Gauge wheels or tail wheel?

[WagonRanch]

JoeL: I really like the York rake; it looks like a great tool, but at $3,500 with the blade and wheels it's more than I want to spend. I like the way they did the caster on the wheel mounts. The only good, big casters I've seen are for scaffolding and they are pretty narrow where the Yorks are very wide.

MJP: Thanks for your response. I wasn't thinking about reversing the blade like I should be so I'm glad you mentioned it; I'll make sure I don't get in my own way.....too much.

 

[bigdad]

Ken,

Here is a little more detailed photo of the adjustment slots. Pretty crude I guess..... but works

 

[WagonRanch]

BigDad: OK, thanks! It looks like it a better solution that what I was going to do!

 

[Piston]

Some good ideas on here so far. I also want to add a gauge wheel but I want to put it on my box blade. I want to have a single tailwheel design.

I also plan to have a heavy duty rear blade some day, and want to be able to use my gauge wheel on it. I'd like to keep the option open to easily move it to another implement.

I am planning on adding brackets to my box blade (and whatever other implement I use it for) to hook in a standard 3pt hitch type implement. See the pic for a good idea of what I mean.

Another reason I want to do it this way, is because my trailer is 18' long, and just barely big enough for me to haul my box blade, tractor, grapple, and regular bucket. If I want to take my landscape rake, I can attach it to the box blade (like my gauge wheel would normally be) and fold it up vertical and secure it for transport. This way I can carry an extra implement. I couldn't take anything large or very heavy this way, but for the landscape rake I think it will work well.

I also want to be able to fold up my gauge wheel out of the way, I want to use a hydraulic cylinder to control the gauge wheel in much the same manner as the hydraulic top link controls the box blade. However it would be easy enough to just add a standard manual top link for fine adjustment as well.

This is a spare 3pt frame that I've had laying around for a while. I think it will work well for my purposes, I'll attach the single wheel using a bracket where the rake (or blade, or whatever was on this) would normally be mounted.

 

[WagonRanch]

Piston, we're thinking along the same lines of being able to use the gauge tail wheel(s) on multiple implements. The brackets for the RB and rake seem pretty straightforward to me, but I think I'll have to add a square tube that spans the middle of my box and runs longitudinally to gain enough strength to mount the bracket. It would essentially be a replica of the main longitudinal beam of my RB.

The transfer of the wheels from one implement to the other wouldn't be too bad I don't think: pull two pins, wheel the unit over to the next implement and replace the pins. I'm not a pro, so the "lost" time isn't really a big factor for me.

I'm now seriously considering rear hydraulics for the rear of at least one of my tractors, but have to decide which one and if I want only one circuit or two.

 

[Piston]

If your anything like me, you'll want more than one

I just installed hydraulics on the back of my tractor, I was originally going to go with 3 spools, but I went with 4, and I'm glad I did. I now have top n tilt which leaves me with 2 extra spools. When I have the box blade on, one is for the hydraulic scarifiers, and the other will be for the gauge wheel.

I'm thinking of a bracket style that is hard to explain. I'm going to weld on two brackets on each side of the box blade (the rear of the bb) about a foot apart from each other, then insert a thick wall pipe through the brackets, and the inside diameter of the pipe will be 1", so I can fit the 7/8" cat 1 pins inside. Then I'll push the pipe onto the pins and secure it somehow from backing out. That's the plan anyways!

 

[WagonRanch]

When it comes to tools you just can't have too many! 4 spools may seem excessive to me now, but I sure can see where I could use them too.

The top of the blade of my box isn't near strong enough to do what you're suggesting, but yours looks like it's a lot heavier than mine so I think your design would work just fine. I also don't want to mount an entire 3 point implement there, just the tail wheels.

I'd like to do it right, once, but that's pretty rare for me. "Mistakes are part of the dues that one pays for a full life." -Sophia Loren

 

[WagonRanch]

Here is the latest concept. 8" iron wheels. Shop made forks and spindle. 2.5" heavy wall tubing because I already have it. 3x3/8" plate for uprights. Note that there are 3 wheel locations so that I can run a single wheel for snow. Top link from TSC used as height adjuster.

There is room to swing the blade 360 degrees as do both wheels without touching.

Suggestions?

Thanks again!

 

[teg]

Suggestions?

Put another set of tabs on the main shaft and
use a Pin for the toplink hook up on the main shaft... so you can raise to wheels up out of the way,
Just in case you need to. Just a thought.

 

[WagonRanch]

teg: Good plan; thanks for the suggestion.