Grader blade vs box blade

I have a grader blade that needs some work in the 3 point hitch area I've borrowed a box blade from a friend who said he would sell it.
If you could only choose one which would you rather have

Thanks

(quoted from post at 05:43:10 04/21/21) I have a grader blade that needs some work in the 3 point hitch area I've borrowed a box blade from a friend who said he would sell it.
If you could only choose one which would you rather have

Thanks

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ach have their purposes. I have & use both. if I could have only one or the other, it would be the one I use most....the box blade.

It depends what you are referring to as a "grader blade". A real grader blade has adjustable gauge wheels extending to the rear. Like a motor-grader used to grade dirt roads or roads under construction, the gauge wheels enable the blade to be kept relatively even instead of being constantly raised and lowered by the ups and downs of the front wheels, so it will smooth out a washboard or pot holed driveway. This is much more useful than a box blade. A plain three point blade is not as useful as a box blade.

I've got both. Box blade gets used much more.

Everyones uses are different. I use a 3pt blade and seldom have any use for a box blade.

For what I do with them the box blade wins hands down. Actually since I got a landscape rake it gets used most of the time. They are a very usfull tool, much more than what most would think of a rake.

Get a land plane & then you will seldom hitch up the box or grader.

Box blade gets the nod from me. Only thing I use.

I guess it depends what you are using it for. I have never used a box blade, I can see where they would be useful for moving dirt or gravel, but Looks to me like they would be useless for plowing much snow!!!!

I have rake and blade. Sold my box

Agree. The up and down motion of a back (or front) single edge is based on the tractor's wheel base, a wheel regulated blade as you point
out is like a hand plane rather than a pocket knife. Jim

Sometimes it is the blade itself i.e. is it adjustable from the tractor seat? Does the tractor allow incremental adjustments with the hydraulics without going on its own way up or down? The right set up will produce a drive area flat enough to shoot a cue ball on with either blade.

Depends one doesnt really replace the other the box scraper for leveling and building road and driveway. The grader for cutting ditches and crowns

I have both. Each has their uses.One can do what the other cannot..The blade can angle,tilt to make ditches as well as push/pull straight and plowing snow. but not worth a dam on the driveway.
The box carries some dirt to bettwr fill holes. Does a much better job of acctually leveling.The ripper teeth loosen up the hard pack so the box can acctually do it's job. But it wont plow(much) snow.So,you need both.But if you had to choose ONLY ONE,Id guess it would be the (angle)blade.

As mentioned they each have advantages and disadvantages. I have both, one thing I would mention is my box blade has a cutting edge both front and rear so it can be used to push or pull . It is a good tool to push back snowbanks when used in reverse.

Depends on the job! The newer 3 way rear blade tilt, angle and offset work great, on waterways, drives with side ditches and I use the Land Pride for that. But for gravel drives, even if eroded bad the Frontier Land plane like JMOR said is the best.

I have both also, scraper blade hardly gets used. I do driveway repair and maintenance in my area. I have a hydraulic top link on the tractor and just lower the three point all the way down. The box blade just drags along and I adjust the cut with the top link as I go, the tractor going in and out of holes or over ruts, hills etc. has no effect on the blade. Driveways are smooth.

Jim, I use the wheels on snow plow blade with loader on float and control cut with the roll cylinders

I fully agree with everything you said. I also have both of these implements and they get used for very different jobs as you described. I had only the blade for many years and now that I have a box scraper as well I find both very useful for their intended purposes.

perfect. Jim

I have a 7 foot rear blade, a 6 foot box scraper and an 8 foot landscape rake. I use them all and can't see giving up one of them.

Most rear grader blades are far too light to be useful. They won't move hard dirt, and they're not particularly useful in heavy snow. A few years ago we had a lot of snow and I ended up using my box scraper because the rear blade I had at the time was too light and narrow to be useful. I used the box scraper like a bulldozer, backing down the driveway and pushing the snow to the side. It got the job done, but the next fall I bought a much better rear blade. My current rear blade is a Woods HBL84-2, now discontinued. It has offset swing (which I use most of the time) and tilt (which I don't use). It has skid shoes to avoid tearing up the driveway and weighs close to 600 lbs. It has hitch fittings for both Category I and II. It cost close to two grand with the skid shoes, and does an excellent job of snow removal and heavy grading.

I bought my box scraper when I prepared the site for my shop. I had used my neighbor's scraper, but he took it when he moved so I bought my own. For heavy grading and earthmoving, the scraper is the way to go. The ripper teeth allow you to tear up hard ground that a rear grader blade wouldn't touch. I even used my to tear out some small stumps and roots, although I don't recommend it. The last load of crushed limestone I got, the driver said he couldn't spread it out so I had to move it around with the scraper. The rear blade or rake would have made a mess of the job, but the box scraper allowed me to move the stone where it needed to go without spreading it out to the side.

For most of my driveway maintenance I use my landscape rake. It has wheels on it and does a really nice job of finishing the road. The box scraper and rear blade only get used for heavy repairs.

So, in answer to your question, if I had a limited budget my first purchase would be a box scraper. You can't buy a heavy enough rear blade to do anything for the price of a decent box scraper.