More Newbie Plow Questions

[KY Gun Geek]

Fighting a with snow plows because I am new to them.

Set up is a JD 5093e (4wd 90hp Utility Tractor) with an H260 Loader. I have a JD Universal to QA converter and the plow is a QA, 8' wide. We don't get really big snows here in my part of KY, we get 0 to 2 in the 10" range per year, and a 3 or 4 in the 4" - 6" range. The ground does not stay frozen for more than a couple of weeks - but will cycle 2 or 3x/mo January - April

I had been clearing snow the the bucket on the loader, but it can tear things up, and is slow because I can't push long distances (have to stop and lift with bucket vs a plow pushing to side). I plow 1/2 mile of asphalt and 1 mile of gravel. There is contour to both.

Well, got a plow and tried it on a slushy 3" - 4" snow. I left the shoes on and floated the FEL. I ended up with scuff marks/light gouges in the asphalt from the shoes. Tried w/o shoes and plow dug in - scraped the asphalt badly and dug up lots of gravel (yes tried adjusting curl angle). Tried as well to run with loader holding plow off the ground - contour and uneven road means plow hits the ground.

I found the thread below about plows set to use pivots/chains to reduce the weight on the plow. I think my issue is that given the weight of the plow (8' blade) and the FEL, there's sooo much weight on the plow that digs and gouges.

So questions:
1) Are the gouges from the shoes normal do I just need to practice more?

2) Given our conditions and weight of this FEL, is a chain floated plow better way to go? - less likely to gouge with shoes or dig because there is less weight on plow. QA chain floated plows seem hard to find - lots of threads here about guys making them, but I can't find them from typical manufacturers. Any ideas?

3) Hiniker makes a loader plow that seems to handle these issues - but they look pricey - anyone have any idea what retail is?

4) Maybe replace the Mold board with UHMW Poly (seems like weight would be problem in float here too-crunch!)

5) Or stall mats (I have lots of those - this is horse country you know) - maybe a little long (6" - 8" below plow) and not float - let the mat ride the bumps?

Thanks!

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/268012-snow-plow-float-chain-rigid-5.html

 

[oosik]

I use a rear blade to clear snow from my gravel driveway. If the gravel is not frozen hard - I also, have problems with the blade "digging in" in certain spots. Your asphalt must be pretty soft if the shoes on your front plow leave gouge marks. You can learn to use the front bucket to clear snow without an excessive amount of damage but it takes time to clear any amount. Drop the bucket to the ground- raise the lip an inch or two- put the FEL in float. Otherwise, a bucket left flat will tend to dig in and gouge at any bump or ripple.

I only use the bucket when clearing tight places where I can't back into and clear with the rear blade. You might consider getting bigger & wider shoes for the bucket so they don't dig in so much.

 

[skyhook]

Sometimes on "smaller tractors" that have a plow setup like yours, putting the plow in float will "lift" the front of tractor, but in your case, your tractor is much bigger and heavier, most likely why your machine isn't lifting but acting more like a bull dosser digging "in".
A plow supported by a chain should eliminate that.

 

[varmint]

Setting up with a chain suspending just the plow blade itself to float, and taking the weight of the loader off will be a BIG help. The plow angle is critical to digging in, as you probably have learned. A pliable edge also will help. Gravel is a challenge, but the asphalt should be fine once you get the right setup. Of course, spring is coming, which will solve you problems, for a while, anyway.

 

[devildog1]

No matter what you use it's going to leave some marks on blacktop and or dig into un-frozen ground whether you use a tractor or pickup truck. That being said you can limit the scuffs, damage by trying different sized skids/shoes on your plow set up.An 8 foot plow weighs in quite heavy, I use a L3584 BB to clear less then 10" of snow on blacktop, but if I push and I said push with the blade reversed I have no issues on the blacktop with shoes/skids adjusted so blade is 1" to 1 1/2" above the blacktop. But if I push that snow onto the lawn the shoes/skids dig into the lawn, now if ground is frozen I adjust the blade so the shoes/skids are not doing anything and I can push from blacktop to lawn without any issues. It's basically the same for my HLA 2000 front plow, ground frozen = no issues, un-frozen have to be more careful . I think for you a large back blade would be the ticket.
DevilDog

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