Dear Carl,
It's not psychological, pulling does work better. When pushing, if the blade catches, it digs in, causing a more of a divot, while pulling, it tends to pop loose, which doesn't solve the height issue, but it doesn't make it worse, either.
If you are going to do a different design, the best versions have the blade suspended between two ground points; i.e wheels in front of the blade, and and wheels behind the blade. That way, the blade is always averaging the two heights and as you make multiple passes, the land gets flatter. That is why the highway graders have the blade between the front wheels and the back drive wheels. When using a tractor, most box blades lack a set of wheels beyond the blade, but having the extra pair of wheels does make for much better operation.
If you want to get really fancy, check out the level best grader;
ATI Corporation - Level Best Laser Grading System click on level best. These come in two versions. One has a single laser controlling the height of the blade, and the other has two laser receivers, enabling the blade to accurately set a slope or a camber. There are a number of competing designs, including a minigrader that is about the size of a PT, but with dual laser controls on the blades. You'll notice that these designs have the blade suspended between front (or rear) casters, and the tractor.
You might also consider a Pacific Laser Systems HVR500, which is an inexpensive laser (made be Fukuda) that can be set (manually) to two separate slopes. e.g. a slope down the driveway, and one across the driveway (or arena, or sports field). I have had no trouble setting one up for my leveling work, and it is fantastic to have the slope built into the laser. (It would be even better to be reading the slope on the blade, but I haven't gotten that fancy, yet. The best is to have laser control of the blade height-you just drive from high to low, rapidly moving material.)
All the best,
Peter
Maybe it is psychological but I feel I have better luck pulling my boxblade backwards than pushing it.
OK, I know this seems kinda stupid but I am really looking hard at Tigs great grader design. Now I am wondering if I build it do I design it to be pushed instead of pulled. I think with the skids on it there is going to be no real difference (the lack of skids has made the PT a pain to push the blade)..
Anyway. Love to hear what everyone thinks on this...
