Gauge Wheels on a Scraper: Progress Report

[HomeBrew2]

Just another attempt to covey how useful adding gauge wheels to any ground-engaging implement is.
I had some rain last week and a scant quarter inch last night ... but more than enough for an uncontrolled scraper to make a mess out of anything close to drivable, in gumbo-type clay. But, not wet enough to be stupid to try grading it.
I know the lighting is poor (but with gamma correction, I hope is useful), but the pic [should] show a near-motor-graded trail in poor conditions. Hopefully you can see two 2" deep cut areas in the mid-ground and back-ground and, yet, untouched grass near the foreground.
After having destroyed mucho ground with a virgin scraper (box and grader), the addition of a cheap set of gauge wheels is a godsend!
Prior to doing the work, I used the top link to set the blade edge 1" above grade on a flat concrete surface. The grading operation was simply a matter of shoving the 3PH lever down all the way and keeping it there ... while drinking beer and wondering how life could get any better ... IE, I just let the machine do all the thinking and work.
Cheers!

 

[HomeBrew2]

Another pic showing another trail with some minor cuts in the background and a minor fill in the mid-ground and undisturbed grass in the foreground.
Obviously, all cuts and fills are very minor ... THAT is the point (with absolutely no messing with the 3PH height).

 

[HomeBrew2]

Finally, a pic of the R-1's on my BX, pretty much loaded with mud, as well the little gauge wheel "knobbies".
Cheers!

Disclaimer: Nothing contained within my posts are intended to be "political" nor to stimulate any political thought whatsoever.

 

[3RRL]

Steve,
Nice job on the gauge wheels. Grading looks like it turned out pretty good. Good job on the requital as well. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[PineRidge]

Steve we added a set of wheels similar to yours to our landscape rake some time back. They really do make using an implement much easier and more productive IMHO.

Nice job! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[HomeBrew2]

Thanks Rob. Another test job that really worked better than expected because of the gauge wheels was repairing a lawn that was all but destroyed by ferral pigs. Though the grass grew back, it was so rough that my little MTD rider would get hung up on the mounds and stuck in the holes. I really didn't want to till the whole thing and replant so, I moved a couple of yards of soil that I had stockpiled and, remarkably, was able to spread it smooth as glass over the existing turf. I was able to fill the lows and literaly shave the tops ... saving 90% of the established grass. That is, no pealing of big strips of sod but, slicing some small ones that filled nicely into the low spots.
Cheers!

 

[HomeBrew2]

Thanks Mike. I remember your gauge wheel project and yours, Henro's and MadRef's projects were my inspiration. I was just too stupid to realize, last year, that they would cure all my scraper woes. They do work great on the rake but I just don't use the rake that much yet. Gauge wheels are really the answer for me as I have absolutely no tractoring skill whatsoever /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[MadReferee]

Gauge wheels, eh. I am just finishing up a fully adjustable gauge wheel project for one of my dethatcher customers. I will be posting about it in a week or so.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Hmmm, very cool idea! Do you foresee a ver. 1.1 using a piece of all-thread and a pivoting nut instead of the turnbuckle, thus making adjustment quick and easy with a socket and ratchet?
I'll be adding wheels to my 5' spring tooth next, soon as I get another pair of receivers from AgriSupply.
Cheers!

 

[3RRL]

Steve,
Where exactly is Dunlap? I wish I had that feral pig problem (no lawns, only wilderness)...I'd be in bacon year round! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[HomeBrew2]

Rob, I'm just up the road a piece from you. Actually in Squaw Valley but say Dunlap cuz I got tired of giving everybody the geography lesson that I'm NOT near Tahoe. I'm east of Hwy 63 (north of Visalia), on Hwy 180 towards Kings Canyon Nat'l Park.
You might try planting a lawn to attract the pigs ... worked well for me /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[3RRL]

Steve,
That is nearby me!

I drove into Kings Canyon and out through Sequoia on the 198. That's how I found my place at Three Rivers a few years back.

