Home-Built Power-Angle for Rear Grader Blade

[SkunkWerX]

My last thread started with questions, and actually got into the build, itself.
One thing lead to another, pretty quickly.

I'll try to give an overview:

Here is the RGB on the tractor:
Rear Blade

I had a cylinder in my shop, slightly used condition, approx. 2" bore x 8" travel. Used some scrap wood to approximate the mounting points.
Mock Up with scrap wood

Cut, drilled and welded mounting flanges to the RGB.
Mounting Flanges installed

Today my QD's and Hoses arrived, and I finished off the project, well, enough to get it into working order. Using the Grapple lines as the circuit to power it.

Grab some popcorn and watch the movie!!
MOVIE: Power Angle RGB

 

[Bill Barrett]

NICE!! I gotta do that one of these days.

 

[Dmace]

Very nice fabrication, it almost looks factory built.

 

[Tig]

Very nice. I like the video. Seems to work very well. Made me realize I need one.

 

[GuglioLS]

Very nice build, great job on putting it all together, especially impressive is the simplicity of how it works. The youtube video is cool. For some reason the photo links you posted are now being re-directed to ImageCave - Free Image Hosting and Photo Sharing with no pictures

Larry

 

[SkunkWerX]

Everyone, Thanks for all the positive comments!

Regarding the pictures: They were showing fine, but last night, for some reason, Image Cave's main site was not responding, though the images and links all worked. If they are now not working, I'd say ImageCave is having some difficulty. My apologies.

YouTube: Just a note to anyone thinking about it. Nothing is easier than signing up on You Tube and uploading a video. Totally Free. It was very easy. Did I mention Free?

Ease of Build: This power-angle build fell together smooth as warm buttah.
I would say this is a good project for a beginner/novice that already has a Rear grader Blade, especially if they already have a 3rd function hydraulic valve, or rear Remotes. This project would get the beginner familiar with some basics of hydraulics, and basics of metal fabrication and welding.

note: check to be certain your style of RGB will accomodate the forces of the cylinder. Many of the Build-It guys here at TBN could easily give advice/pointers for various styles of RGB if they simply saw a clear picture of the blade anyone might be considering.

It's a straight forward design and a straight forward build, as Larry pointed out, the simplicity of it all becomes it's appeal. Unlike a complex job, like a grapple, which could take 40 hours+ , I'd estimate I have 8 hours of time in this job. With the supplies in hand, most could get-er-dun on a single weekend.

The only real brain work is figuring the cylinder pivot positions, so that you get full Right and Left movement. I'm sure there is some math that can be applied, but I simply used the "dumb" way, trying a pivot location, marking it with a Sharpie, then rotating the blade to see what movement it allowed.
It was trial and error, but, finding the BEST right angle pivot point and Best lerft angle pivot point, then splitting the difference, put it pretty close to where you see it. using scrap wood and clamps made trying different locations a snap.

If you had to buy all the parts:
(Rough estimates)
Hydraulic Cylinder - $100
Hoses and QDs - $50 (if you have rear remote or can re-route your front hoses to the rear)
Steel- $20?? I used 3/4" x 2" for the flanges, might be overkill, but it took less than 24" of stock. Would depend on whether you were modding a 5 foot blade, or 8 foot blade as to what steel would handle the loads.

I already had the cylinder, already had the steel.
The QD's and Hoses were $39 shipped to my door.

I certainly cannot argue with my cash-out-of-pocket expenses on this project!

This eve, or tomorrow I'm going to put blade-to-ground.

 

[Manitou]

Looks and works great, Nice job

 

[2manyrocks]

I remember your gauge wheel project and just wondered if you had a lot to grade or want what you have graded to perfection or what's going on because it seems like you've worked a lot in grading related projects. Me, I live in the stone age with a basic landscape box, but I admire your work.

 

[curly]

Exelect work man. I bgt a stick welder now I nned to try to learn how to use it

 

[MJPetersen]

Functional and simple. A great combination. Have fun.

Mike