There's a Rome clearing blade coming up for auction near me that supposedly fits an older D7. It's a typical website auction where you can't inspect the blade in person but the pics seem show it's in decent shape. I'm assuming these things are designed for "easy" breakdown for shipping. Just knock a handful of pins out and maybe break a couple nuts/bolts loose and the blade comes apart in a half-dozen pieces of so. Is this correct? Weight is 8k pounds or so? Anything to watch out for?
Some pics. would really help. There may be some on the internet.
Here are some pics. I figure someone out owned one of these and knows the best (or not worst) way to ship. Being a Rome blade, I don't believe I'll be able to stand it up on end on low trailer like I've done with another straight dozer blade. I assume the width is too wide for me (not a trucker) to lay it on the trailer as if it was mounted on a dozer. If I need to get a trucker to pull a permit and haul it, then I feel the blade isn't worth it so my only option is to disassemble. I'm not seeing the pins welded in place so hopefully a sledge and knock-out will make do. I don't have easy way to drag a blue-wrench with me so brute force may be my only option.
Some of it should come apart. If it's something you want you probably want to take it because it could be difficult to find another one.
That was supposed to be popular stuff back in the Nam war days, personally I see no use for one of them. I suppose as a collectors item?
Pretty much what I was thinking about it coming apart. And yeah, not exactly a ton of them around for an old D7. Not really a collector's item but probably in the hobby bucket of "try it- you might like it". I have property in central Texas that's covered in mountain cedar, or really Juniper Ashe to be technically correct, and I have to manage 3-4 acres per year every year to maintain a certain status for it. Lots of ways to manage cedar. I can clear out cedar completely or just thin it so it's still usable by wildlife. Half my land is the typical hill country limestone hills and ravines where the other half is fairly flat, pasture-like, with good dirt. With my hoe and thumb in the pasture areas, I've done a decent job of plucking them out but the bigger cedar clumps tends to shatter leaving lots of stump pieces and big roots. My dozer does a decent job of pushing them whole but then leaves big divots when the root balls pop out. Either way, it's a bit of a mess when done and still needs lots of clean up to make the area usable for driving around or horses or such. And yeah, I'm pretty certain it's my skill, or lack of it, that's making the mess but I do enjoy spending a weekend every now and then playing on the big iron. I've also had forestry mulchers come in to build trails on the hills. Since they were here, I had them try a few acres of pasture mulching but not sure if I want to use mulchers again in the pasture. The cedar is so thick I'm basically covering acres of nice pasture with 6" of heavy cedar mulch that may require 10 years or more before it decays. Will probably get a field rake to make burn piles of the mulch to get grass again. The mulchers were also the bobcat style, not the Barko or Tiger Cats, so they were a bit light on weight to really grind the stumps below ground level. So even using mulchers is still a mess. Thus, the thinking on a Rome blade. Hopefully in the pasture, I can slice the clumps off right below ground level so the stumps rot out over time and I'll pile up the cedar with my hoe into wildlife windrows or burn piles. None of my big iron is a money maker for me and I don't expect a Rome blade to be the same. So lots of words just to say I agree with you, Chidog. Not a lot of use for Rome blades in general but maybe it'll be useful for me. By the way, I've spent a little bit of time in Seattle- love it out there. You guys have real trees...
The thing about having a spike like that blade has, it can cause more problems than it fixes. With a heavy rake you have a choice of sides to use, for average stumps. And can dig or push a bit of dirt if needed. The spike would be a maneuvering mess at times in thick debris, I much prefer to have a splitter on the rear end for the big stuff. I also don't like having to fight with asymmetric loading either, for real production clearing that is a huge slow down.
Seeing all the repair welding on it, I'll wager more than a few bolts or pins are now "rivets".
That's always a concern with old attachments and my main concern. Sometimes the only useful tool for these situations is the blue-wrench.