CDN Farm Boy
Veteran Member
I'm considering building a pull type grader and looking for opinions.
My lane is about 1200 ft of gravel and my current choices to maintain it are a 7' rear blade, 5' box blade or a 3' wide really heavy LPGS. My wife likes the grass strip in the middle which is why I built the LPGS but have found that the RB when angled about 60 deg works better at getting out the pot holes. I grew up on a farm with a 1/4 mile lane and all we ever had was a rear blade. Plenty of experience behind the wheel. I need to add at least 6" of gravel this summer, 12" would be better if I can afford it so the grass strip will have to re-grow.
My only choice of delivery is a live bottom tri-axle truck which will leave the gravel in a 3' wide strip down the middle for me to spread. Trees down both sides prevent traditional tail-gate spread from a dump truck and the turn is too tight off the road for a belly dump. It's pretty clear to me that the only reasonable option is to use the angled rear blade to move the gravel sideways. I'd like more control on the consistency of the height than the standard RB allows. Plenty of skill to build whatever I want but budget is always a factor (I'm cheap and my wife is cheaper)
I can see 3 options:
#1 Add gauge wheels to the back of the RB. This is clearly the cheapest but the least versatile and probably not as effective as I'd like but I've never used a blade with them.
#2 Build a pull type grader similar to the HyGrade ones Johnson Manufacturing | Home of the HyGrade Pull Type Graders
#3 Build a pull type grader that is a much more complicated version of the HyGrade that rather than a dedicated blade, has a 3pt hookup on it that I could use the same frame and change out the blade for any other of my 3pt blades or soon to be added landscape rake. This obviously is the most complicated but the most fun to build and probably the most versatile.
A question for you grader operators, especially anyone who has experience with something like the HyGrade: With it pulled from the drawbar and the height adjustment coming from the rear wheels, how do you set the pitch of the blade? When I angle my RB, I can adjust my top link to make the blade flat at whatever height I want. I can't figure out how that works with the HyGrade (or others) and seems to me like a significant problem.
Thoughts?
My lane is about 1200 ft of gravel and my current choices to maintain it are a 7' rear blade, 5' box blade or a 3' wide really heavy LPGS. My wife likes the grass strip in the middle which is why I built the LPGS but have found that the RB when angled about 60 deg works better at getting out the pot holes. I grew up on a farm with a 1/4 mile lane and all we ever had was a rear blade. Plenty of experience behind the wheel. I need to add at least 6" of gravel this summer, 12" would be better if I can afford it so the grass strip will have to re-grow.
My only choice of delivery is a live bottom tri-axle truck which will leave the gravel in a 3' wide strip down the middle for me to spread. Trees down both sides prevent traditional tail-gate spread from a dump truck and the turn is too tight off the road for a belly dump. It's pretty clear to me that the only reasonable option is to use the angled rear blade to move the gravel sideways. I'd like more control on the consistency of the height than the standard RB allows. Plenty of skill to build whatever I want but budget is always a factor (I'm cheap and my wife is cheaper)
I can see 3 options:
#1 Add gauge wheels to the back of the RB. This is clearly the cheapest but the least versatile and probably not as effective as I'd like but I've never used a blade with them.
#2 Build a pull type grader similar to the HyGrade ones Johnson Manufacturing | Home of the HyGrade Pull Type Graders
#3 Build a pull type grader that is a much more complicated version of the HyGrade that rather than a dedicated blade, has a 3pt hookup on it that I could use the same frame and change out the blade for any other of my 3pt blades or soon to be added landscape rake. This obviously is the most complicated but the most fun to build and probably the most versatile.
A question for you grader operators, especially anyone who has experience with something like the HyGrade: With it pulled from the drawbar and the height adjustment coming from the rear wheels, how do you set the pitch of the blade? When I angle my RB, I can adjust my top link to make the blade flat at whatever height I want. I can't figure out how that works with the HyGrade (or others) and seems to me like a significant problem.
Thoughts?
