Help with grading scraper operation

[schmism]

looking at the rear, the blade wants to pull material to the left side (driver side) If you artificially adjust your 3pt arms to add some camber, and then drive down the left side of the road (with the bladed tilted to the left) the 2 actions are fighting each other. (in the above pic) gravel wants to flow from the middle to the edge, but you have the left side set deaper cutting more material on that side, normally the only place for it to go is to the right toward the center, but this has to work against the angle of the blade....

result... pileup on the left side just like your pics show

if your going to continue to try to add crown by tilting the 3pt, you need to tilt the right side and drive down the right side of the road, then the action of cutting and blade angle will match.

 

[danceswithdirt]

I have the same grader I think and it works pretty good. I had to tweek mine a bit. Mine does have blade height adjustment. The bolts holding the blade on can be loosened and the blade pushed up about an inch. May want to check yours. Still couldnt get the rear blade up as high as I wanted so I loosened the skids and put some washers between the skid and plane. Got it where I wanted. I think wider skids would help, cant always just drop it full weight to the ground on finish grading or it carries to much also. Good luck. Nice looking rig.

 

[Gordon Gould]

This is an interesting problem. Most people say they just drop them and go.

Do you think that possiblely maybe it is just to wide for your 25 hp BX tractor. I think you said that you lose traction. It looks like it might be a 6 footer. I have a five footer on my 30 hp tractor that weighs 5000 lb and that is plenty wide when it fills up. Just wondering.

 

[jenkinsph]

This is an interesting problem. Most people say they just drop them and go.

Do you think that possiblely maybe it is just to wide for your 25 hp BX tractor. I think you said that you lose traction. It looks like it might be a 6 footer. I have a five footer on my 30 hp tractor that weighs 5000 lb and that is plenty wide when it fills up. Just wondering.

Gordon,
How about you, do you adjust the trim with the hyd top link? I find I get much better results with the fine adjustments.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

This is a perfect example of "you do not just drop the implement and drag it around". I'm with Gordon, that 6 footer is more than likely a bit big for the tractor. I also use a 5 footer behind my 5000lb 32hp tractor, I would not want a 6 footer. But then my grader blade is up around 800lbs. I am constantly adjusting my hydraulic links, but then a lot of my roads are not just flat ground either.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Gordon,
How about you, do you adjust the trim with the hyd top link? I find I get much better results with the fine adjustments.

I use the top link to set it flat to start. While I am grading since I can't see the runners with the material flowing through the box I readjust the top link as required to keep both blades so they look like they are doing the same amount of work. I readjust quite often.
Some times on the first pass I pull it forward to get all the weight on the front blade if the road is packed very hard and I need more pressure to initially cut the surface. Then I go back to flat after the surface is broken. And conversely I often lift the front blade a little if I am just trying to smooth a wind row at the end.
Another observation. I get much better results as far as gravel remixing when the road is very dry. But it is harder to cut and harder to repack when dry. A little moisture makes it easier to cut and repack. If it starts to rain I have to quit because the material cakes up to much and won't flow.
Also my blades are tipped back to a 45* angle. I think that might allow it to slice under the surface alot easier and enable a smooth flow. The material breaks up and tumbles as it passes over the top of the blade.

 

[jenkinsph]

I use the top link to set it flat to start. While I am grading since I can't see the runners with the material flowing through the box I readjust the top link as required to keep both blades so they look like they are doing the same amount of work. I readjust quite often.
Some times on the first pass I pull it forward to get all the weight on the front blade if the road is packed very hard and I need more pressure to initially cut the surface. Then I go back to flat after the surface is broken. And conversely I often lift the front blade a little if I am just trying to smooth a wind row at the end.
Another observation. I get much better results as far as gravel remixing when the road is very dry. But it is harder to cut and harder to repack when dry. A little moisture makes it easier to cut and repack. If it starts to rain I have to quit because the material cakes up to much and won't flow.
Also my blades are tipped back to a 45* angle. I think that might allow it to slice under the surface alot easier and enable a smooth flow. The material breaks up and tumbles as it passes over the top of the blade.

Sounds like we are on the same page for operating methods. My blades are also set at 45 degrees and most grader blades are sharpened and set for this angle too.

 

[crazyal]

You do have to make some adjustments with them, no question about it. But I find that all I need to do is adjust the blades and then set the top link so the scraper is level. Once I do it's a drop it and drag it type of operation. If I want to pull gravel back up the hill I'll leave the blades low to get a pile (like in the OP) to drag. Once I'm where I want it I slowly raise the 3pt to deposit it smoothly.

I think, like Brian said, if you can't adjust your blades you'll need to just raise your 3pt up a little on the final pass.

 

[JCByrd24]

It's been said a couple times, my opinion is that grader is too big for the BX.

 

[jenkinsph]

It's been said a couple times, my opinion is that grader is too big for the BX.

I agree, that would be too big for my x749 I know for a fact. I built my own 4' with long skids and that would be a better size imo.

 

[EagleTDL]

I think you've got two things going on here...

One, that plane is way too big for a 2660... The owner's manual for my BX-25 states that a 4' grading plane is the biggest I can use, and the 2660 has what, 2 more horsepower than a 25? I know I can get my 4-footer bogged down if I'm taking too big of a bite.

Secondly, part of the problem might be the material you're dealing with? My drives are mainly #57 gravel, with not too many fines or smaller pieces. My Land Pride version looks almost identical to your KK and I've never run across the problem you are having. That 57 just rolls right over the blades as you are making a pass... I think you are getting into a compaction situation where those fines are locking together and not flowing over the blades like they should.

My first pass, to loosen up the gravel is done with the plane in full contact with the ground; ie, I'm just dragging it at that time. There's no up or down pressure from the top link, it's essentially zeroed out. Once I've got the gravel fluffed up and redistributed, then I'll make a last pass with a little "up" on the hitch so that the front blade is about a 1/4-1/2" above the gravel, which knocks the high spots down, and the rear blade is spilling into the low spots.

Wish ya luck, let us know on the right combination that works for you!

Eagle

 

[corey9212]

I got it cause it was the only one available locally, the tractor does pull it just fine (until that build up happens, then I lose traction.) I figured if it could pull a 6' disc through hard packed clay/soil that it could handle this as well. I was able to raise the blades up and that helped a bit.

Yes it is building on the left. I played with my hydraulic top link and did get better results but I think that was cause the gravel flowed under it and it took out the high spots.
I had the misconception as well as drop it and run as that's how most videos show it, but the skids will sink about 1" causing the blades to dig.

Just had a rain storm and vehicles traveling while the gravel was soft so I have lots of ruts to fix. I will definitely try lowering it so it just skims the ground.

I did have it set level front to back and left to right so there was no crown to be made or maintained. It would flow over the first blade then roll (or flow depending on the material) down to the left hand side then build up.

Also the gravel is just ordinary pit run, a mix of everything but no bigger than about 1"