Grader Blade

[Paul_B]

I was considering getting a grader blade for my tractor. I was planning on redoing portions of my yard to smooth it out and thought it may make life easier. How good do these work? Are they worth the money?

[dirtsaver]

Paul I have a 42" and a 46"HD blade both and they work great pushing snow or dirt and rock but for the finish type work you plan on the belly mount grader blade is the only way to go. The front mount blades will gouge and dig in and I can never get a good smooth surface with them. On the other hand, the belly mount blades leave a level and smoother surface and give you better control with your work.

[ka9bxg]

If you have a real tractor(FDT) they really work great you use your feet for down pressure and you can level things out nice.I took my B1 to a just for fun tractor pull and ended up using it to level out the track.Bob

[wantedinct]

I have a 2210 with a grader blade, it works great! I have to agree with ka9bxg,i think it works better when you have your feet on it. If you can find one for a fare price,i'm sure you wont have any trouble selling it if you didn't like it.

[comet66]

As stated above, the belly blade is the way to go for grading. It doesn't matter who you are, if you drive around long enough with a belly blade, you will have a flat surface. The one dutch sells with the serated edge on one side is the best in my opinion. You have the straight edge for rough grading, then flip it over and you have the serated edge for finish raking the end grade. Works great!!

[ehertzfeld]

This is a cheepie I hade for my ugly Broadmoor. I just used a steele plate, cut "but not quite thru" a line in the middle, then bent it to what angle I wanted, welded it up and made the frame. It's been over two years since I made it but I still havent painted it yet. lol So right now it's a lovly rusty red color.:o) Like it was said before, if you use your feet, it works real good, even on a little tractor. Elon

[Nick]

I did the patio area (if you want to call it that, LOL!) behind our house, with the non-trip snow plow to level out the dips in the ground. It did what happened to Larry, it wanted to dig in & gouge the ground. I still had to go over it with a rake to smooth it out. I am sure the grader blade would be much better.

[Deazman]

I have a home built grader/dozer blade. The blade is a piece of concrete sidewalk form and the frame is made up of square steel tube. By reversing the bolts through the blade and removing the lift bracket you can switch it from a push blade to an under mount grader blade. The sidewalk form has a nice lip rolled on the top edge and it is very easy to apply down pressure while grading using "Flintstone Power" and when it is mounted out front I use the snowblower lift bar to apply down pressure. The only safety concern I have is when the grader blade is angled your heels get very close to the tire chains on the back tires. If the snow would ever melt I could post some pictures if anyone is interested.

[Agricola]

I have been using the box blade behind my 101. What a nice setup for smoothing the driveway. I now do it 2-3 times a summer. Keeps down the weeds and smooths the ruts. I'm thinking of paving but that might reduce my tractor time a bit.

[rokon2813]

quote:

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Originally posted by Agricola
I'm thinking of paving but that might reduce my tractor time a bit.

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John, You're looking at it all wrong. :( Pave it and you have an excuse to get a sweepster broom. A nice paved drive should be swept off at least once a month. [:0][:0];);):D:D Paul; A couple years ago I dug a ditch with a grader blade on a Landlord. Cut the sod first with a turning plow, then with the help of the rain, pushed all the dirt out one end (about 140') with the grader. With down pressure from your feet on the blade, these little tractors will do an amazing amount of work. The grader is well worth the money. I also used the grader to finish the left side. I used the dirt out of the ditch to fill and raise one side. I dont have any pics "in progress" but here is a finished pic.

[Ronald Hribar]

What did you make bridge out of? I have about a 15 foot span that I want to take Powermax over. So it has to be built to take load.

[rokon2813]

Actually, it is something someone got out of the scrap. 4' wide by about 10' long 1/4" Aluminum Diamond Plate. It would cost a fortune to buy I bet. It was a catwalk of some sort out of a factory. Bent up 4" on each side for a "toe kick" I cut slits in each side about every 6 inches with a chop saw. Then bent the plate till the slits all closed making the curve. Since aluminum bends fairly easy, to bend it I put both ends up on cinder blocks, stood in the center and pulled on the ends with a large ratchet strap. To hold the curve once I got it bent, I bolted a 2 x 4 to each side, then bolted in a center support. (you can almost see them underneith) I had planned to eventually weld the slits back together for strength, but we wanted to try it first to make sure the curve wasnt too much and it just never got done. The decking is stringers from a pile of old pallets from another factory. 2 x 6 's 5' long with an aditional 8 or 10 inch piece underneith each end. I had to cut an inch or so off the inside end of each bottom piece to get the aluminum to fit between them. Then bolted each board on. The under side pieces were also beveled on the ends on the pallet. Thats why most of the ends look like they have a line or joint across them about 2/3 down. Unless you really get down and look underneith, it looks entirely made of wood. Since it was all scrap, I have about 2 hours (each, me, my wife and one kid) and about $12 worth of nuts and bolts invested. :D Eventually I plan to put railings and a roof on it, once I "find" all the stuff to make a curved roof to match. It would hold up a powermax for sure. ;) Sorry, not too much there as far as ideas for you to use. I just got lucky and found the right "junk" at the right time. [:0]

[john-holcomb]

The center mount blade by Dutch does an excellent job I use mine to grade the track for both the gardens and bib tractors. Because of my arthritus problems [70% of all cartlage is gone at 52] I am currently converting mine to hydraulic down pressure and hydraulic pivot. I will keep you posted on how it turns out, but for sure the center mount is the way to grade smooooooooothe.

[thedaddycat]

With a bit of practice you can do a pretty decent job of grading with a 725 and a 42" front blade, just ask Rob......... LOL

[Rob-B]

ROGERTHAT! Best left hand this side of the Ct. River! Rob

[msiebern]

I can't remember for sure where I got these pictures, might have been the homebuilt equipment group on yahoo, but it was kind of an interesting application.

And here is a neat homemade box scraper made from an old fuel oil tank.

[Paul_B]

You guys have convinced me that I *need* one! :D Sure looks like it would save some on the back breaking work and better yet...another toy to play with!

[ZippoVarga]

Ebay has a simplicity grader blade with brackets listed NOW!!!! Get-r-Done!!!! I would bid on it my self but......well.....I just grade every thing here by going backwards with my snow plow blade and it's never let me down with results. I simply take the "feet" off the blade and let it's weight along with a little feathering with the lift arm do the work for me.