Chain Float Snow Plow for FEL

[12VOLTMAN]

I bet this guy could fix you up.

This could be a great option. His stuff seems pretty well made. A little heavy, but that comes with being well built I suppose.

 

[12VOLTMAN]

Like this maybe.... I realize my plow and what you need are probably 2 different animals but I got mine cheap at a local road commission auction and I have to run tire chains on the front wheels or it will tend to 'plow steer' me in deep snow. I did have to replace the bottom wear steel, but that wasn't a big deal and I've since added wheels on the plow instead of the original skid shoes because with the skid shoes on a gravel driveway, they tend to tear it up. It's a heavy bugger but my tractor is well capable of handling it.

I'm a little worried about how the plow will act since my driveway is all gravel also. I have been using a rear mounted scrap blade with a heavy piece of rubber mounted to the bottom for several years now. It gets the job done, but it's literally a pain to use. I'd like have the plow in front of me.

 

[12VOLTMAN]

Not sure about a JD plow, but lots of people adapt a SSQA plate to accept a standard plow. Just use the 3rd function to angle the blade and tip the loader back to lift the blade. This lets the blade float just like it would on the front of a truck.

I had one that was welded solid -- with no chain -- the weight of the loader broke it within a few hours. Just puts way too much weight on the blade. This pushes the blade out pretty far, but used plows without the truck mount, lights, and pump are plentiful and pretty cheap.

View attachment 825343

Yeah, building something is an option. These things do cost a pretty penny.

 

[5030]

Why I replaced the skid shoes on mine with heavy duty swivel casters. If you look at most commercial road plows, they have wheels on them. Only residential plows have skid shoes.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Several people on TBN have built them like this. Mounts a standard truck plow but gets the plow back closer to the SSQA plate to minimize the side torque. Plow floats on chain like a truck plow but you can get down pressure while back dragging if wanted by dumping the SSQA a little. And you can stack snow a mile high and push back banks easier/better compared to a frame mount. More complicated to build though.

gg

 

[CH4Ohio]

I'm a little worried about how the plow will act since my driveway is all gravel also. I have been using a rear mounted scrap blade with a heavy piece of rubber mounted to the bottom for several years now. It gets the job done, but it's literally a pain to use. I'd like have the plow in front of me.

It works the same as a truck mounted plow on gravel. As long as you let the blade float and don't add the loader to that weight.

I think on gravel the main thing is to have the plow A-frame down low, so the angle of attack of the blade isn't overly downward and aggressive. I still move a little gravel with mine and have to spend some time pulling it back into the driveway in the spring.

 

[5030]

Several people on TBN have built them like this. Mounts a standard truck plow but gets the plow back closer to the SSQA plate to minimize the side torque. Plow floats on chain like a truck plow but you can get down pressure while back dragging if wanted by dumping the SSQA a little. And you can stack snow a mile high compared to a frame mount. More complicated to build though.


View attachment 825575


gg

Not my cup of tea in the winter especially. I don't like freezing my arse off on an open station. I prefer heat myself when I plow snow.

 

[12VOLTMAN]

Why I replaced the skid shoes on mine with heavy duty swivel casters. If you look at most commercial road plows, they have wheels on them. Only residential plows have skid shoes.

I would think casters would just dig into the gravel. Unless it’s frozen of course. That’s the problem in northeast Ohio, freeze thaw is constant throughout the winter.

 

[mrmikey]

I had seen a setup a few years back a fella had made, he said it worked great but I neve saw it in action. He mounted a braced plate to the front of his tractor that had the two ears similar to the mount on a truck for a snow plow. He left the bucket on the tractor and used a chain from the bucket to the plow to lift it. All the push was against the tractor frame, he had the float of the chain connection to the loader plow and there was no impact on the loader arms.

 

[Notforhire]

I had seen a setup a few years back a fella had made, he said it worked great but I neve saw it in action. He mounted a braced plate to the front of his tractor that had the two ears similar to the mount on a truck for a snow plow. He left the bucket on the tractor and used a chain from the bucket to the plow to lift it. All the push was against the tractor frame, he had the float of the chain connection to the loader plow and there was no impact on the loader arms.

I put together a loader mounted Curtis tractor plow last year with a chain lift. The loader arms on my L47 are stiffer than the typical "L" so I wasn't as concerned about bending the arms.
The plain was to see if the front end would get pushed sideways because of the extend length.
It didn't snow here last winter so I didn't get to evaluate.

If I don't like the way it works this winter, I thought about changing it to a frame mount to shorten everything up.
The loader on a L47 is not QA so it would make sense to me to use the loader arms to lift the blade as you describe.

However after seeing Gordon Gould's rig in post #15 I may go that way.

Is anyone aware of a flow restrictor that would slow the power angle down? I'm using the front aux and it's really fast.