Looking for rear blade for 1538

[LowellBen]

I would like some opinions on obtaining a rear blade for my 1538.

I've got a 1/4 mile driveway (steep) than I need to reshape the ditches on. I haven't done any significant ditch work since the drive was cut in 6 years ago. Ditches are filling in in a couple of places and I need to also pull the gravel back onto the drive surface. I've used the bucket to do this type of work several times, but it is quite time consuming and the driveway is really not wide enough to maneuver the tractor back and forth while using the bucket on the ditches.

I've been looking at a Bison BINVH-180-T that has a max blade tilt of 22 degrees. It is a mechanical adjust blade that will swing up to 53 degrees and the blade can be offset either 6 or 12". This blade is a 6' and I'm also considering the 210 with the 7' blade.

I don't have a hydraulic remote so have to go with the mechanical adjust unit. Will probably be a mistake not just adding a remote and getting a hydraulic adjust blade.

My place is at 8200' so the 1538 is probably only putting out about 75% of its rated power. For everything I've used it so far, I've run out of traction before running out of power. One thing I discovered is that with a full bucket of dirt, the power steering struggles to turn the wheels - of course, not a problem dragging a blade though. Last year I cut in a trail just a little over 0.6 miles to get access to the backside of our property. There was a lot of backhoe work moving scrub oak, dirt and rocks. Was moving the tractor backwards up the slopes and using the backhoe to cut the trail on the side slopes. That work doesn't give me much of an idea as to how well it can pull a rear blade.

The rear wheel width on the 1538 is just a tad over 5'. I'm concerned that with the 6' blade, even with the 12" offset, I'm not going to be able to reach the blade out far enough to do a decent job of working a ditch with a 22 degree tilt and a useful swing angle on the blade. So that is why I'm considering a 7' blade. Parts of my drive have a drop off on the sides and I'd like to be able to pull gravel back up onto the drive surface without rim running a rear tire. I don't think I will be doing much grading work with the blade tilt at 0 where the full width of the blade is cutting, so the 1538 won't see that type of pulling load.

So questions:

Bison or some other brand? Max tilt for other brands I looked at is only 15 degrees.

7' blade too much for 1538?

Not the right equipment for job?

Thanks for any and all input.

Lowell

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Your tractor will handle a 7' blade fine, if your rear tires are filled, just that much better.
You would be by far better off with a rear blade that has the boom pivot over for the offset of the blade. You do not want a blade that slides side-side. 12 inches is not all that much if you need to clean out road side ditches. Find something that pivots over 2 feet.

Something similar to this. It has 15* & 30* tilt settings and offsets in 3 positions to each side, how far I don't see, but guessing close to 2 feet.

Lot's of choices out there, just need to do some research if you have not already.

Good luck.

 

[LowellBen]

Thanks for the info Brian.

I've been spending a bunch of time doing research - but my time expended has not been very efficient. Learning as I go. Going down a lot of dead ends.

Was hoping to find something used, but there isn't much of anything available out here locally. Nearest used Bison 210T was Colby, Kansas about 290 miles away.

I can see where the EA blade setup with the swing offset would be a good choice, especially if I lived in their free delivery area. I need to call them tomorrow to see what the freight charge to a terminal in Colorado Springs or Pueblo would run me.

Only other blade with a swing offset that I could find is a Dirt Dog. Problem with that one is that it only tilts to 15 degrees. Goodworks Tractor is a dealer and I sure wish I could go with this option cause they offer a 10% veterans discount.

Oh, I forgot Rhino - can't find any online pricing for that product. I called a local dealer that supposedly handles that line, but he said they only sold LandPride.

This is turning out to be a time consuming task.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Well, add a top & tilt set and that will get you a lot of adjustment at your finger tips. Between the side link adjustment and the rear blade, you can get a pretty steep angle.

You can start spending some money though to get all those hydraulic adjustments, but they sure are nice.

I have to be honest though, not a single time while out operating my machines have I ever even thought about what the cost was, never enters my mind.

