Rear Blade Adjustment Preferences

[LD1]

Was the 7 foot blade on your L3400 a good fit? Did you push snow or dirt? I think 8 feet is too big for me, but 7 is a harder to find size so want to be certain it's a good fit before I spend time searching.

Yes it was a good match for the tractors power, traction, and width. And still heavy enough to cut some material.

It was a KingKutter HD blade. King Kutter. 7 FOOT HEAVY DUTY REAR BLADE

 

[Valkyrie Rider]

Do you use it with your CK, you don't find it too wide? I was leaning towards 84" since 72 seemed a little small.

I do use it with my CK2610. Ideally if I bought it new I would have bought an 84”, I got this one like new but used locally at a really good price. My thought was I would cut it down if it was a problem but it’s been fine for the 3 years I have had it. I use it mostly for snow but also along with a box blade and land plane to maintain my 1000’ or so of driveway.

 

[mo1]

So how big is too big? My tractor is 3,000lb bare weight with a FEL and 30hp. I'd like a 7 footer to get outside my turf tires when angled, and again I'm not planning on heavy scraping. Is a 500lb 84" blade ok?

That would be a reasonable combination. You will be limited to taking relatively modest cuts anyway. You have a 3000 pound tractor on turf tires. The guys saying to get a 1000 pound blade are correct in saying that a 1000 pound blade will cut more easily than a 500 pound blade. However, if you look most saying this are running full sized utility tractors weighing more than twice what yours does, and with ag tires instead of turfs. I don't think your tractor would handle such a heavy blade very well due to lack of weight and lack of traction. I do have an 800 pound blade, but I also have a 75 HP utility tractor with loaded ag tires to pull it with. I used to have a tractor that was very similar in size and weight to yours, it had a loader on it, MFWD, and air-filled ag tires. I would have wanted nothing to do with my current blade on my old tractor. I had a 700 pound mower on the back of it, it got fairly light in the front even with the loader on. It wasn't un-doable but you certainly didn't want much more than that out there on the 3 point. My old tractor would just spin its tires with more than about 3" of rock in a 6' box blade, let alone anything larger and heavier, and it got quite a bit more traction than if it had turf tires.

 

[AnotherBueller]

Aaron,

You have gotten some excellent replies and suggestions. I have made a business of repairing and maintaining gravel roads for 20+ years. A few thoughts:

What you get depends on how much road you are maintaining, how much it softens in the spring, how steep it is, how much rain you get every year, and the size of your tractor. A one lane road which is fairly flat, does not freeze in the winter, and does not get much rain can be kept with a fairly simple blade like the ones you show. A road which has a thaw cycle in the spring and gets rain during the year will require redoing the crown and ditches every spring and touch ups every month or so to get out potholes, maintain the crown, and clean material out of the ditches back into the road. Snow plowing has been well covered by others' comments.

If you have more than a simple road, you will need to change adjustments often as you do the road. You will need the pin controlled offset function, pin swivel for the blade, and a pin controlled tilt function. They should be robust. The used Ford blade recommended in another comment is a good choice. A good used piece of equipment may be a very good choice, but try it to see how much play has been worn into the adjustments, before you buy. A set of gauge wheels(or a gauge wheel in the center for a small blade) are a very effective help in avoiding ridges caused as your tractor nods over bumps, avoiding plowing road surface material off in winter, and smoothly spreading material you have pulled back out of ditches. If you find that you would like end caps, you can make them yourself or have someone weld them up for you if the blade you like does not come with them. They should be removable.

If you have a road which is more than a simple dry short one, you will have to restore the crown and clean the ditches in the spring and spread the material you get back out of the ditches onto the road surface. You will have to touch the surface up to keep the crown and clean ditches several times a year and after big rain storms. The touch ups wont take too long, but you will need to change angle and side offset often as you work. Bolt type adjustments will really slow you down and prevent you from doing a good job. If you have any rear hydraulic outlets, getting a cylinder for blade swivel and side extension will save you time and you will be much more likely to make the adjustments and do a good job. Hydraulic cylinders and hoses are not expensive Keeping the crown and getting out potholes is important. If water stays on the road surface anywhere, the material under the puddle will be soft, and when a car tire goes though the puddle, the soft material will splash out to the side and the pothole will deepen with every splash. To fix a pothole you have to break up the hardened road surface it is in and re-smooth the area, just throwing in loose material will not last long.

Leaves in the ditches are another concern. You don't want to leave them in the ditch where they will hold water and make the surface soft, or pull them back out onto the road surface when you clean ditches. Organic matter in the material spread on the road will hold water and make the surface soft. If leaves bunch up and dam a ditch in a rainstorm, the water will be forced back into the road and will erode the surface badly. If a branch is lying in a ditch, it will make a leaf dam and push lots of water onto the road. You should clean ditches in the fall after most are down, and before you work on the road. Pick out branches as you see them during the year. One of the best ways to get leaves out of the ditch is with a heavy push blower like a 12 HP Billygoat which has a nozzle which can swivel up and down by a lever on the handle. The strong blower and swiveling nozzle work fast. I can clean both sides of a half mile road in about a hour in dry conditions, and it does a lot to keep the road in good condition. You can use a blade to bunch up leaves in the ditches, but they will be heavy and will need to be moved with your bucket. You will lose some material that way. You want to clean leaves out before you pull material back out of ditches.

