New to tractors, new to Kubota

[mbosma]

Howdy all,

Just bought my first tractor last Saturday. Splurged on a used Kubota 3130 with loader and 4690 backhoe. It also came with a 6' finish mower, fork attachment and an auger. It only has 140 hours. Needless to say I'm pretty excited.

We have 8 acres with a 1/3 mile gravel driveway and about a million potholes to fix. What do you recommend as the best tool to buy to fix them? I'm thinking a 66" box blade. Will the 31 HP tractor have enough poop to pull it?

One concern I have about the box blade is no side/side or front/back tilt. Is there a box blade that comes with such a thing? If so, how does it work? Is it a separate hydraulic pump like on the backhoe that fits on the PTO shaft?

Thanks for any advice. This is all really new to me.

 

[Quagmire33]

This is also new to me since I just bought a 1985 b6200 just over a week ago. I've been researching box blades and I actually have one coming in this week. As far at tilting the blade, I've seen where you can use the adjustable link on the three point hitch to pitch the box. There are a few good videos on youtube about box blades. One inparticular shows how you can tilt the blade for cutting ditches and things. Think I put in "how to use a box blade" into the search and found a couple. Best of luck and congrats on the new machine.

 

[mbosma]

Thanks! Great idea to watch some youtube videos to see what everyone is talking about. So, the manually adjustable link (crank) will do about the same thing as a hydraulic top & tilt? I'm in information overload mode.

 

[Quagmire33]

I believe so. Although the hydraulic will be much more conveinant the adjustable top link and side link will get you there. Only from what I've read and watched. I haven't actually done any of this, yet.

 

[ShaunRH]

I have an L3200 and a 60" box blade (Landpride BB1260). Full down, rippers and cutting it works fine, especially in 1st (slow as a snail, my kid runs circles around the tractor). I also run in 2nd but you notice the implement then, the engine starts to work (nothing wrong with that but harder on fuel, though the job gets done faster).

Running just scraper down you can run as high as 4th or 5th depending on what you are doing with it. It's the rippers that really make the unit work.

66" is a bit of a beast for 30hp but should work if you run the gearing right, but if you have an HST transmission, I'd contemplate going slightly smaller as you lose some power via the transmission.

 

[skeets]

Just a little word on the box blades,, remember they get really heavy really fast when your pulling and digging in deep in box blade bigger aint always better,,just MHO

 

[mbosma]

Yeah, 66 is the max width for the tractor indicated in the manual, but I wanted something wide enough to cover my tracks. I'll mostly be working on the gravel drive. Hoping that once I get it fixed and graded properly it will just be a maintenance/cosmetic project without ripping.

I do have the manual transmission.

 

[gpreuss]

For the driveway, I'd be thinking of either a rear blade with a tail wheel, or a grader blade. The rear blade is great for all sorts of things, particularly snow. The land grader has two blades at an angle, allows the gravel to run up and over them, and is a much longer box arrangement, helping to get rid of dips and valleys.
I would not worry about a 72" blade for either one; I pulled my 72" Rhino blade just fine with my L185DT, including ditching. With my L3200, I'm wishing it was an 84". Your concern is traction more than horsepower. The 3130 has lots of it.
A rear blade with tail wheel will act a bit like a road grader, suspending the blade between the tractor lift arms and the tail wheel. It does a terrific job leveling out hills and valleys.

 

[mbosma]

Just pulled the trigger on a new Land Pride grader scraper and rear blade. Should be in next week. I'll let you all know what I think after I get some seat time.