 

[jyoutz]

I would like some opinions on obtaining a rear blade for my 1538.

I've got a 1/4 mile driveway (steep) than I need to reshape the ditches on. I haven't done any significant ditch work since the drive was cut in 6 years ago. Ditches are filling in in a couple of places and I need to also pull the gravel back onto the drive surface. I've used the bucket to do this type of work several times, but it is quite time consuming and the driveway is really not wide enough to maneuver the tractor back and forth while using the bucket on the ditches.

I've been looking at a Bison BINVH-180-T that has a max blade tilt of 22 degrees. It is a mechanical adjust blade that will swing up to 53 degrees and the blade can be offset either 6 or 12". This blade is a 6' and I'm also considering the 210 with the 7' blade.

I don't have a hydraulic remote so have to go with the mechanical adjust unit. Will probably be a mistake not just adding a remote and getting a hydraulic adjust blade.

My place is at 8200' so the 1538 is probably only putting out about 75% of its rated power. For everything I've used it so far, I've run out of traction before running out of power. One thing I discovered is that with a full bucket of dirt, the power steering struggles to turn the wheels - of course, not a problem dragging a blade though. Last year I cut in a trail just a little over 0.6 miles to get access to the backside of our property. There was a lot of backhoe work moving scrub oak, dirt and rocks. Was moving the tractor backwards up the slopes and using the backhoe to cut the trail on the side slopes. That work doesn't give me much of an idea as to how well it can pull a rear blade.

The rear wheel width on the 1538 is just a tad over 5'. I'm concerned that with the 6' blade, even with the 12" offset, I'm not going to be able to reach the blade out far enough to do a decent job of working a ditch with a 22 degree tilt and a useful swing angle on the blade. So that is why I'm considering a 7' blade. Parts of my drive have a drop off on the sides and I'd like to be able to pull gravel back up onto the drive surface without rim running a rear tire. I don't think I will be doing much grading work with the blade tilt at 0 where the full width of the blade is cutting, so the 1538 won't see that type of pulling load.

So questions:

Bison or some other brand? Max tilt for other brands I looked at is only 15 degrees.

7' blade too much for 1538?

Not the right equipment for job?

Thanks for any and all input.

Lowell

I have the Bison 240 (8’) blade. It is an awesome blade, very heavy duty. The angle, tilt and offset functions are exactly what you need for your job. I don’t have hydraulics on mine. It has a grease zerk that makes the blade easy to angle and tilt manually. The offset function can be a wrestling match for manual adjustment if you’re not on level ground. I fixed that for $100 by replacing the telescoping manual offset rod with a manual ratcheting link. Go for that blade. Yes hydraulics would be great, but it can be used very well manually.

 

[jyoutz]

Thanks for the info Brian.

I've been spending a bunch of time doing research - but my time expended has not been very efficient. Learning as I go. Going down a lot of dead ends.

Was hoping to find something used, but there isn't much of anything available out here locally. Nearest used Bison 210T was Colby, Kansas about 290 miles away.

I can see where the EA blade setup with the swing offset would be a good choice, especially if I lived in their free delivery area. I need to call them tomorrow to see what the freight charge to a terminal in Colorado Springs or Pueblo would run me.

Only other blade with a swing offset that I could find is a Dirt Dog. Problem with that one is that it only tilts to 15 degrees. Goodworks Tractor is a dealer and I sure wish I could go with this option cause they offer a 10% veterans discount.

Oh, I forgot Rhino - can't find any online pricing for that product. I called a local dealer that supposedly handles that line, but he said they only sold LandPride.

This is turning out to be a time consuming task.

Where are you in Colorado? I bought my Bison blade at a dealer in Albuquerque, and he has the 7’ blade in stock. The offset is plenty wide enough for me to cut and clean out my road ditches. If you are close to Pueblo, you aren’t that far away. The dealers name is L&R sales.

 

[LowellBen]

Well, add a top & tilt set and that will get you a lot of adjustment at your finger tips. Between the side link adjustment and the rear blade, you can get a pretty steep angle.

