this was a very cost effective way to get a laser on a dozer blade, we built the mount system ourself and bought the reciever for around 200 bucks, it's magnetic so you have to go kinda slow but can stick it on the stick of an excavator and works to grade with that too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzjayssh1ac
i know it's kinda rigged up but it works great
looks like a good cheap way to do the job.......i would want to rig up something to keep the blade level from left to right also..........i have a D4H XL3 been looking for a cheap answer if you dont mind would be nice to know what sort of equipment(laser) reciver you were using
it's a sokkia lp3a laser, the reciever is a knock off of name brand, magnetic mount, I have 2 of them and will be adding mounts to my lgp tractor so i can run 1 in the center or 1 on each corner of the blade. I have graded 500' long pads before for chicken houses with this exact dozer and setup and the building contractor told me that it was the best he had ever had done.
I don't call that cheap. In my book that is inexpensive and cost effective. I have done the same thing with the target for my Spectraphysics laser also. It works great. Only problem you have to be working on someting flat and can't work in slopes this way. But once again, inexpensive and cost effective.
I really need to work on the mount that the reciever mounts to, it's a little light duty and shakes some if you go too fast, other than that, no complaints out of me, I'm one of the few in my area that has a laser mounted on the blade
Brady, what happens when you blade forward with that setup? As opposed to back dragging i mean...
That's what I was thinking.
come on you cant be serious that you are grading with a dozer in reverse???? must be a f.... joke !!!!!!!!! go forward and show you are made off when backdragging you are wearing out the machine..you can buy a pro single laser setup from trimble that has auto grading for 10-13000 and then you can do this twice the speed and forward like you should be backdragging is only for pulling back windrows from edges towards walls or steep slopes not for grading
There are many instances where backdragging is called for.I don't know what I am made of but have used it many times over the years.Cleaning up and shaping a wet area before a freeze or to keep it from holding water is one instance.Ron G
I didn't really want to cover my track marks up with a rake so i did it with the blade, here is the video of where I actually graded this pad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8afwxx2rJw
I'm sure you've never backdrug anything.......
I can grade forward, just fine with this setup, I graded the pad forward, just was covering up my track marks, why would I go and buy 10k in equipment to grade twice this fast when I can cut the camera off and go 3x as fast, I don't like for my videos to be shaky so I went slow so my video would be smooth.
Take it easy there dozer king. Whats he supposed to leave gouser and pad marks throughout the entire pad? Back dragging makes it look better, and how does it wear out the machine? Oh, and most of us cant just go out and get a auto grade system that cost 13000, but then again when ur as good as u are why would you even need a laser, or auto grade!?!
I think it's just fine, same receiver I have. Don't believe they make them anymore. jr
I know it's not perfect but I have seen a lot worse
Heck, for me, that's high-tech! When I string out a level, I follow the level with a straight pipe mounted square and level to my blade and hang chain on the ends! I creep along slow and grade the middle nice and level and work out from that! Yeah, I know...about as cheap as a feller could go...but it works fine!
if you grade something properly you can just roll it over with a roller then the trackmarks will be gone allright i might have been a little to hard on my comment before sorry about that but grading backwards and backdragging is just as bad for the machine as runnning it in 3rd gear all the time but if thats what works for you fine with me
I have been running dozers for a while now, and yeah, backblading is not on. About the only time I would do it is if I had to put an emergency vehicle access in somewhere. It wears out the bolts on the cutting edges and makes it a mightmare to undo the bolts etc. I think I would get more satisfaction knowing i had done the job without backblading than having no track marks on the pad. I am sure after you have trimmed it a few times the soil will be compacted enough that hardly any track marks could be seen anyway!!
I always end up cutting the bolts on almost everything when I change edges because i run them down until their used completely up, See we are opposite, on a building pad, I would rather leave no track marks but clearing land, i don't worry about them as much...the compaction/track marks ratio....when you have a dozer the size of this one on very narrow pads, you will leave marks anywhere you go.....when they dig the footings around the edge and throw forms down and pour concrete, that gives me satisfaction
see we don't have a roller so I had to build it up above final grade, roll it with a loaded truck then cut it back down to the hard and put it on grade....i just like to smooth my track marks out......
dont the bolts on your cutting edge get worn from making a deep cut with the blade? you know when you drive the blade in hard to pick up a full blade full in a short distince. I know that backdraging will wear the bolts a bit but you dont realy get two runs out of a set of bolts so as long as they last one turn of the edge all is well? and yes i can cut a grade going forward. lol
Anyone out there seen cutting edges fall off because the bolts have been worn through backblading? I really don't get this no backblading rubbish. If you're putting force down on the blade you're going to do damage, but floating the blade or carrying the blade just above the ground to wipe out a windrow, no problem. Also, anyone graded topsoil for reistatement, then been asked to roll it for the seeding gang? I think from some of the comments posted there are one or two operators who possibly don't have particularly broad all-round experience.
