I finally made a level road with my Case 450C using a tip from this forum. I'm widening a creek on my property and using the exfill to raise a dirt road that runs along the creek. I duck-taped a PVC pipe to the top of the blade and set up a 100' level string on the side of the road at the corresponding height. I attached a cheap heel-angle gage (used on sailboats to show the angle of the boat) to the blade to help me keep the blade level. I would make passes keeping the pipe touching the bottom of the string. If necessary, I'd lower the string a couple inches and start over. I then moved the string to the next section. The only problem is the hood sometimes blocks the heel-angle gage from sight. I may try and make a removable mount to raise it.
Very clever using a string. Raise the blade all the way up or as high you need - to see it and level it. Then lower it down. After a while you will get the feel for it and won't need to do that.
No laser beams were involved ????
No laser beams haha. I did a google search on how to grade with a small dozer and found some old posts from this forum. Both the string and heel-angle gage ideas came from this forum. Knowing the blade angle really helps me because I have slop in my 6-way blade and it moves. I'm looking forward to the day my butt is trained and I won't need any gadgets.
I have 35 years and 50k hours running yellow iron, and I still need a laser to grade something flat. I can make water run pretty well, but only if it's at least a 1% slope.
Nice! I have done similar things with mini behind a curb string, with a magnet pipe level on the blade, or on the sheet metal in front of your toes. Go really slow and use the bucket to move material to the low side and creep forward to make good sidewalk grade @2%.
I need to address the "play" in my blade. Hopefully this winter I can check the pins/bushings and see which ones are the worst.