Rear Blade Rear blade weight

Deere Dude · Feb 24, 2017

My last driveway was super hard in the summer also. One time I had a Caterpillar out doing some grading and he even had a rough time scraping it. I would wait until it softens up and scarify and regrade, and hopefully it will be nice through the summer.

Ford850 · Feb 24, 2017

The new heavier blade will help a lot. I have a similar older blade I have used on my hard packed drive for years, but I bought a new heavier blade last year. For me, I get better cutting by waiting for some moisture. I've gotten in the habit of grading the day after a rain even if the drive is in pretty good shape. That makes a big difference, but sometimes you can't wait for rain. I also found that angling the blade and driving slow in my lowest gear (think crawler) really helps too.

oosik · Feb 24, 2017

Well - patience is no virtue for me. I just got back from purchasing the Rhino 950 rear blade. I'll have it in two - three weeks.

I've learned from long & bitter experience that any corrective measure of a serious magnitude best be done in the spring or fall when the " 'ol concrete strip" is at least a little damp. The new blade should be able to drag a lot of that material back up, out of the ditches and onto the main roadbed. Any area where I do this will still need to be scarified so the material coming out of the ditches will bond. This is an activity that I should have been doing - all along - but as we all know - procrastination is usually paramount.

Actually - I must confess, I've been diligently checking rear blade web sites for the last two-three months. So... I guess today's purchase isn't such an impulse thing.

ovrszd · Feb 24, 2017

Congrats on the new blade!!!!

Make sure you come back here and show us pics of the blade and the work you do with it!!!

oosik · Feb 24, 2017

Yes - for sure. Today's early morning tip-toe out to get a pic will be a stark reminder. I'll be getting pics PIOR to backing the tractor & rear blade back into the black hole I call a carport stall. What a joke - all that work, getting the camera ready, bundling up like a eskimo, walking across my frozen yard & snow, snapped three pics, came back & uploaded three perfect jet black rectangles.

ovrszd · Feb 24, 2017

oosik said:
Yes - for sure. Today's early morning tip-toe out to get a pic will be a stark reminder. I'll be getting pics PIOR to backing the tractor & rear blade back into the black hole I call a carport stall. What a joke - all that work, getting the camera ready, bundling up like a eskimo, walking across my frozen yard & snow, snapped three pics, came back & uploaded three perfect jet black rectangles.

I feel your pain and appreciate your effort!!!! I have a very humorous vision of the activity though. Especially when you saw the result.

Piston · Feb 24, 2017

Congrats, you made the right choice!

RalphVa · Feb 24, 2017

I'm with oddball.

If your back blade is like the Frontier 48" one I have on the JD 2025R, I don't think it'll take much weight on it and much digging into hard stuff to damage it. It's very light weight.

Ralph