I'm leveling/smoothing some land to prepare to seed. My friend let me use a homemade "drag" made of 8" I-beams that are welded into a box about 3'deep X 10' wide & the thing weighs between 500 lbs. I attached it to the draw bar of my TC33D by cables & it does a fantastic job. BUT it bogs down my tractor at times when pulling up grade while the "box" has quite a bit of dirt in it (probably adds another 200 lbs). I've never plowed or done significant ground engagement type work. Is this thing too much for my tractor?
Enough power to pull???
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JJT
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Are you in low gear? and at PTO RPM? if so, you've got too much of a load. If not, rev it up and use low gear. I bet you have alot more than 700#'s behind you. My 6' box scraper weighs twice that when it's full of dirt or gravel and my L3710 never complains.
I am in low, 4WD, and max RPM. You're probably right about the weight. The contraption probably weighs 600 lbs after some re-calculation by the owner. It is only 8' tall so the dirt weight probbably doesn't exceed 300 lbs. I guess the big thing is the ground resistance across the 10' span. Maybe I let the dozer drag this thing or use on only the level areas without grade.
Anonymous Poster
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<font color=blue>... I guess the big thing is the ground resistance across the 10' span...</font color=blue>
Yep... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
I think my JD would have to strain some in certain areas with that...? /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif
Yep... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
I think my JD would have to strain some in certain areas with that...? /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif
TWINKLE_TOES
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shade2u2,
You might try flipping the thing over, it would be less inclined to take such a bite. You also might try rigging it on a shorter cable if possible, to provide some vertical lift under load.
Al
You might try flipping the thing over, it would be less inclined to take such a bite. You also might try rigging it on a shorter cable if possible, to provide some vertical lift under load.
Al
jinman
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Looking at the leading edge and the way dirt seems to pile up, it appears the bottom I-beam shape is actually digging in like a loader lip. That's probably good, but will surely make much more resistance than just having a flat vertical lip scraping across the top of the ground. If the front lip was a "J" shape, it wouldn't be nearly as tough to pull. Of course, your friend might not want to take a torch to his implement just to check out my theory. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif From your picture, it looks like it does a very nice job.
GlueGuy
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Well, if that thing is 10' wide, 3' deep, and 8" tall, then it holds about .7 cubic yards of material. If your dirt is 2500lbs per cubic yard, then when it's full, it would be about 1800 lbs. I also question that the weight of that is only 600 lbs. My little 4' boxblade weighs almost 500#...
missourithunder
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SPYDERLK
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No way hed move that thing with the chains hooked that way! HST is the way to go with something like that, but the chain is going to have to be a lot lower on the loco with such a light tractor.Sorry fellas. I just saw the title for this old thread and couldn't resist.
larry