Box Blade and Hydraulic Top Link on Super 55

[super 55]

Hope this is a good place to get some info on using a box blade. I want to re-do my gravel driveway, and to level out some uneven yard. I will be using a 6 foot box blade, a 5 foot doesn't quite span the tire track on my Super 55. I have external hydraulics and was thinking a hydraulic top link would improve the ability to level with box blade. Any thoughts on this set up? I have to pick the box blade up this weekend, and figure it would be best to see what size to link I will need once the box blade is installed. Anyone have a similar set up and suggest the size of top link? I purchased this tractor several years ago and over those years I replaced or repaired anything that needed attention and also had the diesel engine rebuilt. And it got a paint job. The only implements I have used on it before the restoration were a rear mounted trip bucket and a back blade. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[Check Break]

(quoted from post at 21:54:11 05/27/21) Anyone have a similar set up and suggest the size of top link?

A Cat 1 top link is all you need with a 6' scraper. You might think of plumbing it with quick disconnects. Easy on and easy off, but you'll probably end up using it with other implements. Makes life a lot easier.

 

[SparepartsTN]

I've been using that setup for 8+ years, I won't go back. I'm using an old Ford, just drop the position control all the way down so the box blade is dragging on the ground. Use the hydraulic top link to adjust the cutting angle, make small adjustments as needed. I do gravel driveways that are badly neglected until they call me, they end up smooth without chatter ridges or gouges. On my box blade I leave the rakers pointing down in their raised position which is just above the blade, if I want to use them I just tilt the box blade up on it's nose to break up hard pack and roll it back level on the fly.

Get a hydraulic top link (cat 1) that is designed for the job, it has a locking system that won't drain down and change length. It is also handy with the brush hog if I want to shred some tall stuff I lift the tail of the hog and back in.

 

[Ultradog MN]

If you have a service valve then by all means get yourself a hydraulic top link.
I would cry if I had to go back to a screw type top link.
They are expensive to buy so I made my own. Bought a good used cylinder and cut the swivel ends off a screw type top link and welded them onto the cylinder.
With a hydraulic top link I can turn my back blade around without removing it from the tractor. Click the link for a little video.

Video

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I've tried many things I repair gravel driveways and level yards.

Only problem with using any 3pt attached is there is no down force and if one wheel goes in a pothole that changes everything attached to 3 pt.

This is what I use to level dirt and repair driveways. I can

See everything without turning around. Fill holes before wheels fall in a hole. I can apply down force.
I angle blade, the forks will apply more down force on the right side and I can remove gravel from side of road and bring it back to the middle of road in the process filling in hole.

I sold my box blade.

I have 5000# lawn roller. The best way to fix ruts in lawn is to use loader to add dirt and level dirt with back blade.

This pic I used Jubilee to level dirt on terramite to add dirt. Filled in ruts concrete trucks made.

I have no idea why my second pic wasn't the roller.

 

[Russ from MN]

I just use my back blade, angled, and mostly in reverse. By angling it I reduce washboarding. I have never used a box blade but I understand they work better.

 

[Tgrasher]

Set one up for a small Case once and initially it worked great but somehow in usage I bent the ram. Probably backing up with a reversed dirt scoop loading rock to spread. Anyway make sure your cylinder ram is bigger than an inch.

 

[paul]

Top hyd link is very handy. You will love it. Helps with lots of three pt stuff. You have a cat 1 3pt, so will want that size top link.

For leveling a washboard driveway, a box blade kind of just magnifies the washboard, as the tractor drives up and down the washboard, the box blade goes up and down.... hope you still have the regular blade, set it at an angle and move the gravel side to side on the drive, this actually works out the washboard and levels.

The box blade will do a lot too and useful, but to level an angled blade is often best.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

We had an 8n with a Dearborn back blade. The blade had a tail wheel and a leveling crank that raised or lowered the wheel. When you lowered the wheel it held the blade up and it was great for leveling up uneven ground. We actually referred to it as the leveling blade. Our farm was in Kentucky just 5 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio and we were surrounded by growing suburbia. We finished a lot (@1000) of yards of newly built homes, and also things like digging up a septic tank and refinishing those areas. It was the era before skid steers. That blade with the tail wheel was always used for those jobs because it worked so well. I think the wheel was replaced 4 times. I always wonder why the tail wheel is not more common on back blades. Mark.

 

[Fordy20]

A hydraulic top link is sure handy. I find with a rear blade it works a lot better to raise or lower the blade - fine adjustment - with the top link instead of the three point. The one I have is a Prince but Dalton also makes hydraulic top links.

