Tips on operating grading scraper

[Marty394]

Looking for tips and tricks to operating a grading scraper. Will be pulling the trigger on a land pride gs1572 soon. Curious about the re-crowning method on parking lots. Does one just start at the lower grade and work to the high side? Will it be smooth from one pass to the next, or will it leave ridges/ grooves at the transition from one pass to the next? Does it carry enough material to properly fill pot holes? Thought about adding a removable panel to the rear if needed to act as a box blade as well if it can't carry enough to fill pot hole.

Bob

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Best I could tell ya for now is go to www.everythingattachments.com and see a video on a grader scraper and how it works.

 

[pat331]

Marty - I have a 6' grader blade almost identical to the one you are purchasing. On mine, the depth of the blades is fixed whereas the one you are buying is adjustable. I've only used mine on my road, not on a parking lot. I've found that it carries plenty of material to fill pot holes unless you run out of carried material. If it does, I just make multiple passes. I would not advise putting a removable panel in unless you can control it as you grade. As far as building crown in a parking lot, my guess is to start on the low side pulling material toward the portion you want to crown. I have top/tilt cylinders on my L35 and can move the blade on the go. Regarding the ridges/grooves between passes, mine leave some minor ridges from one pass to the next. They usually fade away with traffic. I have pulled a piece of chain link fence behind the grader to smooth those away. Hope this helps.

 

[Marty394]

Pat how deep are your blades set? And does the road surface get soft, or get tire grooves/tracks cut into the surface after grading? I was wondering if there would be a need to pull a weighted roller after grading or not?

Bob

 

[pat331]

Marty, Sorry for taking so long to reply. My blades are 3/4" below the bottom of the skids. I finally got to grade my road a week ago. It took me a while to get the pics downloaded and resized. But here they are. The first one shows what the road looked like before and the last two are of the graded road. In the past, I ran the tractor over the road to compact the gravel, but I didn't have time on this occasion. The pics in the middle are of the grader-blade in action. You'll notice I installed a wing that sticks about a ft. past the front of the blade. I installed it to keep the gravel from rolling around the front and spilling out where I didn't want it. Let me know if you have questions.

 

[Marty394]

Thanks for the reply and the pics. I can only wish we had gravel that nice. What we have is more fines than rock. And the fines have a lot of clay in them. In the dead of summer it's hard as concrete, but in the fall when it gets rainy, and the hunting traffic picks up it really gets slimy and rutted. Still haven't pulled the trigger and bought one. Thinking about building one instead. Drove past an old set of steel industrial stairs yesterday about 4 1/2 - 5" long and about 3' wide. They were for sale. The top and bottom of the stairs have a nice 45 degree angle cut already and the side rails look to be made from an "I" beam. The treads are bolted in. It would be a simple affair to remove the treads, widen it, add some angle and blades, maybe some replaceable wear pads, and a three point set up. Maybe some scarifier teeth. I'm thinking less than $400.00 maybe $500.00.

Bob

 

[pat331]

Sounds like a plan. Go for it and keep ups posted with updates and pictures. If I can measure any part of mine that will help you, let me know.

 

[Bulldog]

Hi Marty,

Before you start to build I want to throw this at you. Keep in mind it has been 10 yrs since I bought mine but I only gave about $500 for a Bushhog 5 1/2' box scrape brand new.

I don't want you to take me wrong. I am all for building your own when money can be saved. A kind word on a piece that is homemade makes a guy feel pretty good.

I'm sure most good box scapes are this way but a Bushhog brand has this. Front and rear reversable cutting edges that bolt in. Mine has 5 scarifiers with multiple depth adjustments.

The box is deep enough to carry a large amount of material with it and fills potholes up very well. It is heavy enough (about 400 lbs) to get the scarifier teeth in the ground when they are needed. It works good on driveways as well as large pads for spreading dirt and rock.

I made the mistake of buying a light weight box one time. It wouldn't even put 1 tooth in the ground and would raise up over rock when I tried to spread it out. I added weight to the sides and made it cut. After doing this I started to break things. At this point in time I was using a B 7100 DT. It wasn't even able to stand up to that high HP beast.

A light weight box is only worth whatever the scrap metal price is that day.

I'm sure the price has gone up over the years but it might be a good option to consider. If you have a Tractor Supply in your area maybe check them out. The ones around here carry King Kutter brand. All their products I have been around so far seem to be well built and priced right.

A few pics of a project last year. I filled in behind my house for a new shed to go in. I had about 500 tandem loads of waste material hauled in and we put almost 700 loads of dirt with my dirt pan. My box scrape did fine.

 

[Eric McCarthy]

I have a 4 foot King Kutter on my tractor. I've been please with it over all, does most jobs just fine and will sink the teeth in the ground and break up the dirt pretty well. However it does have a few design flaws in the King Kutter grading box. I grew up using my dads Ghil grading box which has manual retractabe teeth and the back blade was on a hinge which make it perfect for fine grading. The hinged back blade makes all the differance in the world. You can pick the box up off the ground and let just the back blade drage and grade out an area with a tractor just as fine as you can with a hand rake.

They just dont make things like they used to anymore.

 

[Bulldog]

They just dont make things like they used to anymore.[/QUOTE]



I couldn't agree with you more. The way things are now you get less and pay more for it. Sad but true.

 

[Marty394]

Bulldog, what I am looking at is a grading scraper, instead of a box blade. The main differences are that the grading scraper has a longer side panel with replaceable skids on the bottom. It has two blades that are parallel to each other mounted inside the side panels. The blades are adjustable to cut below the outer skids. Most have scarifier teeth as well. The back side is open. The biggest advantage to the grading scraper is the longer sides. This length allows the unit to be lowered to the ground in a floating position, and simply pulled without the constant feathering of the TPH. Basically the length of the skids allow it to ride the tops of a wash board road while the cutting blades shave off the high spots and fill the low spots. Check out Dura Grader.com for a video.
I think that it would take less time to do a road at a higher speed with one of these.

Bob

P.S. Oh yea, some day I wouldn't mind a box blade as well.

 

[Bulldog]

Those are sweet and look like they do a really nice job. I have never pulled one myself. I guess it's all in what you get used to. I grade driveways with my box all the time. Not trying to say a box is the best choice but it works fine for me.
The cutting edges are the only thing that touches the ground on mine. No height adjustments but they can be turned or replaced.
Depending on how much material I want to carry along with me I can run in 6th or even 7th gear if I want to. Normally do it in 5th. Just depends on the condition of the road or lot I'm working on. I had really forgot the weight on my box. I was thinking it was around 400 lbs. That is the weight on my tiller. The box weighs 511 lbs. according to the book. I guess that's why it cuts so good.
I would go with the one that I felt like would do the best job for your needs. I use mine for so many different types of applications the box is a better choice for me.
I regularly depend on mine for a counter weight doing loader work. Being short is a advantage in confined areas.