I'm planning on building an adapter to use my three point scraper blade on the skid steer (JD 325 with OTT tracks). I want it mostly for pushing loose dirt over the edge when I'm widening trails in the woods. I probably won't be doing any serious digging with it but of course I might hit a hidden rock or two. I have some older trails which have settled for a few years and are still a bit high and I'd like to take that down a bit too. I have bought a 5/16" QA plate. What do I need to weld on to that to attach the scraper blade so that I won't bend things up? Is 4x4x1/4" angle iron enough? 4"x1/2" bar stock? 4"x1" bar stock? 4x4x1/4" square tube? Am I overthinking/overengineering this? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Ken
You can get a big hint by looking at your blade. If you want to be on the safe side use something about the same strength as it uses for the lower arms. Or you could look at a 75hp tractor for inspiration. In reality you don't need to be quite this heavy since they won't be very long and you won't need the buckling strength, and you don't plan to use it very much. If you were going to use it alot then things get a little more complicated since you have to account for fatigue. In this is the case then you want to spread the forces out on the coupling plate, ideally to the edges. Otherwise the plate will flex and you will get cracks. ISZ
skidsteerexpress.com sells them. look at their website for ideas. the price is about $300.
That's where I got the QA plate. Frankly, from the looks, that one seems lighter duty than the Bradco. But then it's made out of "high grade structural steel", which I assume is stronger than the mild steel I'll be using. Ken