Dozer blade

[Crawler Boy]

Im thinking of mount a blade on my OC-3
I have seen some pictures of homemade
outside push arms attached on trackframe

Does the inner/outer support bracket be
strongly enough or will i crack them??
does anyone has any experiens

I think they made the OC-4 with outside
push arms and the trackframe looks
similar to the OC-3 exept the OC-4 has 4 roller and the OC-3 has 3 roller

I know that original blade was mount on
tractor main frame.

[thecatskinner]

I don't know much about blades, but I did look at an OC-3 yesterday that had an Anderson blade on it and it was all inside and attached to the tractor frame in front of the back axle.  It had a rather long plate for the attachment, about 500mm along the length of the frame.

[John D]

Learned from experience,
An "A" tower welded to the lower track wheel guards to support the hydraulic lift cylinder is NOT the way to go - the guards are not strong enough to handle the pressure.  See photos of my AG-6 with an otherwise decently mounted blade.

[Blake Malkamaki]

I would keep your hydraulics all on the inside of tracks right on the tractor itself like the later OC-12 dozers - not on the track frames. There's too much slop in the linkages on the old A-tower design.

You could even replace the tractor's springs with a solid setup or one with limited travel so the nose does not dive when you lift the blade.

I think the pivots for the blade could be outside mounted if you wanted.

Blake

[John D]

[Mike Anderson]

I've got a '41 HG and an OC-3 with Anderson blades on them.  Most of my photos are of the HG but before I got my digital camera.  I'll try and locate some and scan them later.

For what it's worth, I like the way Anderson (no relation that I'm aware of!) mounted their blades.  It's a very neat set up, with all the hardware inside the tracks, a front mounted pump and a relatively simple blade mount.  

The first photo is of both tractors, not very much of a close up, though.  The main hydraulic cylinders act directly on the blade frame and are mounted to plates and brackets bolted to the outside of the frame.   The blade mounts to standard channels with large pins.  Very nice, simple and strong.  Plus it allows swinging of the blade with an insert piece.  The HG has a tilt cylinder mounted between opposing channels.  I have this unit apart right now for refurbishing, and can take photos of the individual parts.  It would be a pretty simple mechanism to copy as most parts are standard hot rolled shapes that may be drilled, welded and sometimes simply formed.  The main support arms are pipe with a slight bend in them.

The OC3 in the foreground has a third cylinder that angles the blade, (currently disconnected by the previous owner).  Other than the third cylinders, both blades would interchange by pulling two pins.  Cute.
The next photo shows the arms pretty clearly as the tractor is on end.  I haven't had great luck with photos, so I'll send them individually.

More later.  Mike

[Mike Anderson]

Ok, that worked.  Sorry for the size, but it shows a little better that way.

I'll try the next one a little smaller.

Mike

PS:  Blake........I could take and post a lot of pictures of this setup as, like I said, it's all in pieces now.  Let me know if you think that would be appropriate or if there is another format that would be prefered.  Thanks, Mike

NOTE: I replaced Mike's picture due to size and moved it down.

[Edited on 2-20-2003 by Blake]

[Mike Anderson]

Blake,

I used the same process to post both of the above photos.  Why did the one become part of the text message, and the other as an attachment?.  I'd prefer the latter, and you probably would too, as it gives a reader the option of opening it or not.  What gives?  How do I do this properly?

Thanks, Mike

[Blake Malkamaki]

I changed the settings to not display the pictures in the posts. I don't mind it displaying them in the posts, but sometimes the pictures get so wide it makes it hard to read the text.

I may change it back if you all would prefer. Try to keep the pictures a little smaller.

As to why they work sometimes one way and sometimes the other... I really don't know. It might be something with file size, but not sure.

Take care,

Blake:D

[Mike Anderson]

Crawler boy, would you, or anyone for that matter, like to see photos of the Anderson blade?  Let me know.......it's quickly going back together and I'll take them if you want.

Mike

[erik]

Please send more photos of the Anderson blade and mountings or is it to late?

[Mike Anderson]

Well..........since I've been distracted in other directions, the assembly hasn't gone as predicted.  It's still apart, although all parts except the pump are now painted and ready for final assembly.  

I'll try and get some photos this weekend.

Mike

[Mike Anderson]

Here are a few photos of the blade mounting.  This one has the tilt cylinder, but a straight blade would mount directly to the channel closest to the tractor, using two large pins.  I have a few more, if you need them.  I may have to download these one at a time.

Mike

[Mike Anderson]

[Mike Anderson]