About a year back I picked up a RK55 (55hp Hydrostatic Cabbed tractor) which is basically a Mahindra. Long story short I purchased it with the intent to grade some driveways, and bush hog properties to make some side income. I ended up getting a contact who needs some help with new construction grading. The first job I attempted to work at I had issues with pulling a grade with my tractor with a box blade. The 3 point controls are super stiff, and near impossible to make fine adjustments in the height of the box. I put the tractor in the shop to see if the dealer could work out the kinks, but if not I may look into moving into a different machine. Does anyone have any tips to share to make grade work easier with a tractor? I currently have a hydraulic top link, however I will be adding a hydraulic side link to it as well for cutting swales. Also I have looked at Massey's, Kubota, and John Deere. Does one manufacturer have a significant advantage over the other? Are there any models of tractors that are better suited for grading than others? I appreciate any advice that you can spare.
Massey's is the king of small grading tractors best balance of all and reasonable power to the ground the control is good once you get use to it Deere makes the best skip loaders in my opinion but that's a lot bigger than what I think your looking for An ag tractor is not balanced well enough be efficient at small grading jobs and I never found Deere 4000 series or the equal size kubota to be much different from each other and Massey's purpose built grade tractors have them beat
Wheel weights and or fluid in the tires was always a must when we used ag tractors for grading. We also welded a handle /lever extension to the three point lift lever for better control (get creative with angles) . Those stubby handles are stiff and almost always in a bad location for constant control when you’re turned around watching grade.
You aint run an Allis-Chalmers 175 . LOL! You can drink beer while fine grading with the gage wheels installed .
Hey td I only offered my expert opinion of what I knew and that does not involve antiquated grade tractors that have heavily modified boxs to aid in there short comings just saying lol But when it's what you got it's what will work but didn't allison go out of business in the 80s
Just jerkin your chain Aziron . If a feller can't make grade with a farm tractor …. What can they grade with ? This is " White Belt " beginner stuff Bro ! I'll get out your direction one of these days & show ya how to make grade with your Grandad's Minneapolis - Moline .
What ever you use takes a bunch of experience and practice to get the results you desire. You would think there is a way to loosen up your 3pt. controls.
I've been on dozens of different ag tractors and haven't found one yet that you couldn't fine grade a box with.... practice makes perfect or maybe..... ...
I appreciate the replies, I have ran kubota's with little issue rough grading but this ole South Korean piece is driving me insane. I am waiting to get it back for the dealer, and when I do I am going to put some hours in seeing what I can do to make it work a little better. I know for a fact I have a lllooooooong way to go as far as being proficient at fine grading, but this tractor is a pain. Hey if I can learn on this thing I should be able to grade with anything right? haha. If things don't pan out with this tractor I may contemplate going the Massey route. Dirt work beats the hell out of competing for bush hogging.
Well said Ronsii !
I use a 180D Allis and a 9' Deere drag blade that is SERIOUSLY loose in the pivot points. A LOT of practice and you will get the hang of a decent machine. Mine is Tire ballasted, I have a little Utility Deer 2305(20? hp) I use a 7' Rock or Landscapers Rake behind, has extra wheel weights rear, 4wd and added ballast in the rear tires for extra ability. Small loader on both tractors comes in handy as to back dragging the bucket lip on occasion
Those rock rakes are handy I use mine mainly for smoothing out places I clear.
Makes a great garden bed 'Fluffer' or if have the time when do food plots makes an excellent seed bed.
I made a eight foot box with wheels on back and six foot draw bar, works real good longer the better takes up and down out of hitch. will work like small motor grader.
I have 1959 m-f 50 I use to grade our road what i like about it i do not need to get out of the seat can easily adjust the angle left to right or right to left with hand crank handle you do need to adjust angle before starting with centerlink I use a woods scrapper blade you can maintain the crown or build it up depends on the height of the blade! I tried this with my 2018 m-f 1526 adjusting height and angle of the blade was not as simple and the angle had to done off the seat.and did not work as good as the m-f 50 or as smooth!
get a deere 210le. the older ones go cheap. I love mine
I have never seen any of the small ones go cheap around here... there are too many landscape guys paying retail plus for em'
A Deere 210 isn't a compact. It's their skip loader, same frame/engine as a 310 backhoe
What we have here is a failure to communicate (cool hand Luke) What I was saying my M-F 50 3 point is easier to adjust,without having to get out the seat M-F 50 is a utility tractor 2wd yr.1959 my M-F 1526 is a compact 4wd yr.2018 with a front loader.the 50 has a adjuster on the right hand side for the arm so you can in this case adjust the pitch of the blade or angle.left to right or right to left without having to get out seat !you can do this on 1526 but you have to do it before you start and off the seat and can not do it while your grading,or moving !!! I noticed this feature is not on newer ag. tractors . I"ll follow up on what this part is called. In this case old is better!
it is called a levelling box assembly !
