Dealing with whipty-doos using a chain top link on a landscape grader.

[shooterdon]

I spent about 2 hours yesterday trying to level my 250 yard drive using a landscape grader. I have an Afton stone (21 AA crushed limestone) drive. I know it is the wrong attachment to plane off the high spots and move stone to the low spots but I do not want to invest in a box blade for a one time job.

I was hoping that making multiple passes with the grader would eventually level things out. But there is still a tendency of the grader scraping more off the low spots and less on the high spots. I got quite a bit of improvement by manually raising and lowering the grader but would like a simpler solution.

So I was wondering about taking off the top link and replacing it with a chain. Looking or advice on this. My thoughts are to make the chain short enough to allow the grader to move 1" below "level" grade so it can dig in a bit but long enough to allow the grader to move up 3-4" when i hit a low spot so it does not dig in. Also, would it be better to attach the chain ot eh lowest or highest point on the tractor?

I have read about the dangers of using a chain top link on stuff like a bush hog. Are there any safety concerns about using a chain or a ground engaging attachment? I have no stumps or large rocks to worry about.

 

[PILOON]

In order to get good leveling your wheels need to be on a flat level surface.
While not comfortable to do so, try grading in reverse.
I think you'll be surprised as to how well it works.

There won't be those amplified up and downs that simply create bigger downs.
Using this method I have often spread truckloads to a nice 3/4 inch even coverage over surprising distances.

Next to get a real fine finish drive forwards while dragging your rear blade reversed and do so at a good clip.
That will give U a real professional looking finish.
Well done it can look like it was all hand raked.

 

[bcp]

How far apart are the high and low spots?

Post of photo of your grader.


Bruce

 

[deezler]

whipty dos? whipty dos.

Sorta surprised to hear your grader blade isn't working real well. You do mean a rear scraper blade, correct? Whatever implement it is, the 3-pt already floats. How is it digging in with any extra force in a dip, if there's no down pressure? Seems a chain top-link won't alleviate anything - it can already float up and down.

Post some pics of your setup.

 

[PuffyC]

I don't see how using chain for the top link would improve anything but I guess you could try. What I've done for really bad spots is just use the loader to move whatever gravel needs to be moved around (it doesn't need to be perfect) then use the LP to smooth everything out. It's crazy how much gravel a LP will carry with it as you move down the road so unless it's a pretty pronounced hill that's usually not necessary. I maintain about a quarter mile of gravel road this way and never felt the need to use a BB for any of it.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

I can’t speak to the hardware you’re using but with a landscape rake the difference is night and day. With a solid top link it amplifies every dip. With the chan it rides over and fills the dips.

Levelling wheels help more with side to side elevation changes than the chain, it doesn’t do much to ride through those.

 

[zzvyb6]

A landscape rake, and any other grader plane, ought to be at a 45 degree angle, same as any blade. If it's actually jumping up and down, you need more weight on the very back of it.

 

[nyone]

I'm not sure what a landscape grader is but a box blade is really the correct tool for the job on taking out the highs and filling in the low areas.

Do you have a front loader? Why not use that? Its basicly like a box blade but in front of you.

If the drive is compacted your going to have a tough time useing anything but sacrifiers on the box blade.

 

[Gordon Gould]

If you are talking about a landplane then yes, I have run mine with a chain top link. Unless you own one it is not obvious how sensitive they are to dips and humps. You cannot just set them down and go unless the road is flat to start with. When you go over a hump the box unloads and when you pass thru a dip it digs harder. The rigid top link holds the plane parallel to the tractor wheel base not the road under it.

Anyway the chain allows the plane to follow the road contour - sort of. It depends on the geometry and weight of the plane as well as the road surface. When you pull the plane on the first cut before the material is loose it will try to roll forward or lift the back because the front blade meets a lot of resistance. After the road surface is all loosened up the tendency to roll forward is much less. If you hit something solid the plane could roll forward enough to flip right over into the back of the tractor.

Before I got a hydraulic top link (the real answer) I used a chain after the surface was loose and I was pretty sure there were no places it would catch. My grader is back heavy which holds the back down better I think. For me the chain worked very well to let the plane sit flat on the road and even out the woopdy-doos. But be careful - if it catches on something it is violent and quick the way it jumps. If you run your chain thru a short length of pipe would be better than loose the way mine was. The pipe will act as a stop so it can't flip all the way over.

gg

 

[workinonit]

Do you have draft control on your tractor? I always run my LP using draft. Or box blade, Or pretty much anything that I don't want the full weight digging constantly. The draft control senses the rises and adjusts the lift arms to take them out. I tworks very well. Of course you have to have enough weight on your implemet to clip off the high spots.