Rear Blade Rear Blade Tips

njrqs · Nov 8, 2001

Well all this viewing TBN got me excited, and after seeing how much dirt I can loosen with my single tyne ripper, today I ordered my first NEW implement. A 4' rear blade. Made by a mob here called Berends.

I finally got to see the standard model this morning (there aren't any in stock in my neck of the woods) and it looked heaps strong enough for me. But ordered the heavy duty one which is 155kg and has offset and tilt etc.

So now I have to wait a few weeks for it, but want to get all the tips I can for using one. Can't find many specifics on recent posts. Will be using it to drop the levels slightly around my shed (in conjunction with ripper) and for general driveway maintenance.

Any tips for using these small blades would be appreciated and anything "what not to do".

Cheers

Neil from OZ.

paccorti · Nov 8, 2001

Neil,

I'll offer a couple of tips. I have a 7' rear blade that I've used for gravel road maintenance and digging some shallow trenches.

1. Be very careful adjusting offset if the blade is lifted to max height on the 3 point! At least in my case, the blade wants to "fall" to either side once I pull the offset pin. As blades are kind of heavy it can surprise and hurt you.

2. I prefer to grade the road making small changes and using multiple passes (that way if I make a mistake it is smaller).

3. Don't try grading if the road is wet (no matter how bad you want to play), you might make a big muddy mess.

4. If you suddenly find that you are grabbing too much gravel raise the 3pt only slightly. Small changes make big differences. If you keep moving forward you will eventually spread the gravel out nicely.

5. Perform small grading jobs on the road fequently rather than big grading jobs on the road infrequently. Once water starts to pool on a road it goes downhill pretty quickly.

I guess that is about it, let me know if you have any other questions.

Peter

TerryinMD · Nov 9, 2001

Neil,

I have to agree with paccorti's comments.

I have just begun to learn how to use the rear blade. Each time I use it I learn more about it.

Just last weekend, I cut and smoothed a new driveway for my neighbor. He had about 20 cubic yards of reclaimed soil which needed to be pushed around, graded, and smoothed. Some of the work was cutting some existing clay banks. What I did was to angle and tilt the blade to cut groove along the bank. I then leveled the blade and used the groove as my line to level the grade. Just like you would for plowing. Got the front and rear tires in the groove and made multiple passes to get the right grade.

The blade I have can tilt, angle, and swivel 360 degrees. This means I can turn the blade to push materials also. I was on and off that tractor more times that I can remember. Sometimes you need to get off of the machine to survey the situation and think things through.

Hope this helps.

Terry

max · Nov 9, 2001

Paccorti,
I am considering purchasing a medium duty 7ft rear blade for my TC35 and have a few questions for you - Can you rotate your 7' rear blade 360 degrees while it is hooked up to your TC35D? Does your 35D handle the 7ft blade OK? What make or brand is your blade?
Thanks for any comments-
-mudx

njrqs · Nov 9, 2001

Terry

Did you use your FEL for that job also. I don't have one and was wondering how well I will go shifting dirt/gravel around.

If I get some gravel for the driveway delivered I expect it is a fair ask for me to spread it too far from the main pile.

I have an old L1501 no hydro etc. so I expect a lot of forward/reversing is in order !

I already have so many projects lined up for this blade. Should pay for itself I hope !!

Thanks also pacorti. I'll take those comments on board. I expect it will take a while to get used to but I'll get the hang of it.

Any hints to work out where the blade gets to natural ground level as opposed to having it float, trying to dig in??

I think there is an adjustable stop on my hydraulics lever so will have to fiddle with that. I assume when spreading soil.gravel etc. you want the blade to be at natural ground or higher to prevent digging instead of spreading.

(I hope you follow - I have confused myself here !)

Cheers

Neil from OZ.

TerryinMD · Nov 11, 2001

njrqs,

Been busy buying more goodies for the tractor and getting work done around the house. More FEL work and rear blade work.

To answer your question about the FEL, yes, I used the FEL to move the materials and dig a little. Most of the work involved was simply using the rear blade to move and smooth. I used the FEL to smooth out the work when backing up by droping the bucket and floating it on the surface. If you haven't learned this trick yet, you set your bucket level on the ground, slap your FEL control to drop the bucket and it will float along the surface of the ground smoothing and filling in low spots as you back up. Look at your FEL operations manual to explain exactly how yours works. Or as we say in the IT industry - RTFM (read the friggin manual). /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I learned about this trick from the TBN brain trust and then read my manual. Man, it really makes the job easy and look good too.

No tricks on gettng the bucket level. Just practice!!

Hope this helps.

Terry

MikePA · Nov 11, 2001

Or Read The FINE Manual /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

TerryinMD · Nov 11, 2001

Mike,

Typically another F word is used where I work!! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Terry

MikePA · Nov 11, 2001

There's a difference between what word we think when a customer/computer operator calls, who obviously did not read the manual, and what word we say/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. Too often we get calls from an operator (back in my mainframe days) that started with "We just got this message on the console.". Our response, "Did you look it up in the manual?". "No" was the usual response to which we politely (as polite as one can be after being awakened from a sound sleep) replied, "Please read the message to me." This didn't have to happen too often before the operators would at least look the message up before calling us.

