Advice on Back-Blade to FEL mount for snow removal?

[smiley]

Without question a hydraulic angle truck plow mounted up front on your tractor would be better, but I think that pushing that loader bucket into a gravel bank would put more stress on the entire tractor and loader than any amount of snow and occasional stone sticking up ever would. Unless you hit something dead solid at high speed, It'll break traction before anything else. As long as you have shoes (slider plates) on to prevent hogging, you know the road you're plowing and take it slow, I don't think you'll have any problem. Plow trucks are generally run much faster than a tractor and need the tripping action.
I have a 100 hp 4wd tractor with an 8' front mounted blower or 9' angle blade plus a backblade and I still use the plow truck because it's so much faster. If the situation requires it, I can get out the tractor and move much more snow than the truck, but at a lot slower pace.
It might be worth thinking about a 3 pt hitch up front to attach a truck plow, that you can drop in minutes if you want to use the loader and leave your backblade on back with the extension I see you already have, for winging back the banks.

 

[YukonKing]

Hi,

I recently was plowing down my driveway in reverse pushing ot one side. I thought for a change I would go a bit fast to try and throw the snow. Normally in forward pulling the plow (7ft 3pt) if I hit a solid object its jars me and kicks up. Well this time in reverse pushing not only did it jar me, but i broke both lower 3pt arm. They broke about 4 inchs from the plow, clean break no bends. Thankfully it did not break the tractor JM254 TLB. I am lucky enough to own a 200 amp stick welder. The fix set me back about a hour. But once again I had to learn the hard way even though I know better.

Think twice about not putting in a safety. Or go vewy vewy slow.

Good times plowing snow.

 

[PILOON]

Have a look at this;
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/66045-snow-plow-my-mt180d.html

I use my FEL less the bucket but retain the arms to lift my blade.
I simply lash the bucket cylinders to the frame to keep them from thrashing about
Has been in use for about 4 yrs now without a hitch.
Someday I might add a cylinder to power angle the blade but so far have not needed it.

Today I was pushing 10" of wet heavy snow and had no steering loss at all, the snow just curls off to the side.

I feel the positive steering is due to my short coupling and straight line (parallel to ground) setup.

OK, have ice ladder chains on rear but fronts are really due for replacement.
The rare time steering gets iffy, I use differential braking.

BTW, change over is about 10 mins each season.

I do not miss the FEL bucket as generally I can actually bulldoze just about any size snowbank out of the way.
Also note the MT180 is but a 20 hp class at 2000lbs or so.

 

[jnyost]

I had a snow blade on my last Kubota. I got tired of it tripping all the time so I put bolts in the top holes to prevent it from tripping. I'm not sure I'd do it with a FEL, but I liked it a lot better than way with the subframe mount.

 

[not2old]

I'd like to see what you build as I'm having a hard time deciding too. Fortunately, I'm mostly retired and have all day to clear snow with my loader. Do you have plans for a home built snow blower? That also sounds like a project I'd like to do.

 

[SensibleNick]

I'd like to see what you build as I'm having a hard time deciding too. Fortunately, I'm mostly retired and have all day to clear snow with my loader. Do you have plans for a home built snow blower? That also sounds like a project I'd like to do.

I've had a night to think about it, and I'm wondering how long it'll be before I decide to clear something else and encounter an unexpected object... I'm sure it won't be too long. I'll build in a trip, and I'll make sure I can pin it as well: best of both worlds.

Not2Old... Yes, I do intend to make one, though I have to design it first. If/When I do it I'll document it and post the plan for anyone who wants to use it - same as this plow mount: Someone somewhere may be interested All dimensions will be in metric... but I guess the guys in Liberia, Myanmar and the other one will cope

It has become apparent that most 3pt PTO 2-stage snow blowers are the same, save for a few minor differences. Apart from that I recon that anyone can knock one up. The only tricky bit is the auger/spiral... and that can be completely avoided by using paddles and beaters as can be found on Lorenz snowblowers.

