attachment for road work

[jackh]

we just got our jd 5105m and i need something to work on the roads with. i thought all along i would just get a big box blade but then i read about stuff like the road boss grader, landscape rakes and rear blades. i basically need something that will smooth out the roads, not necessarily move a lot of material. the only thing is this place is in central tx and the roads are all hard packed caliche, i feel like a rake would be useless on that. any help? thanks

 

[brandoro]

I bought a LandPride grader scraper last summer, very pleased with it. I thought it would be a big job to get my lane in shape but it was no trouble at all. So I did my neighbours lane too then did the parking area at the local store. The parking area was a real mess, hummocks and holes and packed really hard, even that was pretty easy with the grader scraper. You can set it for how much you want it to cut, I have mine set shallow so it probably takes a bit longer for some jobs. More seat time, it's all good.
I have no idea what caliche is though.

I googled caliche, I think the gs will work well on it.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Keep in mind with the size of your tractor you need heavy duty implements. Anything less and you will be bending them up pretty easy. How long is your road, driveway? Is it mostly flat, or do you have curves and slopes that you have to deal with? Any of the implements for your tractor are going to be pricey. I have the four most common implements used for roads. They each excel in their own right, and what you have in mind for other uses may make a difference in which one that you start out with. Do you have Top & Tilt hydraulics for your 3PT hitch? "TnT" really help out when it comes to grading.

I normally recommend a Road Boss type grader blade, they are relatively easy to use, just about indestructible, work very well for road maintenance, but you may have other needs to where one of the other type implements may suit you better.

 

[jackh]

the road goes up and down hills and has curves but not really any banks. it might be nice to be able to adjust the bar ditches. the highway crew messed it all up, it used to fill our tanks and now it doesn't. idk if i have TnT or not, the tractor was delivered yesterday and i wont be up at the ranch til this wknd

 

[mikim]

the road goes up and down hills and has curves but not really any banks. it might be nice to be able to adjust the bar ditches. the highway crew messed it all up, it used to fill our tanks and now it doesn't. idk if i have TnT or not, the tractor was delivered yesterday and i wont be up at the ranch til this wknd

You don't have TNT ... tnt is spoken here - do a search and learn all about it. Where in Central Tx? --- I've been thinking about getting a road boss type scraper. They make 'em over on I45 in Ennis. Not sure if that's the road boss brand - but the same thing. I use a box blade for now -- but it moves too much material... I need either a road boss or straight blade .... still considering which --If you need to cut caliche though I have doubts if a straight blade has the weight it would need to do so. BTW - welcome to TBN

 

[MtnViewRanch]

You don't have TNT ... tnt is spoken here - do a search and learn all about it. Where in Central Tx? --- I've been thinking about getting a road boss type scraper. They make 'em over on I45 in Ennis. Not sure if that's the road boss brand - but the same thing. I use a box blade for now -- but it moves too much material... I need either a road boss or straight blade .... still considering which --If you need to cut caliche though I have doubts if a straight blade has the weight it would need to do so. BTW - welcome to TBN

A rear blade that will hold up to his JD is going to weigh in excess of 1000lbs. I know that mine is over 1100lbs.

Mikim, when you are looking at road grader blades, they are not all the same. Same principle, but different animals. Weight is your friend when grading, but not only weight, you get a better job when the side pans are longer. I have seen grader blades that only have 12" sides. My 5' grader has 18" tall sides and my 7' grader has 22" sides, 7' long. Seems like there are quite a few grader blades out now, and a lot, if not most of them have side pans that are not all that long, 4-5' maybe. I think a good weight to look for would be 200lbs a foot or more.

Here are my two grader blades.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

the road goes up and down hills and has curves but not really any banks. it might be nice to be able to adjust the bar ditches. the highway crew messed it all up, it used to fill our tanks and now it doesn't. idk if i have TnT or not, the tractor was delivered yesterday and i wont be up at the ranch til this wknd

A grader blade is great for maintaining a road, not so good for cleaning out or making roadside ditches. A good rear blade is very good for that and is good for working on roads also, just need to be a little (ok, a lot) more skilled and that should come with use.

Top and Tilt hydraulics are most likely not on your tractor unless you specifically ordered them, and my understanding is that they are very costly to have an actual JD setup. "TnT" is the only way to go if you have much or ongoing grading to do.

If you need to move much dirt, then a box blade is very useful, and again, for your tractor a good heavy duty (1000lbs +) with hydraulic operated rippers would be the way to go. At the minimum would be a roll over box blade such as I have.

 

[mikim]

A rear blade that will hold up to his JD is going to weigh in excess of 1000lbs. I know that mine is over 1100lbs.

Mikim, when you are looking at road grader blades, they are not all the same. Same principle, but different animals. Weight is your friend when grading, but not only weight, you get a better job when the side pans are longer. I have seen grader blades that only have 12" sides. My 5' grader has 18" tall sides and my 7' grader has 22" sides, 7' long. Seems like there are quite a few grader blades out now, and a lot, if not most of them have side pans that are not all that long, 4-5' maybe. I think a good weight to look for would be 200lbs a foot or more.

Here are my two grader blades.

Yeah I get the part that you want weight -- what I breezed over was the fact that he has twice the tractor I have.......all the blades that I've looked at thus far could be loaded in the back of a pickup by a couple of guys grabbing it and throwing it in. I haven't looked at those road boss types yet ...but will keep in mind what you've said about the length of the sides.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Yeah I get the part that you want weight -- what I breezed over was the fact that he has twice the tractor I have.......all the blades that I've looked at thus far could be loaded in the back of a pickup by a couple of guys grabbing it and throwing it in. I haven't looked at those road boss types yet ...but will keep in mind what you've said about the length of the sides.

