Dozer Blade or Grader Blade?

[Atypical_decorum]

Which would you go for? Either will have a hydraulic tilt function, whether I add it or it comes with it.

Details:
8ft dozer blade will attach to the frame with the draw bar being the main point of power transmission. 3pt grader blade will be 8ft. Tractor is a MFWD M105s fully ballasted. Ground is rich in clay and then shale when deep enough. I don't have the financial room to get a dozer and there's too many little projects I need this for to hire out each and every time.

 

[jeff9366]

Heavy work should always be done from the Three Point Hitch.

When a blade moves dirt you want the draft resistance transferred to the large, rear tires which provide most tractor traction. Most, not all, rear blades can be rotated 180 degrees, although care has to be taken when pushing.



I recommend updating your tractor make and model in your T-B-N PROFILE.

B7500

​

Tractor is a MFWD M105s fully ballasted.

I have no idea what tractor this is.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Heavy work should always be done from the Three Point Hitch.

When a blade moves dirt you want the draft resistance transferred to the large, rear tires which provide most tractor traction. Most, not all, rear blades can be rotated 180 degrees, although care has to be taken when pushing.



I recommend updating your tractor make and model in your T-B-N PROFILE.

B7500

​

Tractor is a MFWD M105s fully ballasted.

I have no idea what tractor this is.

M105s, he may have a cab tractor.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

I've still got the B7500 - I've widened it and put ballasted trencher tires on it though. Now it's almost 70" wide in the rear. The M105S is still in route to me. Those pictures are what it is, no cab.

The dozer blade pushes back against the drawbar. In essence the tractor is still "pulling" the blade forward, and not pushing with the frame. The parts that are mounted dozer frame is the movement hydraulics and then the frame is mounter to the front of the tractor chassis.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

M105s, he may have a cab tractor.

What size are those tires??

Mine is coming with ones quite a bit bigger and I'd like to get shorter and fatter.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

What size are those tires??

Mine is coming with ones quite a bit bigger and I'd like to get shorter and fatter.

I will have to look. It's 20 miles from me right now.

 

[Sportsman762]

What do you plan on doing? What tasks do you need done, and in what conditions?

Tractors make poor dozers due to lack of ability to put the power to the ground, difficulty steering under load, and a drivetrain that is not meant for those sort of loads. With that being said the following companies offer blades.

3500 « Bulldozer Blades - Engineered Tough with Intelligent Design

The 3500 series blade by Degelman is the best blade you can get for the 40-150 horsepower range. We can say with confidence that this the most rugged blade you'll find in this category.

degelman.com

AG240 Dozer Blade - Grouser Products, Inc.

Grouser makes dozer blades, skid steer tracks, land levelers & more for agricultural, construction & snow removal needs. View our NEW AG240XR Row Crop Dozer Blade.

www.grouser.com

A back blade with gauge wheels is easier on the tractor and will act like a grader.

 

[mikester]

Ground is rich in clay and then shale when deep enough.

That sounds like a recipe for a dozer.

For light grading with a tractor I'd get a HD rear blade and a TNT kit for the tractor.

I find it's cheaper to get all your ducks in a row and hire a guy with the right sized machine for the job to come in for a day. Do it in the fall and get a 100% write off for your taxes in the spring. Don't need to worry about maintenance, fuel, etc and it frees up your time for paid jobs.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

What do you plan on doing? What tasks do you need done, and in what conditions?

Tractors make poor dozers due to lack of ability to put the power to the ground, difficulty steering under load, and a drivetrain that is not meant for those sort of loads. With that being said the following companies offer blades.

3500 « Bulldozer Blades - Engineered Tough with Intelligent Design

The 3500 series blade by Degelman is the best blade you can get for the 40-150 horsepower range. We can say with confidence that this the most rugged blade you'll find in this category.

degelman.com

AG240 Dozer Blade - Grouser Products, Inc.

Grouser makes dozer blades, skid steer tracks, land levelers & more for agricultural, construction & snow removal needs. View our NEW AG240XR Row Crop Dozer Blade.

www.grouser.com

A back blade with gauge wheels is easier on the tractor and will act like a grader.

I have a few things to do. I have to cut trails on hillsides and flatten out loads of dirt which are the two primary objectives.

I don't have 150hp. The M105S has 105hp. I saw those blades, including the 3500 that is in my hp range, but they are prohibitively expensive. Another few thousand more and I could get the dozer that I said I didn't have the budget for.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

That sounds like a recipe for a dozer.

