charlz
Elite Member
I got this light-duty back blade with my tractor a few years ago. It is pretty light weight and was already starting to crack back then... which is probably why he threw it in with the tractor. 
The blade seems to be made of 8 gauge or so but the cutting edge is 3/8. The blade started to crack out around the lower welds and moved up the sides of the bracket. No idea what brand it is.
I ground the cracks out, moved things back into place with a jack and chains and re-welded the front and ground down the welds so they wouldn't interfere with dirt or snow 'rolling' on the blade. For the back however I decided to stiffen it up a bit I recently bought almost two full sheets of 'drop pieces' 1/4 sheet for $140.... which is about 50% off buying two full sheets. (3) 2x4 pieces and (3) 20 x 96 pieces. Somewhat rusted but a flap disk takes care of that pretty fast. You can see some laying on the floor in the background. Naturally I decided to use this to make a doubler plate for the blade (when all you have is a hammer.... )
Here is the plate I cut out using my plasma and laying on the blade for a test fit/mark the lines sand for welding. The blade is sitting up on an old cabinet and you are looking down on it. This gave me a nice level work space... not that it helped my ability to weld much The small holes were drilled with a 1" HF Silver and Deming drill bit.
Here is the plate by itself... I really need to buy a circle cutter attachment for my plasma... cutting nice looking circles free-hand is hard I rounded the corners by cutting around a piece of 2 1/4 pipe and touching them up with a 7" grinder... if you don't have one of those you should get one... it removes some metal in a hurry!
And here she is welded on, I left space to make multiple passes around the old bracket to tie the doubler to the bracket and blade.
The piece of tubing going up to the swivel plate was starting to bow out on the back... so I 'persuaded' it back in line and also made a doubler plate for it... I will take more pics after the primer dries and I get it back in service.... we are expecting snow tonight and for the next two days or so. I wanted to get this done just in case I need it.
The blade seems to be made of 8 gauge or so but the cutting edge is 3/8. The blade started to crack out around the lower welds and moved up the sides of the bracket. No idea what brand it is.I ground the cracks out, moved things back into place with a jack and chains and re-welded the front and ground down the welds so they wouldn't interfere with dirt or snow 'rolling' on the blade. For the back however I decided to stiffen it up a bit
I recently bought almost two full sheets of 'drop pieces' 1/4 sheet for $140.... which is about 50% off buying two full sheets. (3) 2x4 pieces and (3) 20 x 96 pieces. Somewhat rusted but a flap disk takes care of that pretty fast. You can see some laying on the floor in the background. Naturally I decided to use this to make a doubler plate for the blade (when all you have is a hammer.... )Here is the plate I cut out using my plasma and laying on the blade for a test fit/mark the lines sand for welding. The blade is sitting up on an old cabinet and you are looking down on it. This gave me a nice level work space... not that it helped my ability to weld much
The small holes were drilled with a 1" HF Silver and Deming drill bit.Here is the plate by itself... I really need to buy a circle cutter attachment for my plasma... cutting nice looking circles free-hand is hard
I rounded the corners by cutting around a piece of 2 1/4 pipe and touching them up with a 7" grinder... if you don't have one of those you should get one... it removes some metal in a hurry! And here she is welded on, I left space to make multiple passes around the old bracket to tie the doubler to the bracket and blade.
The piece of tubing going up to the swivel plate was starting to bow out on the back... so I 'persuaded' it back in line and also made a doubler plate for it... I will take more pics after the primer dries and I get it back in service.... we are expecting snow tonight and for the next two days or so. I wanted to get this done just in case I need it.
