Dozer blade on a skid, has anyone used one?

[xrlentau6]

Hi all,

Just trying to explore all options here work wise before I pull the pin and was wanting to know if the dozer blades work on the skids?

Purpose I would be looking at is cutting blocks for house pads, nothing to deep more a scrape and level kind of thing but the soil we have here is clay based and we dont get much rain.

To make it even more fun they compact the crap out of it when putting in new developments so much so it sets like rock. Am thinking if I had a dozer blade I might be able to push/scrap of the soil even if its just 1-2 inches each pass.

The main questions I have are
1, Will the blade bite into hard ground and not bounce over like the bucket does? (never ran a dozer of anykind )
2, If the blade does dig in like i hope it will, how liking is it that the skid will just sit there digging in at the wheels? or will the angle of the blade allow the soil to be pushed to the side?

Before you all tell me that I should have a tracked loader, yes I understand but hey we have to work with what we have. For me its a S205 and the reason I am looking into this is as we all know work has dried up, but seems the number of skids around the place has exploded as people get laid off. So I am looking at trying to do something different without to much further outlay or will be selling it all up.

Cheers for any help.

 

[bonanno23]

I personally think its not worth the money for a dozer blade. I know you said don't tell you you need a tracked machine, but you do. I own a few Takeuchi TL150 machines and have tried the blade, they work ok. If you have no experience with dozers you aren't going to be too productive with a blade on a skid-steer.

Basically, I'm saying don't bother, especially with tires.

 

[Cretebaby]

1, Will the blade bite into hard ground and not bounce over like the bucket does?

Sorry can't comment about the dozer blade but

Do you have a tooth bucket?

If you agree that you need tracks have you tried an OTT?

 

[TractorAU]

A Dozer blade would be useless in our hard packed clay without ripping it first, even a D5 dozer needs to rip the ground first. I find that when i'm cutting house sites it's just the first 150mm - 200mm that is really crusted hard and comes out blocky, after that its not too bad. The blocky material can make it very hard to get a good finish as well. Scarifers would probably suit you better to break through the crust and break the clods up a bit at the same time.

 

[mouse]

a dozer blade i dont have but from what i understand of them if you are not on tracks then do not bother. its more so the fact that if you have the blade angled the wheeled struggle to track near straight.

only guy i know who has one wished he had a box blade instead but he mainly wants to carry material, he runs it on a t300.

i was reading somewhere that the bobcat grader setup comes with training skids so you can learn how to use it.... so i guess if you didn't need them then bobcat wouldn't supply them. that kinda precludes me adding a grader blade to the fleet.

for what you describe a box blade might be better especially if you are not dealing with a finish slope. the bobcat box blade is meant to be used with the front wheels off the ground if i read the manual correctly. gimme a few weeks and i'll have a laser one to fiddle round with and report on if need be.

yeah either way i'd rip it first.

a soil conditioner will also work the surface and do much the same job as the box blade. once you learn to use the soil conditioner you can angle it pretty much like a grader, fiddle around with the tilt and angling.


which brings me to my last point - perhaps another way of making a dollar - fixing up dirt roads if they are full of potholes.

technique i've just tried is to mill the road at 4" then backblade it smooth - my soil conditioner is out at the moment otherwise i would've re-shaped the road with it.

driveway i did is about 700m long and principally roadbase with some recurring potholes mainly adjacent to large subsurface sandstone shelves. i was running my 450mm mill on my s330 and all up the job took me about 3 hours. it turned a pretty crappy road into something that's almost highway like.

the mill at a 4" cut fairly chews along, i guess i was running the 330 at about 35% speed so perhaps 4kmh.

previous owner had spent 9k on this road about 3 years ago and stuffed around with graders etc. if i was serious about it i would've stabilised the surface at the same time, probably spread some lime or cement prior to milling.

xrl, your 205 is hiflo?

 

[emilbanks]

My experience rubber tired skid not really good with a dozer blade, what was said about a track machine a little better but it is still not a dozer.

Your better off IMO to use a bucket with teeth to loosen things up then a box blade or Harley rake to fine tooth your finish.
That's my 2 cents Im also not professing to be an expert
Emil

 

[xrlentau6]

Hey guys, thanks for the responces.

Guess its a No then.

Reason behind my question is as for most of us times are pretty tough and yes a Harely Rake or Box blade would be great cost puts them out of reach at the moment and came across a dozer blade for just over $2000.

Was thinking that with the angled blade it might allow the blade to cut in and push the dirt to one side but I get Mouse's comment about it would just send the skid sideways.
Kind of also was hoping to be able to use the tilt function when at times I am trying to get the job level even before I start. (love working on those hills)

Mouse,

No the 205 is not Hi-flow.

The problem here is seems every second truck on the road has a skid in the back and what some people are charging kinda doenst make it worth getting out of bed much less starting the truck.

Am trying to find something different to do with mine that no one else does and theres work for. If we dont then if you want a near new S205 let me know.

 

[mouse]

without meaning to sound harsh the idea of doing 'something' different is a bit of a cop out imho.

people know you for what you are and what you do.

if you change your product mix then you bring on the attendant headache of how do you get your name out there for the new product.

i'll happily go on record to say that you can pretty much achieve most tasks with a 4 in 1 and that most of the other attachments don't really do anything better but do it quicker.

my current favourite attachment is the soil conditioner, well worth a try if you get the chance.

one of the challenges is surely getting people to pay for a larger machine, to them a bobcat is a bobcat whether its a s70 or a s330.

what i hear of some of the rates round town i wonder why people bother but then i got to watch one of these 'cheap' guys in action one day - he was expensive given the ineptitude he displayed on a machine that should've retired a long while ago...

