Adding hydraulic angle to my back blade

[SLM1294]

After using my back blade to clear snow for one season it was clear that being able to change the blade angle from the seat would make the job alot easier. I first drew up the blade on the computer and decided where to attach the cylinder. I then designed the brackets to attach the cylinder to the plow without welding. The rear bracket is kind of a sandwich that is held onto the plow with two clevis pins using existing holes in the plow. This bracket is made to fit on either side of the plow so that it can be rotated 180 degrees if desired. It can also be removed, along with the cylinder, and the original pin still used.

This seems to work well and I am looking forward to trying it out on some snow next season.

[3RRL]

Another great fabricating job to make your tractor work easier. I noticed all your connections are bolted rather than welded for easy removal ... good thinking.
One thing I would recommend if you haven't already thought about it (not being critical).
On most of my hydraulic cylinders, I put a protector plate of some kind below it. That is in case I trap something between the ground and the cylinder rod. It protects it from bending. I don't know if you use your blade for dirt work, but it could happen...just a thought though.

[SLM1294]

Rob,

Thanks for the comments. I had not thought about protecting the cylinder but I can see where that could be an issue. Since I mostly use this blade for snow I should be OK. I would worry about things getting packed up with snow if there was a plate there though.

Steve

[kennyd]

Your fabrication skills are superb! Looks like you need to get a welder though, that a lot of hole you drilled for this and the box blade project.

[IXLR8]

Hmmm this is very similar to what I was thinking of doing... you just did a much better job than what I was planning. Thread has been 'subscribed to' so I can remember what you did and copy it... if you don't mind. I too am without welder.. so lots of bolts for me.

[radman1]

I have a blade of a similar style and have been trying to figure a way to add a cylinder. Thanks for the idea!

[Whitey]

Very Nice.

[JSharp]

Yes, very nice. I'm all for the bolted connections. There's little disadvantage other than the fabrication time. I noticed the rear mount is pinned to the blade location disk so you can easily turn the bade around. Good thinking.

I have a similar blade and I have the same plan for it if I can get to it before winter. It will make moving snow far easier.

[SLM1294]

Thanks for all of the comments.

I thought I would give a few more design detail and hope that it will help others that want to tackle this sort of project. As with most designs this was a compromise but I did manage to achieve my design goals. I originally wanted to have a minimum of +/- 30deg. of angle adjustment and I ended up with +/- 32deg. If I ever want to have a 45deg. angle I can always pop off the cylinder and rear bracket and go back to the pin, but in my usage 30deg. was always sufficient.

The distance from the blade pivot point to the front of the blade assembly (3pt attachment point) dictates the size (and thus the stroke) of the cylinder. I used a cylinder with a 10" stroke that gave a centered distance of 25 1/4". It is important to maintain as close as possible to a 90deg. angle from a line from the plow pivot point to the cylinder rear attachment point and a line going through the cylinder. This keeps the angle adjustment symmetrical (cylinder at mid point when plow is centered).

Since the cylinder is in the same plane as the blade location disk there can be a clearance issue when the cylinder is at maximum. This prevents moving the cylinder attachment point closer to the blade pivot point and increasing the maximum angle available. I wanted to keep the cylinder in the same plane as the blade location disk to minimize the forces on the rear bracket. It would be nice though, to move the cylinder higher to keep it farther out of the way of debris from the blade.

This is a bit difficult to explain without pictures so let me know if you would like any more information.

Steve