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Howse box blades

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drbandson
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 25 Long Island,NY
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2005-04-17          109973


I am looking to buy a box blade for a Kubota L-48 tractor. Northern tool offers a Howse 6' for $479.99. I wanted to know if anyone had any experience with this brand of equipment or recomendations for an alternate box blade.



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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
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2005-04-18          109993


I bought a couple of Howse product from Northern Tool and was very disappointed in the quality.

Forget the fact that the paint fell off in shipping, the stuff was out of plumb. I looked like they didn't use a jig to line things up before welding.

The King Kutter stuff I have seen at the big box store was no better.

You pretty much get what you pay for in this realm. The reason that stuff is so much cheaper than Gearmore or Landpride is the inherent quality. ....


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brokenarrow
Join Date: Jan 2004
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2005-04-18          110038


And that is exactly what puzzels me. We all know that all these products must be put together with a fixture/jig for welding or it would not be cost effective to make/produce.
Take a simple box blade, Why is it that a few more welds (or longer full welds) and a better paint job is worth almost twice the price as KK's. We all know that a good paint job in production has alot of cost associated with it. The epa has some strict regs about emisions and scrubbers can add up fast. Paint is not cheap either. especially if your going to prep the steel correctly, prime it with an etcher and then give it a couple of coats.
It still amazes me how simple impliments with a top name on them can cost so much more than others. We know that its not the cost of labor (if they are all made here in the usa) that makes the price double.
Although I should back trak a bit on what I just said. The cheaper cost products are sometimes not comparing apples with apples. You need to move up the the heavy duty line in the cheaper cost products to sometimes equal the same product in a home use line of a name product. Then the cost is more comparable.
I do like that there is a cheaper option out there for these items. Many guys may only need to use a impliment a couple times a year and will never wear one out in their lifetime. Buying a less costly item in the appropriate setting (and multiply this over a life time of buying) can save you a bundle. Of course there is no comparison to buying a reputation of a quality item, when in dought it may be best to buy higher end than lower. Problem that I see with many Americans is that some people always spend way more than they need on everything they buy. Kind of like keeping up with the Jones's. At the end of their lifetime they wonder why they still NEED (not want) to work at 72 years old. I have a good friend like this. He wonders how I could of paid off 3 houses by the age of 38 (2 years ago). I had no one die and leave me money by the age of 38 yet my friend is 10 years older than me, worked in the same field as me and still has a load of debt. He can't believe I did not have a mort. on any of my properties. I know the reason why! Its our lifestyle. He bought a Harley when he was 25. I bought a Honda. He bought a $450 scentloc hunting suit, I where blue jeans and a second hand camo jump suit I bought from the good will store for $8 on half price day. My bow for hunting is a top name, but not a over priced Mathews. Both out bows shoot the same just I paid $300 less for mine than my friend. See where I am going with this?
If your going to use a product all the time than it definately pays to buy a top quality item. If you can save alot of money on a product that will be lightly used (and will get the same job done) than it SOMETIMES may pay to buy a lesser quality or just a lesser priced item.
I have a NAME tractor and a NAME brush cutter. The rest of my impliment I dont plan on using but a couple times a year so I went with a smaller "name" and I know if I added up the cost savings on those 5 items, I would bet it is over $2K in savings.
DRankin is right, there is no replacing a top name quality built item, but there may be times you will not need to go top name if your situation warrents.
Good luck ....


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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2005-04-18          110039


I agree with the logic presented above, but I would urge anyone with an eye to saving money to personally examine what they are buying so they don't get stuck with a pig in a poke.

Nothing is worse than buying something that looked good in a catalog, being shocked at the shipping costs and then so disappointed in the quality and usability that it sits in the yard for three years and then ends up in the public landfill.

Go put your hands on it. Move all the moving parts. Judge it against a tape measure and a square and if you think you can use it without it making your back teeth grind..... then buy it.

If there are niggling doubts, keep your money in your pocket and move up the line. ....


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its_that_guy@yahoo.c
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2005-04-19          110104


Just out of curiosity... Just how out of square are we talking??

I have looked at both the Northern Tool and TSC implements and didnt see anything that looked way out of square.. BUT the paint chips/blistering etc were very, very obvious...

just wondering

Brian ....


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DRankin
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2005-04-19          110115


The Howse implements in question were a boom pole and a set of carry-all forks.

The top link holes on the boom pole were a couple of plates welded to the pole. They were so misaligned that the pin had to go through at an obvious slant. The thing bent like a pretzel under quite a bit less than it's advertised load capability.

The forks have not yet made it to the dump but they are not worth much either. On a level concrete slab, one fork tilts upward about an inch above its mate.

The King Kutter implement I walked away from was a 6' rear blade. The blade would not return to a square 90 degree angle to the frame and someone at the factory had gouged out the pilot holes so as to make them oblong so that the pin could even fit at all, albeit at an angle.

Plus there was a lot of slop and wobble in the system. Nothing seemed to fit very tightly.

It was less than half the price of the Gearmore unit I eventually bought, but not, in my opinion worth the money they wanted for it. ....


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drbandson
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 25 Long Island,NY
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2005-04-21          110189


Thanks to all that responded, I get that what one spends is what one gets but i just got a price for a woods 6' box for 2900 that is huge, for the amount of time I'm going to use it I might have to give a cheaper box a try. ....


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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2005-04-22          110213


Because there really aren't any moving parts, you might be OK, but check on the weight as compared to other brands the same size.

Sometime they skimp on the steel and there can be a 75-100 pound difference in the weight. You will want the most substantial that you can afford. ....


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dedeye
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 41 Central Maine
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2005-04-25          110329


I have a 5 ft Howse Box from Northern and other than the height being shorter on the sides I see no real difference between it and the Landspride box. Oh I suppose if I wanted to get real fussy about the paint finish I might complain but I don't buy my implements for the parades anyway!I figure if your going to drag it around in the dirt what good is paying an extra bunch of money for a good paint job on an implement anyway? One thing that makes the most difference to me is how much money am I willing to spend on my tractor stuff vs what I am going to get out of it.


"If it ain't broke....It will be! ....


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Ym1110d
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 22 Wisconsin
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2005-08-29          115604


I suspect the problem with the Howse equipment is that it's coming from China. I have no proof of this, but I was surfing the web recently and tripped over a site importing equipment from China. Their equipment was a splitting image of the Howse equipment. This makes sense as much of the product that Northern carries is cheap a$$ junk from China. ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
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2005-08-30          115625


I know the cost diference between cheap junk and top-drawer products can be mystifying sometimes, but there are usually good reasons for it.

In the case of, for example, Land Pride, Woods or Rhino and KK blades. It's not just that there is a lot more steel in the top-quality blades (in some cases double the steel), that extra metal means higher shipings costs, but they are put together better (read more time & labour), and don't forget all those glossy brochures at the dealers, plus the big full page ads they run in all sorts of magazines all over the place. Like the Woods ad at the top of this page.

All of these costs are substantial, and are reflected in the pricing.

As an example of just what advertising can do to the cost of a product, GM will spend US$2.75 BILLION dollars on advertising in 2005, and in 2005 it hopes to sell a few more cars than last year, which was about 600,000 vehicles. Do the math now, that means anybody who bought an average GM vehicle gave up about $458 dollars, just for the priviledge of seeing all those commercials and ads. This is with one of the biggest most efficient systems going. Imagine what the numbers are for something in as narrow a niche market as a blade for behind your CUT.

Best of luck. ....


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