Road maintenance - Tuffline v. Grademaster v. Roadboss

[Compact1]

Charles,

Have you pulled the trigger yet?

 

[RFB]

I did about about 2 hours ago.

I called RGM Manufacturing Road Boss Grader in Mandan ND (the parent mfr of the Road Boss). They put me in touch with FHM Equipment in Mandan, ND, and Fred Myers (the owner) brought me a 7 foot with 24 inch sides (weight about 1100) to Idaho for 2850 including the delivery.
(FHM Welcome to FHM Equipment LLC rebrands the Road Boss with their logo per RGM).

I just spent the last two hours using on a 1/2 miles stretch of a 2 mile neglected road harder than woodpecker lips (the Gem State for a reason) and am very satisfied with both the product and the dealer. Good people all around, and they keep their end on what they say.

 

[Charlesaf3]

No, it kills me to read this thread, since I really want one. But justifying it is just impossible - the roads are maintained, and though it could be better, I've found that a combination of front harley rake and rear landscape rake does a really good job. And I have those, so really tough to justify a new implement.

Bfreaky, really impressive work! And your english is perfectly comprehensible, quite good. If you have not used a box blade of some sort before, keep in mind what mtnview said, they can easily stop even big strong heavy tractors. I like your plans, but I worry they might be too big.

 

[Charlesaf3]

No, it kills me to read this thread, since I really want one. But justifying it is just impossible - the roads are maintained, and though it could be better, I've found that a combination of front harley rake and rear landscape rake does a really good job. And I have those, so really tough to justify a new implement.

Bfreaky, really impressive work! And your english is perfectly comprehensible, quite good. If you have not used a box blade of some sort before, keep in mind what mtnview said, they can easily stop even big strong heavy tractors. I like your plans, but I worry they might be too big.

 

[Charlesaf3]

Oh, and has anyone thought about faking one with bolt on skids on a box blade? An idea I've been playing with, would love your thoughts

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Oh, and has anyone thought about faking one with bolt on skids on a box blade? An idea I've been playing with, would love your thoughts

Charles, while some 5 or 6 foot skids would definitely help with the evenness of the cut, the only practical way of dumping material gathered would be out the bottom. Pretty tough to have the material spoiling over the top for a lot of guys. I think that you should try it and let us know how well it works. :thumbsup: 2"x 4" or 6" angle x 1/2" thick would work good. This could be a very economical way of making a grader blade.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Jeff Compact1
How did you find a Land Pride GS1572 for under 1K. I just priced their
66" scarifier (Only a scarifier nothing else) and got List price $849
my price $750.
I could not find a GS1572 for under $1800 so I ended up making my
own much simpler version for about $750 which I thought was a good deal
but now I'm not sure.

 

[RFB]

Charles,

While I was taking delivery of my grader Mr. Myers discussed skid replacement. He suggested that old leaf springs from a junk yard make excellent skids.

RFB

 

[Charlesaf3]

Thanks Brian - how important is the spilllover?

Great idea RFB!

 

[scesnick]

I have been looking at various models of these graders for a while now. I have a 2.5 mile driveway/road that I have to maintain but unlike most of the pics here, my road is VERY hard packed. Some of it if a gravel mix and some is a material called Red Dog. I do use a box blade with the rippers down to fix problem pothole areas but it takes a while to even scratch the surface on some occassions.
My question is, will one of these graders work for my road or will they just skip over the road doing next to nothing? Or will it require several passes to see any results. Which I would be OK with if it did, in fact produce results.