AFAIK there's only two choices,the Agri-Fab or the Brinly.I have the Brinly and like it ok,plus the way the tongue is made you can add some large shanks for deeper digging.My neighbor has the Agri-Fab model and the whole assembly looks less robust to me,but then again maybe I'm biased.

 

i'm planning on getting the brinly, i like the add on shank, where did you get it or is it home made?

 

I have an Agrifab rear blade. It's well-built. I haven't seen their box scraper other than in a catalogue, but it looks like it's built to the same kind of standard.

 

We have the agrifab box blade. It needed more weight on the back, so we drilled out the tubing and bolted plywood underneed it to hold cement blocks. Works pretty good this way. Seems like it was made to have weights, but a bottom tray was never made. One problem I have noticed is that the pivot pin has worn out the holes - the holes that allow the blade to adjust side to side have worn quite a bit, so there is a fair amount of play. If you still want to go this route, however, a second hole can be drilled and another pin added to help prevent this wear.

 

Thanks guys.
Locknut, thanks for posting the videos. After watching them I'm leaning toward the Brinly. I really like your added shank. I might borrow that Idea.

 

This is a 3-pt box blade. It is a 4 ft unit with 4 tines. Very HD. I got it from a Tractor Supply store. Less than $350 if I recall. I'm quite satisfied with it. I think the manufacturer was KingCutter.

 

I've got an Agrifab 45-0265 box blade for my Garden Tractors, and a Bush Hog SBX 650 for my Ford 9N. The Agrifab Might work well for light work, but my gravel road just laughs at it!! I think if I added weight to it, it might self- destruct. I need the SBX 650 for serious work. It all depends on what you want to use it for.
JH

 

I really need a 3pt Box Blade, but I don't have a tractor with a 3pt. I wish they made a version of this Howse one in sleeve hitch. It only weighs about 30 pounds more then the Brinly.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200305327_200305327

 

Spend a little more and get a real box blade by King Kutter or someone else. I found a King Kutter 48" for $200 on CraigsList. There were many more available for $300 - $400. I waited like a snake in the grass until I found one.

Some considerations for a larger box blade are hook up type (will require 3PH) and the category of your hitch. They are usually all Cat 1 sizing. Several have modified their Cat 1 boxes to fit their Cat 0 3PH, so that is a possibility.

I was amazed at how useful the box blade is. Much more so than I thought originally... =D

 

I have the same one as Locknut. I put a big heavy rock (big enough it's hard for me to lift/move) on the weight tray and it digs in well.

Don't expect it to rip like a heavy 3 pt box blade - i.e. I can pick it up and move it around myself where some of the 3 pt blades I've seen are pretty massive/hefty. I just make a lot of passes and it tears up roots, rocks, and dirt, nicely making fine powder out of my clay soil.

I did find that a standard length hitch pin (3 or 4 inches - standard whatever my JD dealer had in their bin) wasn't long enough to go through both my sleeve hitch and all the way through the blade mounting hole so I got a longer one.

The Brinly seems to be well built and solid. It's fallen over (had it stood up on one of the blade ends) and chipped my garage floor without any noticeable damage to the box blade itself.

I'm looking forward to dragging it around again this summer on some projects.

 

First off, what do you want it for? I borrowed a brinly, went about 15' with it, then had to repair it before I took it back.

If you're playing in dirt, it probably works ok. If you're in something hard (I was ripping up my gravel driveway), it'll pretzel pretty easily.

So far, I haven't been able to mess this one up... :trink40:

 

I have the Brinly but haven't had cause to use it much. That will probably change Wednesday after the 18 wheel drilling rig leaves my gravel driveway!

 

My house when I bought it was overgrown in the back, and the yard hadn't had proper care in many years. it was mowed and thats it. I have 1/2 acre and the whole back was overgrown with scrub trees. I cleared it all out by hand, with my chainsaw, axe and pic.
Then I bought in 13 truckloads of topsoil and graded it. That area is pretty good, but I can still use more dirt.

