Hello everyone. I'm trying to grade a bumpy 300ft driveway with a front end loader that has a 4 in 1 blade, what is the best way to use the blade and how can you tell what position it is in (when clam shell is open) from the cab? Also, would a skid steer work better b/c of better visual on what the blade is doing? thanks!
Hello bordercollie, welcome to HEF. Fully opening the 4 in 1 and letting the front 'clamp' glide along the surface while the rear 'dozer' blade does the cutting/filling/leveling, going forward. Set the bucket tilt to slightly cut and keep light down pressure as you move. Tilt the bucket to cut/fill with very slight movements as needed, mostly one position will work. Take light passes, making sure not to cut to much at a time. This will keep from having a lot of material escape around the sides and making more work. Hard, high spots can be cut going backwards, if your cutting edge on the 'dozer' blade is made for it. This seems to help in places where you need to back up and can't easily turn around. Try to work with the crown of the road (if you have/need one) keeping the machine on the sloped sides and not cut the crown out, or just work to put a crown in in. For a TLB, the backhoe bucket, with dirt/gravel for weight on the low side to crown the drive for drainage, helps. Can't say much about a skid steer since I haven't used them much, for me they are lighter then the FEL and TLB's but now a days they make all sizes. They may not cut as good because they are lighter, but visibility would be better. Let us know how it goes.
Fill the bucket with rocks, curl the bucket so the back edge is contacting the ground, and put the loader in 'float', and use reverse on the driveway. Bottom of the bucket will do a nice job of leveling everything. If you get a tough spot, then use the bucket, out of float, in forward motion to cut it down. If you can drag the bucket on a diagonal to the drive, that helps a lot in getting it flat. Just rolling over the drive will compact the fill....
On a JD 455D that I had a while back the manual said to set the loader on the stops with the 4 in 1 in the open position. Tilt the tilt forward or back to control depth. Carry some gravel it front of the bucket to work with and it works fine.
GRading with a 4x1 Well let's start with the basic things also. The first step is to check the air pressure in the front two tires, a wheel loader grades on the front axle and the bucket is affected by this greatly. A farm type tractor/ backhoe grades from the rear axle, so you need to check the air in the back tires as it effects it's grading when using the front bucket. Now a 4x1 bucket has four functions dozer/ scraper/ loader/ clam and you can do many different things with it but you must also think about the outcome of the mess you can make. Depending on the base/ holes/ rocks/ crown/ drainage I make the choice on how I want it finished dressed before starting. If the machine has a cutout for the RTD you may want to switch it off, it can cause you to go nuts making adjustments to the bucket. Like said above roll the bucket all the way back, get your front tires at the angle you want to cut at, lower the loader arms all the way down, open your clam as needed, dozer open the clam all the way, and scraper 8-12" ( not all 4x1 are built the same and quick couplers/ tool masters/ Z bar) all work the same but are different the way they handle and cut. While moving forward with small changes tilt the bucket forward to cut and rearward to lighten the cut. Make your cuts light and steady while carrying the grade out or heavy cuts if you really need to move some material. If you start to get some humps, stop and back up to a level spot and go again. Once the hump starts you have to get it out or you will chase it. Using it as a scraper you can cut and load material in your bucket and open the clam and roll the bucket back to place it in a low area to spread. Sometimes you can use the front edge of the open clam ( compaction ) edge to blade and strike off with, and catch material and pull back with it to level up. Take your time, work smaller areas, get off and look at your grade and have fun. Also if it's your machine and the RTD works, put the machine on a flat surface and check your cutting edge pitch, look for the decals/ lines over next to the clam cylinders that will give you a idea where the clam edge is open to.