Why Not Chain Instead of Gauge Wheels?

[Charlesaf3]

you can do it without gauge wheels, but a lot of stuff is easier with, no doubt.

Got gauge wheels on my new rear blade as a result of the experience.

I actually find I can move loose dirt almost as well with a rake as with a box blade (and with a much nice finish)

 

[RobJ]

Every time tractor front end dipped, rake came up and so on. Piece of cake with GW's. IMHO

I'm probably lissing something, if the rake came up on the dips, then so would the gauge wheels. If the 3pt was down all the way like I use mine, there would be some float and it would stay on the ground.

 

[Gizmo2]

Using the position control for the 3PH adjust the rake so it is on the same level plane as the tractor with the tines not touching the ground, you may need to adjust the top link so the tines are not in contact with the ground. Set the position control stop so after lifting the rake you can drop it to the same position as it was before it was lifted. Adjust the top link to adjust how deep the tines dig. The gauge wheels are behind the rake and will not let the rake fall into any dips. When leveling you don't want the teeth on the ground all the time. Does this make sense?

 

[3RRL]

I learned how to level without gauge wheels.
The biggest problem are the dips and humps. Your tractor rides over them and if you have the blade or rake just barely touching, they ride up and down along with the tractor.
If you let the 3pt all the way down in float (adjust the side links long) then the blade or rake will follow the same contours, riding up and down in them. Without gauge wheels, the trick is to cut off only the tops of the humps, filling the low dips. This requires working the 3pt and/or the top link too. With gauge wheels, if you set the blade or rake to cut slightly, (also in float 3pt all the way down) they will cut the tops of the humps off which are lower than the wheels filling the low spots. But the gauge wheels now ride over the filled low spot (presumably) so you get a level surface and no dips.
I personally use my gauge wheels only for spreading lifts of dirt and maintaining an already level road surface. For adding lifts of dirt, I grab a box full and set the wheels to let out ... say 1" or 2" of material and it does it over the surface. That is a little easier than using the 3pt and position control, because even if there are a couple dips and humps, it spreads evenly over them whereas the 3pt would let the implement rise and fall as the tractor rides over those contours. I use my stuff without gauge wheels most all of the time, since I've gotten pretty used to getting it done without them.

 

[RobJ]

Interesting post Rob. I guess there are dozens of ways to do things. I don't have 2000' driveways but just pockets of areas I want to smooth out. I usually leave the rippers down just a bit, this'll break up any of the "humps" and then the box will redistribute the dirt. Then raise them for the finish. Only time I've lowered the rippers a lot was when I really needed move a lot of dirt from one area to the other.

Rob

 

[3RRL]

Interesting post Rob. I guess there are dozens of ways to do things. I don't have 2000' driveways but just pockets of areas I want to smooth out. I usually leave the rippers down just a bit, this'll break up any of the "humps" and then the box will redistribute the dirt. Then raise them for the finish. Only time I've lowered the rippers a lot was when I really needed move a lot of dirt from one area to the other.

Rob

You are right about more than one way to do things and I can see you are pretty good with your boxblade. You are also right about using your rippers to loosen the soil up first, I should have mentioned that. That makes it a lot easier for moving the loosened soil from one place to another plus it is necessary if the blade itself doesn't cut worth a darn on hard stuff.

One thing I've noticed too, is if both the hump and dip are hard ground, sometimes dragging the loose soil from the hump into the dip, the boxblade will also pull it out of the dip if the 3pt is in float...or you have to lift the 3pt to allow dirt to settle in there. This is where gauge wheels would help, because the wheel would be riding on the cutoff (new level) ground and not let the box dip down into the dip until soil has spilled into it, just like if you lifted the 3pt. Except it would be more exacting, especially if you are anything like I am where sometimes I lift too much or too little with the 3pt.

