Rear blade skid shoes

[Chilly807]

I spent part of the day adding skid shoes to my rear blade, snow can't be far off now.

3/8 plates, dished 3/4 inch, I used 1/8 inch 7018 at 115 amps DCEP. It's the first time I've used the larger 7018 rods with this welder, I'm pretty happy with the way they worked.

The rest of the job was done with the Miller 180, my out-of-position welding still isn't that great with the stick, I have more confidence in my abilities with the MIG. Still getting a fair bit of spatter, but that may be the wire I'm using.

Sean

 

[Thomas]

Before you know it your welding will be looking like laid dimes...nice beefy well done job.

 

[Chilly807]

I'm learning to control the puddle a bit better with practice, every so often there's a "light bulb moment".

Thanks Thomas, I think it'll hold up to the 3400 at least.

Sean

 

[Runner]

Nice work. How did you dish the plates? Hydraulic press?

I just made some "overshoes" for my snow blower skids. The standard skids are a little narrow, 2 inches, so I bent some 4 inch wide plates and welded on some bolts to attach them to the original skids.

Hopefully she'll slide a little easier with the wider skids.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

Good job! You won't have to worry about them wearing out any time soon. Next you will be building side plates for it. Wish I could weld that good.

 

[Chilly807]

Nice work. How did you dish the plates? Hydraulic press?

Hydraulic press.. I have access to a 75 ton press at work. It took about 40 tons to get that much deflection, with the outer edge of the disc supported in a piece of pipe.

Sean

 

[Chilly807]

Good job! You won't have to worry about them wearing out any time soon. Next you will be building side plates for it. Wish I could weld that good.

It's surprising how fast they DO wear out, I'll probably end up hard-facing them during the winter unless we don't get much snow.

I try to get as much practice as I can, I've learned quite a bit from the guys here. I hadn't stick welded in 25 years, picked up a used AC/DC a few months ago. I find the MIG is easier to use for doing verticals and overhead welds.

I built wider skids for my walk-behind blower a few years ago, it was fine in soft powder, but wanted to ride up on the snow in heavy wet stuff. A tractor blower should be heavy enough that you won't have that problem.

Sean

 

[crazyal]

Nice. I keep thinking about making shoes for my 10' blade on my truck. It's set up for shoes but so far I haven't gotten around to it. Once the ground freezes they are not needed so for now I just feather the height of the blade.

 

[yomax4]

i just re-did the skids on my Boss V Plow. Very similar and yayyy it's done.

 

[Chilly807]

I patterned these after truck shoes. They're a bit smaller, 4.5 inch as opposed to 6 inch. The truck shoes were anywhere from $25 to $50 each, and I still would have had to buy the pipe and steel rod. The whole thing ended up costing me about $30.

Sean

 

[crazyal]

Having access to a 75 ton press helps. I think the best I could do with my 20 ton press is bend 3/8" and double it up.

 

[Chilly807]

Having access to a 75 ton press helps. I think the best I could do with my 20 ton press is bend 3/8" and double it up.

It's hard to say, a lot depends on the diameter of the disc and the size of the contact area. My pipe was about 4 inches in diameter or a bit less, and the contact area was 1.5 inches. It made a nice even curve for the most part. If the disc was heated it would be no problem at all to cup it provided you got it to the press quickly enough.

Sean

 

[BGigHarbor]

I know this is an old thread.

I was wondering if skid shoes on a rear blade have any uses besides moving snow?

 

[oosik]

Yea, old thread but good info. Often thought of skid shoes for my rear blade also. The ones I've seen, that you can buy off the shelf, are too narrow and kind of flimsy. The first snows always result in scalping gravel off the driveway and I was hoping skid shoes might help this problem.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Yea, old thread but good info. Often thought of skid shoes for my rear blade also. The ones I've seen, that you can buy off the shelf, are too narrow and kind of flimsy. The first snows always result in scalping gravel off the driveway and I was hoping skid shoes might help this problem.

You've just been looking at the wrong shoes I guess. Maybe the $40 ones that some blades have? Mine are 2" solid stock welded to 5/8" skid material, 6" in diameter. But they weren't $40 either, $200. Back when I bought my Land Pride blade, I had doubts about how well they would actually work. All I can say is that I recommend skid shoes all the time, that they are a HUGE help in pretty much every situation-condition. :thumbsup:

 

[ruffdog]

Made mine as a bolt-on.

 

[Arc weld]

For snow, consider making gauge wheels instead of using skid shoes. Wheels won't dig into the gravel or the grass if it isn't completely frozen.

 

[ruffdog]

For snow, consider making gauge wheels instead of using skid shoes. Wheels won't dig into the gravel or the grass if it isn't completely frozen.

True, have to be careful until frozen. I usually let some snow pack on the gravel then the shoes will ski on top of that.