G'day all, wondering if anyone has run a dozer blade on their skid steer? I'd like to set my sights on one, so any features that are must haves, or any that are just gimmicks, it'd be cool to find out here first! THIS looks fairly gutsy, though runs @ $7500+ Aussie. Gotta be the ultimate driveway builder! Any & all thoughts welcome, cheers :drinkup
I have run several kinds of blades from true 6way to the ones you have to lift and angle to make them tilt. Ive ran them on all CAT machines from CTLs, MTLs, SSLs and the SSLs with Loegrien (sp) tracks and I cat say that they work any better for general grading than a standard ole bucket
YM Have you ever run a blade on a SSL the size of an 1840 Case. I have been wanting to build one from an old dozer blade off an old Ford tractor. I have been wanting one for many months now. I mostly want one for backfilling trenches in small areas and spreading a little top soil in beds. I may also ad onn gauge wheels for better grading. I hate trying to keep a bucket of dirt for grading/ spreading on some jobs and backfilling. I also want to use it for dressin up around my compost piles. Ive been told the wheel base would cause dipping but I di have a place on the blade for skid shoes.
I rented an eight footer today (Bobcat brand) and I'm not so sure I think it's worth having one. I attached it to an A300 for some driveway maintenace. Normally I can do this with the bucket but this driveway had some pretty serious washboards and I wanted to cut them out (instead of just filling) , process, and recompact. I decided to rent the blade for fear that the A300, with the smooth edge bucket, would not be able to cut through the way that I would have liked it to. My opinion is that the skid steer is just not a good platform for this attachment. Maybe a tracked unit would be better but one of my complaints is that you can't always see the ends of the blade. Visual obstruction is caused by the loader arms so this would be the same for the "T" series Bobcats as well. Maybe other brands have better visibility. The subgrade was very rocky so while I was attempting to restore some of the bar ditch I had problems getting anything done without burning holes in the ground with my tires. Again, I'm sure the tracked units are better carriers for this attachment. As with anything. it became easier to use with time. I still think that not being able to see the ends of the blade is a serious handicap. When I consider all the negatives of this attachment (when attached to a skid), and the things I want to accomplish with a 6 way blade, it just doesn't make sense to shell out the bucks.
I forgot to mention a couple of other serious drawbacks to the Bobcat 6 way balde (maybe other brands don't have these problems). One is that the blade hydraulics are very slow. I am used to very fast response to my imput, and the slow hydraulics makes it harder to feel what's going on up front. The other is the confusing control layout. The left side thumb toggle is for the blade angle, which is OK (but left handed anything, for the blade, is hard to get used to) but the tilt is a rocker style button on the right handle and, for me at least, is counter intuitive.
Check u'r attachment control panel to make sure you have the button functions matched to the blade ....... They must have at least 20 or more attachments listed there, and you'll see the different patterns for the button functions ....... Hope that'll help ? Ohh .... and there might be a flow restrictor in the line or in the flat face connector ......I have installed these in some of my off brand attachments to slow thing down so as not to SLAM the hyd cyl's out ???? :drinkup
I didn't even know that there was an attachment control panel, let alone a way to change the pattern for each attachment. I guess I will re-consult my manual. I assume this is accessed through the LCD monitor. Thanks for the tip. I spoke to the dealer this morning, when I returned it, and he did not mention any reason for this other than what I already suspected (large diameter cylinders and small lines). It really doesn't matter as the bigger problem is the short commings of mounting it to a short wheelbase rubber tired machine.
YUP ! ...upper right side, its the tools icon ... had to play with it when I got my new hyd snow blower last winter and had to add the 14 pin conversion kit for a 12v signal .... now I've got all bases covered As far as an A-300 goes I have one too and would'nt trade it for anything, its a pretty versatile machine ..... try renting the newer grader attachment next time it'll amaze you ...... cheers :drinkup
Thanks for the info. My machine has the 7 pin plug. I have run a low flow blower with that plug (not very happy with that attachment either). My dealer suggested the grader attachment as well (when I dropped off the 6-way with an unfavorable crittique), although he does not have one on the lot, let alone for rent. I thought about getting one back when I owned an A220. I had a few small commercial lots to prep for concrete/asphalt. That line of thought came to a close once I got the quote (more than $14k). We taked about that yesterday also (the dealer and I), and he said that that must have been with the laser, and machine control system. He said that the grader alone is about $7k. That's still a good size chunk of change for an attachment that I don't see using very much.
I have an older Bobcat 7 pin grader. Im building a control set to run it on my 96 Case 1840. Im still gonna build a 4 way blade I just remeber I have a 6 way blade off a 430 Vermeer trencher. Its got a heel to help stabilize it for grading.