Grading Scraper blade - how wide?

[thekkfan]

I got lucky, found a local who wanted to get rid of a used one for half that. Just keep watching craigslist and facebook farm equip groups. Never know what you'll find.

 

[PILOON]

I made the mistake when buying my blade, too narrow!
However I rectified by adding 6 ins to each end and a new cutting edge.
Later I added a shelf in order to add weight.
Fortunately I can rotate for maximum usage and often level material by grading in reverse as then the 4 wheels ore on a level surface and there are no ups and downs, AKA woopie doos!

 

[Turbys_1700]

I run my dad's old 8 foot Super Rhino. It was considered a heavy duty blade when sold back in the 60's. It will not cover my tracks if tilted to 45 degrees but has an offset feature that allows moving it to the side. It was a top of the line blade back in the day and does a great job. Weight is your friend in blades and the more they weigh the more they cost. Just as a comparison the medium duty 8 foot blade listed for the Taylor Way weighs in at 510#. It is a good decent blade. The Super Rhino that I use is listed at 760# with a 3" kingpin. Oosik's is heavier than mine.

 

[52wej]

One comment I have not seen mentioned is you need to have plenty of tractor weight no matter what the blade width. Any blade at a steep angle will try to push the tractor side ways. Especially in deep snow with slick conditions underfoot, a steeply angled blade will push the tractor sideways, often into the ditch. Been stuck from that too many times! It will also happen with dirt, but not as easily since there is usually more traction for the wheels. Weight is important for the blade, but perhaps of equal importance is having a rear trailing wheel on the blade to help maintain the proper height. On a gravel road that will give a very smooth finish job, evenly distributing the gravel. W. Jones

 

[AGTtactical]

I run my dad's old 8 foot Super Rhino. It was considered a heavy duty blade when sold back in the 60's. It will not cover my tracks if tilted to 45 degrees but has an offset feature that allows moving it to the side. It was a top of the line blade back in the day and does a great job. Weight is your friend in blades and the more they weigh the more they cost. Just as a comparison the medium duty 8 foot blade listed for the Taylor Way weighs in at 510#. It is a good decent blade. The Super Rhino that I use is listed at 760# with a 3" kingpin. Oosik's is heavier than mine.

Turbys, what is the weight of your tractor you put this Super Rhino on? I'll just be grading gravel on my driveway...#34 and crusher run, and it would go on my 4100 pound 62 hp L6060. I don't think I'll have any problem with a 1000 pound blade, but I welcome anyone's input.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Turbys, what is the weight of your tractor you put this Super Rhino on? I'll just be grading gravel on my driveway...#34 and crusher run, and it would go on my 4100 pound 62 hp L6060. I don't think I'll have any problem with a 1000 pound blade, but I welcome anyone's input.

To me, the Land Pride RBT3596 is a perfect match for an L6060.

 

[AGTtactical]

To me, the Land Pride RBT3596 is a perfect match for an L6060.

Thanks Brian... always helpful, as usual. Funny, I was leaning toward the same thing basically...but a no-hyds Landpride RB3796. I plan on using one of your exquisite top & tilt kits, so I don't think I need the hydraulic grader (RBT).
Do you think a 96 versus a 84" is better? I will almost exclusively use it at 45 degrees. My L6060 with R4 tires is 72" wide. The RB3784 at 45 degree blade angle is 59" wide (~6 inches inboard of both wheels), but the RB37 can offset by 26" left or right. So, at full offset, that 59" width would stick out past the right wheel about 20". Gravel would be dumped about 39" in from the edge of the driveway...a second pass could bring it further to the center if needed. But maybe its better to have that extra reach with the 96"..at 45 degrees is 67" wide. Yeah, we are only talking 8" difference, I know. What do you think...it would be for a 10-12" driveway about half a mile long. RB3796 weighs 665 pounds. RBT3596 weighs 735...probably mostly from the extra hydraulic actuators.

