kubota /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Jerry

Inspector507 · Mar 5, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Yes First Choice does have a website. I have no idea who their supplier is now that Midwest no longer associated with them.

Jerry

PJR · Mar 5, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

I just picked a Midwest Equipment Box Blade 72" Heavy duty BB30 Powder coated to match my tractor. Talk about great Quailty.

You wont go wrong with Midwest Equipment, They are built to last.

Pat

cstocks · Mar 5, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Would you mind telling us where you bought it and how much you paid for it?

GlennT · Mar 6, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

I'm a bit out in the boonies so I don't have many dealers to work with; however, I was able to pick up a 4 foot Howse box blade for $325 and have been pleased with it. Howse uses the same construction and hitch attachments for box blades ranging from 4 foot to 8 foot so the 4 foot is overbuilt. The box blade also has the hinged rear blade. I wouldn't buy a Howse implement sight unseen; however, the quality of the construction on some is wretched--welding, alignment of parts, etc. Also, the first thing I did on mine was to paint it.

John_Mc · Mar 6, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

( Hmmmmmm, nope, I would get the 4 foot box blade. My 2410 can struggle at times with a 4 footer. ... I do not believe that you would get full utility from a larger blade on so small a tractor. Yes, you could pull it in places under some conditions and do some work with it but NOT the full range of work that a boxblade is capable of doing when matched with an appropriate tractor. )

While I would tend to agree with TresCows that 48" might be momre appropriate if you want to do some heavy ripping and grading, that's not how I understood your post.

You mentioned maintaining a gravel driveway and "finish grading around a new addition. I've got a NH TC33D with a 6 foot box blade. This is larger than your setup, but the relative difficulty of various boxblade projects should hold up:

Maintaining a gravel driveway is one of the easier things I have done with my box blade. It just does not seem to load things down much (yes, I can manages to slip the wheels when digging in and pulling a large load uphill, that only happens when I'm not paying attention). For me, the choice would be to go wider (54" or 60") for driveway maintenance. Now if you wanted to install a new driveway, that might be different.

The finish grading you mentioned in your post does not sound like heavy duty ripping (maybe I'm misinterpreting what you described). Plus, this is presumably a one-time job. If worse comes to worse, you can always just take shallower bites with the larger blade. If you have more ongoing landscaping duties planned, or they are heavier than what my impression is, then you would be better served by the narrower box blade.

If your main ongoing use of the blade is driveway, I'd go a bit wider than the 48". On the other hand, TresCows is a whole lot more experienced at this than I am so I'd give more weight to his recommendations. I'm interested to hear his response to my comments above (especially gravel drive maint being one of the "easier" boxblade duties) maybe I'm all wet on this, but that's my experience

John Mc

TresCrows · Mar 6, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

"If your main ongoing use of the blade is driveway, I'd go a bit wider than the 48". On the other hand, TresCows is a whole lot more experienced at this than I am so I'd give more weight to his recommendations."

No, not at all but pilgrim, you have a TC33 and our hapless warrior has only a mere 7500. I guess he should have gotten a bigger tractor /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. Oh well, dealing with reality of a 21 horsepower unit I imagine he could use a 5 footer as several guys have them for the 7500 it seems but I doubt given my experience with my 2410 that full utility will be had. I sometimes have had to rip up an area of the drive to repair a sinking area, I ripped an entire drive for a neighbor, leveled it and then we put some new gravel down and I worjed that out smooth. I just don't see my 2410 being able to accomplish that with a 5 foot blade. When I starting the "job" for my neighbor I told him I did not think I would be able to do it--my tractor is to small--well, it ripped the Hades out of his drive and I was surprised (his drive was very compacted and hard as concrete) so I guess I was wrong then and I could be wrong on the blades size also. J

PJR · Mar 6, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Chris,

If I recall I paid 450.00 + 128.50 shipping, I had three things shipped so total shipping was 385.50.

You can call Midwest Equipment and they will find a dealer that you can buy from thats what I did.

I have had a cheep Box Scraper and they don't last. This Box scraper is their top of the line and will last a lifetime.
For the same Quality Box scraper in my area it would cost 950.00 plus tax.

Pat

chrisjbell · Mar 6, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Ah, hate to say it, but I'm in a similar position as our "hapless warrior". I have a B7300, which is awfully close to the B7500 (durn, sure wish I had power steering sometimes! and the extra couple 'a horses couldn't hurt, neither). I've got a 48" straight blade and have rented boxes (yes, should have bought a box blade instead). Here's my take...

