Years ago, Jerry customized a 7-foot 3-pt blade for me. It was an inexpensive Douglas model that was meant for hobby farm usage, only cost about $300. I should've bought a real Buhler or Massey-Ferguson 3-pt blade made of heavier stuff that would've cost around $800 back then, so you can see my initial cost-savings frame-of-mind.
An expensive blade would've included a hydraulic ram that turned the blade to different angles. On this one I had to lift the blade off the ground using tractor hydraulics, wiggle the blade by hand to loosen and pull a steel pin from its angle locator, and physically turn the blade to the angle I wanted, then re-insert the pin.
True, it worked after a fashion, but because of its light weight, primarily, it left a wavy undulation in the surface of the road. Being only 7-feet wide, it didn't cover my wheel tracks enough either, as this is the width of the wheelbase of the tractor. Although the wheelbase is adjustable, I should've bought an eight footer at least.
When I used my snowblower, it too being only 7-feet wide, it would leave a chute-like channel on my road. I decided I needed a wider blade so I could wing the snow into the creek off the very narrow shoulder there, so I asked Jerry to add three-feet onto one end. It would've been better to have added a foot and a half to each end -- or sell this one and buy a better, wider blade.
Using scraps he had about his shop, the extension, although effective, was unwieldy and lacked a full length heavy-steel reinforcement its whole length of ten feet on both sides. When I used it for snow, I had to attach a 15-foot chain from the ring he welded on its end to the drawbar on the tractor, to take up the stress, so it wasn't in the least bit convenient to use. Once again, if I had only shelved this blade and bought a new one ...
I weighted it down with a intersection of C-channel and used it with the chain a couple years before I started having the county plow come in and wing the road out when it needed it. When the snow wasn't so deep, I used it without the chain seeing that although it bent backwards a little bit, it still worked to my satisfaction.
Yesterday I used it to ditch the spot I cleaned up so thoroughly this spring off our yard. I had gotten stuck with the pickup there and saw how permeated the ground was after rains each time; it didn't have anyplace to go and stood in pools that I saw would breed huge populations of mosquitoes come spring.
It kept raining all spring and into July, so the area wouldn't dry up enough to get in there with the tractor and work it effectively. I had to use a long handled spade and dig trenches by hand to drain the water northward, but I was limited beyond a big low spot that filled to the brim that I laboriously managed to drain partway. My field plow was in an area north of the house and because of all the water between here and there, that too was inaccessible.
So yesterday, since it hadn't rained much for a week, I hooked up to the blade. Turning it, so the long end did the initial cutting in the direction I had to go, I scratched the high grassy spots off, working down through the sod and shallow tree roots, a few inches at a time. But, before I knew it, I caught a rock or tree trunk and bent the morphidite thing backwards, from the center, ninety degrees.
So now it looks like a backwards ell.
Strangely, it works even better. I can use it backwards or forwards now. It's still tricky to use but luckily I have power steering on my tractor so it isn't too bad.
I'll wait until it dries up again before putting the finishing touches on it -- the ditch, I'm talkin'.
An expensive blade would've included a hydraulic ram that turned the blade to different angles. On this one I had to lift the blade off the ground using tractor hydraulics, wiggle the blade by hand to loosen and pull a steel pin from its angle locator, and physically turn the blade to the angle I wanted, then re-insert the pin.
True, it worked after a fashion, but because of its light weight, primarily, it left a wavy undulation in the surface of the road. Being only 7-feet wide, it didn't cover my wheel tracks enough either, as this is the width of the wheelbase of the tractor. Although the wheelbase is adjustable, I should've bought an eight footer at least.
When I used my snowblower, it too being only 7-feet wide, it would leave a chute-like channel on my road. I decided I needed a wider blade so I could wing the snow into the creek off the very narrow shoulder there, so I asked Jerry to add three-feet onto one end. It would've been better to have added a foot and a half to each end -- or sell this one and buy a better, wider blade.
Using scraps he had about his shop, the extension, although effective, was unwieldy and lacked a full length heavy-steel reinforcement its whole length of ten feet on both sides. When I used it for snow, I had to attach a 15-foot chain from the ring he welded on its end to the drawbar on the tractor, to take up the stress, so it wasn't in the least bit convenient to use. Once again, if I had only shelved this blade and bought a new one ...
I weighted it down with a intersection of C-channel and used it with the chain a couple years before I started having the county plow come in and wing the road out when it needed it. When the snow wasn't so deep, I used it without the chain seeing that although it bent backwards a little bit, it still worked to my satisfaction.
Yesterday I used it to ditch the spot I cleaned up so thoroughly this spring off our yard. I had gotten stuck with the pickup there and saw how permeated the ground was after rains each time; it didn't have anyplace to go and stood in pools that I saw would breed huge populations of mosquitoes come spring.
It kept raining all spring and into July, so the area wouldn't dry up enough to get in there with the tractor and work it effectively. I had to use a long handled spade and dig trenches by hand to drain the water northward, but I was limited beyond a big low spot that filled to the brim that I laboriously managed to drain partway. My field plow was in an area north of the house and because of all the water between here and there, that too was inaccessible.
So yesterday, since it hadn't rained much for a week, I hooked up to the blade. Turning it, so the long end did the initial cutting in the direction I had to go, I scratched the high grassy spots off, working down through the sod and shallow tree roots, a few inches at a time. But, before I knew it, I caught a rock or tree trunk and bent the morphidite thing backwards, from the center, ninety degrees.
So now it looks like a backwards ell.
Strangely, it works even better. I can use it backwards or forwards now. It's still tricky to use but luckily I have power steering on my tractor so it isn't too bad.
I'll wait until it dries up again before putting the finishing touches on it -- the ditch, I'm talkin'.
I think this is the first post of yours that put me to sleep, but that's my problem. You see, I am mechanically impaired. That means when it comes to machines of almost all kinds, I may as well be a nymph-person who has yet to learn how to walk. (Is that an appropriate analogy? I don't know much about kids either. Hmmm . . .) Enewhoze, one ho-hum (for me) out of a bi-zillion posts, blogs, and stories, ain't too bad, eh? And it's just me! I'm certain everyone else will love it. Call me an unmotorized-head. Tee-hee!
ReplyDelete"You see, I am mechanically impaired." Now I vividly recall that your dad had you working on airplane engines when you were but a kid. Who are you kidding? You are anything but impaired, friend. Sleepy at times, no doubt. We all get that way.
Delete
ReplyDeleteMaybe time for a new one?
You deserve the best.