Snow Attachments Snow Plow Float, Chain, or Rigid

[john4153]

Hi Rocky,

Thanks for the comment and photos.

I have come to basically the same conclusion and am attaching a sketch of what I plan to refine in the shop. I am a little careless when I sketch on my 2D CAD program and don't pay a lot of attention to layers, etc. It is basically what you have done with the chain, but it will be hinged about 17" from the blade instead of the full (27 to 31") inches. I don't know if that 10" will make a difference, and I don't plan to go into snow plow making as a profession and find out. If others have tried both, I would be most interested in their comments.

My Q/A plate just arrived today. Gosh, I love UPS -- all the way from MN and a day early. And for others, once I have it together and tried, I will post the design with dimensions.

John

View attachment plow.pdf

 

[JerryK]

Another thing to consider is that you FEL actually is in the same plane as the ground under your rear tires, which may be quite a bit different slant than the area way up by the FEL is. So you should design in quite a bit of slop in the blade pivot point so the blade can conform to the ground slant it is seeing...

 

[john4153]

I just turned off that computer and can't give an exact answer. It will have about 20° up and down (no chain). I had to limit the down so if the chain broke or for some reason became detached, the back of the plow angle iron (where the hydraulics attach) would not hit the cross brace on my FEL.

John

 

[JerryK]

Sorry, don't mean the up and down.... I was talking about the left to right slop... the left end of the blade being six inches or more higher or lower than the right end of the blade... The FEL stays pretty the same relative to the ground the rear tires are setting on.. [ hey, I got my teeth hacked on today... and have been popping too many pills ]

 

[SHORT KID]

JerryK If your A frame is level your plow will be be fairly level in its r/l swing. Try adjusting chain to level it. Good luck.

 

[JerryK]

JerryK If your A frame is level your plow will be be fairly level in its r/l swing. Try adjusting chain to level it. Good luck.

Yup, the plow will be level to the A frame, which is level to the FEL... but the FEL is level to the ground that the rear tires are sitting on. If you are plowing flat areas that is fine, but if you are plowing a road that varies in side to side slope you may run into problems in the blade is too rigid and not allowed to follow the side to side slope changes...

 

[Ford850]

Yup, the plow will be level to the A frame, which is level to the FEL... but the FEL is level to the ground that the rear tires are sitting on. If you are plowing flat areas that is fine, but if you are plowing a road that varies in side to side slope you may run into problems in the blade is too rigid and not allowed to follow the side to side slope changes...

Exactly. That was what I tried to describe in my post earlier about it floating/tilting side to side. Maybe a better way to describe it is 'twist'. It allows the blade edge to stay on the ground even if the surface is twisted. If you approach a low dip on the left edge of the driveway, the blade will float/drop the left side into that contour even though the tractor wheels haven't reached the dip yet and are still level left-to-right.