Any GradeMaster owners here?

[JoelT]

Someone that's got some grading scraper experience needs to confirm my thoughts on getting or maintaining crown. With a box scraper I use an offset 3point adjustment to leave a highside on the crown side of a pull. More often than not, before a finish pull, I don't fully drop the box scraper but hang it so it's plus or minus just barely grabbing on the crown side, which can make it pull pretty good on the outside. The grading scraper on the other hand is designed, I think ?, to have it's full weight down on both skids - zero 3point influence - well, except for the top link's angle of attack influence. So, to maybe get/keep a crown I figured I'd need to adjust the blades for a less aggressive cut on the crown side - maybe 1/4" 1/2" difference?

What say the guys that been there done that?

 

[Gordon Gould]

I have a homemade unit with straight blades. If the road is crowned it will stay crowned (unless I run down the middle straddling the crown which will flatten it. If the road is flat it will stay flat. In other words I can maintain the original road contour just fine unless it is completely ruined by a washout.

I think a fair statement to make on units with angled blades is that they will tend to create a crown. In most cases you just wont get that much material movement to the side to efficiently build a crown. Of course you can do it by making lots of passes. If you already have a crown they will maintain that crown as good or better than the straight blade units but you may only be able to travel in one direction.

You may also be better off with their heavier series 6' unit. Weight per foot of blade is important. But you can always add some to what you get.

They may set your unit up so the blade is lower on one side than the other as well as angled. This would help a little more in creating a crown. I would not like it if it was fixed that way. It would make it specialized and be very limiting for leveling or flat work. I would ask about this so you know what you are getting.

Regardless, you will love your new grader scraper. They are fantastic road maintenance tools.

 

[JoelT]

I think I'd quiz the dealer about adjustable blades or not too.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Gordon, do you find that you prefer to grade without your top link, or do you use it both ways depending on conditions? :confused3:

 

[Gordon Gould]

Gordon, do you find that you prefer to grade without your top link, or do you use it both ways depending on conditions? :confused3:

Brian, that is an old picture, taken before I got my hydraulic Top and Tilt from FitRite Hydraulics.
I used to grade the road with the fixed top link ( you can see it sticking up in the pic ) and once I had the surface all softened and remixed and I was sure there were no snags in the road that would make the scraper kick up on me w/o a TL, I would make one more pass with the chain top link just to even out the little places where I should have adjusted the top link but didn't. I haven't used the chain since I got the hydraulic top link. It is so easy to make TL adjustments as I go now. And I don't have to make that extra set of passes with the chain.

I should get a new picture with my Tnt and grader if you are going to be looking that close :laughing:

 

[MotorSeven]

I think I'd quiz the dealer about adjustable blades or not too.

You were right Joel, they will be welded in position for a 2" crown...not adjustable, but this will be used exclusively on gravel roads so I have no problem with that.

 

[JoelT]

You were right Joel, they will be welded in position for a 2" crown...not adjustable, but this will be used exclusively on gravel roads so I have no problem with that.

2"? To help me fill in my big voids of how to set these things up - I'm curious as to how they're gonna do that. I presume the blades will be below the skids a certain amount at the outside and positioned a lesser amount below the skids at the crown side. How much below the skids at each side is a good working number? Could you find out?

I suppose in a perfect world, with a 1/2" offset, 4 passes would give you a 2" crown....but?

 

[crazyal]

A grading scraper is on the list of things I need to get this summer. On the types with adjustable blades can you raise only one side? If so I would think that you could set it up so the blade would dig on the edge of the road and pull the dirt towards the center.

 

[beppington]

A grading scraper is on the list of things I need to get this summer. On the types with adjustable blades can you raise only one side? If so I would think that you could set it up so the blade would dig on the edge of the road and pull the dirt towards the center.

Mine adjust on both sides via 3 bolts (I think) on each side. I don't have any pics I took just to show this, but here are 3 that kinda do:

 

[Gordon Gould]

Mine adjust on both sides via 3 bolts (I think) on each side. I don't have any pics I took just to show this, but here are 3 that kinda do:

How do you like to set your adjustments up ? Do you change it much or keep it the same way all the time ?