"Bionic blade" - worth the extra cost?

[MtnViewRanch]

I only have a 17 HP tractor, that said... For the basic grading (before topping) I mostly use an old,heavy (for my tractor)...about 450#'s M.F. 6' rear blade (I have replaced the crank type cut pitch adjustment with a hydraulic cylinder)... I mostly "pitch and ditch" the lanes rather than crowning (it's heck trying to push water back up a mountain i.e., to a high side culvert etc.)...when I have to remove large boulders that leave big holes I use a 250# BB to scarify the area and fill it with spoil...when starting...after the initial passes I spend a lot of time getting on and off the tractor removing the semi-smaller rocks that the blade turns up...

Once the crusher run topping is applied if I try to use anything but a rake I just get hung up on the tops of the under lying larger rocks which creates havoc and a lot more work...

I don't do this as a full time job otherwise I would have bigger, heavier equipment i.e., a small dozer etc...but I have fun doing what I can do with what I have...

FWIW...after the initial grading is done is is amazing how well just 3"-4" of crusher run holds up...and it is very easy to maintain (collecting and re-distributing) the topping with a rake...

Well, it sounds like you have it under control with the equipment that you have.

 

[/pine]

Well, it sounds like you have it under control with the equipment that you have.

So tell me...after what I have related...do you (still) think a plane would be worth it's while?...and or do you see why I have refrained from building or purchasing one?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

So tell me...after what I have related...do you (still) think a plane would be worth it's while?...and or do you see why I have refrained from building or purchasing one?

If those roads get crusher run on top of them at 4" deep, I would use a LPGS. If they are how the pictures seem to show, (to me any how) then probably a landscape rake.

But then I don't think that I have the patience to even try to tackle those with the size of equipment that you have.

 

[RDrancher]

I've got a little over 1/2 a mile of gravel road of my own, plus about another 3/4 mile of "Private Road" shared with three neighbors to maintain at my new place. I've been using a box-blade to break and a landscape rake to spread and crown, (it also tends to bring bigger rocks out, instead of just spreading "dust or mud" on the top like a straight blade does) but as you can imagine, it's getting a little time-consuming. I've thought about buying what I always called a "bionic blade" to maintain the roads, but I've only seen them, never used one. If you look a the dealer literature and videos, it's like magic, "one pass in each direction" (yeah, right), but even if it's 5 or 6 passes in each direction, it'll beat 5 or 6 passes with EACH attachment that I've been doing to get it "just right." The roads are old oilfield roads, they didn't worry much, they just dumped gravel on the ground and shaped it, and then when it "sunk" the added more gravel, but they had a bigger budget than we do. So, my question is, do those of you who use these things find they reduce the workload enough to justify the cost, when I already have more implements than I can afford to build a shed over?

You probably have either caliche or limestone road base. I think that you'd be amazed how well a landplane works. For hardpack roads, make sure to get one with rippers to break up high spots (the extra weight doesn't hurt either.) You'll also want blades that adjust for depth. I set my front blade 3/8-1/2" below the skids and the back blade flush. I think the "Bionic Blade" you're referring to is the original name for the Road Boss grading blade, made right here in Texas.

 

[/pine]

If those roads get crusher run on top of them at 4" deep, I would use a LPGS...

Brian, not sure how familiar you are with south eastern crushed granite?...but the crusher run product once spread with a truck only requires a single pass...with the blade reversed and feathered at about 120*...it levels and pancakes right out...after the first rainfall it is hard to tell from paved concrete... all the work is on the underlying base...any attempt to touch it with any type of cutting edge only messes it up...and really causes havoc if said cutting edge hits the top of an embedded rock that is just barely covered with the topping...

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Brian, not sure how familiar you are with south eastern crushed granite?...but the crusher run product once spread with a truck only requires a single pass...with the blade reversed and feathered at about 120*...it levels and pancakes right out...after the first rainfall it is hard to tell from paved concrete... all the work is on the underlying base...any attempt to touch it with any type of cutting edge only messes it up...and really causes havoc if said cutting edge hits the top of an embedded rock that is just barely covered with the topping...

Not sure, but sounds similar to our decomposed granite. Once it is down and packed, you are really pretty much done with the road. One of the reasons that our main (shared) road is such a good road and most of it requires VERY little maintenance. :thumbsup:

 

[Alpha Dog]

Just as a follow-up, I went and bought one (ordered a dual-edge grader/road maintainer, when it came down to a name) from Armstrong Ag. I got a 6 foot version, and I wish I'd bought it a long time ago. Worked "okay" behind the L275 2WD, but bogged down in a couple of real "soft spots" but when I got enough energy up to take the backhoe off the L2800 Xtra Power 4WD, wow. Took one pass down the center to pull out the crown and move it a little to the sides, then one pass down each side to pull the shoulders in and spread the leftover from the crown, and it looks like I spread new gravel over the entire road. If the freezing rain stuff lets up for a couple of weeks so it can dry out, I think either tractor will do fine pulling it. I can say for sure that it's going to make up for the cost in time-savings, as it was taking four passes with the 5 foot box blade with scarifier teeth extended and then about six passes with the 6 foot landscape rake to get the road smooth. With the L2800, I could pull this thing in 3rd gear high range and do both 1/2 mile stretches of road in less time than it was taking me to do one of them.