Snow XB Back Blade for snow?

[proudestmonkey]

I use a back blade with my BX and would recommend it as a good low cost option. It took me most of the first season to figure out the best technique. I've had the best luck turning the blade around so the concave side of the mouldboard faces the front of the tractor and going in reverse, pushing with the back side of the blade. As long as you aren't pushing super wet snow the weight of the blade should be enough to keep it from riding up. If you want to angle the blade you'll need to spend some time setting it up on a flat, level surface. Otherwise it will tend to dig in on a corner.

I wonder, if you had a way to extend the back blade out a ways from the tractor, and then had the concave side facing the front of the tractor, if you could pull the snow off to the side, like a road grader does.

I get your point though, about pushing with the convex side going in reverse. I think in my case this will be particularly useful because last year we topped off the entire driveway using clean (landscape grade) class 5 gravel, which means there were no fines. Over the past year, much of that gravel, as I hoped it would, has locked itself down into the older gravel, which was mostly fines when we bought the place. However, in some spots where there is a fairly steep grade to the driveway, that new gravel moves around quite a bit.

I also think the back blade will come in handy as a more useful bit of ballast than the ballast box I bought to go with the FEL. I plan to use the FEL in winter for snow, and in the fall and spring for landscaping. So, I can have the backblade in fall and winter for smoothing over the digging I am doing and for straigtening out the driveway gravel before and after winter.

 

[Bob_Young]

I've had pretty good luck moving snow with a 7' med. duty blade (Woods 84HBL) behind my L4300. But that rig's a bit much when there's only an inch or so to be cleared. Been looking for a low cost 5' blade for the B7610 and, so far, the low priced blades appear to come up short of what's needed.

Two things about the 7' Woods blade have contributed to its success at moving snow:
1) Skid shoes - with shoes and top link adjusted right, the blade edge can be set an eighth inch or less above the surface for a clean job of removal without blade dig-in, at least on pavement.
2) the ability to float blade tilt - before I learned to do this, one end of the blade or the other was either digging in or waving in the air and not clearing snow.

The XB/estate sized blades I've looked at all have fixed blade tilt...they can't be floated. The 5' Woods std. duty blade will allow the blade to be floated for tilt, but at $600 when equipped with Woods skid shoes, it's a bit too expensive. Also, the 3 pt. hitch pins appear to be spaced too wide for the B7610, though they might work if turned to face in towards the center of the machine.

I'd like to hear if anyone comes across an XB sized rear blade that permits the blade to be floated in tilt.
Bob

 

[cabinfever]

Well no wonder why I thought about the same on that XB blade, I looked at the same one!
Great feedback from everyone. I'm curious if either of the blades at the below site handle tilt like bob mentioned?
King Kutter Incorporated

Anyone have an opinion on which brand of 5' blade would be best to get?

I just took delivery of a BX2350 this afternoon. I put almost three hours on it already. Mowed the yard, moved some rocks, dug up a rotted stump and leveled a pile of dirt....what a machine! I wish I would have bought one a couple years ago!

 

[proudestmonkey]

Well no wonder why I thought about the same on that XB blade, I looked at the same one!
Great feedback from everyone. I'm curious if either of the blades at the below site handle tilt like bob mentioned?
King Kutter Incorporated

Anyone have an opinion on which brand of 5' blade would be best to get?

I just took delivery of a BX2350 this afternoon. I put almost three hours on it already. Mowed the yard, moved some rocks, dug up a rotted stump and leveled a pile of dirt....what a machine! I wish I would have bought one a couple years ago!

Imagine the chances of that: two people from this forum going to the same store to look at, not just the same kind of implement, but the exact same one.

Since you responded to bob's point, I will chime in: from what I could tell of the XB, there is no way to have it float in terms of tilt. It's fixed that way. The only adjustments are degree of angle from left to right in several positions forward and reverse.

 

[PlanMan]

I bought a 5' XB last fall and it did a great job moving snow. The mold-board blade rolls the snow well. When pulling, the blade scrapes my paved drive well, including the driven-on hard packed snow. A couple hours of sun and the drive is bare and dry. However, when the blade is reversed and you are pushing, it does ride up on the hard pack, and also rolls your lawn nicely if you don't lift it in time at the edge of the drive. I could have opened a sod farm this spring.

When angled, pushing or pulling, it does cause the tractor to slide sideways a little if you are on an icy surface and moving deep wind-packed snow.

I bought a 5' Moose brand "Country" model plow at our local Gander Mountain store. I cut brackets out of plate stock and welded them to the back, using the brackets of my FEL bucket as a template except for the difference in the radius cut for the blade vs. the bucket. I now can detach my bucket and attach my blade using the same 4 pin points. This allows me to push snow down the drive with the front blade, and drop the rear XB blade backin up. 180' drive done in 15 min. depending on snow depth. By using the FEL / snow blade setup, I can push my banks back and pile the snow high. Also, having the blade connected to the roll cylinders just like a bucket, I can either roll it back to ride on the skids for the lawns sake, or roll it forward when coming into hard-pack and let the scraper edge do the work.

 

[rosey]

Any opinions on using this blade for clearing snow on an asphalt driveway? Is it best to get something with skid shoes? I would also use it for some light grading.
I also looked an this blade and had about the same thoughts as proudestmonkey...

Just be prepared for some serious scrape marks left on the hard surface from the blade, (I found that out when I used it on the concrete pad in front of my garage........if that's not an issue with you then again the back blade works fine.

 

[Nik]

I use a frontmounted blade with a rubber edge on my BX23. This does not leave skid marks on concrete an asphalt surface and does a good job. You probably could replace the metal edge on the XB rear blade with a rubber edge. The 60" rubber edge could be ordered from a Kubata dealer and be put on a rear blade.

 

[rixtory]

to protect my asphalt drive, I bought a horse mat for $40 and cut an 8" section off it and drilled holes thru it and through my moldboard and then using a long piece of 3" steel bar as a washer, attached the horse mat to the blade with 3" sticking out from the bottom of the blade (the horse mat is sandwiched between the bar/washer and the mold board. The steel bar washer goes over the mat and the whole thing is held together by 6 2 1/4" steel bolts.

 

[AceDeuce]

I wonder, if you had a way to extend the back blade out a ways from the tractor, and then had the concave side facing the front of the tractor, if you could pull the snow off to the side, like a road grader does.

Unfortunately it'll dig in every time, even with skid shoes. I have a full size 5' blade (vs. the XB) which sticks out further. It just loves to dig up gravel. The concave side works great on pavement though.

 

[Musclford]

Unfortunately it'll dig in every time, even with skid shoes. I have a full size 5' blade (vs. the XB) which sticks out further. It just loves to dig up gravel. The concave side works great on pavement though.

How bout some pics of the blades.. If ya got um handy that is..

Thanks