Unless the B7500 has a bunch more "ooomph" than mine, I would not suggest anything larger than a 48" blade. Yeah, it might work OK in some situations, but when you load it up the tractor is going to suffer in a big way. Even my 48" straight blade will stop my tractor in its tracks when it is fully loaded and trying to make a deep cut. (Agreed, you can take smaller cuts, but going back and forth can take longer than making a few "full" trips.)

When I did have a box blade on my tractor, all I could get was a 38" box. It would hold enough to put quite a load on my tractor (YES, I should have BOUGHT A BIGGER TRACTOR /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif). A 48" should be fine, as long as one is careful, especially since I think the B7500 has a bit more horsepower than mine. But I would not recommend going larger.

Of course, I could be wrong /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif...Chris

Anonymous Poster · Mar 7, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

If a 48 inch covers your wheels--go for it. I personally have a 5 footer that I use on my JD 4010 which is a tractor in roughly the same class--less HP than yours and maybe a little lighter. I have done serious work with it and have never felt I went too big, but I also don't think I would have gone wrong buying the 48 or 54 inch.

What I do like about the 5 footer is that it takes 2 passes with my tractor to smooth out my 500 foot gravel driveway. With a 4 footer I'd have to make a 3rd pass. I'm not trying to cut down on tractor time, but rather the 5 footer fits perfect in my situation.

Good Luck

Bob

Anonymous Poster · Mar 7, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Thanks for the link /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

normde2001 · Mar 7, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

"Even my 48" straight blade will stop my tractor in its tracks when it is fully loaded and trying to make a deep cut."

Does this mean it kills the engine in a low gear, or are you getting wheel spin? I can't help but wonder if we are confusing lack of horsepower with lack of weight and traction.

JimMc · Mar 7, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Yes, gray is now available from Midwest. Several dealers are using it and it looks quite good. In fact, if I were to advise an implement company who was only going to offer one color, I'd tell them to go with gray. Many tractor companies use gray as their chassis color. Now I know why. Gray "looks" heavy. In fact, I mistook one of our 20 Series box blades in gray for a 30, until I took a closer look at the model label.

chrisjbell · Mar 7, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

 Does this mean it kills the engine in a low gear, or are you getting wheel spin? I can't help but wonder if we are confusing lack of horsepower with lack of weight and traction.


It doesn't kill the engine - I have a HST so I just lay off when the engine starts to bog down. But you're on the right track because I usually get wheel spin before the engine starts to lag on me. It is a pretty light tractor, and my tires are getting a bit worn out (especially the fronts), so I probably am dealing with lack of traction as much as lack of power.

But there were a couple of other good points... Make sure that your blade covers your wheel tracks (but on a B7500 a four footer should do so, even with the wheels all the way out). And making a third pass on a driveway does make cleaning it up a bit more difficult - I had to make three passes yesterday on my drive (about 300 feet), and each time you do a pass there is always a little bit of a ridge that you need to clean up.

Now, I really need a tiller...but that is another lengthy thread of its own /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

cstocks · Mar 7, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

Thanks for the info, Pat. There are no Midwest dealers in Texas yet and I don't won't to pay for shipping for an out of state delivery so I will hold off on buying one for now. JimMc told me a dealer in Texarkana will be handling Midwest soon so I might check them out at a later date when I go for a family visit in south Ark. Meanwhile, a friend has loaned me a 5 ft. light duty Modern boxblade to try out and practice with.

Thanks again,

John_Mc · Mar 9, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

( you have a TC33 and our hapless warrior has only a mere 7500. )

And I'm using a 6 foot box blade with that TC33. There have been a few occasions where a 5 footer might have worked better, but I just take smaller bites in those instances. I've not had to rip up our driveway (yet?), just maintain the crown and deal with a few dips and potholes. For those instances, I'm glad I got the 6 footer.

manganos · Mar 11, 2003

Re: Which 48\" box scraper

I went out today and bought a 48" Box blade for my BX22. I ended up going to Agri-supply company and they had 3 different 48" blades. I asked her which one was the heaviest and bought that one. I ended up with a 48" Kodiak Standard Duty BB. It has 3 curved shanks and was the most sturdy of the bunch. It was around $270. For $195 they had some junk that looked like it was thin steel and it weighed only 150 pounds. The Kodiak weights in at 300 or so pounds. The BX22 handles the blade fine and there was no need to modify the hitch pin mounts for the BX22 to hook up to it. I rate it a 4 out of 5. Minus one star for being red, not orange /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif