Grading/leveling bar?

[TreeHogger]

Greetings - 'Hoping someone has an idea or solution...

I am slowly clearing some wide roads in a forest for access, and planting timothy and alfalfa after to cut for hay. The trouble is leveling adequately after removing stumps... some of the difficulty is settling, but most is that it is just difficult leveling clay and alluvial soils (with root fragments). I have a JD 490D with a one yard bucket and (5) new teeth. I do not like sweeping to the side too much, and I feel this is not what the machine is designed for...

My thought is to make some sort of steel bar I could carry to the site and 'pick up' with the bucket and use it...like an I-beam. Was thinking perhaps torch 5 holes for the teeth to enter, and then use a chain with a chain binder around the back of the bucket??? Maybe a 10' foot I-beam?

Surely someone has done this, and may have a better idea even? Pictures or any response is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Mark

 

[sheepfoot]

It's done all the time, you can make a leveling attachment out of a I beam and a chain and load binder. We run thumbs so I just keep a nice hard wood log, rail road tie or a pipe/ I beam to work with. Carry it as I go and put it off to the side. We use them in the swamps a lot also to level the mud and dress up along side the roads doing utility work.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . .

TreeHogger

Have a look here . . . .

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?4445-Grading-Blade-for-excavator

Cheers.

 

[TreeHogger]

Yair . . .

TreeHogger

Have a look here . . . .

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?4445-Grading-Blade-for-excavator

Cheers.

Perfect Scrub Puller - Thanks for the thread and pic!!!

I was thinking a 10' foot beam, as I have the wide pads (9' wide), to level my way out of an area? However, some of the discussion seems to indicate shorter is better... Perhaps a 6' or 8' is more versatile in tighter areas? And on one's way out, simply make two swipes? (Obviously, a cheaper piece of steel too!)

What's anyone's thinking on this point??

Thanks again everyone!

Mark

 

[JDOFMEMI]

If you go 10' wide with a JD 490, be very careful not to load one end of the beam very heavy, as that is a lot of leverage twisting on the stick. I would probably go for 8' on that size machine, and still you will have to exercise caution but it will work good for clean up.

 

[TreeHogger]

Thanks Jerry - so grateful you mentioned the 'twisting' forces relative to uneven loading on a longer bar! (That may not have occurred to me until too late.) I can visualize the outer end of the stick fracturing where it narrows down at the bucket...especially in that I am working with predominately clay. And now that I think about it, 6' foot is probably safer, and maybe more versatile + plus I have the optional longer arm (9' 10" I seem to recall).

Mark

 

[Oxbow]

Good point Jerry!

 

[mike.rider]

Hey guys what do think of something like this. You will need a pin grabber quick coupler to use it.
We built this for a customers SK210.

Mike

 

[TreeHogger]

Hey guys what do think of something like this. You will need a pin grabber quick coupler to use it.
We built this for a customers SK210.

Mike

View attachment 136322

Hi Mike - we're one the same plane in a manner of speaking... I was thinking, rather than spend quite a bit on 6' to 8' foot I-beam, I could probably for a similar cost, obtain a 6' foot box blade for a 3-point tractor hitch and modify it to chain on my bucket. (I do not have a quick tach bucket for my old machine...)

Mark