Dragalong towable box blade / land plane

Jeembawb · Oct 8, 2013

Well I guess I need some compaction on the "base coat" and nothing is gunna work better than some water and a bit of driving on it. It doesn't look like rain soon so I guess I have to knock up a water truck. Problem is my water tank has a lot of flaky stuff in it that always blocks nozzles etc so on the 3rd attempt I got it right and it only took a 1/2 hour to knock up and testing in the dark tonight has worked out that one trip down the road and back uses about 700 litres and spreads the whole road no trouble at all.

Photos are a bit dark but you can see what a redneck hillbilly can knock up in 30 minutes! Is there, or should there be a forum section called redneck hillbilly inventions? Or am I in the right place already?

Jeembawb · Oct 8, 2013

Here is a daytime shot of the watertruck in action.

john40981 · Oct 8, 2013

Jeembawb said:
Here is a daytime shot of the watertruck in action.

How long is the driveway, or in other words how long does the 1000lt shuttle of water last. I thought of doing the same thing with one mounted on the land plain to mainly wet the dust cloud down instead of it covering everthing including me.
Your idea of the plow disk to spread the water spray is a good idea and looks like it works well.:thumbsup:

Jeembawb · Oct 8, 2013

john40981 said:
How long is the driveway, or in other words how long does the 1000lt shuttle of water last. I thought of doing the same thing with one mounted on the land plain to mainly wet the dust cloud down instead of it covering everthing including me.
Your idea of the plow disk to spread the water spray is a good idea and looks like it works well.:thumbsup:

Cheers John - I was just wondering this morning on the distance and was supposed to check the odometer this morning on my way out to work - actually reckon now that I will get up & down twice with say 800 litres (otherwise I will have a water spout out the top once it starts sloshing - lid's buggard). I estimate the full distance including the low road which I did in road base with the dozer & loader (hence the whoop de doos) to be around 500 to 600 meters one way - the bit that I have just done the base coat on would be 300 meters.

But yeah the plow disk works a treat - if the water Pod was clean i could use other nozzle ideas - I figured it was the same as putting your finger over the end of a hose to get a spray and once I tested for the correct angle with the hose all was good - I also tried with an old mower cutter base of similar size but it has a slight lip and doesnt reflect quite right - I also thought about cutting the lip off an old satelite dish but that was too much work for the 30 minutes of daylight left.

I know what you mean about the dust - there was a little moisture in the material I spread from last thursdays rain (1st in many months) but by the time worked it a little I had to make sure I was heading upwind else I couldn't see

john40981 · Oct 9, 2013

Jimbob, I have a spare lid for a shuttle if you have a way of getting it to Mackay, for that matter I can get used shuttles for free if you have a way of getting the whole thing to Mackay

I assume you are "up the road a bit" in Mackay QLD Australia??

Jeembawb · Oct 9, 2013

john40981 said:
Jimbob, I have a spare lid for a shuttle if you have a way of getting it to Mackay, for that matter I can get used shuttles for free if you have a way of getting the whole thing to Mackay
I assume you are "up the road a bit" in Mackay QLD Australia??

Cheers John - yep Mackay, just up the road. I have a couple of other Pods (shuttles, I haven't heard them called that hmmn?) but they are slightly more modern with different fittings so I have to get the 2" camlock adapter to suit the thread (the one i use now has as part of the tap) so just a matter of working it out and making it work and a trip to the fittings shop with the thread size. Cheers though. I can usually get them around here if i try hard enough for $50 or less clean (ones with antifreeze clean up well aparently but haven't come through on that yet). I should put 2 on the truck for some extra compaction (better see how slippery it gets first huh?)