Plowing on gravel

[vtsnowedin]

If your plow with a pipe cuts into your unfrozen gravel then your gravel is too sandy. Add crushed stone 1 -1/2"to 1/4" and mix it in ,then it will lock up when compacted and take the load of the plow.
Crushed gravel should be 50% stone by weight and half the stones bigger then 3/4" should have a fractured face (not smooth round river stones) . If you already have the sand half there, just add the clean stone half and mix. I've used 0.17 tons per square yard of 1.5" concrete washed stone to add strength to a road. It also works well when reclaiming old asphalt pavement to add that much stone to what is usually a black sand after the reclaimer has beat it up.

 

[Professor Marvel]

I have read here that some people use rubber edges and have good results. That sounds like a good idea to me, especially when encountering something unexpected or forgotten about in the parking lot. 3 things I have read 1. get a stall mat from TSC and cut a peice about 6in wider than the steel blade edge and sandwich it between the cutting edge and the blade itself. 2. one person uses the tread from tires and does the same sandwich thing. 3. today I saw this plowrubber.com.
All seem like good ideas to me. Not sure which I will use. I have a lot of gravel I might need to push.
Best of luck to all.

 

[Ford850]

My plow came with the standard 6" mushroom skids. I had replacements made from plate steel that was pressed into a large pipe stub creating a crude dome in the plate. A 10" circle was cut from that dome and a 1" shaft welded on it. So I now have 10" skids that work great. I can still sink the blade if I don't pay attention but with these new skids I have a lot more time to react and slightly raise the blade when needed. I keep the edge an inch or two above the gravel. The nice thing about these skids is that I still have the edge that I can tip forward and scrape the paved areas.

 

[94BULLITT]

My plow came with the standard 6" mushroom skids. I had replacements made from plate steel that was pressed into a large pipe stub creating a crude dome in the plate. A 10" circle was cut from that dome and a 1" shaft welded on it. So I now have 10" skids that work great. I can still sink the blade if I don't pay attention but with these new skids I have a lot more time to react and slightly raise the blade when needed. I keep the edge an inch or two above the gravel. The nice thing about these skids is that I still have the edge that I can tip forward and scrape the paved areas.

thanks for the reply. I have been thinking about different ways to remedy this problem and one was to get a set of disk blades. I looked at tractor supply yesterday and they only had 18'' blades. I was thinking of something about 12." I will definately give this idea some more thought since you have had good luck with 10'' skids. If do a paved driveway or once the ground gets frozen good I would probably use the regular skids. I don't know when I will get a chance to play I mean plow in the snow again, it might hit 60* by the end of the week:shocked:

 

[Ford850]

thanks for the reply. I have been thinking about different ways to remedy this problem and one was to get a set of disk blades. I looked at tractor supply yesterday and they only had 18'' blades. I was thinking of something about 12." I will definately give this idea some more thought since you have had good luck with 10'' skids. If do a paved driveway or once the ground gets frozen good I would probably use the regular skids. I don't know when I will get a chance to play I mean plow in the snow again, it might hit 60* by the end of the week:shocked:

That's exactly what I intended to use too, but couldn't find small disks. I was at a small metal shop and was inquiring about a pipe and welding posts to that. While explaining how I intended to use the pipe, and how I also looked for disks, the owner offered to make me some. The heavy disks he made are crude and not exactly round as he hand cut them, but they work great so far. I try to leave a little more snow on the gravel then what I did years ago, and it works much better too. And back to the disk, I can't remember for sure on the size, but at least 10". I made them as large as possible and they barely clear the back of the blade.

 

[Ford850]

(Sorry, double post)

Also to note, going from a 6" shoe to a 12" shoe quadruples the surface area of each shoe. That is a huge difference.

 

[motocephalic]

Resurrecting this thread: This morning I got a chance to try my skills of plowing in the gravel, and lets leave it as I need practice. I have the meyers shoes on the skid steer and it's my first time with a plow on a tractor. The ground is not quite frozen and all I can say is it's got to get better. I tried to float but seemed as if it dug in a bit tooo much, so I opted for the gentle touch and slower speed. It went ok, I am not sure how much time I saved with the plow vs the FEL.

 

[corey9212]

Resurrecting this thread: This morning I got a chance to try my skills of plowing in the gravel, and lets leave it as I need practice. I have the meyers shoes on the skid steer and it's my first time with a plow on a tractor. The ground is not quite frozen and all I can say is it's got to get better. I tried to float but seemed as if it dug in a bit tooo much, so I opted for the gentle touch and slower speed. It went ok, I am not sure how much time I saved with the plow vs the FEL.

It does get a lot easier, this is my first year using a plow and at first it gave me a lot of concerns with digging in but now it's been a massive time saver over the bucket. The key really is to either let the ground freeze or get a good solid base if snow and don't let the blade all the way down until it's established (I started with the blade 1.5" above the skid shoes.) good luck and most importantly of all have fun and be safe.

 

[Katahdin]

I'm jealous motocephalic, we didn't get any snow in my part of the state, just rain.

Can you position the loader arms closer to the ground? The lower the the pivot point is the less aggressive the plow cutting angle will be. You could also try backdragging the plow instead of pushing forward. Again, this is just until the ground freezes solid and then you can get more aggressive with it.

FYI to all, I've also added a 2 inch pipe to the edge of my loader plow to make it easier on gravel, but it was late into last season, I'm looking forward to trying that solution out for a full winter. I also added a 7 foot rear blade to play around with, I'm leaving that cutting edge alone for now.

 

[94BULLITT]

I'm jealous motocephalic, we didn't get any snow in my part of the state, just rain.

Can you position the loader arms closer to the ground? The lower the the pivot point is the less aggressive the plow cutting angle will be. You could also try backdragging the plow instead of pushing forward. Again, this is just until the ground freezes solid and then you can get more aggressive with it.

FYI to all, I've also added a 2 inch pipe to the edge of my loader plow to make it easier on gravel, but it was late into last season, I'm looking forward to trying that solution out for a full winter. I also added a 7 foot rear blade to play around with, I'm leaving that cutting edge alone for now.

Does your blade float at the QA or do you use float on the loader.