6' Industrial Scraper Blade on my M8560 has me stumped....I'm missing something....

[Oodalink]

Ok, I dont want to sound dumb, but I sure feel that way at the moment. I have a 6' Industrial tilt/pivoting scraper blade that weighs in the neighborhood of 350-400lbs. Easy enough for my M8560HD to handle though. Problem is, when I hook it up to the 3 point and attempt to raise the unit off of the ground, I run into these two scenarios:
If the top link is long, the lift arms rotate under the top link rotating the blade inward as the lift arms go up, the top link does not raise.
If the top link is shortened, the unit is off the ground and the lift arms will not allow the unit to touch the ground, it appears the top link keeps the lift arms from completely lowering.
I have been adjusting the top link manually in order to use the blade which has worked, but lifting and lowering that chunk of steel manually is a major pain in the $&%^&!!
I dont believe I need a hydraulic top link, as I have seen numerous other large blades on tractors and all have had standard 3 point attachments.
I know I am missing something, and its probably some lever or knob on my new tractor that I am unaware of! A little help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[85Hokie]

I am trying to wrap my head around your problem......

if " lift arms rotate under the top link" then I would say your top adj link is WAY too long....

to not allow to hit the ground suggests that it is too short......which is crazy!

ideas:

is the top link in the correct "hole" on the tractor? Old machinery had multiple holes.....

is the top link the correct length for this tractor? come with tractor?

in a perfect world the top link and the bottom two pins should be somewhere in a 90 degree alignment to the ground, almost vertical.....almost depending what you are really trying to do.

take the top link OUT ....and lower the arms ....do they go down further?

is there the adjustment that stops the lower travel? on several machines you can control upper and lower limits.....

this is a picture I snagged off the net.....

can you shoot us a picture so everyone can see?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

First of all, your industrial scrape blade is designed for a 40hp tractor with a cat 1 hitch at best. It is considered a light duty blade. Your tractor is going to end up destroying this blade sooner than later.

Now, as far as hitching this thing up. Without the top link, have the draft arms connected to the blade. Now adjust the 3pt so that you have the beam of the rear blade is parallel to the ground. Now connect the top link. Now raise the hitch so that the cutting edge is 1" or less off of the ground. Now pull the pin for angling the blade. Rotate the blade 360*, the cutting edge should be the same distance off the ground anywhere that the blades is, so the whole 360*. You may need to adjust the top link and or the side link, but the hitch needs to be adjusted so that the cutting edge is an equal amount off the ground no matter what angle you have it set at.

Now all of that is based on that you are on a flat surface to dial in all of the adjustments. Once this is done, you should be good to go and any further adjustments would be intended to make the blade do an intended task.

If you still have problems, then get back to us. By the way, you really need one of these for a rear blade to run behind your M8560.

It's what I have behind mine and would not want anything less.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Oodalink,
Your problem is running a small Cat 1 implement on a large Cat 2 tractor.
I'm betting the pins are either loose, have bushings or have been swapped to larger pins.
The problem with running that type of implement on that size tractor is the distance from the bottom pins to the top link is too short, all the adjustments in the world will not help you out in fixing that.

Simple fix, trade up to a blade that is sized for your tractor.

 

[Oodalink]

Well, mine definitely isnt that big! but the blade is most definitely a cat 2 blade, with cat 2 pins etc, and its 8' not 6' (didnt have my glasses on!). When I refer to industrial, I am speaking of DOT spec equipment. This blade is way over-built with two large horizontal gussets along the back of the blade, and 5 vertical gussets between the two horizontal gussets to reinforce the blade. All manual tilt/pivot.
85Hokie: If the top link is disconnected the lift arms do continue to drop to their lowest point

MtnViewRanch: Am I to assume that a blade is only designed to be lifted a very short distance off of the ground? In order to get up and over obstacles and drag uneven surfaces, I definitely need a decent amount of travel.

One thing I noticed and should mention; This DOT blade appears to have an extremely short distance between the lift pins and the top link, I am talking 14.5 inches. Simple geometry now tells me that the closer these hook-ups are, the greater chance of a blade doing exactly what mine is doing....more thoughts? Isnt the standard distance in the neighborhood of 24" for a cat 2 set-up?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Well, mine definitely isnt that big! but the blade is most definitely a cat 2 blade, with cat 2 pins etc, and its 8' not 6' (didnt have my glasses on!). When I refer to industrial, I am speaking of DOT spec equipment. This blade is way over-built with two large horizontal gussets along the back of the blade, and 5 vertical gussets between the two horizontal gussets to reinforce the blade. All manual tilt/pivot.
85Hokie: If the top link is disconnected the lift arms do continue to drop to their lowest point

MtnViewRanch: Am I to assume that a blade is only designed to be lifted a very short distance off of the ground? In order to get up and over obstacles and drag uneven surfaces, I definitely need a decent amount of travel.

