Pull type Grader?

[airbiscuit]

Here is a clever design

]

 

[CADplans]

There seems to be literally hundreds of designs of driveway maintenance equipment,,
and all of them are trying to duplicate the results that you get with a landplane.

You need tractor weight, attachment weight, and a way to control the two.
I do have a larger tractor than the OP,,, so, I can not say first hand that a landplane would be best for him.
The landplane is perfect for me.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

Put temporary wheels and tongue on your box blade.

Bruce

Box blade won't help move the material sideways very efficiently.

If your only doing this once in a while, just build a adjustable gauge wheel for your blade, as for the adjustable moldboard angle on the hygrade some have it as a option , but I don't think it would be a factor for you not to have it in loss gravel.

I'm liking that tail wheel option. I hadn't thought of that route, only blade mounted wheels.

I made a blade about 8" high that goes under the tractor just in front of the rear wheels. It has 2 arms that bolt to the 3ph lower arms. Even just straight across it would spread fresh gravel to the sides pretty well, It makes the road smoother like a grader instead of worse like a rear blade. Sorry, no picture, it's buried out in the grass someplace.

Sounds like a neat idea

Man up and build an Adams No. 8 copy using a retired NH, JD, or NI hay rake.View attachment 501477View attachment 501478

Ya, that's looking just a tad more complex than I'm after

View attachment 501499

Something I came across and was considering building.

That's a nice little machine. I saw that tilt mechanism on something else while I was searching. I like the pivoting hitch also. I was thinking draw bar mounted but that would certainly allow for the tilt easier.

Here is a clever design

]

I like the front hitch of this one. Possibly fab up one of these for a tongue to attach to the 3pt of the blade and add adjustable tail wheels like the Landpride ones crossed with what IT posted.

There seems to be literally hundreds of designs of driveway maintenance equipment,,
and all of them are trying to duplicate the results that you get with a landplane.

You need tractor weight, attachment weight, and a way to control the two.
I do have a larger tractor than the OP,,, so, I can not say first hand that a landplane would be best for him.
The landplane is perfect for me.

I view it differently. Yes, hundreds of designs but they (including a landplane) are trying to copy a true road grader. My landplane is only 3' wide and 600lbs, I'm not a huge fan.

 

[jenkinsph]

Box blade won't help move the material sideways very efficiently.




I'm liking that tail wheel option. I hadn't thought of that route, only blade mounted wheels.



Sounds like a neat idea



Ya, that's looking just a tad more complex than I'm after



That's a nice little machine. I saw that tilt mechanism on something else while I was searching. I like the pivoting hitch also. I was thinking draw bar mounted but that would certainly allow for the tilt easier.



I like the front hitch of this one. Possibly fab up one of these for a tongue to attach to the 3pt of the blade and add adjustable tail wheels like the Landpride ones crossed with what IT posted.




I view it differently. Yes, hundreds of designs but they (including a landplane) are trying to copy a true road grader. My landplane is only 3' wide and 600lbs, I'm not a huge fan.

I well remember your first post before building the 3' land plane. Your wife wanted to preserve the single path with grass in the middle.

Now you are reworking the drive and will need to smooth out the entire drive and add a new base. A larger land plane makes more sense. I recommend keeping a rear blade for shaping and a wider land plane for finishing.

It is pretty simple to me that you and the wife need to decide which is more important, the look of the single track drive with the grassy center strip or a smooth drive that you can maintain easily. A single track drive may be more attractive to some but will require a rework from time to time. A wider drive double the width of the track of the vehicles allows you to drive over the entire drive surface width. This reduces the effect of having single tracks and their ruts over time. Much easier to maintain but may be less appealing.

A land plane is not a road grader by any measure, two different tools. Having a 3' wide land plane does not give you much to compare to. I have a 4' and an 8' land plane and use them for different needs. I also use a rear blade, box blade, landscape rake and heavy roller. Have two sizes of each of these attachments. A rear blade with wheels is also a good implement but do you have the need for this on one home owner drive?

