Land plain blade height help

[john40981]

Good work - I like the storage in your welder trolley too.

Are the cutting edges fixed or adjustable John?

Jimbob

Hi Jimbob, the cutting edges are 2 position adjustable. The front blade can be 3/8" (10mm) or 3/4" (20mm) below skids and the back blade 3/8" down or level with skids and are on a 20% angle left to right with 2' gap between blades. I don't have a gravel road to grade only sandy soil ( at the moment) so I hope that will work as I haven't used it yet, tomorrows job. If not I just have to drill new holes to adjust differently.
Fix up those wops from fun with the dozer

 

[jenkinsph]

John,
I like the idea of having the water tank for reducing the dust and should add that there are times when adding a little mositure will be handy too. Nice build:thumbsup:

I use my land plane primarily for lawn and pasture smoothing and maybe 5% of my work is gravel driveway work. I find that setting the blades straight and even with the skids works the best. The sheer weight of the land plane will enable it to cut enough for smoothing out a field.

Here are pictures of my larger land plane I built in 2009 and a few pics of jobs I used it on including my rear lawn. Really helps smooth up the ground.

 

[john40981]

John,
I like the idea of having the water tank for reducing the dust and should add that there are times when adding a little mositure will be handy too. Nice build:thumbsup:

I use my land plane primarily for lawn and pasture smoothing and maybe 5% of my work is gravel driveway work. I find that setting the blades straight and even with the skids works the best. The sheer weight of the land plane will enable it to cut enough for smoothing out a field.

Here are pictures of my larger land plane I built in 2009 and a few pics of jobs I used it on including my rear lawn. Really helps smooth up the ground.

I was going to put both blades level with the skids at first but most advised that some cutting was required?? Any way drilling two more holes is all that is required to make the front blade level. I am just about to take it out and use it so we'll see. I have a driveway of 1 mile and lots of tracks that need work also. It will get lots of work as the kids cut up the tracks with the motorbikes and quads, little buggers, but gives me an excuse to need these toys

 

[john40981]

just finished about 4 hours on the tractor using the land plain. Works well, I thought at 8' long I would be able to use chain top link and just let it find it own level but not the case, as the front blade digs and cuts (at 10mm down) it has a tendency to lift the back so I had to use the solid top link to keep the back down. Didn't use the extra weight of the water drum, that may help with keeping the back down if I used a chair again but I didn't need to adjust the linkage much so I think I will just leave it this way.

Did a good job, this is a small section of one of the tracks

I found that after a couple of passes cutting then a pass in reverse smooths out the soil really well.

 

[jenkinsph]

A little seat time and you will get the hang of it.:thumbsup:
I use a hydraulic top link to adjust the running angle and suggest you try to put this on your list.

 

[crazyal]

I don't know how often it rains down there but wet ground will act differently that dry. The hard dry packed ground is hard for the blade to cut so I like to grade when the ground is a little wet.

 

[john40981]

I don't know how often it rains down there but wet ground will act differently that dry. The hard dry packed ground is hard for the blade to cut so I like to grade when the ground is a little wet.

unfortunately it doesn't rain nearly enough. Australia is a very dry country and we are in the middle of a drought at the moment. Check out our dry looking photos. Our crap soil doesn't take rain well. It is bottomless after a big rain and goes to powder when regularly driven on in the dry. Makes for a very dusty job when using the land plain in the dry so I agree, it would be nice to orgainise the rain to come just at the right time and just enough to make it workable. Can you organise this for me, I would really appreciate it :laughing:

 

[PhysAssist]

Hi Thomas,
To answer your questions about my add on's, Not sure if our names may not be what you call them in the US. I have a 5' slasher (3pl PTO cuts grass) and a 5' grader blade ( 3pl back blade) listed but not a 5' slasher blade?? That would be a big *** slasher to spin a 5' blade. Jibb is just a lifting arm that attaches to the 3pl like a crane. The tree pusher, or tree spear is an heavy "A" frame that attaches to and above the dozer blade to push high on a tree to push it over. It normally has about a 3' toothed or spiked front that digs into the tree trunk so it doesn't slip off. Hope this answers your question. I do understand that this is not something that is common in the US for some reason?? I don't have a pic of my dozer with the spear attached so I have attached a pic of one I found on google to show you what I am talking about. You need a very solidly made canopy above your head to use this as large branches commonly come crashing down on top of you when you push over trees, we call them "widow makers"
View attachment 331727

Hi John,

Thanks for the kind reply, I didn't see it sooner because I was getting ready for, having, and recovering from, the surgery to put in my new knee replacement (my second for this knee d/t an infection in May).

