10’ Western Heavyweight conversion to Tractor front 3 point hitch ?

[sandman2234]

I saw the title to the post and wondered what a 10' Western Heavyweight Conversion was! Once I saw the pictures, I understood why I had no idea what this post was about!
SNOW PLOWS... yep, something I am very ignorant about!
David from jax

 

[charles todd]

I saw the title to the post and wondered what a 10' Western Heavyweight Conversion was! Once I saw the pictures, I understood why I had no idea what this post was about!
SNOW PLOWS... yep, something I am very ignorant about!
David from jax

I have seen them in MO and OH before. Never seen one here...

CT

 

[Tony H]

Finally located a very nice 10’ Western Heavyweight with pump & lights. I can get it cheap.
Plan to remove pump & lights and install on Massey 7495. I also have 2 sets of front hydraulics, 1 of which will be used for power angling.

Plan to mount Cat-II pins on frame, but not sure how to utilize upper link, if at all? Lower links would be “fixed” raising & lowering plow.
Lower links have “float” mode controlled from cab joystick.

Front 3 point

View attachment 766482


10’ Western Heavyweight

View attachment 766484


Like I’m almost wondering if it’s as simple as removing lights & pump with pump frame, installing mounting pins in plow mounting holes?
But what about upper link? Make a mounting pin for upper 3 point arm rigid from tractor to plow frame?

If it doesn’t work, I can use it on a truck, but prefer to set up another tractor for snow plowing.

Personally I think I would design it such that you come up with a position on the top link and lift arms they you always drop the plow to, then use the truck plow as it was intended for the truck. No mess, no fuss, use the joystick it came with. The hole issue with using 'Truck' plows on tractors is that on a truck, the lower pivot point is stationary, on tractors you add the variable of lifting it causing the plow angle to vary. Digging in or drifting over the top depending on the lift of the hitch/FEL

 

[Hay Dude]

I got a used “triangle” for the front of the tractor for a couple hundred bucks. Used Western 10’ Plow is coming next weekend.

 

[JWR]

What brand/source is that red male triangle ?

 

[Hay Dude]

What brand/source is that red male triangle ?

Its from a Pottinger front-mount Hay mower, but that design is fairly commonly used to lift front mounted ag attachments.

 

[Hay Dude]

What would be nirvana for me and this project would be to have the plow mountable to the triangle, without alter ing the Western plow at all. That way, it could also be hooked up to one of my trucks with ease.

 

[JWR]

That MAY be the type that MF dealers offer under the AGCO umbrella. I found the ones they offer require welding the female part to the implement (or else making custom pin connections) and seem to be from Europe. Esp these front mount hitches are much more common in Europe where I have seen them in use.

 

[Hay Dude]

Plow is here. Here’s a picture of the triangle and the plow mounting tabs.

Was thinking of mounting a thick piece of angle across bottom of triangle with loops to go between plow mount tabs.
Then install chain hook/stay at top of triangle for chain.

 

[Rustyiron]

Are you keeping the lights and pump all together as the pictures show? I remember that you mentioned the ability to throw it on a truck would be nice.

 

[Hay Dude]

Are you keeping the lights and pump all together as the pictures show? I remember that you mentioned the ability to throw it on a truck would be nice.

I’d like to, but these projects get “scope creep” that never seems to end.
For now, I have decided to remove pump, lights, and upper brackets.

No reason I couldn’t get Western Heavyweight truck mounting brackets and put them on my Ram, but I really don’t want to plow with it anyway.

For now, it’s going to be a just a tractor plow. If I run into a cheap used mounting kit, I could possible make it usable on the Ram.

 

[Rustyiron]

Keep the Ram out of the SALT!
I think that once you plow with the tractor and it's near perfect visibility and maneuverability it'll be hard to go back.

 

[Hay Dude]

Keep the Ram out of the SALT!
I think that once you plow with the tractor and it's near perfect visibility and maneuverability it'll be hard to go back.

Yeah, I agree. I was born of depression era parents, so I try to squeeze every bit of versatility out of everything I can.
I think I will sell the pump, lights & upper bracket mount.

 

[Hay Dude]

I think the upper 3 point link will have to be rigid piece of steel, not a chain.

The front point has the float option, which would allow it to float over bumps. Also, the moldboard trips.

If I used a chain, I would not be able to “scrape”.

This is what I am trying to achieve-on a more limited budget. Note this plow is trip-edge, mine it moldboard trip.

 

[Hay Dude]

Too bad these aren’t available in the USA

Snow plow blades and ploughshare with 3-point hitch, Euro, 4x4, etc.

The DELEKS snow plows approved for road use, effectively perform snow removal and material handling.

www.deleks.eu

 

[Rustyiron]

It should work fine rigid. Just adjust your top link so that the A frame is level on the ground.
However you attach what replaces the chain needs to be pretty rugged. Hitting a bump or something that would cause the blade to trip is going to put a good (compression) load on this piece because it's effectively wanting to lift the whole 3 point assembly with it.

 

[Hay Dude]

It should work fine rigid. Just adjust your top link so that the A frame is level on the ground.
However you attach what replaces the chain needs to be pretty rugged. Hitting a bump or something that would cause the blade to trip is going to put a good (compression) load on this piece because it's effectively wanting to lift the whole 3 point assembly with it.

I am going to use 3/4” steel bar for the rigid upper link. It will be bolted top & bottom.
Project is beginning to come together. Now I just need an HOA road to plow. That will probably come next year. Trying to teach my son to plow with tractor, too.

 

[Hay Dude]

So I finished up a bit more work on the plow. Bolted on the new cutting edge and drilled out a piece of 3/4” to make the top link “rigid”.

Not sure if this will work. I think I might end-up bending the top link? Maybe not. The moldboard trips, but

Sorry the pictures are crappy. It was dusk and the lights weren’t on.

 

[Rustyiron]

I think you're probably safe but even a 1/4 or 3/8 x 2" flat welded on the 3/4 to make a "T" would make it very unlikely to bend and as you say there's the trip action...
Once there's a little kink in the straight line of the top link it might get worse, at least bend more with a lesser impact.
The more I think about it the more I'd suggest reinforcing it because even with the trip there's a momentary impact that's trying to lift the 3 point hitch and all the linkage. All going through that t/l.

 

[Hay Dude]

I’ve seen quite a few home made front hook-ups like mine with just straight flat stock that weren’t bent, but maybe I should have done a “T”. I was thinking most of the force is down low and will transfer energy through the lower links.