Rear Blade rear blade guage wheels

[dougj7]

Just got my rear blade back from the welder. He welded on a set of guage wheels. At the lowest setting, the blade is a bit higher than I expected. What is the optimum blade height for snow removal on a gravel driveway?

 

[dknarnd]

I plow on gravel all the time with a rear blade, just turn the blade around backwards if it gives you trouble pulling the gravel off the drive.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I would want 1/2 in between the blabe and the gravel. After looking at your pictures I think you have a problem. The only way you can lower your blade is by making the top link shorter. When you do that and angle your blade one side is going to dig in and the other side will be way up in the air. If you want to level the drive in the spring you want to be able to put the blade into the gravel.

 

[kubotabilly]

Doug,
I'll have to agree with Bill, I think you may have to make a trip back to the welding shop. The blade is way too high and it doesn't look like you have too much adjustment left. Are they factory gauge wheels? It looks like they may be installed upside down. I would think that the curved portion of the bracket should be down to coinside with the round tire, allowing for more adjustment. Just my opinion. I have skid shoes on my Woods blade and I can adjust them from 0 to 3 inches by adding or subtracting the bushings.

Bill

 

[bigdad]

Doug,

I too would have the welder take another look at the height and adjustment. I have a Woods just like yours (with gauge wheels). I run them about 1/4" off of the surface with success.

Good luck!

BD

 

[ovrszd]

Doug,
I'll have to agree with Bill, I think you may have to make a trip back to the welding shop. The blade is way too high and it doesn't look like you have too much adjustment left. Are they factory gauge wheels? It looks like they may be installed upside down. I would think that the curved portion of the bracket should be down to coinside with the round tire, allowing for more adjustment. Just my opinion. I have skid shoes on my Woods blade and I can adjust them from 0 to 3 inches by adding or subtracting the bushings.

Bill

Bummer, I think Bill is right, they are welded on upside down. In Missouri our snow has a lot of moisture in it. I also think these wheels are too wide for my use. They would ride up on the snow that goes under the blade, this will raise the blade and the process will continue to repeat itself and lift the blade. I tried a narrower tire than this and gave up. Went back to skids.

 

[Toolguy]

I think those wheels will work just fine if they are raised up so you can put the blade on the ground. You don't need much clearance under the blade to keep it from digging in the gravel. 1/4" of clearance should be enough but you need to be able to adjust the wheels so you can find out what setting works best. You also want to be able to adjust the wheels to be above the bottom of the blade so you can use it to skim off a high spot if you ever use it on dirt. The guy that welded them on for you may be a good welder but he obviously does not know anything about gauge wheels and scraper blades. It will never work the way it is now. Good luck.

 

[dougj7]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. It looks like I will have to raise the guage wheels in order for them to be effective.

 

[cowpie1]

When I got my Woods RB72, I got the optional skids that bolt right on by replacement of one blade bolt on each side. Not sure what you paid, but I can only guess the skids would have saved you some pesos. They are adjustable for height and work great on my gravel drive. Also a hydraulic toplink helps with fine tuning the blade gap on the fly.

 

[dougj7]

I mounted my rear blade and made a slight modification to the guage wheel mounts. Does the clearance look acceptable for snow removal? The bottom edge of the blade is about 1/2" off the ground.