You can start spending some money though to get all those hydraulic adjustments, but they sure are nice.

I have to be honest though, not a single time while out operating my machines have I ever even thought about what the cost was, never enters my mind.

Brian,

That is a great looking setup. I just don't think I would do enough work with it though to warrant the cost. I've got an airplane that occasionally demands large infusions of money. And then last fall I put $6k of parts into my Duramax because of a failed head gasket (I did the labor). Thanks for the ideas.

Lowell

 

[LowellBen]

Where are you in Colorado? I bought my Bison blade at a dealer in Albuquerque, and he has the 7’ blade in stock. The offset is plenty wide enough for me to cut and clean out my road ditches. If you are close to Pueblo, you aren’t that far away. The dealers name is L&R sales.

Kinda small world for my 1538. I bought it as a repo from a dealer in Gallup. It was sold originally by L&R. L&R is 400 miles from me. I haven't been in town for a couple days, but back then diesel was $4.29, probably close to $5 by now.

Thanks for letting me know about your good experience with the Bison 240.

 

[LowellBen]

Well, this story comes to an end - for now.

I've got a Bison NVH-210-T sitting in the bed of my truck, still in the crate.

I'm gonna guess that this forum has some sort of policy regarding not displaying prices. I priced out an EA blade with shipping to a freight terminal 80 miles away. The EA blade was gonna be a kilobuck more than what I spent on the Bison. I looked at options for several other blades, but the logistics and shipping costs were kind of prohibitive.

I spent some time talking with regional distributors and found out a dealer in the local area sold the Bison. He actually had one and at a price significantly lower than the other dealer I had been talking to who would have had to order it.

Wasn't planning on buying this soon (ground has to thaw), but with all the supply chain issues going on I figured it would probably be best to pick up the one that is available now.

It will be a couple of months till I find out whether or not I made an expensive mistake.

Thanks for all the help on this,
Lowell

 

[LowellBen]

Not a complete fail, but borderline.

Things have been warming up with intermittent cold spells. Yesterday my son and I put together the 3 pt linkages and assembled the Bison blade. I made three passes along the sides of my driveway with some difficulty, but at least I got some time in with the blade.

We mounted the blade with the maximum 12" offset to the right side. I can't use all of the available tilt because my 3 pt can't lift the blade clear of the ground. I don't know how much tilt I have set where I'm just barely dragging the low side of the blade when at max lift. I'm going to try a shorter top link to get some more lift. If I had a taller tractor than my 1538 Mahindra I wouldn't have this problem. Even at max blade offset I still can't reach out as far as I would like.

This Bison has no zerk fittings, so will have to partially take it apart to regrease. The pivot and tilt lock pins are poorly constructed. They welded little cross pins in an attempt to give the operator something to pull on when removing the pins - they don't work worth a da**. Will have to look for pins with real handles.

The Bison NVH -210T is built pretty well - at least it is more than good enough for my Mahindra. In several areas I was grading several inches of material across about 3 feet of blade with no lugging of the engine. In one area of ditch it was soft and I bit off more than the tractor could handle. Pain in the arse getting the tractor out of that situation cause I couldn't lift the blade up far enough. Then in another ditch area I hooked a big rock - stopped the tractor in its tracks - didn't bend anything, just spun the wheels.

After farting around with mechanical adjustments yesterday, I think I need to take another look at Brian's hydraulic kits. Would be nice to have more flexibility in tilt and lift from the seat. I need to first find out how much and how to install a hydraulic remote on the Mahindra.

Gonna go back out and clean up the mess I made yesterday.

Lowell

 

[jyoutz]

Kinda small world for my 1538. I bought it as a repo from a dealer in Gallup. It was sold originally by L&R. L&R is 400 miles from me. I haven't been in town for a couple days, but back then diesel was $4.29, probably close to $5 by now.

Thanks for letting me know about your good experience with the Bison 240.

Pretty small world indeed.

 

[jyoutz]

Not a complete fail, but borderline.

