Grader blade or box blade?

[phylodog]

So I'm picking up my tractor Wednesday (Kubota B2320). It's coming with a bush hog, tiller and front end loader. My yard is a bumpy mess and in need of some serious leveling out. I plan to till it up, level it out and plant some new tall fescue. I also have a gravel driveway (or what's left of one) which needs some new material laid down and properly spread out. So should I be looking to add a box blade or a scraper blade to my collection of implements? Hoping some more experienced folks can help me out here, I've never even driven a tractor before lol but I don't recall being more excited about anything in the past 20 years.

 

[femurphy77]

I am NOT an operator but do own a little bit bigger Kubota, I already had a box so opted for the blade. I use the box a lot and have never used the blade, that's after 3 years of ownership. YMMV.

 

[ghitch75]

So I'm picking up my tractor Wednesday (Kubota B2320). It's coming with a bush hog, tiller and front end loader. My yard is a bumpy mess and in need of some serious leveling out. I plan to till it up, level it out and plant some new tall fescue. I also have a gravel driveway (or what's left of one) which needs some new material laid down and properly spread out. So should I be looking to add a box blade or a scraper blade to my collection of implements? Hoping some more experienced folks can help me out here, I've never even driven a tractor before lol but I don't recall being more excited about anything in the past 20 years.

box blade.....then get a angle blade for snow removel....

 

[WhitleyStu]

Before we had our 400' driveway asphalted I used a blade turned backwards to remove snow and fill in a few holes with our Kubota. I used my neighbor's box to level the stone on the complete driveway and found the box to leave a much nicer finish to the stone. The blade has a place as does the box. If I had to pick one it would be the box.

 

[phylodog]

Great info, thank you gents.

 

[Bosshoss]

Never used the blade after getting a box.
Another vote for the box.

 

[HoughMade]

Box blade.

 

[phylodog]

Box blade it is. Any preferred brands or anything specific I should be looking for before I buy one?

 

[patience0830]

Sturdiest you can find that the the tractor is rated for. Catch a stump or large rock just right and the pieces above the box are bendable on the less sturdy models. Hard to unbend.

A blade can be useful but it needs to be mounted under the tractor like a grader with hydraulics to really be any fun.

Woods is reputable. Kubota stuff is usually made by land pride. Compare steel thickness and warrantee. You CAN break or bend about any of them.. Dragons teeth are a plus. When you put them up in storage position make sure they clear the tires. Face them backwards. Backing up with the teeth facing up and forward cost my little brother a tire one day.

 

[Gary119]

Try a rollover box blade. I have one made by ford. The blades/ripper (front/back/ripper) rotate to the one you want to use. Instead of tilling your yard rip it, grade the sod off, then reseed it.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...experience-bush-hog-gannon-earthcavator-2-jpg

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...nyone-have-experience-bush-hog-gannon-001-jpg

 

[Bosshoss]

When I was looking I noticed that the beefier and better built ones all had curved(concave) blades on the front and back of the box. The cheaper ones were just flat stock.
Used a box and front loader to maintain a one mile gravel private road and 1/4 mile drive to my hunting property for 9 years.

 

[phylodog]

Try a rollover box blade. I have one made by ford. The blades/ripper (front/back/ripper) rotate to the one you want to use. Instead of tilling your yard rip it, grade the sod off, then reseed it.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...experience-bush-hog-gannon-earthcavator-2-jpg

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...nyone-have-experience-bush-hog-gannon-001-jpg

That's pretty slick, hadn't seen one like that before. Wouldn't ripping and grading the sod off take a lot of the top soil away with the sod?

 

[KJQ6945]

So I'm picking up my tractor Wednesday (Kubota B2320). It's coming with a bush hog, tiller and front end loader. My yard is a bumpy mess and in need of some serious leveling out. I plan to till it up, level it out and plant some new tall fescue. I also have a gravel driveway (or what's left of one) which needs some new material laid down and properly spread out. So should I be looking to add a box blade or a scraper blade to my collection of implements? Hoping some more experienced folks can help me out here, I've never even driven a tractor before lol but I don't recall being more excited about anything in the past 20 years.

Congrats on the new tractor Phylo. Get the box grader now, and get the grader blade when the snow gets here.
A word of caution, make sure you have something heavy on the back of the tractor, like a box grader or tiller, when you start moving dirt with the loader. They get really tippy if you don't.

 

[femurphy77]

Congrats on the new tractor Phylo. Get the box grader now, and get the grader blade when the snow gets here.
A word of caution, make sure you have something heavy on the back of the tractor, like a box grader or tiller, when you start moving dirt with the loader. They get really tippy if you don't.

Another option is the liquid filled tires. I had them do that on mine as I had used my dad's on many occasions and was surprised at the lack of traction it sometimes had.

 

[phylodog]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[patience0830]

Another option is the liquid filled tires. I had them do that on mine as I had used my dad's on many occasions and was surprised at the lack of traction it sometimes had.

There is also an option to fill tires with foam of some sort. No flats then.

As for the lawn, yes, you'll lose some topsoil but you won't have to fight the sod when you are trying to level it. Cut the grass as short as you can b4 you till and rent a landscape rake if you go that way. My tiller rotates in the opposite direction from the tires when moving forward and has a sifting feature that throws the larger chunks to the bottom and leaves the finer stuff for a seed bed on top. I've tilled standing hay with it but the grass will ball up along the sides of the tiller if you are cutting up a larger area.

 

[natdscott]

I think, since getting a big enough tractor with a big enough loader, we have had the grader blade on the hitch exactly zero times.

Boxes and blades would be on the very bottom of the list for what I'd want, but then again, you do have some other good items already at your disposal, and you may not need a post hole digger.




Yet.

 

[k12lts]

I'm going to go another way, instead of a box blade look at a land plane.

https://www.deere.com/en_US/product...dscape_equipment/land_planes/land_planes.page

https://tipsnotebook.deere.com/land-plane/

They won't dig like a box blade and will level dirt and stone much better.

The grader blade is good for snow removal and moving material but not great for leveling stone on a driveway.

 

[natdscott]

There is also an option to fill tires with foam of some sort. No flats then.

The biggest problem with the foam (other than the cost and the weight, which are both, um. "significant") is that it tears up the tires WAY faster than they would otherwise.

I guess because the sidewalls can't flex anymore, the tread really takes a beating.

I'm not saying it's a BAD idea, because one of our bushhog tractors still has foamed fronts, but it's something to take into account.

 

[phylodog]

I think, since getting a big enough tractor with a big enough loader, we have had the grader blade on the hitch exactly zero times.

Boxes and blades would be on the very bottom of the list for what I'd want, but then again, you do have some other good items already at your disposal, and you may not need a post hole digger.




Yet.

I'm definitely going to need a post hole digger but haven't decided whether I'll buy one or just rent one.