Rear Blade Rear blades with 3-way hydraulic adjustments?

[MadReferee]

I've been toying with the idea of buying a Woods 7 ft rear blade and then put one hydraulic cylinder on it so I could angle one way. I only have one set of rear remotes so that's the reason for the one cylinder, I can't see how the brackets for the cylinder would be a big deal.

One double acting cylinder with bracketing set so that the cylinder is half way extended when the blade is sitting straight across the back perpendicular to the tractor is all you need. You do not need 2 sets of remotes to angle right and left. There have been several posts over the past few years with different methods to accomplish this using both brackets and/or simple linkage.

If you are into copying what a manufacturer has already done then just get the parts manual for a model that has hydraulic angling and copy the bracket setup.

 

[JoeinTX]

"As for the gauge wheel, have you ever tried to remove whoop-de-doos from a gravel drive with a rear blade? I have. I've gotten reasonably good at it over the years. But, until a few years ago, I was unaware that there was such a thing as a gauge wheel available for a rear blade. This turns a normal tractor and rear blade into a reasonable approximation of a road grader for leveling purposes...."

The gauge wheel is a simple thing which makes a difference. For grading, lower the 3pt all of the way, set your guage wheel height as you want it.....and take off. The motion of the tractor up-and-down over humps, washboards, gullies, etc. is negated. Without it, you're constantly trying to adjust the height of the blade for the motion of the tractor and you'll wind up with gouges and berms. The wheel option is not so great if you're doing a lot of angled cutting or using it to clear brush/undergrowth in reverse.

 

[jimgerken]

Bam, If I am not mistaken, having a hyd top link will eliminate the need for hyd gauge wheels. You'd have fixed gauge wheels, set about right, and fine tune with the top link. In my experience, adjusting the angle of the blade (rake) doesn't do anything different (without gauge wheels). But if there were gauge wheels, it would have a large effect. Then, as stated, the hyd sidelink will get you the landscape tilt you are after. The only reqmt left from your list is offset. And of course that needs a cylinder, probably a long one. Needless to say you will need three available hyd circuits for all of this. I would want my loader on the tractor at the same time when doing this type of work, and to load the bucket to get more traction from the front wheels. Blades pull hard if they are actually pulling some dirt.

 

[Raddad]

On my landpride the height of the gauge wheels are set by moving spacers above and below the gauge wheel bracket. The angle of entry for the blade is set by changing the relationship between the gauge wheel spacers and the length of the top link. Less spacers and a longer top link and the blade diggs in more. More spacers and a shorter top link the blade will cut in less. Having hydraulic gauge wheels saves you the trouble of repositioning the gauge wheels by moving the spacers that raise and lower the wheels. With a hydraulic top link you will still need to move spacers to change how aggressive the blade cuts in.

Here is a picture of a hydraulic gauge wheel.

http://www.landpride.com/ari/attach/lp/public/manuals/301-172m.pdf

 

[radman1]

Can anyone recommend any rear blades that can be purchased with optional hydraulic 3-way adjustments that are appropriately sized for a large frame CUT (45 HP engine, 38 HP PTO)?

I'm looking for a blade with the following specifications: CAT 1, 8' moldboard, hydraulic offset, hydraulic angle, hydraulic tilt, optional hydraulic gauge wheel, optional skid shoes, and optional end plates.

My research has found the Rhino 950 and Land Pride RBT40. The Rhino 950 meets all my requirements, but is an expensive ($3,000+) and heavy duty model weighing in at a little over 1,000 lbs. The RBT40 meets all my requirements except that there is no gauge wheel option (a glaring omission on Land Prides part!).

You do realize having that kind of adjustment capability will require 4 sets of hydraulic outlets? Do you have that ability?
Also these larger blades will signifcantly push the front of your relatively small tractor around if you offset the blade to the side. I have the land pride RBT4096 which is really much more blade than my JD 3720 tractor can handle. The blade is wide enough that I never need to offset the blade. If I ever did, I would just do it manually. I do have the ability to hydraulically angle the blade and use the tilt mounted on the tractor to tip the blade.
If you still want to go that route, I would opt for the tilt being on the tractor than on the blade. It will give more versatility for other attachments and accomplish to same result.
I have considered fabricating a rear gauge wheel on the blade but it has been a low priority.

