Grader blade guage wheels again

Elsie71 · Dec 1, 2008

I thought I would post photos of the gauge wheels I put on my grader blade. These wheels came off my old Kubota rear mount mower. I also use them on my snowblower. Not perfect, but the blade sure works better with them. Eliminates the ups and downs as the front wheels go over bumps or in holes. They help keep the snowblower out of the stone as well. For light grading I use a chain in place of the third link for easier height control. PICS included. (Photos out of order)

JB4310 · Dec 1, 2008

I have a terrible time when ever I get in the dirt with my rear blade, I might have to try some wheels, I knew when I got a rake it had to have wheels. The only easy time I have with the rear blade is on paved drive.
JB.

bjr · Dec 3, 2008

I get all wide eyed and want some guage wheels that I can switch between implements like back blade or box blade or rake. But just haven't had time to build them so what I've tried and seems to work on installing a new lawn seed bed is dragging the back blade backwards. It's kinda like back bladeing with the bucket in float postion on a FEL setup. I had to do a lot of passes but it did smooth things out a lot. Some of you guys might try this as it works real well in already broken up soil. bjr

3RRL · Dec 8, 2008

I made a set of guage wheels out of my rotary cutter rear wheels.
Actually I made them FOR my rotary cutter and wanted to have 2 wheels back there instead of one. Then I figured I could swap them over to my boxblade to spread lifts of material or to do some really good smoothing with it. I made receptacles for the implements all the same so I could switch them from implement to implement. I also made them with a hydraulic cylinder so I could set the height on the fly using one of the rear remote valves. I have receptacles for my wife's rake too, but haven't installed those yet.

dirtworksequip · Dec 8, 2008

3RRL, although I'm not a big fan of gauge wheels.......that is a nice, well thought out set up. Sincerely, Dirt

MJPetersen · Dec 8, 2008

Gauge wheels are a great help to get a great looking finish in a short time. I made mine for the RB that I made. I planned for the wheels at the beginning of the project and believe that they came out well. Rear blade with gauge wheelsl

It would not be too hard to make my wheels a quick attach, but right now I have no motivation as I have nothing else to put them on.

The adjustment mechanism could be easily replaced with hydraulic if it were available.

Mike

3RRL · Dec 8, 2008

Mike,
I remember your thread and even commented in it about making yours quick attach and using the hydraulic cylinder instead of the mechanical adjustment.
You might as well do it if you have time.

dirtworksequip said:
3RRL, although I'm not a big fan of gauge wheels.......that is a nice, well thought out set up. Sincerely, Dirt

Thanks Dirt.
I happen to agree with you and I really don't use mine for general smoothing like I thought I would.
I get a very good finish without them. On the other hand, with that added weight on the boxblade with the wheels in the "up" position, it sure makes it a nice heavy implement.
But what I have used them for and they are great for is to set them when dragging a certain amount of material in lifts. Such as when I recently add 2" lifts of DG to a pad I'm building. It spreads the new material exactly what I set it for and it after several drags, it all comes out even. The reason I want to add the receptacles on my wife's rake is so she can lightly rake (skim) certain areas without digging in too deep from spot to spot in case she forgets to reposition the 3pt over bumps and swales.

Egon · Dec 8, 2008

Those are all very nice looking Gage wheels.

I'll not post a picture of mine!

MJPetersen · Dec 9, 2008

3RRL said:
Mike,
I remember your thread and even commented in it about making yours quick attach and using the hydraulic cylinder instead of the mechanical adjustment.
You might as well do it if you have time.

Rob, I have thought several times about how I could make them QA but really I do not have a rear cutter, rake, or anything else that they might be used with. If I had somehting then for sure they would be.

About the hyd

I would really really like to do that, but I do not have any hyd on the tractor (beyond the 3 pt). I am already tired of climbing on and off the tractor for minor adjustments. I want to rectify that situation, but have not yet. Finances and free time holding me back on that. I have dreams of adding a loader this winter, but we will see.

Mike

3RRL · Dec 9, 2008

OK Mike, good luck with that.
I can see where if you don't need it it's senseless to do it.
I hope this Christmas will be a good one for you and you get what you want.

kthompson · Dec 9, 2008

MJPetersen said:
Rob, I have thought several times about how I could make them QA but really I do not have a rear cutter, rake, or anything else that they might be used with. If I had somehting then for sure they would be. About the hyd I would really really like to do that, but I do not have any hyd on the tractor (beyond the 3 pt). I am already tired of climbing on and off the tractor for minor adjustments. I want to rectify that situation, but have not yet. Finances and free time holding me back on that. I have dreams of adding a loader this winter, but we will see.

Mike

Mike, if you were to use a flexible top link (Elsie71 uses a chain) you may find you are able to adjust your 3pth enough to save some of the changes in your wheels you are now making. OK, can not think of what they call if but you could use one of the electric screws (Northern Tool has them in current catalog) to adjust your wheels.

