Advice on building hydraulic gauge wheel on a Landpride RBT heavy duty rear blade?

[lostcreekranch]

My RBT45108 with skid shoes and no hydraulics was $3600 six years ago. 2 years later I find out that I could have bought it with no adjustment bars at all and saved about $600. Here is a pic of it brand new, ready to get unloaded off of the trailer. :thumbsup: The improvement over my first rear blade in indescribable. :cool2: For your gauge wheel setup. Use a 3" x 10"-12" stroke and like you said, mount the cylinder up on the boom maybe half way and you will easily be able to get vertical or even towards the tractor movement. Not that hard to do, just put the thinking cap on. Thinking about it a bit more and you should be able to get the tail all the way up and over the boom.

Brian;

Presently NH TL100-A has only two remotes. With all your blade experience I would guess that, in order of importance, blade angle, blade tilt, and lastly blade offset. Am I close?

Thanks

Rick

 

[Piston]

This is a picture from another member on here that I found, and I'd like to copy this design for the gauge wheel.



The only thing I would change, that I can think of at this point anyways, is regarding the mounting locations for the hydraulic cylinder.

For the rear mounting point (on the actual gauge wheel support bar) I would make that bracket taller, and move it back a little closer to the boom of the rear blade frame. I'd have to do a little thinking to figure out the optimal location, nothing a few beers can't help with.

For the front mounting point of the hydraulic cylinder, I'd move that up onto the main boom of the frame as mentioned earlier, probably about halfway towards the tractor, maybe even a bit more depending on how the geometry worked out like Brian said. I think by doing this I'd be able to lift the gauge wheel up all the way to vertical, and still be able to have full use of it when it's down, with quite a bit of adjustment.

It may be 'simpler' to make it with only one wheel, verse two. With only one wheel though, I'd want it to be fairly wide to have a good amount of contact patch on the ground. Would something like a snowmobile trailer tire/wheel work? Any suggestions on the type of wheel to use?


Here are some more pictures of the blade. The guy I bought it from delivered it to my house, I bought it sight unseen based on his "word". Aside from a bit of surface rust it's in really good shape. The male quick disconnects on all the hoses are different than what I have, I believe they are the standard ag type whereas I have Parker 60 quick couplers on my tractor, so I'll have to change those out before I can use the hydraulics.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian;

Presently NH TL100-A has only two remotes. With all your blade experience I would guess that, in order of importance, blade angle, blade tilt, and lastly blade offset. Am I close?

Thanks

Rick

Rick, if you WILL NOT be getting any more rear remotes, then yes the angle and tilt cylinders would be the way to go IMO. :thumbsup: But, and this is a BIG BUT, again IMO you really need 4 rear remotes to get the most out of your rear blade. 2 for the top & tilt that you will be purchasing soon, :cool2: and 2 for the blade. But now with top and tilt, the priorities change. Now you need the cylinders for the angle and offset functions.

Just for a quick reference, top & tilt setup for your tractor would be $750 and a double diverter setup using one of your OEM remotes for the control valve would be $810. So for the small amount of $1560 of your spare pocket change, you can have a complete top & tilt set to use with ALL of your implements and a double diverter set to get the maximum use of your rear blade.

So think about that for awhile, and put this on your Christmas list, uh for SWMBO. :laughing:

Here are pictures of a 3 diverter unit and control grip that I have on my small tractor to use with the landscape rake.

 

[Piston]

Brian,
I remember a long time ago you saying you were going to build a landscape rake, is that all finished? Got any pics?

Do you think a diverter valve would be better suited for my situation, or should I stick with adding two more spools to my stack valve? I currently have 4 rear remotes and need 2 more. I always knew this day would come.:laughing:

 

[MtnViewRanch]

This is a picture from another member on here that I found, and I'd like to copy this design for the gauge wheel.

View attachment 339985

The only thing I would change, that I can think of at this point anyways, is regarding the mounting locations for the hydraulic cylinder.

For the rear mounting point (on the actual gauge wheel support bar) I would make that bracket taller, and move it back a little closer to the boom of the rear blade frame. I'd have to do a little thinking to figure out the optimal location, nothing a few beers can't help with.

For the front mounting point of the hydraulic cylinder, I'd move that up onto the main boom of the frame as mentioned earlier, probably about halfway towards the tractor, maybe even a bit more depending on how the geometry worked out like Brian said. I think by doing this I'd be able to lift the gauge wheel up all the way to vertical, and still be able to have full use of it when it's down, with quite a bit of adjustment.

It may be 'simpler' to make it with only one wheel, verse two. With only one wheel though, I'd want it to be fairly wide to have a good amount of contact patch on the ground. Would something like a snowmobile trailer tire/wheel work? Any suggestions on the type of wheel to use?

