[AT] Need advice on 3pt Tractor

[Richard Walker]

>I want to look for a wheel tractor with a 3 point hitch that I can 
>set up with a grader blade.

You're pretty good with welding and fabrication if I recall, Tom, so 
here's something you might want to consider.  If you fabricate a 
trailing wheel assembly extending back a ways from the blade edge so 
the wheel can swivel like a caster (maybe using an old front end hub 
assembly for the swivel assembly), vertically adjustable for depth of 
cut (either remote hydraulic cylinder or manual), your blade will act 
like a landplane to cut the high spots and fill the low spots, 
working much better than a standard blade.  Trouble with using a 
standard blade in rutty conditions, as you know, every pitching 
motion of the tractor gets magnified at the blade edge and that's 
where you can get washboard roads.

Many years ago I built a trailing wheel addition for a shopbuilt rear 
blade on a IH Cub Low-Boy and it worked great.  Just let it float, 
set the cut depth, and go. I'll e-mail you a photo of it.  A few 
companies are manufacturing blades like this for landscaping usage now.

As someone else posted, a box or Gannon scraper is another good 
option.  They're heavy, don't pitch/chatter as much as a straight 
blade because of the sides, and level things off real good because 
the pan gathers dirt to fill in the low spots.  The nice thing about 
Gannons is that you can finish-grade forwards, doze backwards with 
the hinged back blade, or use the swing-down ripper bar to loosen up 
tough soil.

Also when looking for used equipment in CA, do you know about Ag 
Source?  A great classified ad magazine for ag stuff.  Also available on-line:

http://www.agmag.com/home/default.asp

Click under "View Magazine" to see the current issue.


Richard