I have been reading the posts for about a year so i thought i would finally join. I am just finishing building a landscape grader based on i post called rons grader. As soon as i test it i will post with pics.
landscape grader almost finished
- Thread starter waterguy
- Start date
- Views: 11269
framer
Gold Member
Welcome to tbn Waterguy.Looking forward to pictures.Framer
alltoys
Silver Member
In your head line you posted a Landscape Grader.
Do you expect to grade sodded areas? The ones I have seen are for repairing roads. Not sure if they would work on sod.
Do you expect to grade sodded areas? The ones I have seen are for repairing roads. Not sure if they would work on sod.
RonMar
Elite Member
Mine worked pretty good at peeling up a grass area for my driveway expansion. I look forward to seeing some pics Waterguy.
Didn't take pics yet, but my brother and i took it out to test it. Dragging it around showed me that even at 400 lbs the tail end is a little lighter than i wanted. When my 240 lb brother stood on the back it was real good at leveling my driveway. So we went on a mission to see if any friends had any railroad iron that i could place on the back. Nobody had any but when we were driving home i saw a piece near my nieces house. Her husband had three pieces that totaled 10'. He said if i made him an anvil out of one small one i could have them. He also told me where to get 10' more. This should do the trick.
dillo99
Gold Member
Very nice - looks like it will do a great job!
I am adding 275lbs railroad iron on the back. I temporarlly tried it with it on the rear shelf and it made all the differance in the world. might change the rear leveler to an angle piece also, but i am going with the weight first.
rdbrumfield
Veteran Member
you might stop by a construction outfit and see if they have any used grader blades. I have replaced many and they usually just lay around the shop. They are wonderful for these smaller tractors for building the contraptions we come up with. This time of year is great as they do they're winter fixes getting ready for the summers work.
flusher
Super Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2005
- Messages
- 7,572
- Location
- Sacramento
- Tractor
- Getting old. Sold the ranch. Sold the tractors. Moved back to the city.
Nice piece of work. Congrats.
I like that Mahindra also. I have a 2008 Mahindra 5525. Excellent machine.
Your grader looks similar to the float my contractor used to grade the gravel driveway at my place.
Mine is a 2006 and it works excellent. I added the 275lbs to the back and it now works great. I used a hardened blade for the front cutter. I bolted it on so i can make adjustments to the depth of cut if needed.
RonMar
Elite Member
That looks really good, nice build. Mine needs more weight also, which was one of my initial conclusions back when I posted about the build. I just graded my neighbors driveway this afternoon and a little more weight would have helped with breaking into the hard surface. With a little more weight, it could have been done with fewer passes to scrape and fill all the potholes. It is perfect as is for loose material and gravel.
I am happy with my blade placement in front, with the blade protruding 3/4" below the side rails. The toplink gives very precise control with this arrangement.
I really need to finish the release lever down to the rear swing down gate. I was going to put the lever up on top of the tower where the toplink attaches, and long enough to reach it from the seat. As it is now, the sliding keeper that holds the rear gate up occasionally vibrates loose and allows the rear gate to swing down and start trapping the loosened material instead of distributing it evenly over the rear blade. With the lever spring and linkage to hold it, these uncontrolled gate closings should stop. As it is now, I wrap a chain around the gate keeper to keep it in place, and the gate open during grading operations.
ninefinger
Gold Member
You have a piece of equipment you can be proud of and it should give you many years of use. Nice job.
Thumper & Buttercup
Gold Member
Very nice work,
That looks good, very clean build.
That looks good, very clean build.
Thanks for all the kind words. We graded my brothers driveway for about an hour yesterday. After some more testing i will clean and paint it. I made one of the weights permenent and the other is easily removable. Moving the toplink has a big effect on how it cuts thats for sure.
Oldmax
Silver Member
Good job looks nice.
2manyrocks
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2007
- Messages
- 9,590
Very neat job. And no guide wheels needed for it, either.
