welding on landpride

[candyman]

8' rear blade { from pix worth a k. words. }


moldboard on blade is really deep on a bigger tractor or taller tire would not be a problem.
so i need to weld some kind of bracket on bottom of blade so the 3 pt. hitch will hook up on a lower point.
the land i have is all red clay , springs everywhere tractor is always is ruts zoom in on pix & ya`ll see what i am up against.
i must raise the blade higher to keep from dragging, need ideas. ???

the idea i had to weld brackets has been scratched, by your suggestions.

the blade i need to raise,

candyman

 

[moored4]

Is this a 2nd post to another post? If it is you need to keep all comments on the same thread for continuity! Because if this is the 1st post to a new thread I'm Confused! :confused2:

 

[gwdixon]

Is this a 2nd post to another post? If it is you need to keep all comments on the same thread for continuity! Because if this is the 1st post to a new thread I'm Confused! :confused2:

The story is that a general welding question was asked in the first thread. The thread became very long and diverged somewhat.

Then the OP came up with an idea and question about what to do with his blade. It is a completely different subject from the original.

Anyway, the suggestion to shorten the top link all the way, or even use a real short length of chain in place of the top link would rotate the blade up and away from the goop in the photos.

What really should be done is to get a middle buster and put in ditches to try to concentrate and improve the drainage. French drains would also work but that would take a backhoe.

 

[Gary Fowler]

The one thing that I can suggest that will be way more value than modifying your blade is just this:
DONT TRY TO WORK SOIL IN THE MUD, YOU JUST MAKE MORE MUD.
From looking at your photos it looks like you have been trying to ditch out some rather muddy areas. It is nearly impossible to do any dirt work in mud even with a dozer as the mud just turns to slush and what ever you do is going to require more energy to fix in the long run. Just park your tractor and wait for it to dry out a bit. If you have some ponding water spots, you might take your blade and put in a small ditch to drain the water, but save the final grading till summer. Maybe take a digital camera, take some photos to refresh your memory of what it looks like wet to help you work the area when dry.
Use your down time to practice your welding skills on some scrap so come summer and dryer weather, you will have time to sharpen your welding skills and been able to modify your blade to suit your tractor with a decently holding weld.
I cant caution enough to make sure those are good welds because if one breaks and the blade comes loose on one side, it could get into the tires and ruin a tire (or two) or worse crawl up the wheel and be on the tractor with you before you can stop.

 

[candyman]

thanks guys.

a middle buster, huh. ?
saturday at the restaurant got talking to a retired fellow that turns out to be a retired welder by trade, what luck & doesn`t live to far away. he offered to do the welding for me.

so now all is needed are plans on welding some kind of supports / brackets to connect the 3 pt. hitch lower on the blade. ???

gary, no the ruts are from just driving around, have not used blade yet.

candyman

 

[Shield Arc]

saturday at the restaurant got talking to a retired fellow that turns out to be a retired welder by trade, what luck & doesn`t live to far away. he offered to do the welding for me.

Well you sure lucked out! Now hog tie him until he agrees to give you one on one instruction. :thumbsup:

 

[Gary Fowler]

If the guy is a retired welder, I suspect he will have a good idea on how to set up the attachement and properly weld and gusset it. Most professional welders have a pretty good idea of what is needed to make iron hold together and the amount of weld needed especially ones that have been in the business for many years. After a while, you dont need engineers to design it and put fillet weld sizes, you just know what is needed prior to the inspector coming by with his drawing and little gauges.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I know it is likely not needed, but when the guy comes over to weld it, get your hood on and watch closely. Ask question as to why he is doing something if you dont understand. I would bet that an hour of him watching you will do more to improve your welding than 50 hours of you practicing burning rods on your own. If he is a beer drinker, he would likely give you some hands on training for a few beers while the training is happening, just limit the alcohol consumption to extent that you dont get to the point of "Hold my beer and watch this"

 

[LD1]

I guess I am confused on what you are asking here. Something isnt adding up.

I understand you are wanting to get the blade to lift higher, but "assuming" you are using this on the MX5100 in your profile....That tractor should be more than capable of getting that blade ~3' in the air. And with it that high, If you are in enough muck that it is dragging....you have other things to worry about.

For starters, (I dont know if avaliable on the MX) but my smaller kubota has multiple holes for the side-links. Make sure these are in the top hole, that will gain a few inches right there.

And definatally shorted the TL. Heck, I have a 7' CAT II blade similar to yours on my MUCH smaller L3400. And I have no trouble at all getting the blade to raise several feet off the ground.

So could you give a little clarity here on WHY you would need to raise the blade higher than 36":confused2:

 

[candyman]

ldi,

the blade 8' has such a high moldboard not matter how i adj. any links or arms 2i" is max it will raise off ground & stiil have enough tilt { angled in } to dig, but then it is to close to the ground.
yes i can close the gap on the top link & raise it much higher but it is tilted back to far & not able to cut a ditch.
i know what i mean but i am having a hard time xplaining it.

i`ll take pix today & show what i mean. i must be the only one to ever have this problem.

candyman

 

[LD1]

ldi,

the blade 8' has such a high moldboard not matter how i adj. any links or arms 2i" is max it will raise off ground & stiil have enough tilt { angled in } to dig, but then it is to close to the ground.
yes i can close the gap on the top link & raise it much higher but it is tilted back to far & not able to cut a ditch.
i know what i mean but i am having a hard time xplaining it.

i`ll take pix today & show what i mean. i must be the only one to ever have this problem.

candyman

Do you have remotes on that tractor?

