Tractor time.

[SoonerP226]

Dang, dude, your next mod is gonna need to be an upgraded hydraulic pump.

It’s OK for some functions to remain manual, you know.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Dang, dude, your next mod is gonna need to be an upgraded hydraulic pump.

It’s OK for some functions to remain manual, you know.

Maybe just skip the pump and upgrade the tractor?

 

[dennishoddy]

I've actually considered the Hydraulic top link. Have one in my Amazon list.
What's everyone's opinion on one?

 

[264killer]

You will love it. You can pull the top link in & really dig some dirt OR push top link out & smooth some dirt

 

[OHJEEZE]

I've actually considered the Hydraulic top link. Have one in my Amazon list.
What's everyone's opinion on one?

Depends a lot of how much you use something like a back blade or box scraper.

I bought / sold a tractor that had the hydraulic tilt. Well I kept the tilt cylinder, and have not used it yet. Been sitting there 3 years now.

I think some of the better ones have a valve on them so they dont drift.

For me a blade angle cylinder on the back blade would be a better improvement.

I mostly use the back blade for snow.

 

[SoonerP226]

I've actually considered the Hydraulic top link. Have one in my Amazon list.
What's everyone's opinion on one?

When I was trying to manhandle 3-point implements that were too big to manhandle to get them on a tractor too big to manhandle, I was thinking they sounded like an awesome idea. These days, most of my "too big to manhandle" implements mount to the drawbar, but it still sounds like an awesome idea for box blades and the 3-point disk.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Depends a lot of how much you use something like a back blade or box scraper.

I bought / sold a tractor that had the hydraulic tilt. Well I kept the tilt cylinder, and have not used it yet. Been sitting there 3 years now.

I think some of the better ones have a valve on them so they dont drift.

For me a blade angle cylinder on the back blade would be a better improvement.

I mostly use the back blade for snow.

I plumbed both rear cylinders into the front end loader joystick using diverter valves. The joystick has both lock and float modes. Depending on the controls, the cylinder may not need the extra check valve to hold the cylinder position.

 

[SlugSlinger]

I've actually considered the Hydraulic top link. Have one in my Amazon list.
What's everyone's opinion on one?

It’s night and day difference while using the box blade. Adjusting the pitch of the blade on the fly makes using the blade much more efficient. And there is a lot more adjustment that the manual top links. I was able to smooth out the grade faster and make it smoother using more pitch on the blade while dragging it forward.

The smoothing edge of the blade is similar to using a putty knife at an angle vs perpendicular. To a point, the more angle on the edge the smoother the finished product.

 

[Raido Free America]

As a late teen I used the front end loader to get me across 10 acres of boggy. Sure wasn't pleasant mowing after that.. lol the dumb things teens do. Years ago my teenage son came home with a 51 Chevy pickup, hot rod. This chevy pickup body was mounted on a Jeep Wagoner frame, and running gear. with a 350 engine. it was jacked up so high he literallt had to crawl up into it. It had huge wheels and tires, and was called the War Wagon! A cool looking contraption but not very practice. We have a pertty good size pond, that is very old, and has filled in with sediment, until it's not very deep. I found tracks where this kid had driven this thing through the middle of this pond, and came out the other side! No telling how deep the mud was in this thing, and I would not have believed this possible, but tracks don't lie!

 

[dennishoddy]

I don't use a box blade or rear blade. Smoothing out our road is with an Adams Road Patrol #4 horse drawn grader with the wheels in the rear behind the blade. I've removed the front wheels, making an adaptor to attach to the point the front wheels rotated on. Amazing piece of equipment with an 8' blade that can be adjusted for angle and pitch manually. No box blade or rear grader can come close to building or maintaining a road vs this tool. I have around 400 lbs of tractor weights on the operator position in the rear.
Thinking more about the tiller and disk. The manual link doesn't raise either much when loading on the trailer so always digging divots in the yard.
This one is on purple wave online auction. Someone needs to buy it. I've even used mine to rebuild some terraces.