awhile back a fella talked about using chains in place of their vertical lifting rods to "float" a rear blade to avoid scrapping gravel or digging in to a road. They said it performed quite well for them, would there be any danger of damaging the turnbuckles? any safety issues or other considerations.
chains to replace vertical lifting rods
- Thread starter logan
- Start date
I don't see a big advantage in using chains. On my unit the 3 point hitch is power up and gravity down, so I already have the 'float' effect. Only difference would be that one side of your blade could rise higher than the other. This may or may not be the desired effect. With the rods, I can set one side higher or lower at a specific angle, for grading a level path on a sidehill. This may not be possible using chains.
Stuart brings up a really good point since now you are just pulling a drag. Before I got my tractor I used to pull a drag behind my toyota pickup. The drag was an A-frame hitch that comes off a mobile home when it's done being moved. By design they are pretty big but very light so I always battled with that thing by trying to get the right amount of railroad ties as weight. The damn thing was always either "just" to heavy digging in or "just" to light floating and really doing nothing. It always would drift around and follow the contour or the dirt road side to side and up and down, extremly frustrating.
The only differance on the 3point would be the side links keeping it straight but it's still going to go up and down most likely when not desired.
Depending on your terrain go ahead and try it, what do you have to lose and you will never know if you don't do it. I wouldn't because I know my road conditions whould just piss me off and I would throw the chains out in the desert.
Also like Stuart mentioned, with the lever in the middle position I believe the 3point is floating anyway.
Scott
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lever in the middle position ? I do not believe my B7800 has this float option.
the reason I am considering this,I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains roads are a real issue here from torrential down pours to winter freezing and thawing ad in steep slopes. I have only put around 12 hrs on the machine in deep snow. Small details on roads here can make the difference of a wash out or staying together, I did a good job with the exception of an unwanted gouge in a critical spot
I might just be impatient looking for a quick fix. The inching hydraulic control on the B7800 is a learning curve. One other point 1/2 mile right of way off state maintained rd then another 1/2 mile private drive last 1/4 mile steep. Even without the snow this will be a challenge to get right in the best conditions.
the reason I am considering this,I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains roads are a real issue here from torrential down pours to winter freezing and thawing ad in steep slopes. I have only put around 12 hrs on the machine in deep snow. Small details on roads here can make the difference of a wash out or staying together, I did a good job with the exception of an unwanted gouge in a critical spot
I might just be impatient looking for a quick fix. The inching hydraulic control on the B7800 is a learning curve. One other point 1/2 mile right of way off state maintained rd then another 1/2 mile private drive last 1/4 mile steep. Even without the snow this will be a challenge to get right in the best conditions.
Logan you live in the Blue Ridge Mountains? Now that is Gods country, lucky you.
On my 7610 with the 3point all the way down, I pull the lever all the way aft and it will stay there as the 3 point raises. When the 3 point tops out at its limit it stops and at exactly this time the lever will kick to the middle position, not up or down, but the middle. When I lower the 3 point all the way down I have the option of keeping the lever all the way forward keeping hydralic down pressure in the device. If this is too much for the mud or loose soil I can move the lever to the middle position and it stays and now there is no longer tractor pressure pushing down with the 3 point, just the weight of the device. There are no detents on the lever, just the nodes that stick out for that funky inching mode, never really use that to much.
Just wondering if your 7800 lever works as I described my 7610?
I didn't think that any Kubota had down pressure on the 3 PH. I've heard of other rare tractors having it but never Kubota.
The weight of the implement may be acting like down pressure when the lower arms allow the full weight of the implement to contact the ground.
A down pressure situation would be negated by using chains anyway.
Maybe I need an education about it.
The weight of the implement may be acting like down pressure when the lower arms allow the full weight of the implement to contact the ground.
A down pressure situation would be negated by using chains anyway.
Maybe I need an education about it.
12 hrs experience. I have up, inch up, down, inch down, I believe when the lever is in the middle position it is fixed this is how I gouged the road as when the front of the tractor goes up the back goes down, it seems to be very temperamental. The rear blade I have a Bush Hog 50-6 weight is around 400lbs.