Things have been warming up with intermittent cold spells. Yesterday my son and I put together the 3 pt linkages and assembled the Bison blade. I made three passes along the sides of my driveway with some difficulty, but at least I got some time in with the blade.

We mounted the blade with the maximum 12" offset to the right side. I can't use all of the available tilt because my 3 pt can't lift the blade clear of the ground. I don't know how much tilt I have set where I'm just barely dragging the low side of the blade when at max lift. I'm going to try a shorter top link to get some more lift. If I had a taller tractor than my 1538 Mahindra I wouldn't have this problem. Even at max blade offset I still can't reach out as far as I would like.

This Bison has no zerk fittings, so will have to partially take it apart to regrease. The pivot and tilt lock pins are poorly constructed. They welded little cross pins in an attempt to give the operator something to pull on when removing the pins - they don't work worth a da**. Will have to look for pins with real handles.

The Bison NVH -210T is built pretty well - at least it is more than good enough for my Mahindra. In several areas I was grading several inches of material across about 3 feet of blade with no lugging of the engine. In one area of ditch it was soft and I bit off more than the tractor could handle. Pain in the arse getting the tractor out of that situation cause I couldn't lift the blade up far enough. Then in another ditch area I hooked a big rock - stopped the tractor in its tracks - didn't bend anything, just spun the wheels.

After farting around with mechanical adjustments yesterday, I think I need to take another look at Brian's hydraulic kits. Would be nice to have more flexibility in tilt and lift from the seat. I need to first find out how much and how to install a hydraulic remote on the Mahindra.

Gonna go back out and clean up the mess I made yesterday.

Lowell

My Bison blade does have grease zerks. If your lift arms have multiple holes, put the pin in the lower hole to get more lift. Also if your top link has different attachment holes on your tractor, attach it to the center hole for more lift. I haven’t had any problems with the pivot and tilt lock pins. I did have a burr on one of the holes that made the pin hard to install and remove. 5 minutes with a round file fixed that issue.

 

[jyoutz]

Not a complete fail, but borderline.

Things have been warming up with intermittent cold spells. Yesterday my son and I put together the 3 pt linkages and assembled the Bison blade. I made three passes along the sides of my driveway with some difficulty, but at least I got some time in with the blade.

We mounted the blade with the maximum 12" offset to the right side. I can't use all of the available tilt because my 3 pt can't lift the blade clear of the ground. I don't know how much tilt I have set where I'm just barely dragging the low side of the blade when at max lift. I'm going to try a shorter top link to get some more lift. If I had a taller tractor than my 1538 Mahindra I wouldn't have this problem. Even at max blade offset I still can't reach out as far as I would like.

This Bison has no zerk fittings, so will have to partially take it apart to regrease. The pivot and tilt lock pins are poorly constructed. They welded little cross pins in an attempt to give the operator something to pull on when removing the pins - they don't work worth a da**. Will have to look for pins with real handles.

The Bison NVH -210T is built pretty well - at least it is more than good enough for my Mahindra. In several areas I was grading several inches of material across about 3 feet of blade with no lugging of the engine. In one area of ditch it was soft and I bit off more than the tractor could handle. Pain in the arse getting the tractor out of that situation cause I couldn't lift the blade up far enough. Then in another ditch area I hooked a big rock - stopped the tractor in its tracks - didn't bend anything, just spun the wheels.

After farting around with mechanical adjustments yesterday, I think I need to take another look at Brian's hydraulic kits. Would be nice to have more flexibility in tilt and lift from the seat. I need to first find out how much and how to install a hydraulic remote on the Mahindra.

Gonna go back out and clean up the mess I made yesterday.

Lowell

One other thing. The only manual adjustment that was a struggle on my blade was the telescoping link arm with adjustment pin. If the tractor isn’t completely level, the heavy blade will take you for a ride when the pin is pulled. I fixed that by buying a replacement link with a manual ratchet for about $100. Way cheaper than adding hydraulics.