okay i take it ill be one of those two operators well let me explain it for you first of all i have 20+ years experience in everything from roadbuilding quarrywork golfcourse building/shaping rairoadbuilding you name it now to the backblading when you backblade dirt will roll under your cuttingedge bolts and wear them out so you have to cut them of when replacing cutting edge(not a big investment though)...when i work on golfcourses shaping i backblade a little but only when i lift the blade and then lower it over the small pile left andd level it out going backwards again this takes only 1 meter to do then i lift the blade again and by the way i never mentioned rolling topsoil did i ??? when topsoiling i grade forwards and do the finishing work with a tractor with boxblade before seeding but a building pad should allways bee compacted with a roller
Lol. Nothing wrong with being humble, . Do you ever mount that receiver to the ROPS? I used to use one like that on apartment pads and mounted it to the cab right outside the window. It worked pretty good on bigger pads if you couldn't get a rodman.
got a few comments, everyone will know what I'm replying to when they read them 1. I don't believe backblading wears your bolts, after all the cutting edge is where the real pressure is on the ground. 2. I don't see how you can put much force on a machine backblading when the cutting edge is angled to pack and not to cut. 3. With a high track, you're going against an Idler in forward or reverse so you're not wadding the tracks under the machine, so the wear factor can't be that much higher. 4. When you work with you have you do what you have to do to get by, this pad passed the compaction test. 5. R.E. Goodson a multi million dollar company that only bids on 50+ million dollar road projects, their packer had a flat tire Thursday so they rolled it in with a loaded truck...hmm..... 6. Why would I spend $150 and take 2 hours bringing in a box blade when I can spend 3 minutes with the dozer and finish the job? 7. It doesn't matter how many years someone has been working in this line of business, nobody knows it all and everyone can learn something rom just about anyone. 8. No I have never seen cutting edges fall off from worn out bolts, if you wear your bolts that far, you won't have a moleboard when you go to put the new edge back on. 9. The guy that I think is one of the best dozer operators in my area, especially with a rake, likes to backblade certain things.
Could you explain how you do the initial set up to get the blade to grade, do you use a standard staff and receiver to set the height?
I find a spot that is the grade i want on the pad or cut with the blade to grade and check it with the grade stick, once i get my blade on grade I cange the reciever from the grade stick to the dozer. Most pads that i build only have to be 6"+ above surrounding ground so I can pick a spot and start, i will do a video and post it next time i get this out which will be soon since i got another pad to grade this week or first of next week
No operator here ,but I can run machinery ...Brady looks like a fine job to me... Years ago a man I worked for didn't like my way of building a transmisson ..tear down and knowing what parts to order ...I felt inferior till he said "you can't argue with sucess " ...what ever works for you keep on keepin on ..
That would be great, I bought a receiver for my excavator but have not yet fitted it to the machine as it needs a bit of angle iron to screw onto.
Brady you do a fine job and that grunk36 guy is full of beans.
I have put mine on the stick of my older hitachi before, it's magnetic so i just stuck it on there, worked pretty good
Brady, nice job, I use a Lecia laser with a magnetic mount and do the same thing, I also made a mount for my skid steer. Thanks for sharing. Bill
Looks good to me too. Dirt's not going to wear too much on the cutting edge cause it'll wind up sticking and forming a cushion. Sand or gravel and stuff like that would wear on it though. I don't think I'd ask permission to do it. I'm sure we've all got certain ways of doing things that are comfortable to us and not to others. Nice bit of engineering there, da Vinci. Necessity is the mother of invention. Had a salesman that had the gall to ask me about $15000 for the same idea. I told him to order me two of them with a little sarcasm and did the same thing you did.
For me i think the keys would be #1 finding a good reciever that you can see easily from the operators station #2 a good solid post to mount on #3 a reciever that has reasonable corse and fine adjustments on it #4 with a 6way blade a way to make sure you dont accidentally get the blade out of level that is why i was curious about his equipment i think the specs on the reciever would be key items in making it workable
Depends on how fine a grade is required, for general work like a concrete pad it should be fine because you have a tolerance of a couple of centimeters. Once you get into fine grade you really need something more fancy like those 13K dollar set ups or a laser equipped grader or a skid with a box. End of the day if this makes the job quicker and the customer is happy with the results and lower costs, then you are way ahead.
Just curious what you guys think about this one. http://www.johnsonlevel.com/ProductDetail.asp?cat=Tripods,+Detectors+&+Accessories&ID=19&pID=83
looks like a nice unit...i noticed on the course adjustment it was +/- 25mm (1inch), I think i would want something about 2" for roughing in a grade and that may be what they are saying with the +/-, that unit can also work with a in cab remote which would be nice and can be clamp mounted (mag mounts can be a bit scary IMHO), still would need a way to make sure it was plumb or have one on each end of the blade. Just my opinion
My Apache laser receiver. Not a dozer but this is the mast I welded on to the 613 so I could clamp my Apache receiver on, it works really well.
Apache and Leica (maybe others too) both make receivers that will indicate level (plum) and grade.