 

[ovrszd]

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?

If you look closely at the pics you can see they have a cylinder to set the height of the blade with the rear tires. They also have a cylinder to tilt the blade table side to side. A necessity.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

If you look closely at the pics you can see they have a cylinder to set the height of the blade with the rear tires. They also have a cylinder to tilt the blade table side to side. A necessity.

I was hoping you'd chime in.

Blade height set/adjusted with the rear tires. Check. But if it's pulled from the fixed height of drawbar, that effectively changes the angle of the beam when looking at it from the side, and in turn, when the blade is angled full will change the angle of the blade when viewed from the side so it won't always be cutting 'flat'. Height adjustments will have more effect on the end of the blade that is closer to the wheels rather than moving in a parallel motion relative to the gournd.

Will that same tilt cyl like the one that IT posted compensate for that? I was thinking it was meant for contouring or ditching.

 

[ovrszd]

It will accomplish both, setting the cutting edge "level" side to side and allow the blade to be tilted for ditch digging. How much is unknown with the info we have.

You are ontrack in understanding that raising the blade using the rear wheels changes the fore/aft pitch of the blade's table. Same as shortening/lengthening the top link while using a 3pt rear blade. To properly use a hydraulic top link you also need a hydraulic side link.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

It will accomplish both, setting the cutting edge "level" side to side and allow the blade to be tilted for ditch digging. How much is unknown with the info we have.

You are ontrack in understanding that raising the blade using the rear wheels changes the fore/aft pitch of the blade's table. Same as shortening/lengthening the top link while using a 3pt rear blade.

Thanks for that clarification. So with being able to adjust the table side to side, that presumably is how you can compensate for the fore/aft tilt of the table when the blade is angled?

To properly use a hydraulic top link you also need a hydraulic side link.

You lost me there. Care to elaborate?

 

[airbiscuit]

To properly use a hydraulic top link you also need a hydraulic side link.

I think ovszd has it right. My theory is that you would be building an elongated trailer (implement caddy) with a elevated hump in the middle to accommodate a 3pt implement. Ahead of the implement, you have a "remote" set of 3pt arms and a top link. It would move your rear blade (or box blade, landscape rake, etc.) in the same manner as when hooked up to your tractor 3pt linkage.

You would adjust the angle of the blade / (left to right) by removing the pin on the back of the blade and swiveling to the desired angle.
You would adjust the tilt of the blade ~ ("ditching or crown") by lengthening or shortening the 3pt lift arm. (your rear blade may also have its own tilt feature)
You would adjust the "caster" (blade leaning forward or backwards) to a limited degree by lengthening or shortening the top link. My experience is that this isn't so critical for our purposes.

You would put a horizontal drawbar across your tractor 3pt arms, and that is how you control the height or aggressiveness of the cut of the blade.

In other words all the blade adjustments except height are replicated with the 3pt arms built into the implement caddy.

If you don't like manual adjustments, you could replace a lift arm and top link with hydraulic cylinders. I find when I have the angle and tilt set on my pony grader, I seldom have to change them. Having the blade in the middle of a longer wheelbase is where the magic happens.

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks for that clarification. So with being able to adjust the table side to side, that presumably is how you can compensate for the fore/aft tilt of the table when the blade is angled?



You lost me there. Care to elaborate?

Yes, the fore/aft tilt of the blade table changes as the rear wheels are raised/lowered. This tilting doesn't matter if the blade is set straight. If it is angled at all things change quickly. The side tilt cylinder would correct that problem.

In reference to properly using a hydraulic top link requiring a hydraulic side link: When using your 3pt rear blade with a hydraulic top link you again change the fore/aft tilt of the blade table. If you move the table anywhere off level fore/aft you then must raise lower one side of the table to compensate for the cutting edge of the blade not striking the ground level. Same thing that happens when the Hygrade blade is raised using the rear wheels.

Clear as mud right??