Below you can get a good look at the under side of the box blade and see how the inside and backside blades are attached. I was surprised to find the amount wear on the undersides of the tips. Those tips are replaceable and I have added them to my long term shopping list.
Box Blade Modified for Snow Pushing
I mentioned in a thread a while ago that I had purchased a used box scraper. Pictures below. Since then I have used it a couple of times on my gravel driveway. The driveway held up very well this year and I will not be needing to do any heavy re-grading before winter.
Elsewhere on this site and others on the intertubes I picked up the idea of using the box blade for snow removal. I already have a very nice snow blower to do the majority of the work but right up against the house on the driveway it doesn’t work that well. The snow blower is set up slightly on it’s skids for use on the 900’ gravel driveway which is it’s primary mission. But the 25x30 foot concrete pad is always left with a layer the snow blower doesn’t reach down to. That leaves me still using the regular shovel to clear things out. Not to mention the vehicles pack it down which makes removing that layer next to impossible by hand and from then on it starts becoming a mini-glacier.
The challenge being that I did not want to scratch up the nice finish on the concrete pad and leave a bunch rust mark from the skid pads. Also, as I transition off the gravel and onto the house I really do not want to accidentally launch a piece of stone through one of the windows on the house!
What I needed was an edge like they have on the big snow plows. What I came up with to use as an edge is a Stall Mat. This is a thick rubber mat used for horse/cow etc. stalls as a cushion over concrete. The one I picked up from TSC is ¾ inch thick and heavy as all get out. I wanted to add that to the bottom of the box blade and turn it into a snow pusher/scraper that I could use on the concrete without damaging or marking it up. The posts to follow outline what I did.
Enjoy.
Elsewhere on this site and others on the intertubes I picked up the idea of using the box blade for snow removal. I already have a very nice snow blower to do the majority of the work but right up against the house on the driveway it doesn’t work that well. The snow blower is set up slightly on it’s skids for use on the 900’ gravel driveway which is it’s primary mission. But the 25x30 foot concrete pad is always left with a layer the snow blower doesn’t reach down to. That leaves me still using the regular shovel to clear things out. Not to mention the vehicles pack it down which makes removing that layer next to impossible by hand and from then on it starts becoming a mini-glacier.
The challenge being that I did not want to scratch up the nice finish on the concrete pad and leave a bunch rust mark from the skid pads. Also, as I transition off the gravel and onto the house I really do not want to accidentally launch a piece of stone through one of the windows on the house!
What I needed was an edge like they have on the big snow plows. What I came up with to use as an edge is a Stall Mat. This is a thick rubber mat used for horse/cow etc. stalls as a cushion over concrete. The one I picked up from TSC is ¾ inch thick and heavy as all get out. I wanted to add that to the bottom of the box blade and turn it into a snow pusher/scraper that I could use on the concrete without damaging or marking it up. The posts to follow outline what I did.
Enjoy.
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With a little effort and my ½” Breaker Bar I was able to get the rear blade off. There was a little build up of sand behind the blade. But overall everything looked great. The reversible blade was only worn on one side, the other was brand new. (same for the front blade but I did not remove that one.) The body behind the blade was solid with only surface rusting, welds looked solid.
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Now onto the fabrication.
I laid out the mat and after hemming and hawing about how much material to use I settled on a 4’ wide 6” tall strip to fasten as my leading edge. The rubber mat was tough but after several slow passes with a utility knife it parted smoothly. I laid the strip across the back and then tried setting the blade on. In the blade’s regular position there was not much support or grip on the mat so I reversed the blade and then it acted like a clamp holding it firmly. I went out and purchased a new set of bolts for this configuration. The original bolts were not long enough to accommodate the thickness of the mat. You can see the ones I picked up are much longer than needed. The reason for this is that if a single layer of the mat material is not sturdy enough and is too flexible I will add a second strip to thicken the edge and add additional support. It may not be needed but the cost difference in the bolt is less than the gas I would expend to go get longer ones in the future if they are needed.
I laid out the mat and after hemming and hawing about how much material to use I settled on a 4’ wide 6” tall strip to fasten as my leading edge. The rubber mat was tough but after several slow passes with a utility knife it parted smoothly. I laid the strip across the back and then tried setting the blade on. In the blade’s regular position there was not much support or grip on the mat so I reversed the blade and then it acted like a clamp holding it firmly. I went out and purchased a new set of bolts for this configuration. The original bolts were not long enough to accommodate the thickness of the mat. You can see the ones I picked up are much longer than needed. The reason for this is that if a single layer of the mat material is not sturdy enough and is too flexible I will add a second strip to thicken the edge and add additional support. It may not be needed but the cost difference in the bolt is less than the gas I would expend to go get longer ones in the future if they are needed.
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So here it is all complete. I am looking forward to trying it out and when I do I will post the pictures here. I find it really amazing that I have been able to actually do this well ahead of time and have the pleasure of waiting rather than doing the regular mad scramble at the last minute.
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Ok, I was able to give it a test run last weekend and looking out the window now I see that I will be using it this weekend too.
The rubber blade worked just fine. I applied just enough down pressure to get the edge to bite nicely but not enough that it lifted the tractor. It only took a little bit of fine tuning to know when it was just right. If too much down pressure was applied the tires would spin out as they were being lifted off the ground by the box blade.
We had driven on the drive several times before I was able to plow it and I was wondering if the blade would scrape off the compacted snow. It turned out to not be a problem and it cleared off just fine. I still wonder how it will do if there is a thaw and then re-freeze and there is a layer of ice between the snow and concrete. I'll let you know if that is an issue.
But over all I am very satisfied. The rubber blade protected the smooth concrete preventing any scratching or chipping that might occur with the steel blade. I also did not see the rubber leaving any residue or skid marks, going to keep watching for that.
The box blade also acts as a counter weight to the snow blower and provides enough weight for traction to move the turf tires along nicely in the snow. Much nicer than hauling around the backhoe like I did last year for ballast.
The rubber blade worked just fine. I applied just enough down pressure to get the edge to bite nicely but not enough that it lifted the tractor. It only took a little bit of fine tuning to know when it was just right. If too much down pressure was applied the tires would spin out as they were being lifted off the ground by the box blade.
We had driven on the drive several times before I was able to plow it and I was wondering if the blade would scrape off the compacted snow. It turned out to not be a problem and it cleared off just fine. I still wonder how it will do if there is a thaw and then re-freeze and there is a layer of ice between the snow and concrete. I'll let you know if that is an issue.
But over all I am very satisfied. The rubber blade protected the smooth concrete preventing any scratching or chipping that might occur with the steel blade. I also did not see the rubber leaving any residue or skid marks, going to keep watching for that.
The box blade also acts as a counter weight to the snow blower and provides enough weight for traction to move the turf tires along nicely in the snow. Much nicer than hauling around the backhoe like I did last year for ballast.
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Just be careful NOT to hit anything immovable with the boxblade...3PH arms are NOT really designed for pushing...
:ditto::ditto: Paul took the words right out of my mouth..Just be careful NOT to hit anything immovable with the boxblade...3PH arms are NOT really designed for pushing...
A bit of Copper kote on those bolts and you wont have to worry bout them seizing up ...
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