Grading Box blade or Straight blade for road work?

[daTeacha]

If I still have the flyer, there was an item at the Ohio Power Show that looked like it was made for gravel driveways. The basic frame was like a U shape, made of two straight pieces of iron on each side and open at the "bottom". In between these was a height adjustable straight blade. The wings pulled the gravel in from the sides, the center blade removed the crown to whatever height you set it for. There was a straight blade connecting the two angled sides at the open back, but set a little higher to let the material that didn't fill holes be leveled in the center of the drive.

I need to find that flyer because my description does not do it justice.

 

[npaden]

That Duragrader looks like it would work really well.

Something tells me that it is pretty expensive though.

 

[LetsRoll]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( That Duragrader looks like it would work really well.

Something tells me that it is pretty expensive though. )</font>

Its not cheap like a box blade or landscaping rake cause the duragrader gets the job done in a timely manor. For me, I wanted a tool or implement that would perform like its built to perform. When I have a project that I'm working on, I dont like cutting corners and in the end expect a work of art. I dont mind waisting money, but my time is something I dont like to waist. You have a pretty long driveway, so why not built or buy the right implement for the job. If you have the tools, you can build a duragrader for a whole lot less than what they cost. I choose to build one myself cause I knew I was or would be paying for the performance of the implement rather than for the steel and the work it took to put it together. I guess the ball is in your court now. You'll have to decide what is the right implement to do the job right on your driveway. I'm not telling you what to buy or build, just giving you the info you need.

 

[dieselsmoke1]

I've had lots of paths to practice on over the years. here's my thoughts:

I have a box blade and straight blade, however if I want to crown a path it's the york rake, or landscape rake depending on your locale. Set it on an angle, if the top link is adjusted a tad short you do not need lower one lift arm. Hit the throttle, 2 or 3 passes in gravel and you'll have a crown with no gouges etc.

Mine's a 6' TSC. Cheap but has held up very well.

Just my opinion, hope it helps.

 

[RobertN]

I browsed through the posts to date, and one thing kept coming to mind for me. If you have the Farmall, could you put a belly blade on it? That, would make the perfect grader or a driveway... I have seen them on Cub's, A's, and B's.

It would seem that a grader blade in the middle would be better than one hanging off the end. Look at road graders; they have the blade in the middle, not the end....

 

[npaden]

I ended up selling the Farmall M. It would have been a lot of custom work mounting a belly blade and then the tractor could only be used as a grader.

I've just continued to use my straight blade with the new tractor and it works pretty well. I might get a 6' box blade to move some of the material from one spot to another but the new 3pt works better than the homemade one on the old farmall. I put a big angle on the straight blade and tilted it a little and put a little more of a crown to the road on Saturday. My old 3pt wouldn't tilt so this was nice to be able to just tilt it a little. (The blade tilts in 15 degree increments but that is too much).

I will for sure keep the straight blade because in about an hour I can really work over the 1/2 mile long driveway pretty well.

Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[Mavrik02]

I'm surprised by all of these posts. My gravel driveway is so hard that my rear blade just bounces along behind the tractor and is useless for doing anything but moving the loose stuff around.

I have to use the box blade to break things up. Then I can come along with the rear blade or rake to smooth it out.

 

[BadDog]

Mavrik,

Sounds to me like you don't have enough angle set on your rear blade, or the blade is really dull. With the right angle (bottom ahead of top as you pull) and a sharp blade it should dig into just about anything short of asphalt, and that too if it's heavy enough. You'll need draft control set to keep it from digging too far in.