 

[Janicholson]

The use af a trailing wheel or wheels is the control needed. A hydraulic top link is handy for a bunch of things, and can assist in the use of the box blade. Do not use it fro a mower. it has zero compressibility, and will break something expansive. A chain, or telescopic top link is needed for that.
The wheel idea is clearly explained below by Mark. Road graders never have smoothing/leveling blades off the rear or front, only the middle. Jim

 

[charlie n]

Got 4 tractors and three have hydraulic top links. Picture is a 335 bought new in 1978. It's got the Gannon 3 spool for top tilt and scarifire .

 

[SparepartsTN]

Paul
Try letting the box blade drag on the ground, no lift from the tractor. As long as the box blade just drags on the ground the tractor going over rough ground has no effect on the blade, it will cut off the tops and fill the valleys. Just use the hydraulic top link to adjust the amount of cut and in a couple of passes it will be smooth and finished.

 

[comfortking]

I always put a smaller pin in the top link. The slop that you have will help you feather out rock by raising your hitch a slight amount. If you need to cut or drag let your hitch down a tad.
This is a lot more easily controlled vs. the hydraulic top link. I use box blade on Case Eagle hitch tractors that have down pressure it works great. If you need to shave off a small spot raise slightly and cut it with the back side. I hardly ever put the teeth down.

 

[bc]

(quoted from post at 12:36:22 05/28/21) The use af a trailing wheel or wheels is the control needed. A hydraulic top link is handy for a bunch of things, and can assist in the use of the box blade. Do not use it for a mower. it has zero compressibility, and will break something expansive. A chain, or telescopic top link is needed for that.
The wheel idea is clearly explained below by Mark. Road graders never have smoothing/leveling blades off the rear or front, only the middle. Jim

Learned some more tips on blading. Jim or Mark, if I were to weld a couple mounting brackets on the back of a regular blade, how far back should be the wheels extend? Say if I welded a couple pieces of half moon shaped steel on the back at the appropriate height and then have the wheels attached to 2" square stock of the length you suggest and then use pins to attach them. The brackets would have to allow the wheels to swivel left or right as you change the angle of the blade.

 

[WNYBill]

I use the rear blade to ditch and always thought I'd prefer a hyd adjuster link rather than a hyd top link. Have never used either but have hand cranked the adjuster 1000 miles. The top link only adjusts the angle of the blade to the ground and does effect the amount of cut.

 

[Hay hay hay]

I was hoping to find some good ideas in this discussion, but I don't think a hydraulic top link will help me smooth my 2000 ft farm road.
The problem is that the blade goes up and down opposite the front wheels of the tractor. The bigger the tractor, the more the up and down travel of the blade. My road has so may dips from past blading that I seem to make it worse not better. I think I need a land plane type implement. The rear wheels on the blade seem like a good idea but I have never seen one. I have actually pulled a chain harrow up the road to try to smooth out the dips. I am certainly wide open to ideas how to make the road better.

 

[coshoo]

I don't know how sensitive the draft control is on a Super 55, but I once graveled my driveway with a rear blade on a JD 420, and the draft control worked very well to follow the contour.

 

[bc]

(quoted from post at 14:32:50 05/29/21) I don't know how sensitive the draft control is on a Super 55, but I once graveled my driveway with a rear blade on a JD 420, and the draft control worked very well to follow the contour.

You have me wondering what you were leveling? Our drive probably has at least 12" of hard packed ab3 and gravel that has been put down over the years that is high in the middle and rutted in the tire lanes. I want to blade it flat before bringing a couple loads of gravel and spreading it. I'd think it would be easier to spread gravel than make a grade on hardpan. The ditches have tended to silt in so they need to be bladed clean as well.

 

[SparepartsTN]

Hay Hay Hay
What kind of blade are you using? If it is a regular blade that angles, guide wheels off the back will help but you will still have some front wheel effect since you have to support the front of the blade with the 3 point hitch. If you use a box blade, it just sits flat on the ground and doesn't need any support. Just hook up the 3 point and leave it as low as it will go (this is for tractors WITHOUT down pressure) and drag it, your upper link will adjust how much the front or rear blade will cut. Now your tractor wheels have no effect on the blade and cannot create or perpetrate washboard results. You can still pick it up when you want but it works the best being dragged.

 

[Royse]

I bought a brand new box blade when I bought my first tractor with
a 3 pt hitch. I sold it a few years later because I didn't need or use it.

