Fabing a brush blade for my dozer

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I have a 1955 John Deere 40C, 6000lbs, 20HP (gas engine), and am looking to fabricate a brush blade for it to do light brush clearing, including piling rotten logs and the like.The blade is 71" wide, 22.5" tall, and 18" from the top of the cutter section to the top of the blade. I figured 6 teeth 12" OC, or 7 teeth 10" OC would be perfect. I've seen ones made by Mann in the past that were half height, meaning the vertical parts didn't go clear to the top of the blade. That would be great as I want to keep the weight down as much as possible.Can you buy shanks that are already capped with a wear point in something like 1/2 X 2" by whatever length? Who would carry such a thing?Picture of the blade:I'm thinking a lighter version of this:
Reply:You could use narrow ripper shanks/wear points for a V-ripper from a farm store. they are about 2inches wide, and can bolt over a mild steel support. makes them replaceable after damage. like one of these, without the wings,  http://www.norwest-mfg.com/catalog/TIL600.pdfcan be found at any John Deere, CaseIH, or AGCO dealer.VinceHobart CyberTig 300 stick/tig w/water cooler (my CL score)Victor 315/1060 on LP            mostly farm repairs/projects
Reply:In the light duty scale there's the box blade ripper shanks with points. Kinda pricey if you bend them regular.  You could use typical backhoe frogs and teeth welded to a weldable wear bar. Your brush guard could be a seperate item left on permanent. Nothing wrong with a permanent brush guard."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:You blade looks fairly light and simple compared to most dozersI think I'd build a new blade from scratch and swap it over. A little extra visibility is always nice and you wouldn't risk damaging you main blade (or even the frame) by twisting it with the longer leverage your extension would place on it. Not to mention, you wouldn't loose lift height with a new blade of equal dimensions to the old.
Reply:You will definitely want something to go up to the top most likely to help counteract the leverage those teeth will generate. It's a bit different with a tooth bar on a bobcat where the force is mostly into the cutting edge rather than at 90 deg to it like on that dozer blade. I think if you simply bolted it on in place of a standard cutting edge, you'd shear the bolts or rip up the lower section of the blade from the extra leverage. The long arms transfer the load up and allow the blade to "push" the rake. The longer arms also reduce the force because of the longer lever arm. every root rake for a dozer I looked up had the same design you showed.I'd be tempted to build a dedicated root rake like I see on track loaders around here, but a lot would depend on how that existing blade is mounted and how much work you'd need it for. A dedicated rake would also allow more dirt to pass thru. For simplicity however, a unit like what's shown would be my 1st choice. I can see it easily being added and removed when needed, even if it does add weight.One thing I see in that pict is that the tines go straight down. All the root rakes on loaders have the tines parallel to the ground like the floor of a bucket, or angling back into the "blade". You "skim" the surface, just like if you were cutting with a loader bucket. That puts almost all the force straight back on the unit, rather than at 90 deg like the one you showed would. The down side with a dozer is that you can't dump the brush and roots that get raked up like with a loader bucket, so You'd likely get a ton of dirt and crap all mixed up together. Probably why most land clearing companies use a loader rather than a dozer any more. No one wants to take dirt/roots mixed. The tub grinder guy doesn't because of the rocks and dirt that F's up his grinder, and the landfill doesn't want the roots and brush since when it rots things settle and they can't sell the land when they close up.As far as teeth, shanks etc. we get ours from a specialty company that supplies the townships, large construction companies and quarries in our area. They are usually cheaper than going to the dealer for stuff like this, and they have a wide selection in stock for "odd" items like building toothbars for the big rubber tire bucket loader or putting a straight edge on the 3' trackhoe bucket..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:That's an idea. Build a mini version of this, and mount it to the blade frame without the blade:
Reply:keep the teeth 6 inches apart.
Reply:I'm interested to see more of this... looks like a fun project.
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