Grader Blade

[DuaneFriend]

I bought a blade a few weeks ago for my cub. This weekend, I put it together and mounted it on the tractor. I realize that this is an old piece of equipment and everything is not as tight as when it was new. Initially, the blade would raise unevenly. But after some bending and tightening and adding a couple of washers on one side of the hitch, things evened out. While people in the east were using their cubs to clear snow from their driveways, I was using my cub to grade my Dad's driveway. I will do mine next weekend.

[Randy Tuura (RWT)]

A blade in the grader position is great. Be careful how hard you hit rocks and stuff. We had a grader blade on our first Cub and I cracked the final drive housing just next to the seat post. I have a drag behind grader from DR now that works wonderfully and just bounces up if I hit something solid and immovable. Far less of a chance of breaking anything on the new "old" tractor. I am looking for that particular blade for snow. I've got a 10 hp walk behind snow blower, but there's lots of times up here when getting it out seems too much effort for 4 inches of the light fluffy stuff.

[lazyuniondriver]

I can't agree more than with the last post. In fact, below is an excerpt from the book:

"Cub leveling and grader blades were designed and intended to level and grade loose dirt and perform light dozer jobs as noted in the 54A-L-54 manual"

You surely want to be cautious about striking fixed objects. It is also good practice to check all of the blade's fasteners and mounting bolts after every use as they tend to loosen after hard use. This is especially critical if the blade is moved to the front utilizing the implement mounting holes.

[lazyuniondriver]

In my last post I forgot to mention that if you hadn't noticed, that blade assembly is adjustable to create a road crown. Besides angling left to right, as well as leaned forward or back, there is another adjustment where the frame meets the blade.

There are three or more holes on brackets welded on both sides of the plow where the frame connects. Two pins allow the blade to rotate left high, right low or vice versa.

If those pins are not in the the same holes, perhaps that was why you had to add washers

[DuaneFriend]

Thanks for the advice. I will leave the heavy duty grading for the John Deere 520 and Killefer blade. The blade is set level. The problem, I think, lies with the shaft and bracket that bolt to the drawbar. The shaft is no longer very straight and the holes have gotten a bit larger than original.

[Dale Shaw]

Also, when belly mounted and grading, I find that 1st gear at an idle works best. When you get a hard spot or a blade full, the governor will kick in and pull through.

More throttle or a higher gear will just cause the tires to spin and make hole, with the downpressure of the blade trying to make a cut.

[gitractorman]

The Cub blade mounted in the grader position is quite possibly my favorite feature on the Cub. I've graded an acre of my back yard with one, and loved every minute of it. I typically leave mine mounted this way all year around because it's not really in the way, can still use the drawbar, and if I till up something and need to level it out I'm all set.

Here is a video my son shot last month. No weights, and I could have kept going all day long!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DYPXSsjLpw