Now though... Coffee and work.

 

[zmansmac]

Hello SensibleNick,

I had the same situation as you when I bought my tractor 8 years ago. On the advice of a couple of friends I bought a 6 foot back blade for snow. But I couldn't see driving over the snow before I plowed it much less constantly turning my head to make sure everything was going right. So I made a cross piece out of 2x6 tube steel to attach to my loader arms with a "receiver" in the middle. The receiver is sized to fit the tube frame of the back blade going to it's head. I, of course, cut that frame member in half and the half with the head gets pinned in the receiver. The first year I had to manually change the angle. After that I added a cylinder to change it. I have about 1000 sq ft of concrete in front of my garage and about 200 ft of gravel driveway. The concrete I scrap clean by adjusting the curl but the gravel drive was a problem. I could adjust the curl so the blade ride on the pads but that didn't work too well if the gravel wasn't frozen. So my solution was to add gauge wheels and I can adjust the blade up as much as an inch above the gravel. There is no trip function but the only time I found this to be a problem was if I had the blade straight and hit a slab that that was raised. I discovered that a little angle on the blade prevented a jarring situation. I have been using this setup for the past 7 years and it has worked very well for me. I especially like the fact that I can push snow up about 7 feet high. Here's a couple of pics of my setup.

 

[SensibleNick]

Hello SensibleNick,

I had the same situation as you when I bought my tractor 8 years ago. On the advice of a couple of friends I bought a 6 foot back blade for snow. But I couldn't see driving over the snow before I plowed it much less constantly turning my head to make sure everything was going right.

There you go... that's the main reason I want to do this. The second one is beacause I dream of a snowblower.

For me the main enjoyment of a project is working out how to do things well and neatly. Looks like you've got a pretty neat solution there. I'll be using my blade without it's top-mount, and making a new swivel system that'll not only swing the blade, but offset it towards the side it is swung to. (pics to follow one day when I've got around to finalising it) I had also considered wheels or skidder plates, but I'm slowly starting to realise that a rounded steel cutting edge (2" scaffolding tube?) would save my dirt-road driveway and gravel area infront of the house more effectively than wheels or skid plates... and despite earlier convictions, I'm still unsure about the necessity of a "trip". I aim to move slowly pushing large mounds.

I don't need a perfectly cleared area, just enough to allow cars to get to the house. 4" of snow left on the ground is actually acceptable.

My main aim is to keep the blade as close to the FEL as possible. I had considered neat trapezoidal linkages, but despite being engineering heaven, it was getting way too complex. I'm now down to a couple of pivot points, and achieving nearly the same geometry as my over-complex system.

Either way, I'm having fun... and that's what counts. :thumbsup:

PS... that's got to be the cutest cab I've ever seen on a tractor

 

[zmansmac]

Thanks for the comment on my cab. I was told it was from an older model Kubota when I got it from a friend. I used the front piece (with new safety glass), the top and rear supports. I had to make some frame pieces to allow room to operate the FEL control and pedals. I custom made the soft sides. It's small enough to keep my body heat in on the coldest day. But best of all it keeps that cold wind and blowing snow out.

A tube on your cutting edge is a good idea and used by many here on this forum. It's an elegant and inexpensive solution to prevent ripping up your gravel. I have to agree with you that I think sometimes it's as much or more fun fabricating something yourself and then putting it to practical use. Good luck with your project.

 

[escavader]

Even plowing with your loader bucket can thrash your loader quite a bit when you hit something.Ihave seen some designs on TBN that the plow hook up looks like it could actually bend their buckets if something hard gets hit.In my opinion if you plow with a plow hooked to your bucket,its hookup needs to go all the way across the face of your bucket ,to minimize any bending.Im working on a design right now similar to the loaders i see in parking lots with snow pushers.Ill post in the future.
Another thing ive learned from experience ,blades are less apt to fetch up ,if being used backwards.
ALAN