Since they don't angle, the only benefits I found to mine was a
cutting edge on both front and rear so I didn't have to swing it
around to reverse it and the scarifier teeth.
Switching from forward to aft still required adjusting the top link

What works for me is to blade the the ground with an angled back
blade if it's really hard, then use my york rake. If the ground isn't
really hard, the york rake is all I need. The back blade just sits.
York rakes can also have trailing wheels added, but mine doesn't.

The hydraulic top link helps with adjusting any of the above.

 

[super 55]

I have two areas to level. One is a plowed bed that I intend to put a wild flower pasture in. I want to level it, then tilt the box blade up, so that it's riding on the back side of
the rear blade to pack it down. I also need to level my gravel driveway. It hasn't had any work done on it for probably 30 years at least. It's gotten rutted from the vehicles going
up and down after all these years. It has a large rock base with some gravel on top in places, but a lot of the gravel is gone now. I also need to extend the drive around my shop.

 

[Check Break]

(quoted from post at 10:08:58 05/29/21) I was hoping to find some good ideas in this discussion, but I don't think a hydraulic top link will help me smooth my 2000 ft farm road.
The problem is that the blade goes up and down opposite the front wheels of the tractor. The bigger the tractor, the more the up and down travel of the blade. My road has so may dips from past blading that I seem to make it worse not better. I think I need a land plane type implement. The rear wheels on the blade seem like a good idea but I have never seen one. I have actually pulled a chain harrow up the road to try to smooth out the dips. I am certainly wide open to ideas how to make the road better.

Make a top link (chain link) using two Cat 1/2 balls and a piece of chain between. When you pick up your implement, the chain will hold it. When grading and the front of the tractor lifts up, the chain will go slack and your implement won't dig in.

 

[Hay hay hay]

Thanks. I have a blade, a box blade and a rock rake. Unfortunately I get the same up and down digging problem with all 3. Perhaps my tractor has down pressure on the lift arms (I am not sure). Will the draft control help here? I have considered using a chain top link on the rock rake to just smooth the gravel. I welcome your input.

 

[bc]

I went over to the York site and here is what it said about caster wheels and I suppose the same applies to a blade as well as the rake. So the caster wheels need to be adjusted up and down with the front one of an angled blade/rake an inch or so higher so the blade/rake is lower and it digs in more and then feathers out to the trailing edge of the blade/rake. Looks like the caster wheels work whether or not your 3 point has down pressure. It says using a hydraulic top link requires you to be too quick on adjusting it which most people can't without going very slow. So kinda like the trailing caster wheels of a brush hog that have pin holes for adjustments. Might have to look at my mowers and see if I can borrow them and move them over to some brackets welded on my blade. The casters on the York rake stuck back a foot or two and probably the more the better.

On another note, does anyone know if the 3 point on my Ford 1500 has down pressure or not? I was using a cultivator behind it and not sure it was pushing down much or not.

 

[Check Break]

(quoted from post at 05:02:28 05/30/21) Thanks. I have a blade, a box blade and a rock rake. Unfortunately I get the same up and down digging problem with all 3. Perhaps my tractor has down pressure on the lift arms (I am not sure). Will the draft control help here? I have considered using a chain top link on the rock rake to just smooth the gravel. I welcome your input.

I don't see how the draft control will help. There is no pressure on the lift arms. They are fixed. When your nose goes up or down you pivit on your rear axle raising or lowering the lift arms.

There's a couple of other ways to do this. You can build a link between the lift arms and the implement and use a chain top link.

Alternatively, you can build adapters or something that looks like a quick detach three point to modify your three points of contact. The top link will pin to the adapter in a horizontal slot. The lower links in a vertical slot. I have a mower with this kind of setup but I cannot post pictures for a while. Will do so when I can.

 

[SparepartsTN]

I've never tried draft control with any blade, my understanding is with a plow in the ground when (if) it gets too hard to pull the draft control will lift the plow to get past the obstruction. Checking down pressure? With the tractor running and the three point arms horizontal, stand behind the tractor and try lifting the arms by hand. I think if you can lift them any significant amount either you are kin to Superman or you don't have down pressure.

The chain top link will allow the rake to follow the contour of the ground without the tractor causing problems, but it will not correct any flaws in the road surface (wash board etc.), unless you pull it at an angle or have wheels behind it.

The usual disclaimers apply, but my intent is to be helpful. I've found that going slow improves the results, it gives the blade time to move the material instead of jumping over it.

 

[juahan]

same here, I never used box blade
I'm new here and reading all thread just