140 and a belly blade?
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Dean,
You might need some down force added to the 54C's own weight if it is really hard packed. Do a search here on center blades/belly blades and you should find some information on what other members have done.
My home made center blade is not as heavy as the 54C, so I added some down springs to keep it in good contact with the gravel on my drive. Try to do the surface dressing just after a rain also, keeps the dust down a bit.
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Chuck
You might need some down force added to the 54C's own weight if it is really hard packed. Do a search here on center blades/belly blades and you should find some information on what other members have done.
My home made center blade is not as heavy as the 54C, so I added some down springs to keep it in good contact with the gravel on my drive. Try to do the surface dressing just after a rain also, keeps the dust down a bit.
Chuck
Dean,
This may be a little OT, but I have 1000' of crushed stone drive, and a large circular drive in front of the house. This stone also packs down HARD! My neighbor has a back blade and couldn't break it up at all. I went with a DR Grader,with carbide teeth and a grader blade, and it broke the crust and smoothed out the drive to a like new condition. I go with what works, and with stone at the price it is, it would take a minimum of 8 trucks to tailgate it out at app 2" deep. Instead, 2 hours with the grader and it's a new drive. I drag the drive about once per month, maybe every two months and it stays looking good. Haven't had to buy stone for over a year now, and it looks like I won't for another year or two.
Just my 2 cents,
Richard
This may be a little OT, but I have 1000' of crushed stone drive, and a large circular drive in front of the house. This stone also packs down HARD! My neighbor has a back blade and couldn't break it up at all. I went with a DR Grader,with carbide teeth and a grader blade, and it broke the crust and smoothed out the drive to a like new condition. I go with what works, and with stone at the price it is, it would take a minimum of 8 trucks to tailgate it out at app 2" deep. Instead, 2 hours with the grader and it's a new drive. I drag the drive about once per month, maybe every two months and it stays looking good. Haven't had to buy stone for over a year now, and it looks like I won't for another year or two.
Just my 2 cents,
Richard
I had a chance to try it out and it worked better than I thought.
I had to go over it a few times before the surface crust loosened up but then I was able to move it around pretty good.
Some counterweight on the tractor for traction and some weights on the blade would have made the job quicker but i had fun messing around all day with it.
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I had to go over it a few times before the surface crust loosened up but then I was able to move it around pretty good.
Some counterweight on the tractor for traction and some weights on the blade would have made the job quicker but i had fun messing around all day with it.
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63 Posts
As an aside, how well is the side traction with those neat fronts?
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Dean,
When using the center blade on an angle, it tends to push the front of the tractor toward the side where the blade is most forward. Front weights help counter this by adding traction to the front tires (as would the use of tri-ribs or V61s compared to turf tires, I would guess...) I think that Bob's question asks if your lugged front tires have enough bite to make this side thrust less a factor. If you are not pushing a large amount of material with the blade, you may have not noticed this side thrust.
Chuck
When using the center blade on an angle, it tends to push the front of the tractor toward the side where the blade is most forward. Front weights help counter this by adding traction to the front tires (as would the use of tri-ribs or V61s compared to turf tires, I would guess...) I think that Bob's question asks if your lugged front tires have enough bite to make this side thrust less a factor. If you are not pushing a large amount of material with the blade, you may have not noticed this side thrust.
Chuck
I didn't notice it trying to shove to the side at all so I guess they work good.
The driveway was really crowned in the middle and dropped about 10" off the road (see pic).
So there were a lot of passes where the gravel was at the top of the blade. I kept starting at the center and pushing gravel left or right to flatten it out.
When I had that crown shaved down, I straightened the blade and smoothed everything as flat as I could get it.
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The driveway was really crowned in the middle and dropped about 10" off the road (see pic).
So there were a lot of passes where the gravel was at the top of the blade. I kept starting at the center and pushing gravel left or right to flatten it out.
When I had that crown shaved down, I straightened the blade and smoothed everything as flat as I could get it.
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108 Posts
Correct me if I am wrong but you don't need to weigh the blade down. Just change the angle of that the blade cuts (not the angle kit, but roll the blade back so it cuts more aggressive) for earth that need to be leveled and roll the blade forward for leveling gravel.
Gravel surface will barely drain water sufficiently at 3%. 2%-3% is recommended for pavement and asphalt roadways. Studies have shown a gravel/dirt/rock roadway surface needs 5-6% drainage slope from crown for best results. Also, the road/drive way should be in a ^ shape, not a rounded crown shape. The top of the ^ is your crown point.
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Jerry,
Thanks for the information on the percentage for gravel drainage. I doubt that my large parking area is anywhere near 3% grade, let alone 6% and I do get some puddling when we have really heavy down-pours. But I do crown the actual driveways with a simple center ridge as you describe, not a radius...
Here is a shot of a part of the flat graveled area, don't really have a good picture handy of the whole thing. Yeah, it was raining -- this IS the Pacific Northwest, after all...
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Chuck
Thanks for the information on the percentage for gravel drainage. I doubt that my large parking area is anywhere near 3% grade, let alone 6% and I do get some puddling when we have really heavy down-pours. But I do crown the actual driveways with a simple center ridge as you describe, not a radius...
Here is a shot of a part of the flat graveled area, don't really have a good picture handy of the whole thing. Yeah, it was raining -- this IS the Pacific Northwest, after all...
Chuck
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