Poly or Rubber Edge for RB1660

[Tractor_Chunks]

I have a 60" rear blade with hydraulic angle. I'm mostly using is for ~60" wide sidewalks and some driveways. We have lots of raised sidewalk edges and that means I have to go slow and careful, but still end up jerking to a sudden stop if I get snagged. I'd like to put a more forgiving (and quieter) edge on the rear blade.

Do I want poly or rubber?

If poly, what is the best way to mount it? Sandwich between the blade & metal edge, or just replace the metal edge with the poly one?

 

[Deuce]

I believe poly just replaces the steel blade. Rubber would probably be a better material for what you're doing so it can flex around obstacles. The rubber tends to be the shortest lasting though from what I've read. But it will also act like a squeegee.

Or

What about trying some PVC pipe over your blade first? Sounds like in your situation it may be best to have a rounded edge to help the blade jump over un-movable objects like the sidewalks.
The guys using front end loaders with buckets for snow clearing, and people with gravel driveways are having good luck with this. It allows the blade to float along the ground better. Only downside I could see is it probably won't give a scraped clean finish.

 

[je1279]

I believe poly just replaces the steel blade. Rubber would probably be a better material for what you're doing so it can flex around obstacles. The rubber tends to be the shortest lasting though from what I've read. But it will also act like a squeegee.

Or

What about trying some PVC pipe over your blade first? Sounds like in your situation it may be best to have a rounded edge to help the blade jump over un-movable objects like the sidewalks.
The guys using front end loaders with buckets for snow clearing, and people with gravel driveways are having good luck with this. It allows the blade to float along the ground better. Only downside I could see is it probably won't give a scraped clean finish.

The PVC pipe works great until it gets too cold then the PVC shatters. If your dealing with a surface with a lot of uneven edges, I would suggest rubber. The poly gets pretty beat up and bent out of shape when the surfaces are not smooth. I'd start with 3/4" thick and see how that works. If you are able to put the holes in the middle you can then flip it to get twice the life out of it. You will also need a thin piece of 1/8 or 3/16 to sandwich the rubber between that and the moldboard.

 

[GeoHorn]

Was it Tractor Mike that used an old tire to make his?

 

[ayak]

I made a sandwich (using a rubber horse stall mat) between the cutting edge and the blade, and it worked really well for me, on gravel.

Back Blade for snow removal with horse mat

This will be our second winter at our current house with a pretty long drive made of asphalt millings. Last year I added skid shoes to the blade to keep it up off the drive. However when setting the rear blade at an angle the skid shoes take that same angle as well and dug in substantially into...

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[je1279]

Was it Tractor Mike that used an old tire to make his?

Possibly, I remember him doing a video about cutting horse stall mats and determining that a carpet knife was the best tool for the job but I believe that was for a lame horse that he had.

 

[Ping]

Chimpy,
I run a 60" rear blade with horse stall mat replacing the steel cutting edge. Instead of cutting the mat to 60" length, i leave it the full 72" width with 6" overhanging each end of the rear blade. Seems to help if i happen to get tooooooo close to immoveable objects. Might work for your raised sidewalk edges.
Regards

 

[chim]

Check Post #3

Rear blade rubber cutting edge

Does anybody have pictures of attaching rubber stall mat to their rear grader blade for snow removal? Thanks

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[GeoHorn]

I saw a video where some guy had taken an old large (tractor..? Or 18-wheeler..?) tire and cut it in half... facing it like a forward “C” and mounting it on his front-blade... It worked really well on snow and on stone drives without tearing things up.