For light grading with a tractor I'd get a HD rear blade and a TNT kit for the tractor.

I find it's cheaper to get all your ducks in a row and hire a guy with the right sized machine for the job to come in for a day. Do it in the fall and get a 100% write off for your taxes in the spring. Don't need to worry about maintenance, fuel, etc and it frees up your time for paid jobs.

It does sound like dozer work, which I noted and it is. I also don't have the funds for it as in building an entire facility/camp. Getting all my ducks in a row isn't possible. There's many multiple steps to this project and dozer work isn't involved in all of them sequentially. So calling out a dozer for each task would add up pretty quick and add time with whatever schedule openings they had. That's why I'm looking at options of what I can put on my tractor that I got specifically to do all of these tasks.

As far as not being made for that type of work, I can see that to an extent. But with all the 3pt blades and ground engaging equiptment that's made for tractors I tend to think they are designed for pulling things through and in dirt. Now, I realize they're not made for burrying a blade into the ground and driving forward, but that's also not what I'm doing.

I have about 50 loads of dirt to flatten and trails on the sides of hills to cut amongst other drainage ditches and culverts etc.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

That really doesn't sound like tractor work to me... I've been doing a lot of work lately with a dozer and trackhoe, same soil conditions you describe. Even the 10 ton dozer with tracks would have it's work cut out for it cutting down trails on hillsides. I would absolutely not recommend a dozer blade on the front for packed material.

I would lean towards a loader with a toothed bucket and some type of very heavy rear adjustable blade, if all I could use was a tractor.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

That really doesn't sound like tractor work to me... I've been doing a lot of work lately with a dozer and trackhoe, same soil conditions you describe. Even the 10 ton dozer with tracks would have it's work cut out for it cutting down trails on hillsides. I would absolutely not recommend a dozer blade on the front for packed material.

I would lean towards a loader with a toothed bucket and some type of very heavy rear adjustable blade, if all I could use was a tractor.

A dozer isn't in the cards. Just my tractor with a front blade or rear.

There's also no trees. I need to make flat walking paths on clear hill sides.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I understand and was just speaking to capability. After the many dozens of hours I've spent operating a dozer and becoming familiar with operation and capability I would not recommend a front blade for anything but extremely light and loose material. Silage, snow, or just pushing brush is what comes to mind.

You might get away with a turning plow to start your hillside trails. Turn down from the high side to create a shelf then use the bucket and rear blade to level?

 

[mikester]

Try a HD box blade with rippers and always pull down hill.

My personal observation is you pay for it in the long run either way. Just seems less painful to use a small machine if you don't consider fuel, time, wear and tear,...

 

[workinonit]

If that's a 100 HP tractor I would think you can do pretty much anything with it you need to other than maybe moving rocks. I would get me a good size box blade and go to work. It won't be as fast but it will be affective.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

I understand and was just speaking to capability. After the many dozens of hours I've spent operating a dozer and becoming familiar with operation and capability I would not recommend a front blade for anything but extremely light and loose material. Silage, snow, or just pushing brush is what comes to mind.

You might get away with a turning plow to start your hillside trails. Turn down from the high side to create a shelf then use the bucket and rear blade to level?

I thought about cutting into the hill like that, but then that's one more thing to get. Shaving of a bit at a time with the corner of a tilt blade would get it I was thinking. I was planning on working it down until I got a flat path to the observatory and other trails.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

Try a HD box blade with rippers and always pull down hill.

My personal observation is you pay for it in the long run either way. Just seems less painful to use a small machine if you don't consider fuel, time, wear and tear,...

I've got 1000s of feet or trails to make on hill sides. I have to be able to drive straight.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

If that's a 100 HP tractor I would think you can do pretty much anything with it you need to other than maybe moving rocks. I would get me a good size box blade and go to work. It won't be as fast but it will be affective.

105HP 4WD to be exact!!!! Haha. I figured it do anything I needed for this project. The rear blade with a tilt would probably work too.

 

[workinonit]

I'm not much of a fan of a rear blade. They tend to just not be heavy enough. TNT would be a really good adder with a box blade and scarifiers. I also have a landplane that I made which I use more than anything but it's primarily for leveling. Mine does a pretty good job moving dirt from A to B but since I don't have tines for it, it doesn't dig like my box blades do. I pull a 7' box with my 100 HP.

 

[Atypical_decorum]

The tilt is crucial. It's the only way to cut into the hills on long stretches without using my 3pt backhoe and taking a year.

In 1st gear I should be able to pull an 8ft blade in front or back, I think.