Ok, I've been digging stumps and clearing cut over land with my CAT 955L (GP Bucket) for a couple weekends now and I am starting to TRY to finish grade where I've been digging, but I'm not having much luck. I've tried moving forward with the bucket teeth in the dirt at a 45 degree angle, but that seems to just dig a hole after a couple yards. Tried forward with the teeth straight down and that seems to work pretty good, but seems kind of rought on the bucket and cylinders if you hang something. Backdragging seems to work the best, but it doesn't seems to fill in the low spots as I would think it should. To much down pressure maybe? Also, the loader control levers have a TON of play in them; 2 inches or so of free travel before any bucket or boom movement can be made; this I feel has alot to do with why grading forward is such a chore. I plan on fixing this, but it hasn't been that critical while digging stumps and plus the weather has been nice, so I have been trying to use my days as best as possible. Anybody got any tips or ideas? With the cost of fuel, it seems like it would be cheaper for me to pay someone with a dozer to get it right, instead of me learning at $3.64 a gallon!
I use the 45 degree method,,,, just try to get more material in front of the bucket. This help you in the fact the machine doesn't react so fast on you. Try to make longer pushes than just a couple yards. With a little practice you'll be leveling like a trooper.
I second what grandpa said about keeping some material in front of the bucket. A loader will grade better when it has material to work with. Say you are wanting to grade a section of your property. Instead of trying to push or backdrag a little topsoil to fill in a stump hole, you need to create a couple bucket loads of dirt in the area you are working in. There is always somewhere on a piece of property you can dig a couple of buckets of dirt from even if you just skin a couple of inches up in the area and spread it back out. Now you have some material to push around and backdrag. It will be easier and the machine more stable, thus easier to operate when 1 - the machine is traveling across smoother ground and 2 - there is weight in the bucket. I'll take my first bucket of dirt, dump it and backdrag it with the teeth to rough fill any holes. Then take a pass forward with the bucket flat on the ground, then backdrag with the bucket flat on the ground. Just experiment with what method works best for you but having loose material to work with make the learning easier. It takes time and patience to learn how to grade with a loader.
We're at the same place MikeVincoli I'm clearing about 50 or so acres of cut over and while i'm awesome at making craters where stumps used to be and burying boulders, my finish grading "leaves a little to be desired". I've been getting it to the point where it's good enough, then dragging the curved part of the bucket backwards over it till it looks more or less flat and then hitting it with the disk harrow. It's discouraging however as I want to get the log road that i've been using turned into a proper road at some point in the future and i'm afraid at my current skill level it will look like a rollercoaster! fortunately i have a neighbor with a motor grader...
Thanks so much for the tips. I think my trouble has been primarly that I have not had enough dirt in front of the tractor when trying to grade forward. I will have to get somemore dirt to work with from around the farm. Glad to hear that I am not the only one thats going to have to use the disk to get it smooth!! Thanks ya'll.
To be honest with a gp bucket, I'd rough it and track it all down as hard as possible. Then use the flat bucket to grade, using very fine pitch adjustment to trim. You do need good teeth and cutting edges, or it'll ride up the lumps. Then a very light back drag with the bucket flat.
I take my teeth off. I have perfectly graded roads and driveways.
+1. When you back drag, dump half a bucket full at the far end, then pull up and drop the bucket over the load and drag it backward. The dirt piles up between the arms and bucket and spills out into the low spots as needed. If you watch from the side it looks like a pan spreading cover. When you run out of dirt, dump the rest and continue. Control how much is spread by tilting the bucket. Tilt up for less, down for more.