 

[LowellBen]

As I get older, my bulb gets dimmer. Yes, there are other holes in the side links. I went to the middle holes and got more lift. May end up going with the upper hole set. The tractor does have three holes to attach the top link. Not sure switching holes will help much cause when I have the blade pivoted where I want it, the leading edge of the blade is pretty much in line with the 3 pt connections on the plow frame, but I'll try that the next time I have the blade mounted.

I'm thinking I may drill and tap a hole to install zerks in a couple places.

Today, I took along a hammer and drift punch to pop the pins out when they were stubborn. Usually with a bunch of wiggling the pins would come out without too much problem. Still want a bigger hoop on both pins.

Worked the blade another 4 hours today. Pulled a bunch of softball sized rocks out while cutting the ditches. Killed my back getting on and off the tractor and then picking up all the rocks and pitching them off the edge. Eventually, I'll get the ditches cut back to where they need to be, the gravel back on the drive where it should be and everything mostly smoothed out.

Thanks for the input jyoutz.

 

[jyoutz]

As I get older, my bulb gets dimmer. Yes, there are other holes in the side links. I went to the middle holes and got more lift. May end up going with the upper hole set. The tractor does have three holes to attach the top link. Not sure switching holes will help much cause when I have the blade pivoted where I want it, the leading edge of the blade is pretty much in line with the 3 pt connections on the plow frame, but I'll try that the next time I have the blade mounted.

I'm thinking I may drill and tap a hole to install zerks in a couple places.

Today, I took along a hammer and drift punch to pop the pins out when they were stubborn. Usually with a bunch of wiggling the pins would come out without too much problem. Still want a bigger hoop on both pins.

Worked the blade another 4 hours today. Pulled a bunch of softball sized rocks out while cutting the ditches. Killed my back getting on and off the tractor and then picking up all the rocks and pitching them off the edge. Eventually, I'll get the ditches cut back to where they need to be, the gravel back on the drive where it should be and everything mostly smoothed out.

Thanks for the input jyoutz.

You’re welcome.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

As I get older, my bulb gets dimmer. Yes, there are other holes in the side links. I went to the middle holes and got more lift. May end up going with the upper hole set. The tractor does have three holes to attach the top link. Not sure switching holes will help much cause when I have the blade pivoted where I want it, the leading edge of the blade is pretty much in line with the 3 pt connections on the plow frame, but I'll try that the next time I have the blade mounted.

I'm thinking I may drill and tap a hole to install zerks in a couple places.

Today, I took along a hammer and drift punch to pop the pins out when they were stubborn. Usually with a bunch of wiggling the pins would come out without too much problem. Still want a bigger hoop on both pins.

Worked the blade another 4 hours today. Pulled a bunch of softball sized rocks out while cutting the ditches. Killed my back getting on and off the tractor and then picking up all the rocks and pitching them off the edge. Eventually, I'll get the ditches cut back to where they need to be, the gravel back on the drive where it should be and everything mostly smoothed out.

Thanks for the input jyoutz.

Putting the top link in the lowest hole will raise the implement end at least 6" when fully raised. The issue is that typically for grading, you want the implement to raise basically level and it will not do that with the top link in the lower holes.

 

[LowellBen]

I've already noticed that problem even with the top link mounted in the upper hole. The blade frame is pitched down when the blade is on the ground. Next time I mount the blade, I'm going to try the upper holes on the side links to see if that will level out the frame when the blade is touching the ground. I just have to spend the time trying out different variations on the linkages to see what may work out better.

Am also considering buying endplates (only need one) cause a lot of material (gravel) rolls off of the end and out of reach.

Thanks for the additional info Brian,
Lowell

 

[jyoutz]

I've already noticed that problem even with the top link mounted in the upper hole. The blade frame is pitched down when the blade is on the ground. Next time I mount the blade, I'm going to try the upper holes on the side links to see if that will level out the frame when the blade is touching the ground. I just have to spend the time trying out different variations on the linkages to see what may work out better.

Am also considering buying endplates (only need one) cause a lot of material (gravel) rolls off of the end and out of reach.

Thanks for the additional info Brian,
Lowell

A little more tilt angle should stop that material roll off issue.