FFC V-Plow for FEL - First Impressions

[Tony H]

thanks for the response. just hoping the valving didn't crap out after a few cold winters.
my tractor has flat face connectors up front already and a separate lever inside the cab. This unit should be a seamless hook up. I can't find a place to even see one let alone find a three year old
used one... lucky you
I was thinking I would make small snow skis to replace the small footed skid and you just confirmed that I will do that if/when I get mine.

 

[FatTire]

thanks for the response. just hoping the valving didn't crap out after a few cold winters.
my tractor has flat face connectors up front already and a separate lever inside the cab. This unit should be a seamless hook up. I can't find a place to even see one let alone find a three year old
used one... lucky you
I was thinking I would make small snow skis to replace the small footed skid and you just confirmed that I will do that if/when I get mine.

I do think FFC was a little short on the skid shoe settings, they should have made the shafts an inch longer. Seems like they never thought of someone using it on anything other than pavement.

 

[Tony H]

Did you look at any other 'V's' or were you sold on the price of the FFC used?
As I shop I see Virnig makes a 'V' their SBV series. wondering if anyone has pros or cons on the Virnig and if anyone has seen both and likes one over the other

 

[FatTire]

Did you look at any other 'V's' or were you sold on the price of the FFC used?
As I shop I see Virnig makes a 'V' their SBV series. wondering if anyone has pros or cons on the Virnig and if anyone has seen both and likes one over the other

I did look at the Virnig. As far as I could tell it was about equal with the FFC, but perhaps slightly heavier. They both have a float in lateral and tilt, which is a great feature, though I don't remember if Virnig's mechanism is the same as FFC's. Mainly I just never found any used Virnig plows. Maybe they don't sell a whole lot of these V-plows, or maybe everyone who buys one holds onto it, but finding a used one took a while.

Just beware, these are heavy plows. The Kubota MX5100 is light on the rear end -- my rear tires are loaded and I still need a counterweight to use this blade. (Backhoe is great weight, but just a little long on the back side for what I do in the winter. I usually use a weight box, about 750 lb.)

 

[Tony H]

Thanks for the response. I'm wheeling and dealing right now for one of these plows. They seemed very close to each other but haven't been able to eyeball either one. The Virnig guy is so responsive to answering my questions, I may be swayed that way. I will be putting this on a backhoe so I have counterweight and the machine it 8000 lbs. I guess I will get used to angling the plow by playing the back and forth with the hydraulics. I have a separate stick so I hope when I push teh stick forward, teh plow wings will move forward. makes for brainless operation. I guess I can just swap the Male/fe,ale connectors to make that work

 

[FatTire]

Thanks for the response. I'm wheeling and dealing right now for one of these plows. They seemed very close to each other but haven't been able to eyeball either one. The Virnig guy is so responsive to answering my questions, I may be swayed that way. I will be putting this on a backhoe so I have counterweight and the machine it 8000 lbs. I guess I will get used to angling the plow by playing the back and forth with the hydraulics. I have a separate stick so I hope when I push teh stick forward, teh plow wings will move forward. makes for brainless operation. I guess I can just swap the Male/fe,ale connectors to make that work

Correct, I connect the hydraulics so that forward is "Scoop" and back is "Vee". It doesn't take very long to get used to the sequence when you need to change from "angle left" to "angle right" for example. Definitely worth the few extra seconds to cycle through in order to handle it all with one hydraulic circuit. With your backhoe you're going to love it. So far I've only had one situation where this set up let me down, and that was opening a driveway that hadn't been plowed for a couple of months, I couldn't make it up the steepest hill. It was too narrow to turn to the side, so I couldn't get rid of the snow in front me, and no way did I have enough speed to throw it off the plow. Probably the main issue was the Kubota just didn't weigh enough. I had to come back the next morning with our Unimog. (Tough work but someone has to do it...)

 

[skyhook]

Tony,...what is your second stick used for now?
on my machine, pushing the second stick forward, locks my bucket in and reverse unlocks the cylinders
to remove it. Do you have the quick connects on the front.

 

[Tony H]

Tony,...what is your second stick used for now?
on my machine, pushing the second stick forward, locks my bucket in and reverse unlocks the cylinders
to remove it. Do you have the quick connects on the front.

My Quick attach is manual.Exactly like Skid Steers. Gotta get out and lift the levers. The Second lever was standard equipment and is for any Aux Hydraulics that you want. I have a 4:1 bucket and pushing forward opens the jaws and back closes them. This lever has a Detent switch so I also use it for a Log Splitter. It was bought with a Three Pt Hitch mount. I welded up a bracket so it attaches to the front of the tractor. I use the front Hydraulics to run it. Push the second lever forward, push the detent button, I'm ready to go. OH! my Avatar is of the Splitter on the front. Do you ever take the Backhoe off? Are the Connectors tough to reattach?

 

[skyhook]

My Quick attach is manual.Exactly like Skid Steers. Gotta get out and lift the levers. The Second lever was standard equipment and is for any Aux Hydraulics that you want. I have a 4:1 bucket and pushing forward opens the jaws and back closes them. This lever has a Detent switch so I also use it for a Log Splitter. It was bought with a Three Pt Hitch mount. I welded up a bracket so it attaches to the front of the tractor. I use the front Hydraulics to run it. Push the second lever forward, push the detent button, I'm ready to go. OH! my Avatar is of the Splitter on the front. Do you ever take the Backhoe off? Are the Connectors tough to reattach?

My hoe is permanent, sideshift, its identical to the 2CX, I don't have the button on the second lever but i do have one on the first, pushing it in disengages the tranny so you can rev the engine for a faster bucket lift. I do have aux in the front and i plan on adding a cylinder or two to my now manually angling plow.

 

[Tony H]

Just as a Follow Up, I bought the Virnig SBV84. Bought it september 2015. Had no reason to use it in all of 2015-2016. This Winter was good though. Had small snows this winter and I either used the big tractor with this plow or my Cub Cadet Garden Tractor which works real well.
ANYWAY.... The Virnig plow is a 1200 lb beast. It will outlive me without a doubt. Grease fittings everywhere and super heavy. A very good fit for my 8000lb tractor. I think it would be best to look elsewhere if you have a 20-30HP Agriculture tractor as their lift capacity is not as much as the tractor I have.
Very happy with Virnig. Sales guy at LANO Agriculture could not have been more friendly and helpful.