Attachment of front snowplow on L4330-design help

adamshatch · Jan 26, 2006

Hello all,

First of all let me say thank you to those of you who have already given me ideas on this project.

I am about to build a subframe to attach an older Meyer 7 1/2' snowplow to the front of my Kubota L4330 hst. I know there are a lot of other threads out there that deal with similar things - believe me I have spent hours looking through them and their pictures - but I have not found a thread that deals directly with my setup so I was hoping I could ask you great people for a little help! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have been crawling around under my tractor looking at all possible attachment points and am wondering what others think. I took some pictures of the front/side/underneath of my tractor and would appreciate any ideas as to attachment you might have. Does anyone know where the Kubota factory subframe kit mounts to this tractor?

I have also spent several hours on AutoCAD coming up with a preliminary design of my own, and I will attach that as well and would appreciate any comments or suggestions that you might have about the drawing. The quality of the drawing when saved as a JPG is not great, but I think you can see all of the pertinent info. If you look at the drawing my plan was to attach the front of the mount to the frame/brush guard with bolts and the rear of the mount to the loader/backhoe frame with bolts. Which place on the loader/backhoe frame looks best to attach the rear of the frame?

Thank you in advance for your replies,

John Pruskowski

grandad · Jan 26, 2006

Welcome to TBN! Boy, you sure opened the door for some creative suggestions, and you're sure to get some good ideas. I'll toss in a couple of thoughts for starters.

Does your L4330 have a loader? I'm guessing not, because that would be the obvious place to attach a snowblade.

I seem to remember from years ago that the heavy duty snow blade kits for 4WD pickups had a subframe going back behind the front axle. If I were doing this, I'd likewise be trying to figure out a way to pass as much loading from the snow blade to the rear axle as possible, so the heaviest, most secure structure on the tractor bears the brunt of whatever you might run into with the blade (such as hitting a curb, etc.). Maybe that's already what you have in mind.

There are pre-drilled attachment points on the Kubota L chassis for the FEL mounting frame. They are on the frame rails approximately right below the steering column. Assuming there's no loader, those might be used, but just as the FEL frame also has rails going to the rear axle, I would still want a connection to the rear axle.

I would be wary of any setup that goes to the front axle or the front of the tractor. Too much potential for expensive damage to your nice L4330!

ronjhall · Jan 27, 2006

From the pictures I have seen. The L4330 needs a L2180 quick hitch sub-frame. Here is a picture of one. Should give you some ideas for your project.

SkogenMe · Jan 28, 2006

I ran a very similar home-built plow frame on my old tractor with an 8' plow for ten years. The longitudinals coming back from the plow were bolted at either end. To some ears on the front and to an inverted U shaped piece on the back which was bolted into the bottom of the transmission with four large metric bolts. I know it all depends on your plowing style but it is possible to generate very large forces on that rear attachment plate. Several times over the years I hit roadside stumps in high gear and ended up stripping out two of the tapped holes in the tractor frame...in addition to generating some scenes worthy of Americas Funniest Home Videos /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
The new tractor has a FEL and I have made an adaptor plate to go on the quick-attach. While I really like the ability to be able to pile snow with the blade or bucket (if we ever got snow /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif), I really miss the visibility, and shorter turning radius of having the plow directly on the front of the tractor. I am concerned I am going to warp the FEL arms. I have been trying to come up with some sort of shock absorber arm that I could quickly attach from the tractor to the QA bracket that would take some of the stress. It would be able to extend a certain amount for low bucket lifting.
My two cents would be if you can incorporate some sort of shock absorber or shear point ..do it. Of course you may also plow at a reasonable speed .......