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Box Blade build

ShawnR

ShawnR

Ultra Member
Premium Member
With the renovations on going, our landscaping needs are changing. Going from cutting the grass to levelling the new septic field and scraping the excess excavated dirt from the front lawn, etc. After looking at box blades, land planes, rear graders, I decided that the box blade will be the most useful/versatile for me. Locally, a Yanmar is about $1400 and that is actually about the best price I have seen. Many in my size (48") are close to or over 2K US dollars. So despite having too many projects going already, I decided to throw this one in the pile. It seems like a great welding project that I will pick away at here and then, rainy days, etc.

I found ripper shanks on a US farmers site, Agrisupply, for $16 buck each! Can't build them for that and the tips are replaceable. Ordered up 5 of those, even though most small box blades only have 4. Figured more is better, right? :) Found some1/4" plate at a local steel fab shop, and a piece of 4" x 8' longsquare tubing on Kijiji for $75. So far, pretty cheap project.

This morning while management was sleeping (ie too early to start banging nails on the house) I made the main ripper beam. I could have used the plasma but with limited experience with it, and it is buried behind the other project in my shop, I decided that drilling two holes and zipping out the middle would be efficient enough, and probably neater than the plasma torch in my hands anyways. I bit of air grinding and old school filing and the beam is ready to go. Rewarding little project for a quiet Saturday morning. Last photo is sort of the end goal, but we will see......?

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Nice project Shawn. This is going to be heavy duty.

One thing to consider (to prevent wear during use): might want to put some re-enforcement plates behind each ripper shank on the bottom and in front of each on the top to help support the wall of your box tube. (Red circled area, bottom shown, in your pic). You might be able to integrate the heigh adjuster bracket on the top for this purpose.

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RobinHood said:
Nice project Shawn. This is going to be heavy duty.

One thing to consider (to prevent wear during use): might want to put some re-enforcement plates behind each ripper shank on the bottom and in front of each on the top to help support the wall of your box tube. (Red circled area, bottom shown, in your pic). You might be able to integrate the heigh adjuster bracket on the top for this purpose.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rudy. Yes, I will be doing something like that. I had hoped for a 1/4" wall tube when I was doing my beam search, but stumbled across this 1/8" wall. I plan on reinforcing it as you describe. Here is a cropped photo of one of the many images I have collected for ideas. I gotta remember too, this is on a small sub compact tractor so it will stall before I get too aggressive.
 

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That's my kind of project Shawn! Good on you for taking it on!

They generally keep the tooth count down because it takes a lot of horsepower to rip hard ground. But you could always lift 2 or 3 if you need to.
 
I'm suspecting you will be a lot more educated on ground engagement tools in a short while. My sub-compact tractor has 23 HP and 4 x 4, if yours has twice that HP and 4 x 4 then you might get some satisfaction out of your ripper attach. With my tractor I would not plan on using the ripper & the back blade at the same time unless the soil is very loose...then you dont need the ripper at all.
I would only plan on being able to scratch hard soil with my outfit, maybe an inch deep at a time if that, and only use the blade after ripping a few passes. As well, that 1/8 wall tube will flex to try to change the ripper angle of attack without bracing if trying to rip more than an inch.
If you have loose soil your blade will be a plus for your yard work, if you have hard pan soil plan on taking you progress real slow.
 
historicalarms said:
I'm suspecting you will be a lot more educated on ground engagement tools in a short while. My sub-compact tractor has 23 HP and 4 x 4, if yours has twice that HP and 4 x 4 then you might get some satisfaction out of your ripper attach. With my tractor I would not plan on using the ripper & the back blade at the same time unless the soil is very loose...then you dont need the ripper at all.
I would only plan on being able to scratch hard soil with my outfit, maybe an inch deep at a time if that, and only use the blade after ripping a few passes. As well, that 1/8 wall tube will flex to try to change the ripper angle of attack without bracing if trying to rip more than an inch.
If you have loose soil your blade will be a plus for your yard work, if you have hard pan soil plan on taking you progress real slow.
Click to expand...

Yup. Takes all of 100hp to pull just one deep Ripper blade at a decent speed.

Instead of putting a lot of effort into strengthening your plate, consider shear bolts.
 
