Bison rear blade

[jyoutz]

I would highly recommend an 8 foot blade. When you start angling, the blade gets a lot narrower.
A 7 foot blade at a 45* angle is only going to cut about 60 inches wide, an 8 footer is about 67 inches.
I typically run my blade between 35* & 40*.

That's just me, but getting a straight blade to narrow seems to be common. People don't consider how much the cutting width changes when angled.

Bison makes a very good blade for a reasonable price.
I highly recommend getting the skid shoes for it also.

Question about skid shoes. I bought some for a smaller blade I have 20 years ago. I was hoping they would ride the blade above the gravel when I’m plowing snow with unfrozen road. All they did was sink dow and make two ruts. I never used them since. Is there something about them I need to know?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

No they are not going to work or work that well in soft material. Get something that is a little firm and they really help-prevent blade edge gauging. My road is decomposed granite, after a long slow rain, they don't do much, but then I should not be trying to anything with the surface being soft anyway. Wait a day and the surface firms up and is a pleasure to grade.

It also depends on how wide the shoes are.
I've seen 3" & 4" wide, I'm not sure how well those would work.
Mine are 6"on an 1100+lb blade, they seem to work fine for my conditions.

If all you have are sort surfaces to grade, then pretty much a waste.

 

[jyoutz]

No they are not going to work or work that well in soft material. Get something that is a little firm and they really help-prevent blade edge gauging. My road is decomposed granite, after a long slow rain, they don't do much, but then I should not be trying to anything with the surface being soft anyway. Wait a day and the surface firms up and is a pleasure to grade.

It also depends on how wide the shoes are.
I've seen 3" & 4" wide, I'm not sure how well those would work.
Mine are 6"on an 1100+lb blade, they seem to work fine for my conditions.

If all you have are sort surfaces to grade, then pretty much a waste.

Thanks for your suggestions. I picked up the 8’ blade yesterday, attached it and think it will be perfect for my tractor and use. With the short supply and probable increases in future prices, I’m glad that I bought it when I did. As far as I was able to determine, this was the only 8’ cat 2 blade for sale in my area; every other dealer is still back ordered.