One thing I noticed and should mention; This DOT blade appears to have an extremely short distance between the lift pins and the top link, I am talking 14.5 inches. Simple geometry now tells me that the closer these hook-ups are, the greater chance of a blade doing exactly what mine is doing....more thoughts? Isnt the standard distance in the neighborhood of 24" for a cat 2 set-up?

Sorry for the non accurate description. But you were the one that said that it weighs 350-400lbs and is 6' wide which would be a light duty rear blade.
So the weight and over all size was not correct? My belief would be that it was a cat 1 blade and has been modified to cat 2 pin sizes. What is the width of the pins at the draft arm attachment points? 32" is cat 2 width.


You say that you need a lot of travel to get up and over things, putting the top link in the lowest pin position on the tractor will help out with that. The ideal thing is to get a hydraulic top link. Then you can retract it and pull the blade way up in the air.

All you need to do is look at how the blades are made. The blade has to pivot under the beam, so that raises the attachment points. If you have a tilting blade, then that raises things up even higher. Before you know it, your hitch is raised 3/4 of the way up and the blade is still on the ground. You can see that with my boom parallel to the ground the blade is less than a foot off the ground, but by retracting my hydraulic top link I can get the cutting edge more than 2' off the ground.

So, no, they are not designed to be raised up much more than a foot off off the ground without making a top link adjustment.

You really need to get a true heavy duty blade for your size of tractor. Something 8'-9' wide and at a minimum of 800lbs.

Good luck.

 

[Oodalink]

MtnViewRanch and Wolfman you are both absolutely correct, and I humbly apologize for my ignorance! Apparently when I was sold this scraper as a Cat2 implement I was deceived! They installed Cat2 lift pins and enlarged the top link hole for Cat2 hookups, but failed to realize that the lift pin/top link pin height on a Cat1 implement is 18", and the lift pin/top link height on a Cat2 hookup is 24".
The worst part is that the lift pin/top link height on this scraper is only 14.5 inches! That's half an inch lower than the lowest pin setting on a Cat1 implement!!

Looks like I will be breaking out the welder and getting this to the proper height before selling it and getting a true Cat2 scraper (not like yours MtnViewRanch! I only have 45 acres, not 45000 acres to maintain!!)

Thanks all, you were a great help. I just couldnt see the forest for the trees!!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I have no idea what all the implements are that you have or will be considering getting, but I VERY highly recommend that you get a hydraulic top link. I am pretty sure that once you get one, you would agree that it was some of the best money that you ever spent.

 

[ShaunRH]

I have no idea what all the implements are that you have or will be considering getting, but I VERY highly recommend that you get a hydraulic top link. I am pretty sure that once you get one, you would agree that it was some of the best money that you ever spent.

We have a hydraulic top link for my brothers Oliver 1265 and it's not overly useful unless we're scraping/blading. For normal farm implements, it can actually be a distraction or efficiency loser as you have this mental desire to keep adjusting it to try and maximize some kind of minor deficiency in the implement track. We take if off now for regular traction work and don't worry about it. It is really nice for blading/scraping though, would be nicer with hydraulic or quick adjust side links!

 

[MtnViewRanch]

We have a hydraulic top link for my brothers Oliver 1265 and it's not overly useful unless we're scraping/blading. For normal farm implements, it can actually be a distraction or efficiency loser as you have this mental desire to keep adjusting it to try and maximize some kind of minor deficiency in the implement track. We take if off now for regular traction work and don't worry about it. It is really nice for blading/scraping though, would be nicer with hydraulic or quick adjust side links!

For a majority of people, just hooking up to the implement is easier even without ever using it again as long as that particular implement is on.

There are always exceptions and it sounds like your brother might be one of them. Does not mean that it does not hold true for most people though.

 

[speedymph1000]

For a majority of people, just hooking up to the implement is easier even without ever using it again as long as that particular implement is on.

There are always exceptions and it sounds like your brother might be one of them. Does not mean that it does not hold true for most people though.

I would love a hydraulic top link, just cant find one at an affordable enough price. Also not sure what all I would have to have to install it or does it just come in a kit? I've found things claiming to be kits on line but not too sure. I'd like to add the side link too while I was doing it. Any suggestions for a L3901HST owner?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I would love a hydraulic top link, just cant find one at an affordable enough price. Also not sure what all I would have to have to install it or does it just come in a kit? I've found things claiming to be kits on line but not too sure. I'd like to add the side link too while I was doing it. Any suggestions for a L3901HST owner?

Do you have the rear remotes? If you have the rear remotes, you can get a complete top & tilt set (cylinders, hoses, couplers and flow restrictors) over here for $760 + shipping costs.

If you need the rear remotes, the only true complete system that I know of would be Kubota. All the 3rd party sets that I have seen lack one thing or another.

Good luck

 

[speedymph1000]

I've only got one set of lines running to the rear that the Bh77 hooks to but I'll need to add at least two back there right? Where can I purchase the remotes at? I hate to buy from dealerships because of how expensive things are there.


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[speedymph1000]

Does the top and tilt have the top link and side link?


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