To start with, a pitcher of margaritas, after that it won't matter much. :yummy: Anyway, duplicate how the arm attaches to the boom, build it with 2 wide tires so that they are at a minimum of 3 feet wide or even wider. Mount the end of the ram out on the tire boom about 6-8" from the pivot point and the closed end up as needed on the blade boom. You will need the cylinder to get the height, shape, and location of the cylinder mounts dialed in or mock up a cylinder. But you need the measurements of a std cylinder to get this figured out. I had mentioned a 3" dia cylinder, now thinking that it should probably be a 3 1/2" dia cylinder to get a bigger rod dia.

Hope that some of this helps.

Let me know if you need anything else.

 

[Piston]

Rick,
It sounds like you already planning on buying the Top N Tilt setup from Brian, good choice! What are you planning to get for a blade, or do you already have one? I haven't been able to use my rear blade much yet since I got it a few weeks ago, but even in the short time of having it on my tractor I've noticed how convenient (sometimes necessary) the hydraulic top link is.

This first picture is of my 3 point hitch all the way up with the blade level, which is the way it should be when using it...


I didn't measure how far off the ground the blade was, but there was only about 6" or so of clearance with the 3 point hitch all the way up.


Without the top link on my tractor, I would constantly be bottoming out the blade when going up any sort of transition. I would certainly (already have) bottom out the blade when loading the tractor on a trailer, but with the top link all the way retracted, I get more than enough clearance to work with. This next pic shows the difference with the top link retracted, you can see how much more clearance I have...


I've read quite a few posts on here in my "blade research" about people having the same problem with bottoming out because they don't have the blade clearance with the 3point hitch raised all the way. I know your tractor is larger so maybe it won't be as much of an issue, but just wanted to give you my observations.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Rick, It sounds like you already planning on buying the Top N Tilt setup from Brian, good choice! What are you planning to get for a blade, or do you already have one? I haven't been able to use my rear blade much yet since I got it a few weeks ago, but even in the short time of having it on my tractor I've noticed how convenient (sometimes necessary) the hydraulic top link is. This first picture is of my 3 point hitch all the way up with the blade level, which is the way it should be when using it... <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=340019"/> I didn't measure how far off the ground the blade was, but there was only about 6" or so of clearance with the 3 point hitch all the way up. Without the top link on my tractor, I would constantly be bottoming out the blade when going up any sort of transition. I would certainly (already have) bottom out the blade when loading the tractor on a trailer, but with the top link all the way retracted, I get more than enough clearance to work with. This next pic shows the difference with the top link retracted, you can see how much more clearance I have... <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=340021"/> I've read quite a few posts on here in my "blade research" about people having the same problem with bottoming out because they don't have the blade clearance with the 3point hitch raised all the way. I know your tractor is larger so maybe it won't be as much of an issue, but just wanted to give you my observations.

Piston;

Looking at the Land Pride RTB3596 but, have not found a "deal" on one yet. I like Brian's idea on the diverter valve to get extra rear functions. You just can't have too may rear remotes. I get plenty of lift on 3 pt so don't think bottoming will be a big issue for me.

Rick

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Piston;

Looking at the Land Pride RTB3596 but, have not found a "deal" on one yet. I like Brian's idea on the diverter valve to get extra rear functions. You just can't have too may rear remotes. I get plenty of lift on 3 pt so don't think bottoming will be a big issue for me.

Rick

Just my :2cents:, but I would say that an RBT35 series is to light duty for your tractor. You really should have a 40 series if not a 45 series blade.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian,
I remember a long time ago you saying you were going to build a landscape rake, is that all finished? Got any pics?

Do you think a diverter valve would be better suited for my situation, or should I stick with adding two more spools to my stack valve? I currently have 4 rear remotes and need 2 more. I always knew this day would come.:laughing:

Sad to say ALL the parts are here, have been for over 2 years. :ashamed: But when you work 6-7 days a weeks for over 2 years now, it is tough to fit those 2-3 day projects in. It will be the rake of all rakes IMO. Should weigh 700-800lbs. Purpose built to grade my dry stream beds where I pretzeled my original rake. Along with other touch up work. It will be an implement that will last a lifetime. All I have to do is take the time to build it. ath:

As far as the valves, I would say to stay with your stacking valves and just add those other 2 that you need. After all, that is one of the reasons to add stacking valves.

 

[Piston]

I just ordered a 5" wide by 15" diameter tail wheel assembly for the gauge wheel project. According to the nice lady I spoke with on the phone, it is rated for 1200lbs, so should be plenty heavy duty enough for my rear blade, which will weigh about 1,000lbs, but considering the wheel will never take more than half the weight, I should be good.

5X8X15" TAIL WHEEL ASSEMBLY- H.D. FORK 1 1/2" YOKE