imlement selection question

   / imlement selection question #1  

PaulieD

Bronze Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2003
Messages
78
Location
Upstate NY (Adirondacks)
Tractor
New Holland Boomer 35
A friend of mine has recently expanded his pond, and now wants to grade off the remains of the dredging and expansion. He asked me what implement would work best for this job. I offered that I have no experience with grading, but that from reading the threads on TBN, my guess would be a box blade.

He doesn't have access to a box blade and doesn't wish to buy one for this job; but he does have a grader blade and a york rake. He asked me to post a question on this site asking your advice as to which implement would serve him better, and for any tips you might have on the grading process.

Thanks in advance for any help advice might offer.

Paul
 
   / imlement selection question #2  
A lot would depend on the type of material and how wet it is to me. I would most likely use the blade for the rough grading and the rake to finish grade. The biggest mistake I see when people use a blade for grading is they try to take too big of bite and end up pulling too much soil at a time. I try to knock off the high spots first so the tractor is running on a more even plane. Other wise each time the tractor heads up a high spot the blade digs in too deep until the rear tires reach the crest. Little bites and a lot of adjustment with the position control lever will get you there.

MarkV
 
   / imlement selection question #3  
I also think the angle blade may work if the stuff isn't too dense.. etc.

soundguy
 
   / imlement selection question #4  
The grader (angle) blade will work OK but one thing it won't do well is to dig in where the soil is relatively hard. If he's wanting to "sculpt" the land he may get pretty frustrated with the blade. I know he doesn't want to buy a box blade but the thing that a box has that is really handy for this kind of work are scarifiers to rip up packed soil.
 
   / imlement selection question
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Gentlemen,

Thanks for the feedback. One of the guys at work gave me similar advice (box blade would be best, but grader blade followed by rake should work well). But he also suggested that my friend should put some extra weight on the blade to try to keep it from lifting up over the rocks. I'll print this thread out tomorrow and share it with him.

Thanks again,

Paul
 
   / imlement selection question #6  
I was also going to suggest hanging some extra weight on the blade.
The angle that the blade attacks the ground can make a difference too, adjust the toplink to change it.

If he is just trying to smooth out rough spots and humps and such, some make-shift skids would help keep it from gouging in too far. Skids like on a snowplow, that would control the depth.

What size tractor and blade are we talking about??

-
 
   / imlement selection question
  • Thread Starter
#7  
What size tractor and blade are we talking about??

John's tractor is an old Ford 9N which he believes to be a 28 horsepower tractor. He has a 6' blade. The material he needs to spread is mostly clay with some rocks and shale intermixed.
 
 
 
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