Back Blade soft edge

[jdgreg]

After seeing several posts on putting a soft edge in the back blade to protect asphalt driveways, decided to take stab at it. I used horse stall mat from Tractor Supply. The 7x4 mat cost around $46 and I should be able to get 4 strips out of it. I also got a 6' length of bailer belt and used angle iron to secure the belt to the blade. I had this on my previous blade for several years, works great to roll the snow off and to keep it from building up and falling over the top of the blade.

I used a 6' long piece of strap metal to help secure the mat from the front, and cut slots so that I can move it down as it wears.

 

[jdgreg]

Here's another view.

 

[jdgreg]

Here's the last view.




Not sure if I'm gonna like it, but I'm gonna give a try. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[JeepOne]

Dont forget to let us know how it works. I plan on doing the same thing when I pave the drive.

Could you show a better view of that top angle iron setup?

 

[ronjhall]

Looks great. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Hope you can post some pictures of it in use.

 

[Rip]

I have used a rubber edge on my pick-up mounted Western snow plow for 3 or 4 years now for about a mile of dirt private road & turn-around areas and like it much better than the original steel edge.

It is much smoother and does not tear up the road or pull up rocks or trip the blade like it used to do even with skid shoes. The disadvantage is that you can not break up hard packed snow or ice with the rubber edge, but I tend to get to the snow before it gets packed down anyway.

I can immagine it working well for many who plow with a back blade on paved or unpaved surfaces also. (I have a back blade for my tractor, but seldom plow snow with it)

 

[RalphVa]

Thanks for posting.

I just got a BB and have a driveway that was paved this spring and had done some research here and found a thread on use of the horse mat. On that thread, they just removed the blade edge and sandwiched a strip of the horse mat between it and the main blade. There were a bunch of posts in there on how to cut the mat, too.

Ralph

 

[jdgreg]

I thought about remove the blade edge, and using the stock bolts, but the blade edge provides a lot of weight, so that should help to keep the soft edge on the surface and working. I also provides good rear support of the mat. This will be my first time with it, so in about another month or so, I'll probably have several opportunities to fine tune it. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif