Yair...I know I'm gonna cop it but here goes anyway...For some years now I have been using the the vee shaped deck of our Scag mower to tidy up and knock rills after contractors finish dirt jobs on the golf course. It works a treat and beats hell out of finishing by hand with a level lawn and rake. I mentioned this to a mate who does a bit of landscape work and digging and his ears pricked right away. The long and the short of it is that he bought a Hustler with a clapped out deck for next to nothing and we turned it into a light grader. We retained the original foot control decklift and it has mechanical angle left and right. In operation the blade is set at a preset hight and is very effective at knocking off the high spots. It is still evolving and he intends to modify the mechanism to give a foot controlled tilt. He cuts grade on sand fill on slab foundations and the likes and he reckons it is fast. It has pretty decent rubber, I think they are twenty three by tens on twelve inch rims and its surprising what a rill it can roll. I think the hydraulics will be an issue on continueous heavy work.Those Hustlers though (and the Scags) have a conventional set up with seperate pumps for each wheel motor. He reckons that if heat becomes an issue he can fit a bigger tank with an oil cooler and battery powered fan. As I said it doesn't lack for speed and agility and I might be able to get some pictures later if any one is interested. Cheers.
Hey , if it works, anything beats a rake and shovel I believe in thinking outside of the box, especially when it comes to final grades on homes or golf courses. I would love to see pictures. I grew up in this business and its always fun to see what other methods people use ! :beerchug:beerchug
One winter I was out of work and a friend hooked me up with an old guy that did golf course remediations. There was a course near by that had a fungus wipe out hte greens. I started in with him running a loader and skid steer. I noticed he brought in a49-50 Farmall cube that hadd the factory front/belly mount blade to it. He had the blade in the middle, I have one like this. I thought that was an odd machine in amongst all this new stuff. He had fired most of his laborers for laying out. This little rig did great with the blade about 5 feet wide. He also converted a landscape rake to bell mount and had wheel horse garden tractor with abelly blade
Yair...Thanks for replys...we are not the only odd balls...these little lightweight jiggers do work in the right application. Cheers.
Scrub Puller, We run some Hustlers. They are tough little machines, I think you will be Impressed with what it can take.