Box Blade - oops

Been clearing the pole barn site. I moved it to 100' from the new house location which meant it was mostly in the woods and a lot of trees had to come down.

I've been cutting the trees about 3' off the ground and then removing them whole. My new brush grapple is a godsend allowing me to remove them without bucking/limbing them. Then I go back and cut the stumps at ground level. I've got a backhoe that I'll use later to remove the stumps below ground. Anyway, I put my box blade on the back of my NH TC45 for some weight in the rear and to protect the tractor from stumps as I maneuver around picking up the cuttings.

Here is a pic of the area:


It's been working out great for about a week now. Well, yesterday I bumped a few. I musts admit that I've been moving faster with the tractor as time goes on. Didn't notice that I must have caught one with the bottom of the box blade instead of the whole structure which would stop the tractor dead and it bent the box blade 3-point:


Timing was ok as it started to rain when I noticed it so I brought it back home in the afternoon and started the repair before dinner. Cut the vertical members loose so I could straighten the pin brackets.



Thought I'd heat and restore the shape of the vertical pieces but after cutting them off and laying them on the ground, I realized that would be WAY too much work. I scrounged in my pile of steel and VOILA found the 2 pieces in the pic that are perfect.

They're thicker (1/2") than the original but not quite as wide. It'll take some fab work to get them to fit perfect to the cat 1 dimensions but a whole lot easier than trying to unbend the originals. It's supposed to rain most of the day today, so I'm hoping to get it done without feeling guilty about not spending time clearing the site.

I would be careful not to go over board on rebuilding it too robust.
If your going to mangle something, sacrifice the cheap stuff.

(quoted from post at 10:40:54 07/21/18)
I would be careful not to go over board on rebuilding it too robust.
If your going to mangle something, sacrifice the cheap stuff.

Click to expand...

You're thinking is right. I sure don't want to mess up the tractor drivetrain. But I've rebuilt this before. It was a freebie find in a field and the 3 point frame was pretty out of square back then. I straightened it out using what was there but the 1/4" plate doesn't seem strong enough, very susceptible to twisting, IMO, for even it's intended purpose of grading driveways and such. It had gotten a little out of whack before this even happened.

Maybe I should have rebuilt it like a tank and used a broomstick handle for the top pin. :lol:

Also, to be honest, I should slow down a little when I'm in those situations and look back over my shoulder more. Being in a hurry is the root cause of a lot of problems.

I've got it almost done. I'll post a pic when it's ready to put back into service.

I guess it has served you well this long so not much
need to change but my blade uses hitch pins that
sandwich the lift arms between two plates so there
is two points of contact for each lower arm. Might
be a better setup for next time.

(quoted from post at 15:22:21 07/21/18) I guess it has served you well this long so not much
need to change but my blade uses hitch pins that
sandwich the lift arms between two plates so there
is two points of contact for each lower arm. Might
be a better setup for next time.

Click to expand...

Sounds better structurally but my problem would be to get the lift arms centered between the plates when backing up to hookup. Do you have any trouble doing that?

Well, I got the box blade repaired. Everything went pretty smoothly. I laid out the Cat 1 3-point dimensions on a piece of kraft paper on the garage floor as a template for the arms.

Then I welded some temp bracing on them to hold position when I fitted/welded them to the box blade.


I had to go buy a #1 tip for my oxy-acety torch this morning as I had welded the vertical arms in place and planned to use the existing lower pin holes as a template and just blow a hole in the new risers for the hitch pins. I tried with a #0 tip but it was a "no-go" trying to get through the second 1/2" plate. It would probably cut it in open air but I think there was just too much mass of steel in the area that was absorbing the heat. #1 tip worked just fine. Once I got those cut, I used a bi-metal hole saw to cut the 7/8" holes for the top-pin. THAT was a much neater job than the torched holes in the lowers. :wink: It was raining while I finished so I didn't get a chance to prime/paint. I'll do that later this week. It was a nice project for a rainy weekend.