rScotty
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2001
- Messages
- 9,309
- Location
- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
When looking, keep in mind how far the blade offsets. They do not all offset the same amount.
I would not consider anything under 1000lbs for your tractor.
I highly recommend skid shoes, they really help prevent gauging when you get down to the finish grade.
Learn how to use your draft control. It can make a HUGE difference with how easy the grading can be.
I have a Land Pride RBT45108. It offsets up to 35". I never found any other blade of this size that would offset any more than that. Actually when you get up to these sized rear blades most of them are all closer in capabilities than the 700-900lb blades.
I highly recommend that you get a land plane grading scraper (LPGS) for general road maintenance. It will cut your typical road maintenance time by about half.
I like that blade, too. That basic design for 100 hp tractors has been around for many years. It's been the standard for commercial work seems like forever. I've had have it's predecessor - the Servis "Big Rhino" for about 30 years.....and it was not new when I bought it. Mine is all manual, and can be a bear to adjust.
I would recommend that whatever blade you get you go for one that has a similar 3 way adjustable: tilt, angle, and pivoting offset. Being heavy counts. Stay over 750 lbs.
If you can, get the end caps as well. Some end caps flip down and latch into place. By using one or both end caps, the blade is basically turned into a sort of box scraper so you have more control over how you move and place the dirt.
I don't have a set of trailing wheels for mine - but if I ever see as set I am going to pick them up.
A nice finish tool to go with the blade is an 8 foot landscape rake with the flip-down scraper blade. It does have trailing wheels (2) and is for smoothing and dressing the top few inches. You can get a nice one of these rakes for a quarter of the price of the big blade.
rScotty