This what a mate of mine uses. The controls are worked through a dual plane laser. https://www.facebook.com/eldarenas/...584514673056/1407091989455631/?type=3&theater Gets it right first time every time
that sounds cost prohibited$$$$ for a small operation! if that system failed could your mate get it right?I always apply the kiss method works every time and saves( lots of $$$$$$$ player,player) tropic thunder !
Didn't you see he was doing equestrian development, that means HORSES$$$. I don't think the money is an issue as long as the fragile little horseys don't trip on rough ground. This thingy would be almost ideal in my mind. Except I'd want it mounted in place of the 3 pt arms, or even directly under the axle, so the front wheels going up and down don't make the blade go up and down. Better grader action that way. If you're doing it with a compact tractor, making a loose soil bed is critical to getting it level. You'll just have to deal with settling after a rain. https://www.bigiron.com/Lots/ShopBuiltHydraulic3-PtBlade
Yeah, I've ran the 210's before they are smaller than what we usually use
Also we are talking about building or maintaining crown in the gravel road!which has to have a angle for water to run off to the sides.please let me know if I am wrong?
70% of this road is on a incline! got have a crown
Not the best pics here but 250T of aggregate spread and leveled with the tractor in the pic. Had a dozer sitting right there but I grew up on a 3pt tractor and had much more adjustability with this setup. I prefer at least 50HP, 4x4, diesel. The best has been on New Holland 100HP with shuttle shift. Hydro drive works just fine though and that is what this Deere had. Had NEVER used this Deere before this job. There are some tricks to getting a box working for you. We have used them extensively on fine grade jobs. If you are dragging around clumpy junk, probably not the best tool though.
Polkchop mentioned a contract with new construction grading, which I pictured like TD's pics in post #4 or any of the other pics. A compact tractor to grade old gravel roads won't be much fun. If you can do it when the frost is coming out it might be soft enough to shape and pack back down, but if you scrape loose stuff on top of a compact layer, it won't hold. In any case, you either have to have laser control, or control it manually, (or use a long span like a pull land plane, etc to make FLAT ground even flatter). Using a longer span on a manual control, like the pic I posted, or TD's, will help you with better control, vs a three point blade that goes opposite the front tires path, or skid steer bucket that want's to dip and skim over the top.
That is good looking job ! but that is some flat land and I do not see a crown or the need for much of one were does water go looks like drainage problems?On a hill you need a crown for water to run off both sides of road,and I was talking about being able to tilt a woods scraper blade which is heavy duty blade left to right or right to left to maintain the crown or add to it when I have new stone spread dump then smooth it out the with the a scraper blade never had use 4wd to do this type of work just my M-F 50 2wd 34hp !
after it is done I go over it with a roller!
A good soaking rain does help with moving old and new stone around and shaping then pack it down spring time is the best time in my area!
He has been using this method for over 18 years and it's not on the 3 point linkage but on the drawbar. He's never had any issues.
sounds great but does this work Ubique? but there are other options and methods that work Ubique (every where) my question is does using a laser make it level to were you can not put a crown in? and can you angle it 10% to get a crown in
What machine are you using?
I use a M-F 50 34HP Z134 continental gas with a woods scraper blade weight on the blade about 300lbs. tractor is 2WD with AG. tires !
We got rid of the 410 and and I haven't ran the 710 in a couple years but we had a rental cat 420... I think.... It was pretty quick at moving a lot of material on a job few months ago, lately most thing we been using the excavators for even my dynahoes haven't been started in a few months The handy thing about the little 210's is you could move em' around on two axle car trailers.
Here's a thread by Shimmy, who does low slope drainage work,where the laser is critical to getting it done efficiently and at the very precise slope: HeavyEquipmentForums As far as I know, you can get a laser system that can do just about anything you can imagine. Shimmy mentioned getting the elevation of the start and end of the ditch, and then you know what you have to work with for slope. That's on the easy end. It would be way more complicated and I'm guessing completely impractical to regrade small driveways with a laser. Tones' buddy looked like he was doing a level, or flat, pad, which is much easier to set up with a laser. To do grading like that, you're best off with something like a grader, long and with the blade midway between the axles. You can do it with a front loader, or a three point blade, but you're fighting the mechanics of the equipment that way. On the other hand, if the laser is adjusting the blade, then you don't need the length, look at somero laser screeds, only two wheels!
