[AT] Spam> Box blade tips

[Alan Nadeau]

I tried sending this a few days ago but my ATIS-foo was weak and it went into the great beyond.  Since I just had a successful test message make the journey I'll try it again.

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There is a fairly steep learning curve involved in getting a box blade to 
work efficiently.  The top link is your friend in this.  Every box blade I 
have seen has had two blades, back to back.  The rear blade acts as a depth 
gauge for the front one.

If you have a concrete floor you can start on, adjust the center link so 
both blades touch the concrete.  Now lengthen the link and you will see how 
the front blade comes off the ground.

With the front blade raised, in varying amounts you can cut the top off high 
spots and spread the material in the low ones, on the go.  Very nice for 
filling potholes in the spring, when the gravel is mushy as the frost is 
coming out.  Moisture content is important for that process and what is best 
varies with the type of gravel, it a learning process all by itself.

As you shorten the center link from "level" the front blade becomes more 
aggressive,  it will keep going down as there is nothing for the rear blade 
to ride on.   Then you raise the 3 pt. just enough to take the slack out of 
the linkage.  It takes a while to get the knack of it but it works.

If you're trying to cut a flat across a slope or put a crown on a road you 
use the adjustment built into the 3 pt arms on one side, I think it's 
normally the right one that has the adjustment crank.

If the blade isn't doing what you want, or you're not getting the desired 
results, CHANGE SOMETHING.  I watched one bozo trying to grade a gravel 
parking lot and after two hours he hadn't accomplished anything.  He was 
griping about how the blade was no good or needed some sort of skid shoes. 
I watched him quite a bit as I was working across the street and he never 
once got off the tractor to adjust anything.  At that time I had never used 
a BB and had nothing to offer, not sure I would have tried to help him 
anyhow, the man was a total klutz and unable to understand just about 
everything concerning machine operation.

If your tractor has remote outlets, and you do quite a bit of BB work, and 
you can afford a couple hundred dollars, get a hydraulic center link.  It's 
an absolutely Cadillac accessory for any sort of 3 pt mounted grading 
equipment.  It makes it possible to change how aggressive the blade, or a 
landscape rake, is, on the go.

I had to make a hydraulic link for my Cat "0" tractor with a 5' rake.  I use 
it for just about everything on the 3 pt now.  Even the garden plow, where 
the suck of the share can be changed to very aggressive to get the plow in 
the ground and then backed off to lighten the draft once it is riding on the 
gauge wheel.

The Ford 4000 at our shooting club doesn't have a free rear outlet, both 
valves are tied up with the loader.  At some point I'm going to try to get 
the money for a diverter and hyd. center link.  It is a major PITA grading 
almost a half mile of entrance road and two parking areas having to stop 
every few minutes to tweak the center link as conditions change.