Box Blade again

Thanks for all of the feedback earlier. I still have a couple of questions.

1) Would it be a bad idea to have a 6 foot box scraper behind a tractor with the rear wheels 7 feet apart? Seems like it wouldn't work right, but...

2) My driveway is about 12 feet wide, so if I maintain it at 12 feet (that is, just make it 12 feet wide) would that be easier with a 6 foot box blade? Seems like it would be hard to keep a crown it if the blade when past the middle and spilled product on the other side? Or do I want some overlap (blade wider than half the drive).

3) Is 6 foot too small to do the barnyard? I guess bigger is better out there, but I'd rather not spend more than I need to for the driveway, which is the priority or have to store a bigger blade than I need.

4) If I can't find anything used, the one I linked before a reasonable price for new? They don't seem to make them any wider than 6 feet, so that depends on your answers above.

2 1/2) Regarding the crown mentioned in #2, somebody on the another thread stated they'd rather have a plain rear blade so that they could do a crown. Can I not do a mild crown with the box blade? I guess the material ends up on the low side? Once I dig out the potholes I could put the regular blade on and re-crown? I guess I can google and find a youtube of the process.

Thanks,

Bob
King Kutter Box Blade avaialable locally

Hi Bob. I had an awful time a few years ago trying to find a GOOD used box blade. Many are very lightly made and I think intended for little mini tractors. I was putting mine on a 90 HP Case tractor that my wife inherited. About 6 ft was the biggest all the farm and home places had. I found mine at Race Brothers in Springfield MO and I think it is a King Kutter. Its a 7' and they had some a lot bigger than that and some of them got up very pricey that looked like they might be for heavy construction. I adjusted the lt 3 pt are a little shorter so that it leaves a crown in the middle. And I found it seems to do a better job if I run as slow as I can make the tractor go.

You'll want a blade at least as wide as your tires and maybe a few inches wider. A seven or even my eight foot blade would be no problem on a twelve foot road. If need be, use the manual tilt adjustment on three point and raise one side just a couple inches above "level"...and "carry" most of the weight of blade with tractor. Your material will shed out under the raised side. I know it sounds complicated, but it's really not ... Just takes practice!!

I have/use an eight foot box blade behind 4610 ford...:when I did landscape grading and yard seeding, I quickly found wider blade an advantage. Yes...I occasionally hook to straight blade, but that's rare. Box blade is my preference.

I bought a 7 ft box blade this yr was $875 here in Canada
what I found was almost every where I called only stocked 6 ft or smaller as they mostly sell them for the compact tractor crowd
everyone could order in a 7 or 8 ft if I wanted but they were quoting over a 1000 for the same blade and mfg I bought
I found mine at a little tractor place that mostly does repair and used tractor parts with new parts sales as a side line
call that place I'm sure you could order in a 7
you want the blade wider than your tires
I work mine with my WD Allis but it also gets used on my buddies tractor 47 hp some kind of grey market one
we both use it for driveway grading and th crown is no problem my drive is mostly only 10' wide

You'll also find a hydraulic top link VERY handy. Tilt the blade forward (front of box lower than the rear) to make it cut and tilt it backward (front higher) to drag out and smooth for the finish pass.

My box blade is narrow enough that it takes 3 passes to cover the entire width of the drive. This works well for me as I make the two outside passes with the ditch side of the box tilted down, dumping the spoil out on the center side to create the crown, then level it up and tilt it back to make a pass down the center to spread the loose gravel out.

In the Spring, after a winter full of potholes, I'll leave the blade level left-to-right, tilt it forward with the scarifier teeth all the way down and just tear the dickens out of the full width of the drive. When I have 3-4" of loose gravel across the width of the drive I'll do the three-pass finish described above.

6 ft will work fine behind your wide tractor.Unless you want to get right up next to a concrete feed funk,or cement curb,etc.My JD A is 7ft wide,use it on the 6'box frequently.Yes 6" is plenty wide for a barnyard.You are not doing a 40 acre field.Depending upon how big,it might take 10 or 15 minutes longer than a 7' would.Yes,you can 'crown' your driveway. Just shorten up one side lift link.Let more dirt fall out of one side.As was said,a box blade will do it's best work at the slowest speed your tractor is capable of.

I thought that the retail box blades were to expensive/light.

I built my own off of a set of plans that were googled.Had a buddy that worked a the county shops and he gave me a worn cutting edge off of a grader.About $100 in materials.

If you can lift one lower arm a bit and get the gravel to flow out one side, that's good. Now, if your rear tire runs on your little "windrow", that's good too, that's how you get crown. That's how we put crown in the roads when we scrape them with spring ride trucks.

Do you want a box blade because of the scarifier?
I wouldn't tear up a whole driveway to fix some potholes.

Can you find some small suitcase weights to hang on your existing blade?

I would just add a landscape rake to the tools you already have.

You want your box blade to be 1 foot wider than the rear tires. I have a 8 foot blade on an 85 hp tractor with the wheels set at 7ft.

1 ft each side is the 'ideal' situation'. but not really necessary for most applications.My driveway just had a 'few' potholes.However my blade with 1000 lbs of suitcase wts just bounced on top. It took the teeth to do the job.

These move material to the middle by angling the cutting edges. While I prefer my 140H Cat, I have used one similar and it worked well. http://www.kingkutter.com/store-product.aspx? id=3548

Hi Delta,
It sounds like you tried to grade it bone dry?
Grade soon after a rain for better results.

The County keeps telling me this whenever I call for washboard grading.

Landpride makes a 7' (RO2584) rollover box scraper. We had one at the City I retired from and it worked very well and was heavy duty. King Kutter is junk compared to it. That being said, putting a crown in a driveway is a lot easier with an angle blade than a box blade. No matter how much you tilt it, gravel does not like to flow uphill. I use a 6' box blade on a 10' driveway currently. It is great for making it flat and smooth. Sucks for trying to crown.

Thanks everybody. I think I've got a plan now.

Bob

Bob in SD : do you have a loader on your JD 3020 ?

I just bought a 3020 w/ 148 loader. I question whether the oil filter cartridge will come out of the block and clear the loader brackets. Do you know anything about this ?

thanks for your help also / your box blade question : call CANNONBALL MFG in Kansas they make a nice box scraper
$ 1500 620 532 2236