Adapting Truck Snow Plow to Quick Attach

[Wild Bill the 2nd]

I know this has been done before. I've found a lot of inspiration from others, especially 4shorts thread.

I really like how he's moved the A-frame back to bring the plow closer to the tractor. That would keep the weight from hanging out so far and make the thing more maneuverable when turning the beast. The thing that I don't like is the fact that the A-frame is welded directly to the QA plate preventing the plow from truly floating. I know you can put the FEL in float but that still puts a fair amount of down pressure on the loader frame which would likely bury the plow in a soft dirt driveway.

So I think I've come up with a solution that might just be the best of both worlds. Fab a QA mount that accepts the pivoting A-frame 16" to 18" back behind the plate.
-It would move the plow back to realize the benefits stated above
-It would allow the plow to float just as it would on a pickup
-If you wanted some down pressure you could just curl the QA plate down to bottom out the A-frame on the mount then put the FEL in float

Something like this:







The orange cross tube represents where the torque tube is located on the loader frame. It is really the only thing that I need to work around.
The pins are dropped down 2" from the mount and this allows the plow to swing 5 degrees upward, or 3-1/2"
It would certainly be able to swing down a lot more with the slack in the lift chain.

My questions:
-Do you think I need to drop the mounting pins further than 2" below the frame to allow for more upward movement? I can always lift the loader arms if needed. I just want to have the plow be able to raise up when you start plowing up an hill.
-Do you think I have enough supports to take the forces the plow will dish out to the QA plate? I'm thinking 1/4" wall 2x2 square stock and 1/4" gussets.
-Is any of it overkill?
-What am I missing?

Note: I still need to take measurements on the quadrant and draw it up. But I figured that it was the least important piece and didn't get a chance to take the measurements before I left home on vacation. I am modeling this after the fam crashes for the evening.

 

[4shorts]

I have full float, it's part of the tractors FEL,s system. I guess I'm used to operating heavy equipment that operates this same way. Ive been using my design since 2008 and it's worked flawlessly. I'm not a fan of hanging plows from chains. I like to take advantage of the down pressure even on gravel. It lets me control what I need to do. I did make two small changes to mine over the years. One was a rebound shock for the blade when it trips. Before if the blade tripped it would recoil very fast flicking snow on the hood. Now with the shock it comes back nice and slow. I also added rear skid shoes on the back portion control of the A frame so I never had any worries about the FEL arms digging into the ground. I'm 100% happy with the design. When I did this back in 2008 no one was moving the blade close to their FEL's. I'm glad I did and I'd do it the exact same way if I had to do it again.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I have had a plow in the past that floated by hanging from a chain and have one now that just uses float in the valve. I like the float in the valve, It is just easier to do things with. My question is, You are moving the blade back so it will not put to much weight out in front of your loader, but by the time you add all of that steel are you going to come out ahead? Your question is 2" enough float I would say no. I would go much more, more like 8" . Even if your place is very flat the neighbor you try to help might have a dip or two and you would be surprised how much it will move up and down. Two inches only gives you one inch up and one inch down. 8 in is not as much as you might need. Ed

 

[franklin2]

Never done this before, but the one thing I can add from experience adapting different plow A-frames to different trucks; Make sure when you drop the plow down to the ground to plow, the pivot point of the plow will be plumb. If it's not plumb, when the plow is angled the corner of the plow will dig in. In each of my cases I am using the chain and what I notice is when trying to clean a paved parking lot, it will not clean the snow completely off because when the corner digs in, it raises the rest of the plow above the pavement. I don't notice it so much on my gravel driveway since that takes a single pass to clean it and it has a crown in the middle anyway.

The 4 different feet idea someone had might be good, that would be a reference to let you know the plow is flat and the pivot is plumb. Having down pressure and then purposely knocking the plow out of plumb while angling it may be handy to clean ditches out and purposely put a crown in a gravel drive.

 

[countrybumpkin]

I've seen a couple of plows mounted with the design like you have thought about they seem to work just fine. Here are just a couple of builds

http://www.****************.com/for...ments/2471-meyer-snow-plow-mounted-300cx.html http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/189971-another-fel-attached-snow-plow.html

 

[ishiboo]

I am thinking about this too, so I'll be watching. My previous plow on the skid loader was a Western truck plow, with the A-frame shortened up a bit and pinned to a SSQA plate. A chain hung it, but rolling forward just a bit allowed two small tabs to hit the QA plate and then you'd have downforce.

I purchased a new plow for the new tractor (Geo Agric SP-240) which is fixed for decent $$, so I would have to use the float. I also have a 7.5' Western blade waiting for a SSQA plate that I could put together for a total of under $400. I thought about shortening the frame, and also thought about going under the QA with the original pins as you showed. The big advantage to this is the plow retains its ability to be thrown back onto any Western mount in the future.

 

[ishiboo]

Also, the Geo does not have any good place to mount skid shoes so I will have to weld them on. The first couple snows on gravel before the driveway freezes is a huge pain without shoes.



(Shown is a 3-point attach but mine is SSQA and the 240)

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I tried making the exact mounting system that you drew up and I did not have enough float with 4" of drop in the mount and the almost 2" of drop from the plow "ears" being bent upwards.

I think I am in the minority but I'm not a fan of the plows mounted on the loader. If its not a pusher or a sub-frame attached plow I'd rather go without. I used a sub-frame mounted plow on two different kubota tractors that worked flawlessly. I figured why not try and throw a plow on the much bigger JD (that also has a heated cab!) and I was frustrated from the beginning.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I tried making the exact mounting system that you drew up and I did not have enough float with 4" of drop in the mount and the almost 2" of drop from the plow "ears" being bent upwards.

I think I am in the minority but I'm not a fan of the plows mounted on the loader. If its not a pusher or a sub-frame attached plow I'd rather go without. I used a sub-frame mounted plow on two different kubota tractors that worked flawlessly. I figured why not try and throw a plow on the much bigger JD (that also has a heated cab!) and I was frustrated from the beginning.

I agree with you, I had a choice on my Massey and went with a frame mount, it just made sense to me to keep the plow as close to the tractor as i could. I have had two tractors with loader mounted plows but I chose the frame mount over the loader mount very quickly. Ed

 

[Rustyiron]

Nice drawings!!
Remember to build in some forward tilt of your q/a plate. I prefer to (in most situations) only use the bucket curl to pick up the blade. Your particular tractor might be fine with the plate vertical as you have shown, but all SS's will need this to get enough curl back.