[Goodscout]

I used my Frontier BB2048L Box Blade to scrape the ice on my gravel driveway. The 48" unit is attached to my 1026R....no chains.
I was showing off my tractor to some friends Saturday night in my tractor garage. A buddy noticed 2 out of the 3 scarifier tips were broken off. The shank of the scarifier was snapped clean off. I removed the 2 and took them to my JD dealer. He said that He never saw this before. I told Him that I was trying to rough up some slick patches in my gravel. They told me that the scarifier shanks were cast and this would break them with frozen ground and ice. They would replace them once! I don't believe this excuse. I don't have chains and slipped and slid around while trying to accomplish the rough up. Any opinions? What do the Guys do with larger tractors with chains and wider box blades?

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

I've got a King Kutter scarifier shank that I used to make my homemade sub soil tool.
It is not cast steel. It does have a thin coat of heat treated surface hardening I learned when I drilled an extra hole in the shank. Easy enough to drill, because the surface treatment is there to resist ground ware.

IF you were sliding sideways with the shanks engaged into the frozen gravel, I could see where they might break with side pressure.
But all in all, they should be steel and not cast. I think anyway.

Remember, my opinion and $1.oo will get you a coffee......... somewhere.

Good luck

 

[Johndeere3720]

I have never had that happen on my box blade. I replaced my old teeth with a new set of hardened ones and they seem to hold up much better. In the process I also drilled holes in the shank and the replaceable teeth so when I replace them again it wont require a grinder. :thumbup1gif:

 

[56FordGuy]

I'm not familiar with the JD scarifer teeth, but if the shank broke it sounds an awful lot like a manufacturing defect. I've hung the teeth on my blade on everything from tree roots to buried rocks that are bigger than my tractor, and either pulled out whatever it hooked or the tractor lost traction. I haven't damaged a scarifer yet, but now that I've said that...:munch:

In any case, I would probably take my replacement teeth and be happy. If the failure was caused by a manufacturing defect, your new teeth shouldn't have that problem. From the dealer's perspective, that's a physically broken part that does not commonly fail. Failure points to one of two things, either a bad part or operator abuse. It sounds like your dealer thinks the same way. If it breaks once, maybe a bad part. Warranty replacement. If the same guy is breaking them once a month, then maybe there's an opportunity to help him find a different piece of equipment that is more suited to the work he's trying to do. :laugh: So long as you aren't abusing the thing and trying to strip mine your driveway or something, I would expect the replacements to hold up. The odds of them being from the same batch/ lot as the original ones you had should be pretty low.

 

[Doug]

Hi Goodscout,

I have a frontier BB1048L and a 2305 and was doing the same thing on my gravel driveway.
I would loose traction and had to raise the BB up and then lower it to break up the ice.
Just looking to get some seat time in not much snow here in Iowa.

Doug

 

[Goodscout]

Doug,

I live in Dubuque, IA. I was scratching up the icey driveway to help traction. The shanks snapped off right after the teeth. I was wondering if the heat treatment of the shank or tooth made the piece brittle. I used the BB all summer to clear my lot for building and I did not baby the BB. Rain and light,,,,light snow tonight. How am I going to get some use out of the 54" blower?

 

[MFreund1]

I live about 80 miles south of you I think there was a
Mfg defect. If they break again, I can recommend the King Kutter box blade.

 

[Fred Gross]

Frozen ground can be a lot tougher then soil.....years ago I broke off a coulter (the round disk that cuts into the ground ahead of the plow share) on a john deere 5 X 16" plow when plowing ground that was frozen down the first 3-4 inches. The coulter was attached to a cast shaft that was at least 2" in diameter and it snapped it right off. I had only plowed 4-5 acres when this happened......extreme conditions for sure.