Sounds great if your doing a county or state road?Are you talking about a cat 6 wheeler center grading blade that weight is over 15,000 pounds and has a 12 foot blade I thought the forum was doing small or private roads with subcompact or compact tractors. What kind of equipment has center mount grading blade and weight is under 3,000 lbs. I really would like to know? I have never seen one !
I did find such a piece equipment center mount grader blade for a JD60 on ebay for $800.00 used! glad I learned something !
I stand corrected!!!
you can use whatever you want to. This is something else I'd like to use for grading driveways: https://www.bigiron.com/Lots/AdamsNo.2CAntiquepulltypegrader
I think you’re thinking of the Deere 110 ‘s. I may be wrong.
Totally agree! but I did learn some new or different methods,nice to learn about other options !and different kinds of equipment !to use !
This is a 210 skip loader.
Yup. Around here ,if you pull that on a two axel ,single wheel car trailer or a 14k gvw trailer , you’ll get a nice visit from the DOT man !
Yeah, the 110's are even smaller the landscape crowd around here pays even more for em' which makes them really hard to find a good deal on a used one... plus once they've had em' a few years they're shot
Oh yeah. Road hard and totally abused. Landscapers and turd herders use them a lot around here.
A skip loader is like hen's teeth in my area, I don't think I've ever seen one working.
I think he is talking about JD110 and a JD210 those you can put on a 2 wheel trailer ! I do not know how a skip loader got into the forum ! same model numbers totally different equipment! the forum was about finish grading with a compact tractor !also JD110 and a JD210 are not compact tractors or subcompact ! they are mowers that you can put a blade on !
ooops! they are lawn tractors! not lawn mowers !
Damn. We’re all over the place with this thread aren’t we ! Lol. Compacts, lawn/garden, skips and even hoes !
I am LMAO it is all true can we say what you can not use to finish grading Do not go there!
Yeah, for some reason even around here the grading guys won't part with them, it took us over a year of looking to get our ford 345d.... and I do prefer the jd210's over it... they're a lot quieter!! these ford's are loud rattlers
I use a old Farm tractor, get multi use of it that way. Grade work, plow work, bush hog as I do not believe many skip loaders came with PTO.
Our new holland has the PTO and we have run a brush hog on it when we pulled the gannon box off but like most of the smaller ones you really need something on the rear if you're going to use the loader in the front I've had the rear in the air a foot before I could feather the loader down... which on the NH is tricky to say the least!!! I also have a little 20hp british diesel I like for running the rock rake and smaller implements on.
Yep, I had to go out of state to get mine.
Skip loaders here fell out of favor some time back, big investment for a specialty/minimal hours use tractor where a small dozer and as noted basically farm equipment does as well for less money. Do not believe they ballast the rears on these when new, rely of tractor dead weight and a implement attached for that ballast. With Ag tractors the rubber tends not to be suited for industrial but are often ballasted to keep the rear hugging ground. Kubota's are often seen in dress off positions with grade contractors here or the heavy work will be completed and the finish work sub-contracted to a Landscaper type company using smaller machines suitable.
Totally covered all the gravel ! well put and understood !no if and or buts !
Compacts are handy for small gardens, larger lawns, I have one a JD 2305 nearly 14 years old diesel and 20hp, cost us $10,000 used, Kubotas' are close to that expense unless worn to a frazzle where I would not buy a Montana or Mahindra or other Off Brand as service or parts support are close to non existent. Has a loader on it(Separate Expense Attachment), where if load the bucket to any real extent the tires cannot handle the weight. I use it as intended, pull a rock rake, use it for a mower even use the loader to transport minor rock loads or dirt instead of a wheelbarrow but is not a heavy work machine. A 'Large Tractor' is 100hp or bigger, a Utility Tractor is 30-50hp, a mid range is 50-90hp where I have a mid sized almost utility tractor close to fifty years old Allis Chalmers 72hp diesel 180 where Obsolescence and Orphan Manufacture is rapidly killing it off. I use it for a 6' tiller, a 8' Bush Hog mower, a 4/14 bottom plow a 12' 16" blade Massey Disc and other mechanisms. Moving up a size and you are back into $10s of thousands of dollars even used where a 40hp will operate a 4-6' wide tiller(If make multiple passes), can pull a small disc thru softer or softened soils but is still essentially a oversized lawn mower. If you intend to 'Farm' and grow a decent half to full acre of garden you need to invest in machines that can do that routinely and effortlessly 50+hp and up otherwise playing a bad Chess Game.