Land Pride BB1266 anomaly

[AndyD]

I got this box scraper new a few years ago. Have used it quite a bit for spreading gravel and "finishing" snow as I plow the driveway. I've never been that impressed with scraping down high spots when grading out flat areas in existing soil. I've never used a box scraper before this, so I just chalked it up to it being more of a material spreading implement, but it always bugged me the way the blades were configured because it seemed like the front blade could have been set up differently and made the implement so much better.

Recently, I got sick of the poor grading performance for the 20th time, so I looked in the manual again to reassure myself that there is no adjustment in the blades. I happened to find a diagram that showed the front and back blades having an equal (but opposite) angle, and an equal depth below the sides of the box. Image search of other BB1266s shows the same thing the manual diagram shows.

On my scraper, the front blade protrudes below the box sides by 1/8" at the most. So there is no top link setting that allows the front blade to dig into the ground like it should. The blade itself is not so worn away to have caused this. The bottom edge is not dinged up or "road sharpened" in any way, and the bolts appear pretty much centered in the blade. The other thing is that the angle of the front blade is way different than the back blade. I could see this helping with the different jobs of each blade, but the front blade would have to be set a lot lower. And again, the manual and image search shows the angles the same and both blades protruding well below the box sides.

I haven't taken the blades off yet to look close at everything, but I have looked at it from every angle, including below, and I don't see any damage to the box, like broken welds, which would indicate that I damaged the box at some point without realizing it. Am I crazy? Is this the way its supposed to be?

 

[NCL4701]

I’m not a boxblade expert. I do know mine is set up with both blades at the same depth and angle. The depth of cut is limited by the side plates so if the blade is only 1/8” below the side plates you aren’t going to get much over 1/8” depth of cut on relatively level ground. I don’t think I’d be very pleased with that.

 

[AndyD]

I'm mystified by this. The scraper 100% looks like it was designed to be this way. I can't imagine that a company like Land Pride is not laser cutting everything from the same template, so how could these odd angles and depth be a mistake? Yet everyone I look at is not like mine. Guess I gotta talk to the dealer.

Here's another pic from the bottom showing how different the front and rear angles are:

 

[NCL4701]

Be nice to see some pics from someone who has that exact model. Looking at that second pic, it looks like the whole back plate got set in the jig wrong and was welded to the side plates at the wrong angle. Unless there are some welds busted somewhere, not coming up with any scenario where use/abuse could result in what you have.

Whatever the reason it’s like that, it’s going to be pretty much worthless going forward and harder to control than it should be in reverse. Looks like it’s unusable in that condition.

 

[AndyD]

Be nice to see some pics from someone who has that exact model. Looking at that second pic, it looks like the whole back plate got set in the jig wrong and was welded to the side plates at the wrong angle. Unless there are some welds busted somewhere, not coming up with any scenario where use/abuse could result in what you have.

Whatever the reason it’s like that, it’s going to be pretty much worthless going forward and harder to control than it should be in reverse. Looks like it’s unusable in that condition.

Yeah, I think that both the front and back plate are at incorrect angles. I'm guessing they get welded together first, then the unit gets welded between the sides. Probably going to take both blades off when I get a minute and make sure there isn't any damage hidden there before calling the dealer.

I could see scraping backwards into solid objects causing both blades to roll forward which would result in this condition, but it would have to bend something else or break the welds to do that, and I don't see any damage.

 

[AndyD]

So it turns out this one is on me. I took both blades off this morning and there is in fact damage. The plates that the front and back blade mount to are actually one piece of 90 degree steel which is welded into the side plates pointing up (like an "A") with the blades mounted to both legs of the "A". We must have put enough force on the back blade at some time to roll it down and forward, and since the front blade mount is actually part of the rear blade mount, the front blade rolled forward and up. The short welds at either end of the rear mount are broken. The welds at either end of the front mount are intact (probably what is still holding the whole assembly in place), but the front mount itself is bent near either end, which resulted in the front mount rolling up and forward.

It seems like this would have taken a lot of force to do, but there is no visible damage anywhere else on the implement or on the hitch. We have used this for back scraping high spots in our dirt, and we do have quite a bit of granite hidden at various depths, so I'm guessing this is cumulative because I don't remember any one incident that would have been this violent.

Anyway, as it stands, this will still move/spread material, and smooth/scrape clean soft material, but only as long as the remaining welds last. Not sure what our plan is in terms of fixing it or using it as is (our major grading is mostly done now). I did horse on it a bit with a jack and some big clamps, but it seems like going that route will only speed up the demise of the last two welds.

Side note: If you don't use your box scraper on hard surfaces and don't end up needing to rotate your blades or replace them, it would be a good idea to take the blades off occasionally and clean out all the dirt that accumulates behind them to mitigate long-term rusting.

 

[NCL4701]

Now that you found the busted welds, it’s making sense. That sucks.

 

[Russell King]

You can take it to a welding shop and get it fixed, if you want to do that.

 

[AndyD]

You can take it to a welding shop and get it fixed, if you want to do that.

Yeah, I thought about that. I realized that the blade assemble isn't just hanging by half of the original welds; it is welded along the entire length of the top to the back wall of the box, so it isn't going to fall off. And I feel like fixing it would only tempt me to use it for grading again, and based on the granite growing out of the ground like potatoes, it wouldn't be long before I hooked the front blade and bent it back the other way, and I'd like to avoid putting the hitch through that wear.

As it is now, it works just fine for spreading material and tuning up the gravel drive. I also like to smooth the snow behind me when I plow; it leaves a nice inch of flat and slightly compressed snow which provides good traction. So it still does all the important stuff.