Grading Anybody have a loader mounted front blade?

[minimax]

What do you guy with a loader mounted front blade think of them.I'm thinking of getting one for a 3720 W/T cab and 300cx loader and was wanting to see more pic's of the blades and can find very many photos of them,frontier is now making them for deere.thanks

minimax

 

[kennyd]

I have one I made about 2 years ago, I like very much.
If you search for "FEL PLOW" or "FEL BLADE" you will find many post's about different setup members have bought or made.

 

[dirtworksequip]

minimax,when I bought my 3520 (used 7 hrs) it came with the loader mounted front blade. I felt that it was just too much hanging out in front of the loader. Plus if you were to ever hit an inmovable object serious loader damage may occur.Sold the JD loader mounted front blade on eBay. PM me your email address and I'll send you some pics of my 3520 cab w/ JD 390 front blade (84"). I made custom mounts that allow me to change between the 300CX loader and 390 front blade in about 5 minutes. Awesome snow removal and dirt moving blade. Right now I have an 8' serrated cutting edge (1 half of Cat 16 grader edge) bolted to it that works great on grading up stone roads.

The couple of advantages I can see with the loader mounted front blade is you can have your bucket handy for stacking up snow and the blade will lift and push snow higher than a frame mounted blade.

 

[minimax]

Don't the spring trips on the blade protected the loader/tractor?

minimax

 

[dirtworksequip]

minimax, there are also 2 JD model 74 front blades on eBay (item # 170057959154 and item#170057956771) now that will fit your 3520.You would use the 4 mounts that come with the blades and modifiy your loader mounts as I did. These JD blades usually go cheap on eBay,because nobody realizes they will fit some new model tractors.

You could also use one of these model 74's to make a loader mounted front blade. You would have almost everything you needed. Moldboard,cutting edge, front frame, 2 angle and 1 spare cylinder. hyd hoses,etc.... The main components that you would have to buy is the loader mount and some additional hardware.

You can look at the loader mounted blade at deere.com Parts Look up 300cx and then go to alphabetical index and click on (B) scroll down to Blade loader mounted and look at the drawing. It will give you an idea of what they look like. I'll search around some old emails and see if I have some pics of the one I sold on eBay.

One other drawback to the loader mounted blades is you have to install a diverter so that you can use your scv to angle the blade.

 

[minimax]

dirtworksequip,thats what the 4 in 1 line are for with the bucket off

minimax

 

[dirtworksequip]

Minimax,
If your plumbed for the 4/1 bucket, then yes thats the lines you would use for the angle function. Minimax, you being in the excavating bussiness will quickly find out that the loader mounted front blade will not serve you as well as a frame mounted blade. Its just too much hanging out front of the loader. Its fine and dandy for your average tractor owner to plow snow and move a little dirt, but I really don't think it will be your best option. Its the eaisest way to go, but not the best.

And yes the trip springs will give the loader some protection, but it will not take much of an accidental hit on one side to transfer that shock to one side of the loader arms and causing damage to the loader or mounts. Frame mounted blades are not full proof either,but I would say less damage would be done in identical situations.

I wish I still had the pics of my 3520/cab-300cx loader with the loader mounted front blade and you would see what I am refering to.

 

[dirtworksequip]

minimax, do a search for BloomingtonMike here ont TBN and he has some pics of his tractor with the boom mounted front blade on his Homepage.

 

[minimax]

dirtworksequip, would mostly be used to plow snow and not much dirt work, no body around here is set up to plow snow so I'm trying to tap into that $$$ and plow more snow, I would use the mini-x for the dozer type work.

minimax

 

[jdgreg]

Minimax, at the end of last season, I bought a JD FEL mounted plow from ebay (maybe it came from dirworksequip?) for what I thought was a very good price. I have not had a chance to use it yet, but probably will very soon. Before I bought it, I did a lot of research here on the topic, and there are good arguements pro/con for each type of plow (FEL vs non-FEL). I went with the FEL type because everything I will be plowing is paved, and I wanted the flexability of quickly and easily swapping to the bucket should we suddenly get dumped on. Worrying about flexing the FEL arms is certainly something to consider, but have never heard of that happening (not saying it never will). Also, there are a couple of guys in my area with the large NH ag tractors that have FEL mounted 9' (or larger) snow plows to help clear the roads.