54" JD 300 series plow on JD 2305

[nickwarchol]

I've been following some of the projects here since I bought my new tractor. There's a lot of great information here and some pretty clever ideas.
I finally have a chance to give something back.

I sold my John Deere 318 tractor after purchasing a new 2305. I kept the 54" snow plow and decided to adapt it to the new tractor. I traced the attachment arms on the old tractor and use them as a pattern for the new bracket.

The bracket bolts to the front of the tractor using the three 1/2" holes that are on the front weight bracket. I had wanted to add a brace on each side from the bottom of the attachment arms back to the frame. Unfortunately the support leg for the 200CX loader tucks up in this area.

I don't plan on using the plow for moving dirt, I have the loader for that now. If I detect any weakness in the bracket I'll probably add some arms along frame rails and use the same bolt holes that the brush guard mounts with.

Nick

 

[kennyd]

Welcome to TBN


That looks very NICE-BUT I do however think you will need a diagonal brace to keep it from folding under, especially if you hit a solid object. Looks like there is a hole already, and the bottom can be welded.

Look at my mess in red on your nice picture for my idea...

Why would this get in the way since you can't have the FEL and the blade frame installed at the same time?

 

[nickwarchol]

That's exactly the brace that I wanted to add. I'll have to make it removeable in order to install the loader.

Nick

 

[kennyd]

If you weld it at the bottom it will become part of the new front hitch-so instead of three bolts it will be five bolts that hold it on...

 

[nickwarchol]

The way it is now I can install and remove the loader without removing my new plow hitch. If I weld those new straps in place then I'll have to take off this hitch in order to install the plow. My goal is to be able to switch between the plow and loader during a snow storm without much effort.

I'm going to add some extra brackets on each side as shown in my rough sketch. I'll use the bolts for the bumper guard to hold them in place. This will transfer the forces to the chassis side rails.

 

[kennyd]

I would have never guessed the FEL would mount with that in place I know on my older style loader it wouldn't for sure!

Your plan looks like it may just work though...Please keep us informed

 

[nickwarchol]

I didn't think that it was going to work either when I first started thinking about it. The landing leg for the loader tucks right up behind this new bracket.

Nick

 

[rtm038]

Nice job on the retrofit, but if it were me, I'd add diagonal lateral braces like the ones suggested by kennyd. By adding these diagonal lateral braces the stresses, loads and forces exerted onto the plow will be transferred to the tractor's frame. Adding side plates to where the mount bolts to the front weight bracket will only increase the strength of the mount in relation to it's ability to "hold-up" the plow. Without the diagonal lateral braces, the plow could actually act a "lever" and bend and rotate the bottom portion of the mount back towards the front axle. Remember that snow has weight and resistance and a great amount of it's weight and resistance will be transferred to the lower section of the plow mount when you starting moving the snow. Just my .2 cents.

Ryan

 

[plh3]

I realize this may be a dead thread but I saw the work done, and have been thinking of the exact same project. I have a 2305 with a 200C loader, no quick attach/detach. However, the bucket pops right off in about a minute. If it's the same with the CX why not pop the bucket off and build a bracket that will hold the plow, then if possible use the two hydraulic lines that used to articulate the bucket on the FEL and use them to move the blade left right, and continue to use the lift arms of the FEL to lift/lower, and float the new snowblade. Can that be done?

 

[nickwarchol]

I didn't like the idea of a plow on the end of the loader arms. When the blade is angled you are putting sideways stress on the loader arms. Whether it is enough to worry about I'm not sure but l liked the blade attached to the tractor frame better.

I did add some reinforcements and was happy with the strength of the mount but since that time I picked up a 47" front snow blower. The mount I made for the plow had to come off to put on the Quick Attach for the blower.

What I ended up doing was to just use the blade and build a bracket that attached to the front Quick Attach just like the blower. Deere sells a blade for this but it was a lot cheaper to just adapt the blade that I had. I used the angle cylinder from the old 300 series blade mount to add power angle ability to the Quick Attach. I can now switch between the blower and the blade very quickly.

Nick