Mid mounted grader blade

[meadowfield 1,900]

Looks good boys, great teamwork!

[C-101plowerpower 548]

looking good chaps

 

 

echo

[C-101plowerpower 548]

looking good chaps

 

 

echo

[the showman 4,074]

Thanks boys

[the showman 4,074]

Thanks boys

[pmackellow 2,738]

Well done chaps, looks great !!

[pmackellow 2,738]

Well done chaps, looks great !!

[the showman 4,074]

The graderblades looked good mounted on the tractors at Biddenden ( see photos) but in use they are a bit low with not much ground clearance, the soil was very soft and full of weed which gathered in big clumps making it easy to get stuck.

Im going to make a small modification to mine which will lift it higher and try again but in all i was very pleased with it as it got plenty of abuse and it didn't break .

I'll do an update tomorrow 

[Stormin 4,458]

On ‎10‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 2:14 PM, HeadExam said:

This shouldn't be here.

 

 

  I'm also pleased with the way the blades have worked out. With the blade used in conjunction with the roller, they did a pretty good job. (Again see Biddenden photo's.) As Chris said, the clumps of weeds made things difficult.

  I also will be doing a mod or adjustment or two. Firstly to see if I can get to use the lift lever to apply pressure, instead of my feet.  When the blades down, the lever is to far away to hold.

 

[the showman 4,074]

Had a bit of time today to do a couple of modifications to the blade.

ive dropped the mounting and cut a piece out of the top of the blade, now it lifts higher and has given me 4" of ground clearance which is double what i had.

the blade is still 5 1/2" wide in the middle which is plenty 

[HeadExam 1,783]

23 minutes ago, the showman said:

Had a bit of time today to do a couple of modifications to the blade.

ive dropped the mounting and cut a piece out of the top of the blade, now it lifts higher and has given me 4" of ground clearance which is double what i had.

the blade is still 5 1/2" wide in the middle which is plenty 

When those grader blades came out they were designed for foot dragging tractors with foot pegs, those machines had a narrower and higher waist than the later running board tractors, but they never redesigned the grader blade. This is akin to cabinet design not keeping up with refrigerator design. Dang cabinet over the modern refrigerator is 3 feet back, you would need a 6 foot step ladder or be 7 feet tall to get into it. Finally they jutted the cabinet out in kitchen cabinets, it took long enough.

[Stormin 4,458]

Neat mod, Chris. May do that myself. How's the lift lever position when down?

[the showman 4,074]

Didn't look at that, i can reach my handle.

[HeadExam 1,783]

11 minutes ago, Stormin said:

Neat mod, Chris. May do that myself. How's the lift lever position when down?

What is a lift lever, . I don't seem to have one on any of my models. 

[Stormin 4,458]

2 minutes ago, HeadExam said:

What is a lift lever, . I don't seem to have one on any of my models. 

 

They're a device on some tractors for building up your arm muscles. Left one anyway.

[HeadExam 1,783]

1 hour ago, Stormin said:

 

They're a device on some tractors for building up your arm muscles. Left one anyway.

Ahh, the Armstrong option. My left arm stays in good shape fending off attacks caused by quick wit and slow judgment. BTW, some lifts are on the right I believe, CASE 224 is. You can get one and even out the exercise. 

[Stormin 4,458]

Did the same mod with mine today. I did wonder why the notch in the side of the frame. I now know. Tomorrow I'll do the same.

[Stormin 4,458]

  Spent some time over the last couple of days on my blade. I notched the side like Chris has done, to clear the deck mounting bar on the lift bar. This mod turned out to be not needing done, as you will see further on. Got more ground clearance, but I wanted more. I also wanted some way of applying down pressure. Feet are not really a good idea. After much thinking, pondering and fiddling, I worked out a solid bar arrangement.

  This will attach to the short bracket on the lift fulcrum and down to the blade. It does have to be curved at the top, to clear the plate across the chassis, that carries the steering quadrant. To get the shape, I made a cardboard template. Made a hole in the top and fastened it to the short bracket. With the blade on the ground and lift lever down, I could see how long the bar needed to be and the bottom hole.

  From this template I made one out of ply wood. A bit of trimming was needed. The round bar the blade pivots on needed shortening a bit. I'd already cut some off when I moved the bracket.

 

  Today I made the bar from 1/4" x 1" flat bar. Sorry about the picture quality. The reason for the two holes is simple. Somehow I drilled the second from right first and in the wrong place.

 

  The second photo shows part of the bar side relieved. When the blade was down, that part fouled the swivel pin.

 

  Next a couple of shots of blade down and up. The bar just clears the lift arm and as you can see, the chain has been moved to the rearmost hole. You can now see why that cut out is not needed.

 

 

  So does it work ok? Yes and no. Yes, with the rubber strip fitted. Great for on concrete.  Without the strip a slight error showed up. 

 

   I'd measured up for the lift bar, with blade down on the ground and rubber fitted . With the rubber removed, the blade is slightly proud of the ground. So now I've three options.

 

(1) Make another lift bar.

 

(2) Make a deeper wear strip.

 

(3) Leave as is.

 

  Three is a no-no. So first I'll try number one. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[the showman 4,074]

All looks clear Norm , I'll wait till you're finished before I change mine

[HeadExam 1,783]

The Simplicity grader blades used stirrups on each side to allow pressure to be applied by operators foot, worked well. Google image Simplicity grader blade, not all had them

[Stormin 4,458]

I've been thinking of something like that, Alain. Possibly make some clamp on ones one day. Thanks for the link.

[Stormin 4,458]

  Lengthened the lift bar today. Just by about 1/2". Now with the tractor on 3/8" boards, the blade just touches the ground. That will do me.

  With the tractor down on terra firma and the blade up, there is about 3" clearance t'ween blade and ground. With the blade angled, there is roughly 2" difference side to side.

  All primed now and may get top coats tomorrow.

 

[Triumph66 1,256]

Making good progress Norm.

 

I attach some photos of a grader attached to a Bolens 1000 that I lifted off GTT so you can see the design of the blade though the brackets to attach it to the chassis will be naturally be irrelevant. Looking at the photos it can be angled too.

 

[slf-uk 914]

4 hours ago, Triumph66 said:

Making good progress Norm.

 

I attach some photos of a grader attached to a Bolens 1000 that I lifted off GTT so you can see the design of the blade though the brackets to attach it to the chassis will be naturally be irrelevant. Looking at the photos it can be angled too.

 

 

Very interesting, this is completely different to the design of Bolens grader blade I was looking at. It is interesting that the Bolens ones fit to the rear axle and the bracket goes forward to the blade and I think the Wheelhorse one is the opposite (happy to be corrected if I have got that wrong.

 

Iain

[Stormin 4,458]

 Did a bit of multi  skilling today. Gave the blade four coats of paint and finished the base for Carols new studio.

 

 

 

Job done.