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[MtnViewRanch]

Thanks Brian... always helpful, as usual. Funny, I was leaning toward the same thing basically...but a no-hyds Landpride RB3796. I plan on using one of your exquisite top & tilt kits, so I don't think I need the hydraulic grader (RBT).
Do you think a 96 versus a 84" is better? I will almost exclusively use it at 45 degrees. My L6060 with R4 tires is 72" wide. The RB3784 at 45 degree blade angle is 59" wide (~6 inches inboard of both wheels), but the RB37 can offset by 26" left or right. So, at full offset, that 59" width would stick out past the right wheel about 20". Gravel would be dumped about 39" in from the edge of the driveway...a second pass could bring it further to the center if needed. But maybe its better to have that extra reach with the 96"..at 45 degrees is 67" wide. Yeah, we are only talking 8" difference, I know. What do you think...it would be for a 10-12" driveway about half a mile long. RB3796 weighs 665 pounds. RBT3596 weighs 735...probably mostly from the extra hydraulic actuators.

View attachment 583600

Actually that weight is taken with the manual adjustors. The RBT35 series has 30" of offset capability, a HUGE plus in my mind. Several of my customers have gone with 96" blades and all seem to be happy. I think that you will find that an 84" blade is just to narrow for your tractor's all around use. Can you get by with a 7' unit, absolutely, but I'm pretty sure that you would be happier with an 8' model.

I know that I went from an 8 footer with 24" offset capability on my bigger tractor to a 9 footer with 35" offset capabilities, what a difference. Hardly ever have to offset anymore, but when I do I have all I ever need. :thumbsup:

I believe that you will find that it would be very nice to have the hydraulic angle, I find myself changing the blade angle quite a bit. But that might just be me and my situation.

Easy enough to get by with manual adjust tilt, basically don't even need it when you have T&T. With manual adjust offset you will find that you only use it when absolutely needed vs when it would just be easier to have the blade offset a little.

Just my :2cents:, oh and be sure to get the skid shoes.

 

[AGTtactical]

Thanks Brian. Weight...yeah, that makes sense. The RBT looks a lot beefier. It's about a foot longer too. And I just noticed that the RBT has 50 degrees of max angle, compared to 45 for RB. Maybe you are right....

Assuming TNT and 3 hydraulic valves on my tractor, I would have one open valve. Do you change your offset more, or your blade angle more? In other words, if you only had one hydraulic option, blade angle or offset? My use is mostly pulling rock back into the center of the road. I'd think I'd want 45 degree blade angle all the time for that, but not sure.

Why the skid shoes?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Thanks Brian. Weight...yeah, that makes sense. The RBT looks a lot beefier. It's about a foot longer too. And I just noticed that the RBT has 50 degrees of max angle, compared to 45 for RB. Maybe you are right....

Assuming TNT and 3 hydraulic valves on my tractor, I would have one open valve. Do you change your offset more, or your blade angle more? In other words, if you only had one hydraulic option, blade angle or offset? My use is mostly pulling rock back into the center of the road. I'd think I'd want 45 degree blade angle all the time for that, but not sure.

Why the skid shoes?

MAYBE If you look close, you can see that I have( until just recently) only had a single hydraulic on my LP RBT45108. It was on the blade angle adjustment. I have over a mile of road to maintain and about half of it has curves going left-right. In those curves I often adjust the blade angle. I will also say that the amount of angle I have the blade set at changes with the moisture content in the ground.

With what I grade most of the time, offset typically is not required, so to answer your question, angle is changed waaaay more than offset is used.

I honestly can't see any reason that offset would EVER be used more than blade angle. Just because you offset the boom does not mean that the blade angle does not need to be changed. You would still need to change the blade angle with the boom offset. but it seems common that people have the offset cylinder in place and leave the angle adjustment to be manual.

Skid shoes just make life easier and for the most part prevent the corners from gouging if-when the blade tips.

If you go this way, purchase the blade with no angle adjustment at all and get the cylinder from me. I can provide a 3 1/2" dia welded cylinder with a 1 3/4" dia rod with the proper length hoses and couplers shipped to you for less money than what LP charges for their tie rod cylinder and hoses that are to long with no couplers.