I must have read the slasher blade entry wrong, though I gotta say, I like that term better than the one we use- bush hog, taken from one of the more popular mfgs here, or rotary mower or rfm (for finish models) is the more generic term here.

The jibb is what we call a boom pole or three point crane, and as it turns out, we found a great deal on one on our local Craig's list for about $75 (US) vs retail of approx. 200 or > this summer, when we needed it most while I was laid up and can't do any real lifting.

The tree pusher/spear was something that I had hoped might be available or modifiable for use with my tractor, but it is clear from your explanation and picture (Thanks for that too!) that not only would I need a dozer to get the requisite traction, but that you are surely correct that a really strong and comprehensive protective cage would be mandatory for use. I am not sure if they use those on dozers here, but though I'm not any kinder of dozer expert, I have to say I do keep my eyes open, and I have seen a lot of dozers pushing over a lot of trees, and have never seen anything like it. I can certainly see how it would increase the dozers already great leverage significantly, as well as getting you out from under the tree a bit.

We also call dead branches and trees hung overhead widowmakers, for the same good reason.

Thanks for taking the time to answer me, I apreciate it, and find both the commonalities and differences in words and approaches used between our two "English-speaking" countries/cultures fascinating.

I am also enjoying and taking cheat notes on your grader building process sio thanks again!
Thomas

 

[PhysAssist]

unfortunately it doesn't rain nearly enough. Australia is a very dry country and we are in the middle of a drought at the moment. Check out our dry looking photos. Our crap soil doesn't take rain well. It is bottomless after a big rain and goes to powder when regularly driven on in the dry. Makes for a very dusty job when using the land plain in the dry so I agree, it would be nice to orgainise the rain to come just at the right time and just enough to make it workable. Can you organise this for me, I would really appreciate it :laughing:

Hi again John,

It sure looks great behind your tractor, and it looks as if you'll get a lot of use out of it.

Regarding the use of hardened blades as contact material for the skids, do you think it would have been harder to bend them than it was to cut and weld them?

Also, if you had had to buy them for a nominal fee, say $50.00 per 5' section, would you still have used them as contact material?

I don't have access to free blades, so I'm trying to figure out how much difference the longer wear steel is worth there.

Thanks and G'day!
Thomas

 

[BukitCase]

Thomas, in my neck of the (overpriced steel) woods, ar400 steel is only about 15% more per pound than mild - I redid the teeth and wear strips on my Case 24" hoe bucket 4-5 years ago, bought ar400 strips (they pre-cut them, cutting is not cheap unless you have a plasma available) - and I heated and bent/welded with 7018 as I wrapped them around the bottom of the bucket -

To give you an idea of the difference, those strips (1/4" thick) had a slight amount of rough edge, probably due to old consumables on their torch - I took a brand new 9" coarse wheel on my beastly Hitachi side grinder and started to just "soften" the edges a bit, since I already knew I would likely bump into the bucket with a shoulder now and then -

I spent about a half hour on each 36" long strip, just putting the TINIEST bevel on two edges - had it been normal mild steel, with that much grinding I would have probably needed to go get more strips :confused2:

In 4-5 years of regular abuse, I've not seen noticeable wear on the strips.

Bottom line for me - not that much more expensive than mild, only gotta do it ONCE. Now that I have a plasma, I just buy a chunk of the stuff and use it til it's gone. Saves extra cut fees, much easier and cheaper than buying hardface rod or wire, and a heck of a lot faster too... Steve