I figured as much. Worst case, I drag one ripper around initially I guess. I plan on setting it up so that I can rip only one inch as a min. The holes are 2 inch increments.

Thanks for the heads up. At least it won't be a shock when my toy tractor bogs....
 
For your consideration is this hitch mount I installed on my 48” Agri Ease box blade after I bought it 7 or 8 yrs ago.
I move trailers & my log splitter etc. around my place with it.
The box blade lives on my B7500 unless I’m using another implement with it.
This mod is very handy.
I thought about just welding a piece of angle on with a trailer ball, but this gives me more options.
I also stick bent T-posts in to straighten them.
Cheers
 

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historicalarms said:
I'm suspecting you will be a lot more educated on ground engagement tools in a short while. My sub-compact tractor has 23 HP and 4 x 4, if yours has twice that HP and 4 x 4 then you might get some satisfaction out of your ripper attach. With my tractor I would not plan on using the ripper & the back blade at the same time unless the soil is very loose...then you dont need the ripper at all.
I would only plan on being able to scratch hard soil with my outfit, maybe an inch deep at a time if that, and only use the blade after ripping a few passes. As well, that 1/8 wall tube will flex to try to change the ripper angle of attack without bracing if trying to rip more than an inch.
If you have loose soil your blade will be a plus for your yard work, if you have hard pan soil plan on taking you progress real slow.
Click to expand...
@historicalarms would you mind measuring the sides and back plates of your box blade? I cannot seem to find that dimension in many of the models I am looking at. As much as I realize it is far from critical, I want it to be sort of proportionally correct for both looks and function. As you mentioned, I will not be filling the box with dirt and dragging it around so shorter in height may not be a bad thing. But we need enough vertical adjustment to get the rippers out of the way and to allow it to fit the 3 point hitch correctly. . I am thinking the sides will be around 14" high and 18" long based on the material I have and the specs I have found, but from the images, they seem to vary a bit. Does that sound about right to those of you with 48" box blades?
 
Interesting that the chart for Land Pride shows max hp as 30 for all models of box blades. I can't see that as enough for a 6ft blade.
 
6.5 Fan said:
Interesting that the chart for Land Pride shows max hp as 30 for all models of box blades. I can't see that as enough for a 6ft blade.
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Yes, as mentioned earlier, doubt a 25 hp can do ok with a 48". A guy offered to lend me his 6 footer. I looked at the size and without ever using one, said, nope. Ain't gonna happen....lol
 
The sides of the BB in post #13 are 17” deep, 24” long.
sides are 3/8“ plate. End plate just shy of 1/4”.
this thing is a brute, weighs in @ 368 lbs before my mods.
With a BB, weight is your friend.
I use this with a Kubota B7500 with 21HP. I could prob have bought a 5’, but the 48” fits the tractor & does everything I ask of it.
 
6.5 Fan said:
Interesting that the chart for Land Pride shows max hp as 30 for all models of box blades. I can't see that as enough for a 6ft blade.
Click to expand...

I don't think they care if it works or not. They just don't want you bending it into a rats nest of uspaghetti and then making a warranty claim.
 
ShawnR said:
@historicalarms would you mind measuring the sides and back plates of your box blade? I cannot seem to find that dimension in many of the models I am looking at. As much as I realize it is far from critical, I want it to be sort of proportionally correct for both looks and function. As you mentioned, I will not be filling the box with dirt and dragging it around so shorter in height may not be a bad thing. But we need enough vertical adjustment to get the rippers out of the way and to allow it to fit the 3 point hitch correctly. . I am thinking the sides will be around 14" high and 18" long based on the material I have and the specs I have found, but from the images, they seem to vary a bit. Does that sound about right to those of you with 48" box blades?
Click to expand...
Sorry if I gave the impression that i have & use a box blade, I don't. Just made the post from my experience of using rippers extensively in my construction days - from a bank of ripper shanks like you show that will stop a 200 hp Cat 14G grader dead let alone a compact tractor. I have ripped frozen ground, mountain rock, shale and hard pan clay but the hardest I have ever ripped was perm-frost...one single shank mounted behind a D9 Cat, wiggle that cat back and forth for a bit to gradually get your shank 2 ft into the ground then hit that cat in the a$$ with another D9 then you can rip. You can burn a Cat ripper tooth off in 200 ft of ripping perma-frost.
 
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