Another good way to level without gauge wheels is rip the area first like you said, then bulldoze in reverse with the boxblade. This works in a similar principal as the gauge wheels. The rear blade pushes the soil into the dip. The tractor wheels are now riding on the new cut off level so they don't "see" any dip or hump (like the gauge wheels when pulled). The rear blade pushes soil into the dip filling it, and the tractor rides over that filled area on a level keel. I used that method a lot to level all my roads and trails since I didn't have my gauge wheels back then. As a matter of fact, that's pretty much how I do most all leveling and pitch contouring too.

Like I said, I made those gauge wheels primarily for use on my rotary cutter as the rear wheels, but midstream decided to use them as QA gauge wheels for my other implements like the boxblade and landscape rake...why not since I was building them anyway? But I don't use them that much for anything except laying down lifts that I want to be fairly equal. lol ... I pretty much boxblade naked if you know what I mean. But I can see them coming in handy for my wife on her boxblade though. It might make it easier for her to level things out as a new user of that implement. I dunno? Plus we are old so I don't look forward to seeing HER boxblade naked, hahaha.

 

[RobJ]

The little whoops or washboards are the hardest to dress IMO. Since everone uses gauge wheels, I guess they work! But if you go over 2" deep whoop and fill in the dip. You have filled it with loose non compacted soil. then the gauge wheel hits it and compacts it, and the dip is still there. Point is compaction is needed. How many of us have made a perfect looking area, then walk on it. Nothing compacted.

The guys on our lease are/were in the business of making roads to oil drilling pads. These roads had to hold up trucks and stuff. The one at our deer/fishing lease doesn't see anything that heavy but it is bottom land. Their main tool is a small dozer. Dig out the ditches first since this is where the road is pushed into AND without drainage a road won't last long. then after the pile in the middle, level it out. The dozer helps with compaction but these guys can ususlly do it in 4 passes. 1 up the left ditch, 2 up the right ditch, 3-4 on the road. They also know about dirt conditions. One day we went down to the bottom and the road was a mess. Surely Edwin didn't do this. He did but stopped because the ground was to wet if I recall and you can't work with it like that. (BTW, this is pure East Texas river bottom black gumbo..if you use a PHD on it, the spoils ALL come up in round quarter size balls, funnest thing ever).

I realize materials are different, but knowledge of your material, and drainage IMO are what make roads last. And in the end, a road you have to maintain only once a year is a road you've constructed correctly. If you have to maintain a road monthly and all you are doing is driving cars on it, is a road that wasn't built properly for the conditions in the first place.

And what do the pros use...a road maintainer/road grader. Blade in the middle, gauge wheels in the back so to speak (and a lot of weight). But when I see them, almost all of the time they seem to be taking the road "down" to the proper level. But in either case, there is usually a pack of rollers following behind!

Rob

 

[AndyMA]

Bought my rake without gauge wheels. After spending countless non-productive hours fooling around went back bought the wheels and got some real work done. I also like to have ever other tine removed, works much better for me.

I suspect I'm in the minority here but I have been using York Type rakes for 40 plus years. I've had a very heavy duty 8 footer for over 20 years what came with $500 guage wheels. I rarely use them. I have done 100's of both commercial and residential jobs (some larger that football fields) and just find that the guage wheels limit me too much. Many of my larger jobs have had big roll sod ( invision a 4 foot wide 2000 lb roll of toilet paper being unrolled off your 3 pt hitch) put on them so any defects in spreading are very obvious. One thing to keep in mind when using a landscape rake is that speed has a marked effect on it's behavior. Start out slow and then do some high speed passes at the end. The tines will vibrate and you will get a very nice smooth finish.

Andy

 

[joe48]

I have used york rakes for years too ,never had the luxury of GWs. Did pretty good jobs, mostly grading gravel drives and roads so GWs not critical

Got my own and was doing several lawn jobs ,completely changeing the contours. After a couple of days and a very sore neck, went and fabbed my own out of tubing stoxck , 2- HF trailer hitch jacks and 2- HF big swivel casters. Made tubes with several adjustable holes to change length/distance from rake, and the cranks allow you to perfectly level the rake when angled.
And boy o boy did my old neck feel better, and the job of finish grading was simple.

ps; see old threads on this subject, check the pic from runner in this one to see what we both did.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/125203-stop-wave-while-leveling.html