Because it you plan on ditching much with that setup, I'd advise a Hydraulic toplink for sure, and maybe a side-link as well.

But the toplink will let lengthen enough out to get a good bite, but when you raise the implement for travel, you can shorten it up to "rotate" the blade up and out of the way.

If you do go forth with lowering the pin holes, you will also need to lower the TL hole .

 

[moored4]

If the guy is a retired welder, I suspect he will have a good idea on how to set up the attachement and properly weld and gusset it. Most professional welders have a pretty good idea of what is needed to make iron hold together and the amount of weld needed especially ones that have been in the business for many years. After a while, you dont need engineers to design it and put fillet weld sizes, you just know what is needed prior to the inspector coming by with his drawing and little gauges.

I know it is likely not needed, but when the guy comes over to weld it, get your hood on and watch closely. Ask question as to why he is doing something if you dont understand. I would bet that an hour of him watching you will do more to improve your welding than 50 hours of you practicing burning rods on your own. If he is a beer drinker, he would likely give you some hands on training for a few beers while the training is happening, just limit the alcohol consumption to extent that you dont get to the point of "Hold my beer and watch this"

Gary this is excellent advice! I was going to say something like this but you did it well so IX2 :thumbsup:

 

[moored4]

ldi,

the blade 8' has such a high moldboard not matter how i adj. any links or arms 2i" is max it will raise off ground & stiil have enough tilt { angled in } to dig, but then it is to close to the ground.
yes i can close the gap on the top link & raise it much higher but it is tilted back to far & not able to cut a ditch.
i know what i mean but i am having a hard time xplaining it.

i`ll take pix today & show what i mean. i must be the only one to ever have this problem.

candyman

I have not been able to find the 1st thread so Pic are always nice and worth at least hundreds of words at least! :thumbsup:

 

[Jamming]

I would buy some tubing the same size as the hitch, where the ears are welded, then weld them on the bottom however many times you need to be higher. Then weld some pin ears on the tube, that way you will still have the upper connecting points also and will be much stronger than your approach in the pics.

 

[gwdixon]

thanks guys.

a middle buster, huh. ?
saturday at the restaurant got talking to a retired fellow that turns out to be a retired welder by trade, what luck & doesn`t live to far away. he offered to do the welding for me.

so now all is needed are plans on welding some kind of supports / brackets to connect the 3 pt. hitch lower on the blade. ???

gary, no the ruts are from just driving around, have not used blade yet.

candyman

Here is a link to a photo of a middle buster. It can be used to ditch.

CountyLine Middle Buster - 212822899 | Tractor Supply Company

I use something similar but on an A-frame with a drawbar and clamps.

The retired welder is a godsend. Butter him up, show him your welds, and listen closely to everything he has to say. If he will look over your shoulder you will progress by leaps and bounds.

It is not that others have not had the problem you are facing. Others have gone about a solution in other ways.

It is that you are the first to want to try a fix like you describe. Not a bad thing - just an observation.

 

[candyman]

ldi,

i have 3 different length top lengts, for that purpose &
i sure will butter him up.


jamming,

kinda sounds like a plan, got a DRAWING OR PIX i don`t fully understand. i am a city boy moved to the mudd farm & at my age it`s not easy to understand all things.

candyman

 

[candyman]

gw, thanks for the link.

c/m

 

[Gary Fowler]

I think I understand what you mean, when you tilt the blade and swing it (I assume it has a tilt and swivel function it is very close to the ground. If that is the case, then yes they all do that especially with a wide blade, but you really shouldnt need to tilt it to full extent to dig a ditch. If you dig a ditch with it tilted like that the shoulders would be too step to cross anyway. I find that about half tilt is as much as you would ever need to dig a ditch. The sides need at least 45 degree upslope. If that is NOT what you mean then I am confused also.

 

[eastexan]

I've heard of guys making shorter tractor side links out of pipe. This was done usually because of having smaller than normal rear tires and the side link adjustments wouldn't adjust short enough for certain implements to lift high enough.

Make sure though, not to get the side links too short, or the implement might hit something on the tractor when lifted all the way up.

Your welder friend could probably fab something up along those lines that would work fine.

All things considered though, you need to weigh which would be the easiest and most convenient project for now and the long term.
Since you probably would only be needing that one particular implement raised high enough, you may want to take one of the other suggestions of making the implement fit the tractor rather than vice-versa.

Jamming's idea sounds like it may be a good one, but like you I can't quite visually understand it. Maybe he can clarify it.

 

[rambler]

ldi,

the blade 8' has such a high moldboard not matter how i adj. any links or arms 2i" is max it will raise off ground & stiil have enough tilt { angled in } to dig, but then it is to close to the ground.
yes i can close the gap on the top link & raise it much higher but it is tilted back to far & not able to cut a ditch.
i know what i mean but i am having a hard time xplaining it.

i`ll take pix today & show what i mean. i must be the only one to ever have this problem.

candyman

I think you are trying to use the blade outside of the normal uses of it.

Welding on some brackets more or less as in your picture will change the geomotry of the top link setup and might go the wrong direction, as well as ruining the usefulness of the the blade for more normal uses.

Get a hydraulic top link. I have one and it does _exactly_ what you want to do with my landscape rake. Won't cost more than hiring the welding done, allows you to infanitely adjust the tilt of the blade, and you will find it useful with many other 3pt implements. A hyd top link will become one of your best tractor investments, you won't know how you got along without it.

Welding up some brackets on the blade, I think that will not get you the results or usefullness you are looking for. I think that is a bad move.

If I'm understanding the issue.

--->PAul