Anyone own a LandPride rake (or similar) with drop down blade? Need help.

[rfc143]

We've had so much slushy wet snow with unfrozen ground, I've had to put my landscape rake back on the tractor which I find works great for 2-4" of wet snow. I recently added the "drop down" grader blade and tried it and need advise from someone who owns and has used one.

When the blade drops down, it rests against the rake tines. As a result, when I've tried scraping snow, the blade catches on the ice or gravel, then "boings" against the tines. Depending on speed, I get this engagement of the blade with the drive every 4" or so, then it catches, boings and jumps. Like a shudder.

I'm not sure this would happen when grading regular dirt; it could just be an artifact of the crappy frozen/semi-frozen surface. It doesn't happen as much if I angle the blade steeply. Would love some input from someone who's used such a blade (for snow and slush). Thanks in advance.

 

[nspec]

I have that blade. Mine has the wheels on the back. I adjust the top link so the blade just skims the bare ground. It may chatter just a little, but not bad Without the wheels, I would imagine you'll have to find a way to lock the blade down

 

[nspec]

I think you can add those wheels easily. The are a huge improvement.

 

[rfc143]

I have the gauge wheels. I may not have them adjusted properly though. My blade is definitely not "skimming" above the ground. It's scraping, so I might have to drop the wheels to raise the blade. Still learning. By the way, can you tell me how far below the rake tines the blade hangs?

 

[Halftrack]

On mine, the blade drops about an inch below the tines. The gage wheels are in the lowest position and I use a chain top link that allows me to pivot the blade height with the 3 pt. In stead of the chain, you could unhook the top link and try it that way.

 

[nspec]

Mine is the same - about an inch below the tines. Move individual spacers either above or below the spindle to adjust wheel height. The chain looks like a pretty good setup. I like to be able to lift mine way up sometimes though, so I'll have to stick with the toplink.

Once you get the gauge wheels to touch the ground, lengthen the top link and it will lift your blade. Perhaps you may also need a longer top link.

 

[rfc143]

Mine is the same - about an inch below the tines. Move individual spacers either above or below the spindle to adjust wheel height.

Yes, I'm doing that. I think I'm coming into it. We had a couple of inches of fresh snow last night and I found that once I loaded up the blade with snow, the hopping settled down. I think my initial problem might have been that I was trying to scrape a combination of ice clumps and dirt. Now that the ground is pretty frozen, and I've smoothed things out, it works much better.

Can someone who owns one tell me how far below the top of the tine "top clamp plate", the pivot bolt is for the blade? Or just how far below the underside of the gauge wheel bars it is?
I think Mine may be a bit too low, as my blade is almost 2.5" below the tines. Thanks for all the input on this.

 

[rfc143]

Do the bars that stick up into the "U" channel land against anything inside the channel? Or are the rake tines alone what keeps the blade from swinging backwards?

 

[Halftrack]

Had the rake on again today and rechecked the blade to tine distance. It is in the 2 1/4 inch range similar to yours. And yes, the tines are the only support for the blade.

 

[rfc143]

Had the rake on again today and rechecked the blade to tine distance. It is in the 2 1/4 inch range similar to yours. And yes, the tines are the only support for the blade.

Thanks very much for that confirmation. I built the gauge wheel arms myself, so they're obviously not exactly like the Land Pride versions. Mine are square tubing, not formed "U" channels, so the arms can't stick up into them.
I'm pretty sure my blade is very close to where it's intended to be. Thanks again.