3 pt grader blade vs box blade

[PitViper]

I currently have a 5 foot box blade and am getting ok at running it. I found a 6 foot grader blade close and cheap. I am thinking being able to pull material towards the center of the driveway may be nice. Any advice or input would be appreciated.

 

[old and tired]

Yes, go get it!!! Cheap and Close, no brainier.

 

[Redlands]

The grader blade can be a bit harder to get proficient with. I do think they are well worth it. Wings or end attachments can be purchased or made that will bolt on the ends of the blade. Basically turns it into a box blade when desired. Can just install one wing if desired. Having ripper teeth might be nice but you do have your box blade for that I assume.

 

[Chad D.]

If I already had a box blade, I’d be looking for a rake!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GreensvilleJay]

The two implements are for two different jobs.
I've run a 6' blade for 30 years,never owned a box blade.
My blade is old(50+), heavy and can tilt left/right as well as turn so it's perfect for making swayles and ditchin. Real good for gravel driveway and lot repairs.
Yes, there's a 'learning curve' but heck, all tractor seat time is GOOD time !

 

[pauly]

Go for it. I have both and it sure makes for easy work, the right tool for the job comes to mind.

 

[GeoHorn]

Grader blades look very useful...but usually turn out less so. They can reshape loose material...but they do not move material very well because they lack weight and the ability to prevent end-spills without modification.

I’ve always found myself taking that grader blade back off and parking it way out in the pasture and letting it lose itself in the weeds. The box blade and the land-plane are so much more useful.

No matter how cheap something is...if you don’t need it...or if it doesn’t do useful work...it’s a waste of money. The saving grace is.... you’ll likely find another dreamer who imagines it will be a good tool and you can probably unload it, with the only loss being time and your self-respect for talking the buyer into giving you money for it.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

GH, if you think all grader blades are lightweight, please, come on up and TRY to move mine by hand ! Even with a 6' bar to help, she's an old HEAVY (500#+)beastie.great at reminding me about the 2nd hernia I now have....
Old blades(mines 50+) were made from real steel..old skool..,new ones..well probably made lightweight as the parts were made in China ?

 

[D2Cat]

Ignore what Geo. is cry babying about! It's a blade, made of steel, has a purpose. If you buy it and don't use it so what? It's still around for another day.

How many folks have bought a pizza they don't need? Spend $20 and think nothing about it! So, follow Georges works of wisdom and quit eating pizza. Remember, he says: "No matter how cheap something is...if you don’t need it...or if it doesn’t do useful work...it’s a waste of money."

 

[GeoHorn]

GH, if you think all grader blades are lightweight, please, come on up and TRY to move mine by hand ! Even with a 6' bar to help, she's an old HEAVY (500#+)beastie.great at reminding me about the 2nd hernia I now have....
Old blades(mines 50+) were made from real steel..old skool..,new ones..well probably made lightweight as the parts were made in China ?

“Heavy” or “light” are subjective and relative terms. My grader blade is “heavy” and I cannot personally move it ... unless I use the 3-pt on the tractor. But it simply slides across a hard-packed dirt road and across established pasture grass with virtually NO EFFECT, and I found it useless in those situations, where my box blade and land-plane w/rippers did a beautiful job of repairing the road and creating a new one.

D2Cat... it’s a shame you cannot express yourself civilly and apparently must resort to personal attacks on others simply because you haven’t the skills to think well and communicate. If you don’t like my opinion, that’s fine. It wasn’t offered to YOU, I was responding to PitViper’s request for opinion.

 

[D2Cat]

“Heavy” or “light” are subjective and relative terms. My grader blade is “heavy” and I cannot personally move it ... unless I use the 3-pt on the tractor. But it simply slides across a hard-packed dirt road and across established pasture grass with virtually NO EFFECT, and I found it useless in those situations, where my box blade and land-plane w/rippers did a beautiful job of repairing the road and creating a new one.

D2Cat... it’s a shame you cannot express yourself civilly and apparently must resort to personal attacks on others simply because you haven’t the skills to think well and communicate. If you don’t like my opinion, that’s fine. It wasn’t offered to YOU, I was responding to PitViper’s request for opinion.

Geo you're hilarious. Talk about expressing ideas civilly...you're the one lacking civil communications. My response was also to the OP's request for opinions.

 

[Point Wilson]

I looked at getting a grader blade but after much research ended up with a land plane. It does a wonderful job, I love that thing for our long gravel, sometimes pretty much dirt in areas, driveway.