 

[KSSS]

Hey guys, thanks for the responces.

Guess its a No then.

Reason behind my question is as for most of us times are pretty tough and yes a Harely Rake or Box blade would be great cost puts them out of reach at the moment and came across a dozer blade for just over $2000.

Was thinking that with the angled blade it might allow the blade to cut in and push the dirt to one side but I get Mouse's comment about it would just send the skid sideways.
Kind of also was hoping to be able to use the tilt function when at times I am trying to get the job level even before I start. (love working on those hills)

Mouse,

No the 205 is not Hi-flow.

The problem here is seems every second truck on the road has a skid in the back and what some people are charging kinda doenst make it worth getting out of bed much less starting the truck.

Am trying to find something different to do with mine that no one else does and theres work for. If we dont then if you want a near new S205 let me know.

I think you might be better suited to find something that your machine will do well. A 205 with a dozer blade in hard ground conditions will have zero value (too short of wheel base, low torque, and no traction without steel tracks). How about going to Bobcat and getting a scarifier, go to Laserhorn.com and get a laser mast (or you can build your own), go to Apache and get your self a Bullseye plus 5 reader or you could actually get by with the cheaper 3 model, but the Plus 5 has some great features to it. Mount the mast to your bucket, combined with the scarifier (works great) and do laser leveling. Takes some practice, but you can get pretty good with it.

The scarifier new is like a grand, but you can find them used very cheap or fab your own. The Laser horn was 325 and the Apache if you shop it will cost about 2K.

 

[Big Dazzler]

Can you use the blade on a 4 in 1 bucket (the inside one)?

I have a tracked machine with a 4 in 1 and use it for light scraping.

 

[BlackbeardMX]

I have a 4 in 1 tooth bucket on my CT332. I didn't think I wanted the teeth but that was what the machine came with so I figured I would try them before firing up the torch. Now I think I couldn't live without em.

I can't make anything smooth with the little blade behind the bucket. It may just be me. It does work great for backdragging though. If I need to work some hard ground, I just rake it with the teeth and the backdrag it with the bucket open. It amazes me how fast I can fix a rough road or driveway.

 

[mouse]

Can you use the blade on a 4 in 1 bucket (the inside one)?

yes but with some fair degree of difficulty given you are running on feel.

best use is backblading with your bucket wide open and both blades on the ground and in float mode (tho it works if you dont have float)- if you are loading up the front blade as you go much then you need to tilt back a bit.

re teeth, here depending what state you are in what style of bucket seems to be the preferred one. i reckon squizzy's doesn't have teeth, may not even be a 4in1.

 

[Dwan Hall]

I use a blade on a SS and it works fine for what I use it for. I did have to add about 1000 lb to the front end of the SS to get the blade to cut and not lift the front when using down pressure. I also find because of the short wheel base that it is hard to hold a smooth grade but with a lot of practice it will pass. I do find the best use is for plowing snow. I think it is the best combination around. "SS & Blade"

My bobcat is an old 975 with a 9' blade. I wish they still made then that size.

 

[Taylortractornu]

My btrother bought 2 small Vermeer trenchers to make one and he gave me the Carcas off the old one. THe backhoe will bolt on the back so I wont put it on my skid and im making a loader for it now for a Mini TLB. I had the great little 6 way blade and I was gonna make a blade for my Skid out of a Ford Tractor blade. But the trencher blade is already set up like I like and Had a skid foot built in to make in not gouge in. Which its will plane like I like, I ran the same one on the trencher we had builts and bladed alot with it. I need to get a splitter valve to run the angle. Im only useing this for sreading rock and backfilling trenches.

 

[xrlentau6]

Mouse,

Didnt take it as too harsh.

My thinking is that I need/want to be doing something different so I can ensure I charge and get a fair rate and while its good to be able to stand on the quality of your work its real tough out there right now. In my local paper there are about 25 adds for eathmoving from dingos to bobcats and everything in between one guy even has in his add for his bobcat from $45 per hour.

Mr and Mrs home owner dont care that his truck shouldnt be on the road, and that he dumps illegally ( I know of 3 spots within 15 mintues where they are dumping but I aint taking that risk).

Just about all of my work is set price quotes. Up untill last year was able to ensure that I made a fair dollar with out ripping people off and a lot of people just couldnt get anyone out to give them a quote. Now it seems we are falling over each other down here or at least in this area. To make things worse a few guys who work for Holdens are going out on thier off week to earn a bit off cash, I guess if they pick up a few bucks here and there they are happy.

So the wash up is we are very close to selling up, not something I want to do but we have a small family with another one on the way.

Not trying to have a whinge or anything as am sure I am not the only one, just out bank account might be a little lower than others.

Soil conditioner is not something I have seen anyone use around here, have checked it out on the web and looks like it would work on the clay around here?
Any idea of the cost?
Cheers.

 

[Cat287B]

Have you looked at any land planes? It's my favorite tool.
Pete

 

[mouse]

soil conditioner locally about 12k plus gst or so... ie not cheap. however 2k for a dozer blade is, if its a bobcat one i'd be interested depending upon width - i dont really want a 90".

i'm prepping (for a mate) about 7 acres for turfing and trying out some of my toys - the soil conditioner is great for levelling, getting the manure mixed in, and getting out the rocks and timber debris, however it is best followed by the landscape rake to clean up all the stuff now sitting on the surface.

45ph? thats about what i charge for dry hire of my t140...

 

[Nicker]

I just added a 6-way Grouser dozer blade to the ASV rc100 and I could not be happier. It's no D5 but if you run it slow and don't go too fast it does exactly what it is intended for. All my roads now have nice crowns. Did I mention to go slow?:drinkup