Snow plowing on soft ground

[LD48750]

Ok.... What is the best (easiest) way to split a pipe to put on the cutting edge of the blade?

I got a short strip of thin wall cut & mounted but it didn't last.
PVC is broken & gone before I get to the end of the drive on my first pass.

 

[Amvcane]

I have been using grey 1 1/2” electrical pvc for a while now on my gravel drive. I’ve been getting 3 seasons out of the pvc. It’s only a 54” blade and no loader arms so not much weight on it.
As for cutting a slot in a length of metal pipe I would recommend a plasma cutter.

 

[PILOON]

The answer was mentioned earlier, EDGE TAMERS, they are small clamp on skids or shoes, clever idea!
You can make your own if you weld.

On my rear snow blower I have made oversized skids so I no longer blow gravel all over the place, also it save me replacing sheer bolts.
I can go a whole winter on a set of sheer bolts!

 

[dsb5610]

Ok.... What is the best (easiest) way to split a pipe to put on the cutting edge of the blade?

I got a short strip of thin wall cut & mounted but it didn't last.
PVC is broken & gone before I get to the end of the drive on my first pass.

Easiest would probably be striking two lines and cutting with a plasma cutter. I don't have a plasma cutter and didn't want to haul it somewhere so I clamped it on saw horses and used a cordless reciprocating saw. Pipe is 96" long. Recall it took at least 4 blades from a value pack of short metal cutting blades. Cut with the saw tilted back so the tip did not hit the other side. Lines are not perfectly straight and requires a couple taps with a maul to get on and off which turned out to be handy.

dsb

 

[ruko]

Easiest would probably be striking two lines and cutting with a plasma cutter. I don't have a plasma cutter and didn't want to haul it somewhere so I clamped it on saw horses and used a cordless reciprocating saw. Pipe is 96" long. Recall it took at least 4 blades from a value pack of short metal cutting blades. Cut with the saw tilted back so the tip did not hit the other side. Lines are not perfectly straight and requires a couple taps with a maul to get on and off which turned out to be handy.

dsb

Hello
I'm not clear on the pipe cutting. Do you cut the pipe in half? If so does the pipe halve fit tight enough on the blade? I'm also having a hard time plowing snow on soft ground with my front blade. I have a small Chinese plasma cutter that I use for cutting sheet metal. It'll be interesting to see if it cuts pipe.
Thanks
ruko

 

[olrobk]

The gravel drive solution is simple. Replace your cutting edge with a heavy piece of angle. I did it on my new 90" Meyer Minute Mount with a 4x4x 3/8". You can grade anything smooth in the Fall and Spring. I also have an old 9' Meyer dirt drive plow from the 30's that works great on my "Monster M37".

 

[Logeeland]

This is brilliant. I am going to do it on the 8ft for the tractor and the 7'2" on the truck.

 

[tl2926]

Edge Tamers (search edge tamer) for the front bucket work great, you can also use them in the summer to help from tearing up your lawn for any bucket work you might do where you have grass. I highly recommend them.

For snow "plowing" - At the start of the winter when hopefully you only get a couple inches of snow, spin your rear 3 point grading blade around 180 degrees and you will now be "grading" the snow rather than cutting or plowing it. If you can do that a couple of times you will hopefully get a nice frozen base established without removing any gravel from the drive. You can change the grading angle of the rear blade by adjusting the top link on your 3 point. You can also use your rear blade in this 180 degree rotated position for "grading" and smoothing your gravel driveway all summer long.

If you also have a front blade for the FEL, or a front blade for your tractor, putting a pipe (as mentioned in other posts) on the bottom cutting edge will solve all of your problems with "plowing" your gravel out of the driveway. The pipe stops the blade from "cutting". Call some of your local companies that sell snow plows for pickups and they can either get you a pipe of point you in the direction of who can. Quite a few commercial snow plow guys now use pipes on the cutting edge of their plows for gravel driveways. Once things get good and frozen, they remove the pipe.

I hope this helps.

 

[GBodie]

I have a Kubota L5030 HSTC with a Woods 6' bucket on my loader. I used a 6' piece of 3/4' ID boiler pipe, which is a schedule 80 pipe. I had a machine shop cut a 5/8" lengthwise slit in the pipe and I welded on 3 tabs and slid it over the cutting edge of my bucket. The tabs have 3/8" holes drilled in them, and once on your bucket, you have to drill holes through the bucket that match the holes drilled in the tabs. Secure with bolts from the underside, with the locking nuts resting inside the bucket. I have to replace the bolts about every year, as the heads get ground down with use.
My driveway is over .3 miles long and is about half gravel and half pavement. I had to replace the pipe after about 7-8 years of use, as it wears down with use. I hope this helps, as it sure cuts down on tearing up your grass and removing gravel from the driveway.

 

[Golden Rocket]

Here is what I am working on to solve this issue for me - mount wheels to replace the skid shoes or wheels to augment the skid shoes. So far I have attempted to utilize anti-scallop wheels off a mower deck - problem so far is not being close enough to the deck (plow and/or blower) to allow the implement to lower sufficently - a friend utilizes trailer tongue jacks for this purpose (allows swivel operation).