49 replies to this topic

[Rawleigh99]

Pukeko: Good to see you back! Did you have to sugn up again? What have you been up to?

Hi Rawleigh,thank you for asking.Yes,I did have sign up again,hence the "Newbie" tag,but its all good.I have been working over in the middle east since late 2010,rotating back home on 28 day schedule.Thanks again.

Well welcome home, for a little while anyway! Don't be a stranger!

[Dave McCallister]

I don't believe the chap that started this thread had any intention of being in Muskeg, or anything like it. He's in the woods and weeds, trying to do some brushing, and wondering how in the world anyone dozes without getting whoop de doos. I'd say he's found out you can backdrag them and smooth them out enough to keep from banging your head off the top of the canopy when you try to go back over them. He's probably got a dozer with an inch of slop in the linkage and pins also.

No, experianced operators do not backdrag when they are building road or clearing a landing (with the exception of Muskeg! there). Having said that, I will say that once in a while it behooves you to back drag a little for whatever reason, but as a general rule, when you look behind you, all you will see is that set of cleat tracks and a smooth graded surface. The more you use that machine, the better you'll get at it. I was a couple years pretty steady with Herc till I got to where I could grade with him. Since I haven't had tilt, I have to get a level place started and grade from there. It's taken some time, but it's doable. Keep at it.
If you don't have a winch or something in the rear, it's much harder to work the blade as it most likely will unbalance the tractor when you go to raise the blade. You can overcome that too with time. You'll even learn to cut those whoop de doos out with the blade going forward too.

Dave

[DWF]

I can do a pretty decent job of forward dozing, but when leveling gravel on a road I always backdrag when done to get rid of the tracks in the road. No one wants to drive over the grouser marks.
DWF

[Deas Plant]

Hi, Folks.
Just to clarify the issue, sometimes even grader operators back-drag with the blade. Heck, sometimes they even turn the blade around so it's facing backwards and grade thataway. It all depends on the situation.. There are NO hard-and-fast 'rools' about it other than 'gitterdunn' the best way you can - whatever machine you happen to be using - with as little damage to machine, innocent bystanders and landscape - or any othe collateral damage - as you can manage.

The odd, stray foreman's/supervisor's pick-up parked in the way DOES NOT COUNT as collateral damage. That's just site clearing.

I ran a 'yellow' D5B dozer for a contractor whose work was mostly house pads and I was cutting house pads to the same tolerances as the track loaders with spreader bars that the rest of his operators were using. One day, he arrived on site moments after I had finished a pad that had a 4-foot high cut batter on one side and a 6-foot high fill batter on the other. The cut-fill line ran almost dead center through the pad so that both ends had around 1/2 cut and 1/2 fill and there was not a windrow of any size in sight. He wanted to know why I didn't back-drag the pad to cut out the track marks on a site where the builder wanted +/- 5/8 - 3/4 of an inch tolerance.

Can anybody explain why I didn't back-drag the pad?

[actvd@bigpond.com]

Maybe coz you told him to stick his job where the sun don't shine? Just kidding, I ran my dozer over the tracks on my property today and I must be starting to get the hang of the old girl, except for a couple of lapses in concentration that left some whoops but overall not a bad result, without back blading!
The rest was excellent (by my standards of using a dozer) and even widened the tracks a fair bit, much nicer to drive on than before. The reason I needed to do this was from the torrential rains and springs popping up all over the place, I had some fairly badly rutted tracks that are no problem in a car, but nasty on a motorbike.
I will keep trying to improve my skills with this old girl, but as Dave McCallister suggested, I have some slop in the pins and bushes and the wedges that lock the blade keep coming loose and playing havoc with attempts to achieve a smooth finish, but these are not a finishing machine, they were designed to push dirt. Good operators may get a great result, but I don't fit that description.

[Dave McCallister]

Good operators may get a great result, but I don't fit that description.

You will be when you finish that job if you keep trying. I've also fought worn out pins, etc. You have to anticipate the movement and take the slop out with the blade control in your right hand. That's how you cut whoop de do's out, usually moving the blade opposite of what it looks like you need to do because of the slop. You'll get good at it. I'm glad you're already seeing a difference. That dozer is just a dumb hunk of steel (albeit with a personality) that you will master

Dave

[LoggerLee]

Find a grader, they are easy to get good results with

[dozerman40]

Hello men and women,

 

I have been operating for 40 years, the last 37 years has been mostly finish grade work. I agree that most work should be done going forward, BUT I was also taught  if an operator needs 10 passes with a machine to get an area to grade, I better be able to do it 6 passes. So weather it is a road, pad, pond or just about anything there are times to use the blade in reverse to save time and go on to the next area.

 

If I am back dragging I do not use float, sometimes the weight of the blade caries to much material then goes over it and leaves a speed bump that is not on grade.

 

One more thing, It takes an operator to grade the edges and corners, a monkey can grade the middle.

 

PR

[pede]

Interesting thread with a lot of BS; in this part of the country absolutely back drag loose materials to finish. I may float but for the most part once you get material behind the blade then you free hand. If I left tracks or turn marks my customers would be pissed, besides if your just backing up, your wasting money, make every move count. Making a good cut forward is essential to a good finish so your just crumbing back and the key is to have material in front of the blade and know how to react, pops always said a good operator has the feel in the seat of the pants. As for track wear 1 guy got it right, when moving forward pin/bushing makes it's greatest internal rotation at the bottom of the front idler, when backing up this occurs under pressure at the top of the sprocket causing greater wear, the greater the resistance the more the wear, so when back draggin the least amount of material the better. The hy-drive has eliminated the pivot in the sprocket but now has that point at the bottom front and back, doubling the internal wear points. This info came from a IH factory master track class, got a belt buckle for passing.

[Rawleigh99]

Always good to hear from the guys who do it for a living!  Thansk.