Trust me, no two guys will be throwing any of my blades in the back of anything, I guess maaaaybe 4 guys might be able to pick up my small one. But then I move it all the time by myself, I just use the mechanical advantage.

 

[rj's barn]

If you are primarily going to be working caliche you will want something with heavy (and replaceable) moldboards and high sides. You might want to hang some weights from the sides to get it heavy enough to move the material. Probably any of the heavier built road graders would do it for you as long as you are willing to spend some seat time. Rotsa Ruck.....

RJ

 

[jenkinsph]

I built mine 8' wide with bolt on reversible cutting edges and set them straight because most of the time I use it to level and smooth lawns. I agree with MtViewRanch though these need to be heavily built with long skids. Mine is right at 1000 lbs and 1500 lbs wouldn't hurt a thing. I find it to be a very handy tool to have and an even larger one with 14' grader blades would work well behind a large tractor on a farm or ranch.

A good heavy duty rear blade with hydraulics would help alot with crowning and ditching too. These aren't cheap but for your use I wouldn't get a lighter duty unit, it won't hold up in Caliche.

To work Caliche you need to get on it when it has just the right amount of moisture in it to be workable without sticking. When it dries out it is like concrete, I would think you have a very small window of opportunity to work it.


edit; Include two pictures of the landplane and heavy duty boxblade with hydraulic scarifiers.

 

[jackh]

thats a good point about the narrow window of opportunity on caliche, hadnt thought about that. so i need a heavy (weight) and heavy duty grader blade like the road boss ones to smoothing out roads. maintaining bar ditches would need a rear blade and moving lots of material and filling in holes would need a box blade? is this right in general?

 

[jenkinsph]

Jack
That about says it all, understand that the plane will carry quite a bit of material to smooth and fill holes but the boxblade will carry a great deal more. The boxblade in the picture is a Frontier BB1284 and weighs about 1250 lbs and is cat 1 - 2 so this would work with your tractor.

I mentioned the narrow window of opportunity because you need to get your equipment in order and ready to use ahead of time.

 

[jenkinsph]

MtViewRanch could post a pic of his rearblade as his is better suited than mine is.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

A good hydraulic rear blade is the only way to go.

 

[jackh]

would it be better for smoothing out caliche roads?

 

[jenkinsph]

would it be better for smoothing out caliche roads?

Jack,
To do a good job on the roads so that you can drive them at 20 to 30 mph you will need the rearblade and a plane/grader. If the budget will allow for all three implements, so much the better, get the boxblade too.

Alot can be achieved with any of the three choices, the rearblade is great for the ditching and crowning the road, the plane/grader is the best for smoothing and flattening (making the surface planar) and the boxblade is great for cutting down the surface to remove pot holes and redistribute large amounts of material.

So what you need the most depends on your road condition. My experience has been that the rearblade is essential to shape the ditches and crown properly, a hydraulically operated blade is ideal but the less expensive version of this blade is available with manual control. You can add hydraulics later if needed. If the ditches and drainage is already in place then a landplane/grader may be the best first tool to smooth out the road.

All three of these implements can be used for smoothing the yards, pastures and other areas on your place as well. So they are all beneficial and "keepers" in my book. I deal with a lot of properties that are rough with holes, slight depressions, mounds and have tilled and disked these places then run the landplane or boxblade over the top to smooth everything out. Makes a huge difference in the final result.

Hope this helps you decide what to do.

 

[jackh]

well some of our roads are pretty smooth while others have pot holes. some of the roads have had all the dirt and light caliche washed away and whats left is rocks fist-sized and larger coming out of the ground and making the road teeth jarringly rough. spots like this are what im really interested in smoothing out. i dont feel like a grader like a road boss would cut and smooth this out nicely, then again ive never used one.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

well some of our roads are pretty smooth while others have pot holes. some of the roads have had all the dirt and light caliche washed away and whats left is rocks fist-sized and larger coming out of the ground and making the road teeth jarringly rough. spots like this are what im really interested in smoothing out. i dont feel like a grader like a road boss would cut and smooth this out nicely, then again ive never used one.

Nothing is going to cut those rocks smooth, sounds like you need to have material brought in and you need to get that material in shape so that it does not wash away. In other words, it sounds like you need to build yourself a road. Any of the blades that we have been talking about are all in excess of 1000lbs with the Road Boss being the heaviest of them all. Now I have not worked with the conditions that it sounds like you have, so I am not really qualified to further suggest what it is that you need to do, but if you have an endless supply of rocks coming out of the ground, then I would think you would need to cover them up.

 

[jenkinsph]

Jack,
You may find that you can do a combination of things to lessen the problem. I would look at the side of the roads for fines to bring back up to the center of the road. I would dig down to see if fines are below the rocks, if so then you might need to remix these with the rock, in other words plow this up deep and then pack the rocks down in the loose dirt. You can also look for areas on the property with material you can use to cover the rocky areas. And as mentioned previously haul in fresh base course. If you try the remixing of the rocks and fines first it will reduce the amount of fresh material you need to cover with.

I think you would be pleasantly suprised how well cutting down the road about 6 to 8 inches deep and then planeing and rolling will help with the surface rock.