Third cry for help

[The Baron]

I know nothing of the BX23 but I have used a mm belly blade on my 455 JD. The blade frame is mounted to the front of the tractor where the front of the mower deck mounts. The blade itself is attached to the lift arms via pins and linkage. It also had a hydraulic cylinder for angling the blade. There is no pulling on the lift arms it is all done from the frame of the blade being mounted to the front of the tractor. I had a blast using it and it does work great. Hope this helps, Tim BTW I think the blade is approx. 7" tall if I remember correctly.

 

[ovrszd]

Not overly concerned with traveling clearance. No obstacles over 6 in high to scale.:laughing:

I run a full sized grader. It has approximately 18" of clearance under the lifted blade. It's very easy to get it high centered. The issue isn't that you are going to go around driving over 6" obstacles. It's that if you drop your front or rear tires into a ditch or low spot the 6" of blade clearance disappears alarmingly quick!!! Then you are stuck. I've lost track of the number of times I've had the blade completely lifted, moldboard still on the ground or pile of material, rear wheels spinning..... Very embarrassing. A grader has the blade capability to finally squirm around and get unstuck. I don't think you'll have that with your BX.

I doubt that you will end up with 6". I'd say more like 4". The average piece of gravel is 1.5". So you've not got much room left for uneven ground or getting off a pile of material.

Let's take your mowing deck for example, I doubt it's over 6" tall. I also doubt you can get it more than 4" off the ground.

The concept described above with the moldboard that lays forward is similar to what our DOT uses here. They have center mounted moldboards on 10 wheeler trucks that they use to push light snow or slush. When lifted the moldboard is almost horizontal which gives them ample clearance.

I'm still excited to see what you end up with!!! :thumbsup:

 

[ovrszd]

Forgot to mention, since you are looking for information concerning a JD700 blade setup, you might start a thread in the John Deere section with that as a subject and get some better responses. I know there's a guy that hangs out there that has a collection of JD lawn/garden tractors that might be able to steer you to what you are looking for, I can't for the life of me think of his name...

 

[davcog]

Forgot to mention, since you are looking for information concerning a JD700 blade setup, you might start a thread in the John Deere section with that as a subject and get some better responses. I know there's a guy that hangs out there that has a collection of JD lawn/garden tractors that might be able to steer you to what you are looking for, I can't for the life of me think of his name...

Thanks for your insights and lead. :thumbsup:

Going to contact local guy first. I'm very tactile and seeing something in person would help tremendously.

Also may put on hold until later this fall or winter. Road is in reasonable condition and have other things going on.

I'm trail master for local snowmobile club and am gearing up for 2011 - 2012 season. Meeting with our landowners, trail improvements, checking grooming equipment, assisting with build of new trail drag, fund raisers and club meetings to discuss pending rule changes with members.

:smiley_aafz: Who said retirees have time on their hands?

 

[evo803]

Over on the mytractorforum user name greengeene made a tow behind box blade for his JD 749 and it is simply amazing. The tow behind design offers the greatest distance between the tires so it produces a smoother surface with fewer passes just like a road grader. It has a walking beam axle design that copes with rough surfaces much better than just a single axles design. It is hydraulically controled for height ,tilt and scarificer use.

You could scale this down and it would be perfect for your needs and you could make all the adjustments a mechanical type to save $$$ .

 

[ovrszd]

Over on the mytractorforum user name greengeene made a tow behind box blade for his JD 749 and it is simply amazing. The tow behind design offers the greatest distance between the tires so it produces a smoother surface with fewer passes just like a road grader. It has a walking beam axle design that copes with rough surfaces much better than just a single axles design. It is hydraulically controled for height ,tilt and scarificer use.

You could scale this down and it would be perfect for your needs and you could make all the adjustments a mechanical type to save $$$ .

A neighbor made one from a 5' BB. His only has one cylinder so can't tilt the box but it will grade a road as smooth as a tabletop.

 

[davcog]

Thanks to Irene may have do build sooner than later. Some pretty substantial rivelets running on the road. Will have to access damage in the am.

Will check out that lead on MTF.

 

[davygp38]

Over on the mytractorforum user name greengeene made a tow behind box blade for his JD 749 and it is simply amazing. The tow behind design offers the greatest distance between the tires so it produces a smoother surface with fewer passes just like a road grader. It has a walking beam axle design that copes with rough surfaces much better than just a single axles design. It is hydraulically controled for height ,tilt and scarificer use.

You could scale this down and it would be perfect for your needs and you could make all the adjustments a mechanical type to save $$$ .

What he said!

 

[MarkV]

Sounds like an interesting project. I am not sure I see the advantage of the mm blade over a rear blade with guide wheels though.

MarkV

 

[davcog]

Sounds like an interesting project. I am not sure I see the advantage of the mm blade over a rear blade with guide wheels though.

MarkV

From what I understand it is easier to get a uniformly level roadway faster with a MM blade. The washboarding caused by the front or rear of the tractor going over humps is reduced because you're not fiddling with the height adjustment of a front or rear blade to compensate.