Elsie71 · Dec 9, 2008

KThompson - You are right. With the chain in place of the third link, I can control the height of the blade by adjusting the 3 pt. The blade, of course, is suspended between the wheels and the hitch. This only works for light grading, however. For heavier material I have to use the third link or the blade will rock forward.

3RRL - Your system if far superior to mine but way beyond my talent level. Mine only involved cutting and drilling with a very limited amount of welding. It still needs a coat of paint.

Sherweld · Dec 10, 2008

Elsie71 said:
KThompson - You are right. With the chain in place of the third link, I can control the height of the blade by adjusting the 3 pt. The blade, of course, is suspended between the wheels and the hitch. This only works for light grading, however. For heavier material I have to use the third link or the blade will rock forward.

3RRL - Your system if far superior to mine but way beyond my talent level. Mine only involved cutting and drilling with a very limited amount of welding. It still needs a coat of paint.

Would a weight tray on top of the blade help to keep the blade down for those times you are doing heavier cutting?

Looking good as is though.

I've got my eye on a "boneyard" trencher blade to put together a 3pt blade, and you folks on this forum have shared some really great ideas.

Thanks
Sherweld

MJPetersen · Dec 10, 2008

kthompson said:
Mike, if you were to use a flexible top link (Elsie71 uses a chain) you may find you are able to adjust your 3pth enough to save some of the changes in your wheels you are now making. OK, can not think of what they call if but you could use one of the electric screws (Northern Tool has them in current catalog) to adjust your wheels.

ahh guys do not do this to me!!

I thought for sure that I had a perfect REASON for needing to tap into the hydraulics. Do not take that away from me.

Actually the chain idea is great and I had not thought of that. It does make good logical sense as I think through the action with a chain. With a rigid top link the blade height is dependent on the top link adjustment and the adjustment on the wheels. basically if it is set then you can just drop the 3 pt down and go and the blade does the work of taking off the high spots and filling in the low.

With a chain then the adjustment is predominately with the 3 pt. Consistency from pass to pass becomes a bigger challenge, but the biggest problem with a chain that I can see in my mind--not in practice because I have not gone out there today to figure out how to do this.

--would be if you had your blade at an angle. It seems to me that then you would need a rigid toplink to maintain the level of the blade, so that the corners did not dig in.

A very interesting idea that I will have to try. Thanks for posting the suggestion. Now the actuator would work, but I am going to hold out for hyd. Your suggestion of the chain will keep me busy for a while.

Mike

jimmysisson · Dec 11, 2008

Sherweld, like your Moynihan quote, thanks!
Jim

JoeL4330 · Dec 13, 2008

MJP: I wanted the compliance a chain would offer but I have T&T and my blade angles, too ...so, my solution was to put a swinging bracket between hyd toplink and toplink mtg pt on blade ...in fact, I used the top link adapter that HF sells for their quick hitch ...works great.

sandman2234 · Mar 21, 2009

Due to my neighbors barn fire, I have several nice pieces of "New Junk", slightly charred. One of them is a Gravely Zero turn mower, and I was talking to the wife about maybe adding a set of gauge wheels to my boxblade. Right in the middle of her asking how much I was fixing to spend (question actually was "what do you need to do that"), I grabbed a flashlight and walked out being the garage where the Gravely is sitting. Called her to come see what I was looking at, and she said, "that is exactly what you just discribed".
All I have to do is cut the main beams loose from the engine compartment cage and I can use the front wheels as guage wheels on my boxblade.
Just mentioned this, in case somebody has a zero turn with a similar fate and they need some guage wheels.
Wonder if them being swivel wheels is going to make any difference, or am I going to want to weld them into a straight line only wheel?
David from jax

On Edit:
I just went and looked at the "King of boxblades" setup, and unless he has welded them in place, 3RRL is using swivel wheels, so I should be ok with them!

David from jax

Egon · Mar 22, 2009

Just mentioned this, in case somebody has a zero turn with a similar fate and they need some Gage wheels.

Oh no, will there be a spate of barn nows where folks are in the need of Gage wheels???

sandman2234 · Mar 22, 2009

Might be a good reason to start leaving your zero turn mower outside, so somebody doesn't burn your barn down for the guage wheels!!!
David from jax

3RRL · Mar 22, 2009

sandman2234 said:
Wonder if them being swivel wheels is going to make any difference, or am I going to want to weld them into a straight line only wheel?
David from jax

On Edit:
I just went and looked at the "King of boxblades" setup, and unless he has welded them in place, 3RRL is using swivel wheels, so I should be ok with them!

David from jax

Hi David,
Mine are the swiveling type like you thought.
Mine are off the rotary cutter tail wheel. In fact, that's where this set was made for. I made them so I could take them off and use them as gauge wheels on other stuff.