Milkman,
I'm not sure what post you are refering to, or when I said that. I can see the blade, but just the outer edges of it. I cannot see the side of the blade with the dirt either, but that's pretty obvious since I'm sitting on the other end of it.
The contraption on the top of the blade is to stop logs from rolling over the top of the blade and tearing off my hoses. I can push allot of logs at one time, but they tend to roll and work their way up and over the blade. Having that hunk of steel up there stops this from happening to a large degree. The times they still get by, have to either try to back up and out from it, or get off the dozer and move it by hand.
I have what is called an 8 way blade. It goes up and down, just like your laoder does, but when I go sideways with the control, the angle of the blades tilts. I go right, and the blade dips down to the right. Then I have anohter control that angles the blade forward and backwards at a angle. This really helps with finish work. The last control is the angle of the blade itself. It changes to be more aggressive while digging dirt, or less aggreassive to spread the dirt.
The secret to dozer operating is to take very, very small bites and to react very slowly. Rapid, fast movements create a mess on the dirt. Everyone who's driven it goes way too fast. They do not realize how much is going on, or how far apart a 12 foot blade is when you can only see one side at a time. Then to see the other side, you have to turn your head and look away from the side you were looking at. It sounds kind of basic, but this confuses everyone when they first start out. The other thing is they dig too much, too fast. One inch deep will fill up the blade in about ten feet. Then after that, you are just wasting fuel. A full blade is all you can move, so then it's time to move dirt and not dig it. Again, it's real simple to say, tough to understand while in the seat.
Eddie