 

[Palmettokat]

I had used rear blade a lot before even saw a box blade. They are two different tools. They both move dirt but made to move it different. Box blades mainly are used to pull dirt where a rear blade is used to move the dirt to the side. Road plows for those who grew up with dirt roads move the dirt to the mound the road to shed water.

I will argue you can cut dirt better with a rear blade than a box blade of the same weight. Again watch a road grader at work. Same action as a rear blade.
You can get a smoother grade with the rear blade. But and here is where many are ignorant to how set up the rear blade. A box blade does not rotate, is pulled square to the tractor and only has the slope the tractor lift adjust can give it. On rear blade they are normally able to be rotated and tilted in the implement itself. You can rotate it so the right end leads and then tilt it so the right is lower and cut a ditch, roll dirt up hill to created a road bed or such. Now, get a pull box blade with tilt built into it and it is a great tool. Almost a mix of box blade and rear blade. If you really want a smooth grading job it will beat anything on the 3pth. Can not push with it.

I have not looked at youtube on road plows, would be good to give ides how to set a rear blade.

 

[Creature Meadow]

They have their purpose and I'm sure you will find uses for it. Cleaning out ditches comes to mind rolling out the fill, box scrapper can roll out debris.

My neighbor had 8 tandem dump truck loads of gravel brought in to fix his rood. A old guy on a old Ford tractor with a blade on it moved the rock in one day and a half by himself, he wanted it dumped in piles not spread down the road. He would back up to the pile and pull it where he wanted it. It was a work of art watching up level it and build the crown in the road. I asked him why not a box blade he said he had used them but the blade served him better.

Buy it, I have implements I don't use much but they all have a place at one time or another.

Jay

 

[skeets]

I found that if you bolt 2 wings on my back blade and then weld a 2x2 angle across the top so the wings dont flex out, you have both a box and rear blade just by removing a couple bolts, not really the best of both worlds but an effective option. And I would give credit where credit is due, but I do not remember who it was in here that came up with the idea, who ever it was thanks!

 

[KTuk4J]

Love my box with forward and reverse blades and adjustable rippers.

I used it on my Deutz Allis 6275 75hp 4x4 and did a lot of clearing, scraping, backwards dozing, rock and gravel spreading and more.

I now use it on my B2650, just ripped up and leveled out about 100ft of road base with 3" rock before a load of 3/4 minus.

 

[GeoHorn]

I will argue you can cut dirt better with a rear blade than a box blade of the same weight. Again watch a road grader at work. Same action as a rear blade..

No.. That is exactly wrong. A 3-point hitch has no DOWN pressure like a road-grader/maintainer. The rear blade floats up/over hard-packed areas and grass and does not “level” the ground. Without rippers, a rear blade cannot deal with hard-pack, and even loose gravel will move around the blade ends depending upon how the blade is/is-not angled and by how-much. If anyone wanted a rear blade I’d GIVE mine away if it weren’t for the fact it was inherited from my wife’s Father. It makes a good yard-art memory of a long-gone loved one but otherwise, in my opinion, has limited usefulness.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: A 3-point hitch has no DOWN pressure
...

that's not entirely accurate
..
Several tractors Do have down pressure on the 3PH, buddy's belarus for one. The newer larger 'other coloured' tractors do as well.

The blade on my D-14 will 'level' as the Snap-Coupler hydraulics with traction boost does maintain a 'set distance' relative to ground. I think Ford called it 'draught control' in the 8N series as 9N and 2N didn't have that.

 

[GeoHorn]

re: A 3-point hitch has no DOWN pressure
...

that's not entirely accurate
..
Several tractors Do have down pressure on the 3PH, buddy's belarus for one. The newer larger 'other coloured' tractors do as well.

The blade on my D-14 will 'level' as the Snap-Coupler hydraulics with traction boost does maintain a 'set distance' relative to ground. I think Ford called it 'draught control' in the 8N series as 9N and 2N didn't have that.

LOL.. well...yeah...but THIS is a KUBOTA forum discussing the B1750HSD the OP has. My M4700 has draft control also...but it will not provide DOWN pressure. The rear blade on these 3-pts are not like a grader/maintainer for lack of down pressure was my point.
There’s another difference between a blade on a 3-pt versus a grader/maintainer.... The grader/maintainer has it’s blade at the mid-point where levelling action is consistently good. An ordinary blade on a 3-pt not only “floats” but it also undulates with the tractor.... as the tractor follows the terrain, the blade bobs up-and-down NOT remaining “level” and leaves an undulating surface. I found it nearly useless as already mentioned.

 

[Redlands]

More of a comment for those that are learning.

Grade wheels are commonly attached to blades for more consistent grading. They can be adjusted by hand or hydraulically as one needs and budget require.