Rear Blade Now if it only stops raining

[fried1765]

Well it stopped raining!

This is an awesome tool. Got to get to some final driveway grading till spring (need to bring in a couple of loads of stone). My goal was to 'fix' the grade of the driveway so water wouldn't run down the middle and rut it up. Through years of vehicle traffic the sides were now higher than the rest of it. Water couldn't get off any other way than straight down the fall line.
My solution was to regrade it so rain would run off of one side as it came down the driveway.
I first used my box blade to loosen the material and do some redistribution to create the 'banked' driveway I was after. When we built the house we brought in 1000's of yds of fill to bring of the driveway elevation. Now its an issue with the tractor n box blade getting too close to the edge The back blade turned out to be perfect for the job!

I offset the blade and 'reclaimed' the material it was scrapping up instead of pushing it off the edge. It all helped create a nice bank in the roadway.

View attachment 678468

Other than I found a ton of potato sized n larger rocks that had to be picked out, the final product product even got the seal of approval from the Mrs

View attachment 678469

I have a box blade (never used), and 3 total rear blades.
My 84" King Kutter blade is a POS compared to my EA blade.
I need to sell a few blades, but I will NEVER sell my EA blade!
Try to keep a meaningful crown!
If you do so, the water will run off, and will require very little continuing maintenance.

 

[MF243RedTop]

Nice work!
Looks like your blade has mounts for skid shoes/pads.. I would suggest looking into them if have problems with the cutting edge wanting to gouge a bit.
Mine is extremely heavy skids are a must on it. But it digs really well in return.

 

[Doug62]

Very nice tool! I have a similar issue in that we have a lot of fill in place to bring the road up. You can't see it in all the photos but it's steep. A drop off on one side and a pond against the other side. I'm in the process of buidling the road now and working either edge with the box blade can be dicey. Being able to offset that blade would be nice. I might need one of those!

 

[MF243RedTop]

That's great work for a box blade, a rear blade angled would help so much more with that. By not letting the dirt roll off to the sides of the drive. You can roll the dirt where you need it keeping it all in the drive and finished with a nice smooth crown.

 

[Doug62]

That's great work for a box blade, a rear blade angled would help so much more with that. By not letting the dirt roll off to the sides of the drive. You can roll the dirt where you need it keeping it all in the drive and finished with a nice smooth crown.

I think having an offset blade like ctgoldwing has, particularly on the pond side, would be nice but I've been doing it all with a box blade so far. I have to back up and pull towards the center first to avoid getting too close to the pond. For the land side, I've now pulled enough dirt down to make nice inclines to drive off of. I've got no idea what I'm doing but it seems to be working out. lol

As I mentioned I really don't know since I've never used one, but it seems like the offset blade would help pull the dirt back up towards the center rather than having to back up along every foot of that road to pull from the pond area. Once the rock goes down then I'm not sure the box blade will be the right tool. I wish I knew more about it.

 

[ctgoldwing]

Nice work!
Looks like your blade has mounts for skid shoes/pads.. I would suggest looking into them if have problems with the cutting edge wanting to gouge a bit.
Mine is extremely heavy skids are a must on it. But it digs really well in return.

lol, last night I sent EA an email asking how much they are now (the price they show is only if you buy them at the time of blade purchase)

and just a second after I posted this I got my answer - $90 + tax

 

[BackRoad]

Nicely done!

The offset capability at the 3PH end is the ticket!

It is pure enjoyment to use and then step back and see what you accomplished...no better feeling!

I recall another thread about questioning whether paying EA up front was risky.

It is!

Now you'll want more...like a Wicked Root Grapple...or Wicked Tooth Bar...

It's a crack addiction...next thing you know, you're sending Brian at Fit Rite all your lunch money to add hydraulic Top and Tilt!!!

It's just a matter of time before "...Hi, my name is CTGoldwing, I may have an addiction to tractor implements..."

 

[ctgoldwing]

I think having an offset blade like ctgoldwing has, particularly on the pond side, would be nice but I've been doing it all with a box blade so far. I have to back up and pull towards the center first to avoid getting too close to the pond. . . .

I was doing exactly the same thing Doug62. When I started the width of the driveway had shrunk due to the center section sinking from compaction. Since there are dropoffs on both sides of the area I was working on it was slow going. I did manage to 'pull back' a lot of material from the edges. The advantage that the box blade had was loosening the hardpack. It did a great job at that. However, The scraper blade made quick work of leveling and moving the material - a lot faster than the box blade.

 

[ctgoldwing]

Nicely done!

The offset capability at the 3PH end is the ticket!

It is pure enjoyment to use and then step back and see what you accomplished...no better feeling!

I recall another thread about questioning whether paying EA up front was risky.

It is!

Now you'll want more...like a Wicked Root Grapple...or Wicked Tooth Bar...

It's a crack addiction...next thing you know, you're sending Brian at Fit Rite all your lunch money to add hydraulic Top and Tilt!!!

It's just a matter of time before "...Hi, my name is CTGoldwing, I may have an addiction to tractor implements..."

Too late for me Backroad, the Wicked Tooth Bar is on order. I never considered it a big risk, just really surprised in this day that there were companies charging up front. I have looked seriously at their 55" grapple but can't really justify right now - maybe I think of reasons over the winter. The subsoiler however. . . .

 

[MF243RedTop]

I think having an offset blade like ctgoldwing has, particularly on the pond side, would be nice but I've been doing it all with a box blade so far. I have to back up and pull towards the center first to avoid getting too close to the pond. For the land side, I've now pulled enough dirt down to make nice inclines to drive off of. I've got no idea what I'm doing but it seems to be working out. lol

As I mentioned I really don't know since I've never used one, but it seems like the offset blade would help pull the dirt back up towards the center rather than having to back up along every foot of that road to pull from the pond area. Once the rock goes down then I'm not sure the box blade will be the right tool. I wish I knew more about it.

You are doing everything you possibly can the right way with the box blade. The rear blade will cut your time in half or more on grading the road.
Btw, what you're doing is called "crowning" a drive/road.
Short drive I "cut" with my rear blade.



The flat ground was cut from the bottom of each side to form the ditches. Then rolled to the middle to form the crown. This was completely flat before. This is one of the things a rear blade is great for.