adding spiral hose guard to installed hoses.

[joea99]

The pins are just 1/2" GR8 bolts 2" long with 1-1/2" long nuts on them. One on each side. Heads on the outside.

There has been lots and lots of discussion in the past on weather angled blades are better than straight. In my mind the advantage of angled blades is insignificant unless you make an angle greater than 35 degree or so. But many disagree. I do know that if I run my rear blade at a shallow angle it works the same as if it were straight and box blades are all straight too. However, there is no real disadvantage to angled blades.

A better improvement would be to make the blade height adjustable. My fixed 3/4" below the runners works fine for me but some with adjustable blades don't like cutting that deep and run the blades flush. A lot has to do with your road surface material.

Go ahead and copy what ever you want. That's what TBN is all about. There was no deep knowledge or design secrets put into it. I just built it and it turned out to work better than I thought it would. Do some searches on land planes. You will see lots of different ideas to use. And lots of discussion of what people think works best.

Thanks for the kind words and good luck.

gg

Have to give some thought to the "best" way to make the blade height adjustable.

Maybe just multiple holes for different depths.

Some measurements I did not notice was the height of the side plates and the tail gate plate. Not that critical I suppose and could guestimate it, but figured I'd ask anyway.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Some measurements I did not notice was the height of the side plates and the tail gate plate. Not that critical I suppose and could guestimate it, but figured I'd ask anyway.

They are 12" high.

gg

 

[joea99]

They are 12" high.

gg

Thanks.

I am astonished at the cost of steel today. Priced out locally it came to about $1400 without the blades.

OMG! as the kids might say.

Might be done anyway, just for the exercise, so to speak.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Thanks.

I am astonished at the cost of steel today. Priced out locally it came to about $1400 without the blades.

OMG! as the kids might say.

Might be done anyway, just for the exercise, so to speak.

Yes, new steel is very scary today. In 2010 the steel cost me $465.

gg

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Gordon, I'm going to copy your plan as well. I am going to try the angle blade idea. Like you said, probably won't be a major difference, but I have a thought..... (which could be dangerous)

I have T-N-T and was planning on using the tilt to cut further down on the right. If the blades were angled further forward on the right side (so angled back and lower on the right front), I am imagining that the gravel would "flow" towards the left in addition to up and over the blades.

My reasoning for this is to help move gravel back to the center to help form and maintain a crown. I was also thinking about 1" down on the blades to try and gather more gravel.

Wow! Seeing those prices for steel makes me very happy that I have been collecting all the steel for the build over the past few years. A friend works for a large commercial builder and he has brought me 6-7' scraps of 12" I-beam left over from jobs. I may have to buy a little bit of metal for the upper mounting brackets, but that's it.

I was able to acquire two 7'x6" cutting edges that were laying out in a heavy equipment repair place. The guy said they were laying out there for years and he didn't even know what they were for..... he sold them to me for $50. They are heavy.... takes 2 people to struggle to lift them.....

 

[Gordon Gould]

I have T-N-T and was planning on using the tilt to cut further down on the right. If the blades were angled further forward on the right side (so angled back and lower on the right front), I am imagining that the gravel would "flow" towards the left in addition to up and over the blades.

My reasoning for this is to help move gravel back to the center to help form and maintain a crown. I was also thinking about 1" down on the blades to try and gather more gravel.

That may work for you - can't hurt. I also have T-N-T and use it with my LPGB. I can make it dig deeper on one side with the tilt but the thing that limits the material from going up hill toward the center of the road is that the blade is enclosed in a box so that when the blade gets full it is easier for the gravel to flow over the blade rather than pile up against the box before it goes over. Another thought I have concerning angled blades is this - I use my top link to change the aggressiveness of the cut. Shortening the top link a little puts more weight on the front blade and it cuts more aggressively. Good for the first pass on a hard packed road. Once the surface is loosened I use the T-N-T to keep the runners flat with both blades cutting the same. To finish or go down the center w/o flattening the crown I lengthen the top link to lighten the front and make it work more like a drag than a blade. Now, with straight blades I can do all this and the blades stay parallel to the road surface no matter the top link length. If the blades were angled and I shortened the top link, say, the trailing end of the blade towards the center of the road would raise up and the blade would no longer be parallel to the surface. This would foil my present methods. On the other hand with any new implement you develop methods that make it work and everything is a trade off. To me straight blades are simpler to run. One other thing - not all my roads are crowned. Some long sections I run flat with a slant towards the down hill side so all the water goes of the low side. Just my thoughts from using my grader said w/o ever having run one with angled blades so take it for what it is worth. It can do I nice job -

gg

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Thanks for the info. Yes, you do a very good job.... almost looks like you're paving it!