 

[couchsachraga]

For what it's worth...I have a manual offset / tilt / angle blade from Woods that displayed all of the cylinders to make it hydraulic as options...so it is possible.

I live in the very-rocky Adirondacks, and when I offset the blade I do not have much problem with the blade moving the front of the tractor around (there is a FEL on it, sometimes with something in it, depending on exactly what I'm doing).

My blade is only 7', but then my tractor is slightly smaller than yours (33 engine hp), but is thankfully 4wd...otherwise it wouldn't go very far when the blade loads up the dirt and rocks

Regarding the TNT, I have a partial CCM set up (side link only from them...the top link has been on order for 9 months). I needed something NOW for the top link and picked up one from Redland Hill...it works, but the cylinder is too small, and without the check valves when I contact a piece of ledge the cylinder compresses...not exactly ideal. I've learned to take it really slow and keep the RPMs up in the PTO range and it seems to work OK....so realize that with the gauge wheel setup or TNT you'll want a big bore cylinder for your top link (I cobbed something together with "standard" ends on the cylinder for a while that worked great, but for my woods HBL I needed a proper top link as the other wouldn't fit.)

Couchsachraga

 

[bam747]

FYI, new info as of 3/9/07...

LandPride has release a new RBT35 rear blade. It is available with hydraulic or manual tilt, offset, and angle adjustments, manual or hydraulic gauge wheel, side plates, and skid shoes. It is available in 6' (72"), 7' (84"), and 8' (96") widths.

Most importantly, the RBT35 is a little brother to the RBT40 and is rated for 35-80 engine HP 2WD or 35-65 engine HP 4WD tractors. In other words, the perfect size for a large frame cut!

The pricing seems to be around $2000 for the basic blade and then $280 per hydraulic adjustment or $60 per manual adjustment (angle, offset, tilt). The side plates are $120/pair. The skid plates are $180/pair.

Note that the RBT35 blade is a completely different design than the RB35 blade, which is still available.

http://www.landpride.com/products/prod_rb/prod_rbt35.html

 

[Catman1]

I do have two questions. I need to do a lot of roadwork on my driveway. It was never done correctly. The water runs right down the middle of it making a real mess, so I need to slant the driveway one way or another to drain into a needed ditch or make the center higher so either side of the road drains into a ditch. The road is such that I may need to do one or the other on different sections of road as only one side can have a ditch in certain places.

1. When one wants to create a V shaped drainage ditch along the road (and also shape the road ) what implement is best to use. I guess if you can buy both a Box Blade for moving dirt on the road and a rear blade to cut the ditches that would be best but I could be wrong. I don't have experience with this. Can you do both with just a box blade?

2. You say that you can put the TNT on just the tractor so you can use it on other implements or just on the implement itself (box blade, rear blade, etc.)?
My new tractor will come with 3 remotes.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

bam747, have you gotten your rear blade yet? Land Pride makes top of the line implements. The 40 Series is to big for your tractor, but that RBT35 Series looks to be just right. I to am going to hydraulic controls for my rear blade. I have been looking at Land Pride and Bison, both very good blades, but to much $$$$ for me. I am going to rebuild my Midwest blade, beef up the main beam and pivot, and add angle and offset hydraulics. I have T'n'T, so I don't need the tilt on the blade.

Good luck with your blade.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Catman 1, yes your road can be worked with just a box blade and get the results that you want. But it would be faster and easier with a rear blade IMO. To maintain your road I recommend a Road Boss grader blade or similar.
A Top'n'Tilt has to be one of the best accessories you can have on any tractor with a 3PH that uses dirt moving implements.

One of the things to keep in mind when grading is what you are doing with the material being worked. If you need to transport the material any distance, then you need to (capture) the load using a box blade or loader or similar implement. If you are re-shaping the material, (your road) then you want a (live) load. Material rolling off of a rear blade, material is constantly changing. A Road Boss grader blade uses a (live) load to re-finish a roads surface, but not really intended to do major re-shaping.

I hope that some of this makes sense, good luck.