Don't know if you've checked my website but I live in the foothills and there's natural grass all over the place (not planted or intentional lawn). I hear what you say and I'm sure when I plant my lawn they'll come runnin'. We've got some hogs near the riverbed about 500 yards away, but have never seen them on the property. I tried to lure them in but no luck yet. A guy here TBN (Schmalts) told me to make up a 50 lb. batch of corn soaked in sour milk and topped off with a couple of cans of beer. Let it sour it real good and put it in a hole in the ground they'll come smell it out. I did that a month ago with no luck yet. 'Course it's rained several times since and maybe the scent is down because of it. I may need to throw more sour mild and beer on it again.

Are you going to that AG show in Tulare this month? I think it's the 12th, 13th & 14th? If you are, PM me and maybe we can meet...that would be dandy.

 

[HomeBrew2]

This weekend I decided to finish up a swale that I started a while back. Originally, my soil was just too dry and hard to do much more than rough out the alignment. Now it has taken some rain and dried to the poing where dirt sticks to the back of the box but flakes off easily with a shovel.

My setup was to shorten the 3PH side link all the way then adjust the gauge wheels so the right one was twice as high as the left thus following the tilt pretty close. I used the top link to set a workable cutting depth ... had to increase it a little then back it off some.

The wheels provide a smooth clean consistant cut. I was able to pull ~150' of dirt. I had the BX at 3/4+ throttle, 4wd (as always), low range, diff locked and ran some speed to keep momentum up to overcome the drag. As you can (barely) see in the pic, the box has dirt piled 6"+ above the top and had even overflowed slightly.

 

[HomeBrew2]

Finished swale ... with virtually no skill required ... machine does all the work: wind up motor, drop box blade, hold beer tightly, stand on go-pedal /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Highbeam]

Was there an end haul of material that had filled the box? As you move along and the blade becomes full, what do you do with it? I am thinking since the box is angled the you couldn't just raise the box a little and skid the material to the end without it dumping out.

Is the final swale pictured from a single pass? Is the swale to receive sheet flow or to transport water from an upstream puddle? Asking because it appears that there is a sidecast berm that would prevent sheet flow from being picked up.

I sure wish our ground was that dry. The nice weather will soon begin drying us out just in time for a spring blast of rain.

 

[RonR]

Hey Homebrew,

I must have missed these. Would you please post or PM me a couple of closeups of the receiver hitch mount on your box blade and where the tube mounts to the wheel assembly (above the wheels).

THKS.

ron

 

[HomeBrew2]

>Was there an end haul of material that had filled the box?

No, that was a single pass of 100-150'.

>As you move along and the blade becomes full, what do you do with it?

Because the swale was just roughed in originally, my first finish pass required me to dump the box about half way. Then pull it away with the FEL. Then resume that pass.
Because that pass took out the bumps and filled the bottoms, I was able to haul the box all the way on the subsequent passes, then just scatter the dirt. You can really make a fine depth adjustment with the toplink.

>I am thinking since the box is angled the you couldn't just raise the box a little and skid the material to the end without it dumping out.

Yes you can. I chose to set the cutting height pretty shallow for the length I had to run and and almost didn't make it, but did. Interestingly, the gauge wheels allow a much smoother feathering effect, tilted or not, than I could ever get without the wheels.

>Is the final swale pictured from a single pass?

The part in the foreground was roughed in some monthes ago so it took 4 passes total. The part in the background is new and took 3 passes ... ~4-6" deep.

>Is the swale to receive sheet flow or to transport water from an upstream puddle? Asking because it appears that there is a sidecast berm that would prevent sheet flow from being picked up.

Sheetflow, from the left only. The pics are a bit misleading anyway. Sidecast is minimal, if any and will probably wind up getting scattered with the mower. Eventually I'll cut the other side so it looks more like a valley gutter rather than rolled curb and gutter.
Cheers!

 

[Gamemaster]

How about some close-ups and different camera angles on that gauge-wheel set-up? appreciate it...

 

[HomeBrew2]

Ron, Gamemaster,
I don't have a pic with me showing a closeup of the receiver on the box but, it as simple as just that ... 6" receivers welded directly to the top rear corners of the box
The following are closeups of the backblade setup which has more parts to it. Pardon the mud and rust ...

 

[HomeBrew2]

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