My project now is to knock down any high spots in the yard, and fill the low ones.

 

I bought the Agri Fab. I bought it local I just couldn't make the trip to buy the Brinly.
I will be doing some mods to it which I will post
Pretty easy to put together but they did short me 2 washers.
Here are a few pics. I will do a reveiw on the Box Scraper before and after mods.

 

Walter

How are you liking the Agri Fab blade? Is it doing everything you need it to do?

 

Rest of pics.

 

I agree with crawler, it depends on what you want to do. I have an Agri-Fab sleeve mount and I have a Redlandhill cat 0 box blade. There is no way the Agri-Fab can do what I do with the Redlandhill box blade. But once again depends what you are going to do with it.

 

I have a Craftsman box blade, made by Agri-Fab. Looks just like the one you have. I only works well in soft dirt. I use 2 big cinder blocks to weigh my down. I like how light it is. Easy to hook up and work with. The scarifier bar is a joke, but I keep mine on because it keeps the sides square to the blade.

 

that is one cheep looking blade i hope they dont cost much

 

The Brinly version you can get at Nothern tool for $189. The Agrifab I got for $229 at Sears.Northern Tool was to far a drive.
The problem is there is no one making a high end sleeve hitch boxblade anymore. It's sad because there is a market for them.

 

Well I have a Agri-Fab purchased through Sears, it no longer even says Craftsman on it.

Not real pleased with it so far. My main concern with it is it uses tubing. I tightened down the tongue, and the nut and washer just keep pulling deeper into the tube......

I use it with the blade at an angle to pull the edges of my drive back towards the center, The right of the tounge started bending as the bolts pulled deeper into the frame as I was using it.

I'm going to get some 1 3/4 angle and notich it for the bars and weld it all along the back and bottom of the tube where the tongue bolts are. To be on the safe side, going to do the same thing where the blade mounts. And add some weight to it also. I plan on useing a couple of adjustible dumbbell set and weld the bar, and use weights as needed.

I'll post some more photos when I get it finished.

 

I've sketched out a couple designs for a heavy duty sleeve hitch style box blade. Two issues I worry about is cost and weight. To have one built, would cost well over $300. Also, how much weight can a sleeve hitch handle? I haven't been able to find what the max weight limit is on a craftsman sleeve hitch.

 

I used my Brinly this weekend. Without weight it doesn't dig that well, you have to a lot of passes. I added a heavy rock (made lifting the blade a two-handed affair even with the lift assist spring - hydraulic lift would sure be nice).

Here's a pic of it digging with the weight:

 

I used my Brinly this weekend. Without weight it doesn't dig that well, you have to a lot of passes. I added a heavy rock (made lifting the blade a two-handed affair even with the lift assist spring - hydraulic lift would sure be nice).

Pigbear

If you could apply down presure with a actuator or something would you still need the rear weights?

 

Check out this thread where I redid my Agri-Fab box blade.

http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=186397

 

If you apply too much pressure with the actuator, you cause your drive tires to spin.

 

After I posted that I sat back and thought about it and I figured that is what was going to happen.

 

That's a good point, you'd lift the tractor with the down force like you see the pics of tractors being lifted by their FEL buckets.

I'd imagine you'd want the hydraulics in float mode and a heavy implement. From my eyeball evaluation it appears to me that the big box blades, i.e. Land Pride, etc. are big suckers and pretty heavy on their own. Or in other words you wouldn't pick them up and move them yourself like I can my Brinly. The Brinly is heavy to lift but I can still wrangle/carry it around the garage.

It'll dig in eventually but it takes a lot of passes. Weight makes it take a nice big chomp. Managed to lose traction a few times since I don't have the tires loaded or any extra weight on the tractor, particularly if I hit a big root. Backing up and going at it again a few times worked.

The tractor itself is light enough I can grab the rear fender and shift it sideways into it's spot - which I tend to do when I park it in the garage.

So I have two things working against me - no tractor weight and the box blade isn't super heavy.

It works well enough with the rock on the blade though. Just a bit of a workout.