If you have a small machine, probably under 3000 pounds, the offset function for the blade will make the tractor bounce around a lot and may not work well for you, and generally the heavier the rear blade, the better it will work. Always easier to redo the surface on a damp day, or the day after a rainstorm. That will let the blade cut in and prevent bounce. Don't work on it if it is too soft.

If you have gauge wheels, you can do a lot of smoothing by setting the gauge wheels for about a inch cut into the surface, put on blade end caps if you have them, and disconnect your top link. Use the lift lever for the 3PH arms to move the blade up and down and let the blade ride on the gauge wheels and pivot vertically on the link ends in the end of the 3PH arms. As you raise or lower the 3PH arms, the blade angle changes and the amount of cut increases or decreases. This is a good way to distribute loose material and fill potholes. For a final cut, set the gauge wheels for 1/2 inch cut.

You can use a york rake with drop down scraper blade and end caps for this work, too. The scraper will do your blade work, and the york rake will spread material evenly and fill potholes. The scraper blade and end caps add weight to male the rake cut in. It is a lot easier to make a final smooth surface. I use this on a 3500 pound machine with a triple hydraulic valve for swivel, tilt, and top link. It is not as touchy as a blade to get the final smooth surface, and it will pull grass and trash out of the road surface material if you work when it is not wet and stop to pitchfork out the junk before it makes too big a ball. It won't work on a very wet day. This won't plow snow or swivel out to the side the way a good blade can. You will have to get a rake about a foot or two wider than the tractor if it can handle the weight.

Hope this is a help and I am sure readers can improve and refine this.

bgr, In your 7th paragraph ‘If you have gauge wheels’ you solved my biggest headache, I fight speed bumps every spring. With my back blade, every time the front tires go over the top of the ridge the blade lifts up creating a new ridge. The gauge wheels will shave the tops and fill the valleys and keep me from driving backwards. Thank you for the lesson.

 

[AaronD81]

I borrowed on old 7 foot blade that only angled, it was pretty light but worked well scraping the footing in the arena. So then I bought a Woods 7 footer last week and find it too heavy for my uses. Not only does it feel really heavy when transporting (manual says it’s 565lbs), it digs in too much in the material I’m moving. I have to adjust the level constantly, can’t let it float like I could with the lighter blade. Also, the lower lift points are really high so I had to adjust my lift links and it still scrapes on inclines. This blade would be great in harder material, but my uses are loose material and light snow so I’m going to get a lighter one. Live and learn.

 

[jyoutz]

I borrowed on old 7 foot blade that only angled, it was pretty light but worked well scraping the footing in the arena. So then I bought a Woods 7 footer last week and find it too heavy for my uses. Not only does it feel really heavy when transporting (manual says it’s 565lbs), it digs in too much in the material I’m moving. I have to adjust the level constantly, can’t let it float like I could with the lighter blade. Also, the lower lift points are really high so I had to adjust my lift links and it still scrapes on inclines. This blade would be great in harder material, but my uses are loose material and light snow so I’m going to get a lighter one. Live and learn.

View attachment 739337View attachment 739338View attachment 739339

There is no such thing as too heavy of a blade as long as your tractor will lift it. It’s all about technique. If the blade is cutting too much into gravel when you’re removing snow, just turn the moldboard around 180 degrees and float it with the back of the blade. Also don’t float it with the cutting edge forward if it’s cutting too deep or consider gauge wheels like some folks are recommending. A heavy blade can work for many uses, but too light of a blade is near useless for road grading. It just bounces and chatters without doing much.

 

[Doughknob]

View attachment 736933
But here is my 1620# cutter that I mow 300-400 acres a year with

All that good hay going to waste…..

 

[LD1]

All that good hay going to waste…..

Grass and weeds.....in a pasture with no access for larger haying equipment.

 

[AaronD81]

I borrowed on old 7 foot blade that only angled, it was pretty light but worked well scraping the footing in the arena. So then I bought a Woods 7 footer last week and find it too heavy for my uses. Not only does it feel really heavy when transporting (manual says it’s 565lbs), it digs in too much in the material I’m moving. I have to adjust the level constantly, can’t let it float like I could with the lighter blade. Also, the lower lift points are really high so I had to adjust my lift links and it still scrapes on inclines. This blade would be great in harder material, but my uses are loose material and light snow so I’m going to get a lighter one. Live and learn.

There is no such thing as too heavy of a blade as long as your tractor will lift it. It’s all about technique. If the blade is cutting too much into gravel when you’re removing snow, just turn the moldboard around 180 degrees and float it with the back of the blade. Also don’t float it with the cutting edge forward if it’s cutting too deep or consider gauge wheels like some folks are recommending. A heavy blade can work for many uses, but too light of a blade is near useless for road grading. It just bounces and chatters without doing much.

In my case there is. I don't care if it's useless for road grading since I will never use it for that. I tried turning the blade backwards and while it knocked down some high spots it didn't scrape anything. I'm just trying to give people a different perspective before they buy the heaviest blade they can lift in case they have similar uses. I have no gravel, my driveway is paved. This will be used exclusively for loose material and in my opinion it's too heavy.

 

[LD1]

In my case there is. I don't care if it's useless for road grading since I will never use it for that. I tried turning the blade backwards and while it knocked down some high spots it didn't scrape anything. I'm just trying to give people a different perspective before they buy the heaviest blade they can lift in case they have similar uses. I have no gravel, my driveway is paved. This will be used exclusively for loose material and in my opinion it's too heavy.

Skid shoes or tail-wheels are usually what heavier blades use if you want more precise control of loose material