Thanks all for advice

[Buckee]

TC33DA, 18 hours now, mostly working 1200' gravel driveway with rear blade. Glad I practiced before weather got here. Observations:
- with rear blade, she wants to dig in and clear all the way to China. THANK YOU to all here who advised to get a hydraulic top link - by far it's the best thing added "after the initial deal".
- Never thought I would swing the blade around so much - left angle fwd, right angle reverse, straight fwd & back, etc. Works great but the driveway is rugged, this is going to take some serious practice. So far I am happy with the hand-cranked tilt - don't think I needed a full T&T, time will tell ....
- With FEL (& a grapple) up front, definitely need to improvise some weight in back. Lots of holes in the rear blade, lots of old barbells in the shop, ...
- the ATI grapple is just plain magic. Wish I had gotten a 2nd remote though, one for back & front.
- At 18 hours the only eqpt failure was a loose bolt on the rear blade, all else checks AOK.

Anyway I am a very happy TC33DA owner, and much more confident thanks to the posts in here. "She who must be obeyed" can't understand why I want to be on the 33 all day, and in here all night. Now that I've typed it, it sounds a little strange to me too ...

Got to run - it's snowing, must save the family and the neighbors.

THANK YOU

 

[ACMan]

Buckee,
I maintained a 800' gravel driveway for 6 years. My neighbor prefered a grader blade like you and I prefered a box blade. I found if you angle back and towards the center as you go up and down the drive you could build a good crown. Then one time down the center to slightly flatten the crown. The box blade just seemed to keep the gravel on the driveway better for me.

I have a 750 # grapple rake and found that putting the boxblade on the back and a railroad tie (6') on top of the blade (chained) worked great as a counter weight. Never had to take the tie off the box blade.

Enjoy that tractor!