I have completed the modifications to my snow/dirt blade I purchased for use on my 2011 Cub Cadet GT2100 garden tractor. The blade in its stock form was ok but I noticed a few things that needed upgrades & modifications for my intended use. I had a prior post about the loose blade angle catch mechanism which helped but I have posted photos of my other mods here. First I had to replace the thin wear or scraper bar, the factory bar was only 12 or 10 gauge metal, I usually plow 5 driveways, our circle and part of the street, all 30+ year old uneven and cracked concrete, I would wear through or bend that stock wear bar up in one snow storm! Plus, I will use it for grading dirt so I found a piece of 3/8" x 2" bar stock and cut it to length, then I used the factory bar as a template and drilled the holes using a carbide bit and cutting oil, it took a while using my 1/2" hand drill but I eventually got it done (see photo). After I had it drilled I ground off the rough edges & painted it black, then I purchased 7 stainless steel cap screws and locking nuts and attached it to the blade, the holes even lined up! The next issue was the moldboard height, from the factory it is only 14" heigh (see photo) well I know from past experience pushing only a few inches of snow can quickly pile up higher than that when clearing large areas, my old John Deere 210 blade had an 18" mold board and I had snow over the top of that before so 14" wouldn't cut it. I started with a 4" heigh piece of metal from an old storage rack shelf, cut it to length (46"), made notches where the trip spring bolts are on the top of the blade & drilled out 5 holes to attach it to the top of the blade. I intended to use this piece to mount a rubber snow deflector to so I mocked it up and used the factory wear bar to sandwich the rubber (an 8" high piece of old truck bed mat) to the 4" bracket, and again used the wear bar as a template for the backing bracket and rubber, drilled the holes. I ground off the edges of my backer bar & painted it black like the wear bar and after waiting several days for the paint to cure, I put the bar on top of the blade and attached the rubber. Well, it certainly was higher but the 8" tall rubber was really floppy so I loosened the bolts, bent the rubber over backwards and tucked it in behind the backer bar and tightened it back up. This would work well, it added 6" to the blade height and the rubber when folded over on itself was rigid enough to enable me to push and stack snow in piles. Now with a 20" heigh blade, loaded tires, 2 link tire chains and my 210lb @$$ on there I am ready for the snow to fly! Please take a look at the photos of the completed project & leave comments or questions.
Thanks,
John