TerryinMD · Nov 11, 2001

Mike,

I understand exacly what you are saying!!

Back in my scientific/engineering mainframe computer days, I worked at Los Alamos. As a support contractor, we had to rotate weekends just in case something happened.

Well, one weekend, we lost a large disk drive (remember when 1 gig disk drives cost $75k /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif). The customer engineers fixed the hardware problem and the operator was supposed to follow normal restore procedures - riiiighhhht!!.

This experienced operator was in the middle of the restores when one of the backup tapes was corrupted - like tape number 16 out of 20. In his wisdom, he took tape number 16 from the previous weeks backups. His reasoning was, well, it was the 16th tape. What's the problem!!!

Needless to say, it ruined my weekend. Took about a day to recover from that mess.

Terry

MikePA · Nov 11, 2001

Quite the dilemma wasn't it? Train them so they can do more, then they did something like you describe and someone decides that operators should do nothing and the systems people should be called for everything. Nothing like working 24 x 7. Even if you don't get a call, just being on call was stressful. The blood pressure went up every time the phone rang at night.

njrqs · Nov 11, 2001

Terry

I don't have a FEL. That's the problem !!!!!

Neil from OZ.

paccorti · Nov 11, 2001

Mudx,

I have a RB3584 from Landpride. While I have not tried it, I believe that the blade should have enough clearence to spin 360 degrees around while mounted on the tractor. I've used my blade for gravel road maintenance and digging trenches. The tractor can easily handle the 7' blade for road maintenance. I guess moving gravel just isn't that hard. I usually run in high range/rabbit. I've never been bogged down even while moving a huge mound of gravel.

Digging a trench in hard packed dirt is another matter. I've only done this with the blade severely angled (only one edge digging). In this circumstance the blade size does not really matter. In these conditions I have run out of traction but not power (this is with ballasted tires in 4wd). I'm looking forward to trying this blade for snow removal.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I would buy the same blade again. I also have a rear guage wheel mounted on the blade. I think this will make life easier for snow removal (without removing gravel too) allowing me to have the blade just gliding over the road.

Peter

TerryinMD · Nov 12, 2001

njrqs,

Ahhhh - I see your dilema. Sorry I misunderstood.

Yesterday, I finally got to finishing up an area that we just cleared. I had a guy come in with a backhoe to remove the stumps and knock down some remaining trees. Used the FEL to move the stumps and debris to an area on our property called lovingly "West Virginia" (I just heard Pandora's Box open). /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif I had a small pile of soil that needed pushed around to fill in the holes and low areas. Believe it or not, I used the rear blade more the the FEL to move the materials. Since this pile has been around for 10 or so years, it has compacted and a lot of weeds have grown. Also, we have not had much rain and the rear blade made it easier to cut into the pile.

So, IMHO using a rear blade may be very effective. The blade is better at cutting and smoothing.

The FEL is great for lifting and moving. I have a toothbar on the FEL which helps cut into the soil. Two things may be affecting my FEL usage. One, inexperience with FEL usage. Two, tractor size. The first one speaks for itself. The second, my tractor is 20hp and just may be a little underpowered for digging into hard soil. Or, it just might be a combination of the two.

Terry

njrqs · Nov 12, 2001

Terry - Now you see my problem !!

Yes my tractor was very well priced and I couldn't afford a bigger one or one with a FEL. Mine is 18hp and with a 4' blade I am told it will be fine. Only 2 wheel drive so I might bog own a bit but I am sure it will be OK.

I need a heap of roadbase for my drive so I'll just have to get the guy to try and drop it into several small piles along my drive instead of one big one, or I'll be there for a LONG time !!

Neil from OZ.

TerryinMD · Nov 12, 2001

Neil,

Sorry that I prattled on... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Yep, sounds like you have a good plan with the smaller piles. Can you reverse your blade? If you can, you should be able to push the material around rather than pulling it. That way, your tires will be higher than the material your pushing. Sounds a little odd, but it may help in your situation.

Hope this thread has helped you.

Terry

JJT · Nov 12, 2001

An experienced trucker can spread his load so you will have very little work to do. They have chains on their tailgates to limit the amount of stone that gets dropped. Before I have the Kubota my truckers delivered 300 tons of stone I york raked with an 18horse garden tractor in an afternoon.

njrqs · Nov 12, 2001

Terry

Yep blade is reversable. Yes I see what you mean, I can sort of climb on the small piles and push them over. I have also ordered a ROPS so I won't push myself over too !

JJT - 300 Tonnes in an afternoon - Wow I was going to get a couple of truck loads only to start with, thinking it would take me ages.

Should be fun !!!

Neil from OZ.

Anonymous Poster · Nov 12, 2001

...my truckers delivered 300 tons of stone I york raked with an 18horse garden tractor in an afternoon...

I'm wondering how you accomplished all that... what is your secret?