GWD and logan,
Quite possibly my mind is telling me what I want to see? Most likely I might have been deceived by my Top & Tilt using a box scraper. I rarely gouge anymore as I can feather the controls on the move as needed.
I am able to apply quite a bit of pressure by pulling all the way back on the Top lever forcing more pressure onto the box or very little pressure by pushing forward to decrease the angle of the box.
I'm realizing after reading both of your posts that you may not have the T&T and are having to try and make do with the 3 point cntrls.
Sorry if I caused any confusion
Scott
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No, I do have a Gearmore T & T on the M7040. The "Top" doesn't apply any pressure. It just varies the angle of the blade on a box blade or similar implement.GWD and logan,
Quite possibly my mind is telling me what I want to see? Most likely I might have been deceived by my Top & Tilt using a box scraper. I rarely gouge anymore as I can feather the controls on the move as needed.
I am able to apply quite a bit of pressure by pulling all the way back on the Top lever forcing more pressure onto the box or very little pressure by pushing forward to decrease the angle of the box.
I'm realizing after reading both of your posts that you may not have the T&T and are having to try and make do with the 3 point cntrls.
Sorry if I caused any confusion
Scott
In fact, lengthening the Top allows the blade to cut less - even to the point where the back cutting edge (if one is present) can act as a leveler to smooth gravel or soil. The back edge floats.
The physics of lengthening the Top should apply down force, if it existed, but rather it decreases the cut.
The "Tilt" may appear to apply down pressure but it is really just concentrating the cutting force to a smaller area (the edge of the implement rather than the full face) so the down force of the weight of the implement causes the angled blade to dig in more.
I'm going to stick with the position that there is no hydraulic down force on a Kubota 3 PH. There are certainly times that down force would be useful, however.
The 3 point control on my unit has 3 positions
back for lift - no choice of speed here, kicks out at max height
centre for hold - keeps implement fixed distance up, but still can move higher
forward for drop - no choice of speed, can stay in forward position
The test for power down is so simple. With FEL I can hold the down control and lift the front tires off the ground. With the 3 point, it just drops. I can lift the arms by hand if there is no implement attached.
The 3 point implements are designed to work from gravity, or from the shape of the implement. (Long top link makes a scraper blade more aggressive) Think for a minute - with power down on a small tractor you would lift up the rear tires and go nowhere. Now if you were operating a Cat D8 it would be a bit different.
back for lift - no choice of speed here, kicks out at max height
centre for hold - keeps implement fixed distance up, but still can move higher
forward for drop - no choice of speed, can stay in forward position
The test for power down is so simple. With FEL I can hold the down control and lift the front tires off the ground. With the 3 point, it just drops. I can lift the arms by hand if there is no implement attached.
The 3 point implements are designed to work from gravity, or from the shape of the implement. (Long top link makes a scraper blade more aggressive) Think for a minute - with power down on a small tractor you would lift up the rear tires and go nowhere. Now if you were operating a Cat D8 it would be a bit different.
If you really want to make a level surface rig up a wheel on each side of the box blade with them sticking out about a foot behind the box blade. I used a pair of steel wheel of an old famall belly cultivator. When I drilled the mounting holes I have the box blade sitting on the concrete floor of my barn with the box blade sides on the floor. This way you can adjust the top link on how much dirt you want to pull. With the wheels down, you can have the 3 point control down. If the tractor wheels go over a hump or dip the box blade isn't affected since it is riding on the wheels in the rear. If you are pulling too much dirt it won't dump in the low spots so you lengthen the top long so you pull less dirt.
I did this when I built a dirt track to practice on when I started endurance racing. I was almost 49 the first time I raced and wanted every advantage I could get. I didn't have any banking but it was good to test my cars. And it was smooooooth.
I did this when I built a dirt track to practice on when I started endurance racing. I was almost 49 the first time I raced and wanted every advantage I could get. I didn't have any banking but it was good to test my cars. And it was smooooooth.
