caster wheels on plow

[fatboyinmaine]

looking for some input on an idea i have for my plow, i want to mount heavy duty caster wheel with adjustable washers like the shoes. it seems to me they would work better than shoes, which gouge the ground. You can keep the plow an inch off the ground for plowing gravel roads and the plow would roll? ive seen them on larger plows. mine is a western 10 ft that was made into a 12ft, on a 1984 C-70., so its heavy and rips up my road until the ground freezes. any ideas? or pics

 

[lhfarm]

looking for some input on an idea i have for my plow, i want to mount heavy duty caster wheel with adjustable washers like the shoes. it seems to me they would work better than shoes, which gouge the ground. You can keep the plow an inch off the ground for plowing gravel roads and the plow would roll? ive seen them on larger plows. mine is a western 10 ft that was made into a 12ft, on a 1984 C-70., so its heavy and rips up my road until the ground freezes. any ideas? or pics

Do a search on wheels in this forum or gauge wheels in general and you will find lots of information on plowing gravel drives.

My FEL plow isn't as nearly as big as yours, but the shoes don't work well on unfrozen ground. I continue to look for a better solution, so will be interested in what you come up with.

 

[leonz]

You can purchase pneumatic casters from Mcmaster Carr and use some angle iron to attach them to the plow.

 

[ray66v]

That is exactly what I did, years ago.

I can adjust the height by raising or lowering the FEL slightly. I can even put the blade down on to the ground when I plow a paved drive, by tilting it.

You should also add a Pipe to the bottom of the plow, this will also keep the edge from digging in.

If you weld a couple of tabs on a piece of steel pipe, (I used 1 1/2" pipe), you can bolt it to the bottom of the blade. (Use the bolt holes that hold the cutting edge on the plow). Don't waste your time cutting a slot in the pipe so it will fit over the the cutting edge, It is totally unnecessary.

This all works best if you pack down the first 3-4 inches of snow. Then, you can pretty much plow it all you want, and not move any gravel.

 

[fatboyinmaine]

nice set up, i was hoping someone out there did this already, i was thinking of mounting the casters to a plate with a steel rod using the shoe mount hole with washers..thanks for the input and pics

 

[ray66v]

nice set up, i was hoping someone out there did this already, i was thinking of mounting the casters to a plate with a steel rod using the shoe mount hole with washers..thanks for the input and pics

I am looking for a place to order frozen lobster tails as a gift, know anybody around there who is good?

 

[JD 4520]

nice set up, i was hoping someone out there did this already, i was thinking of mounting the casters to a plate with a steel rod using the shoe mount hole with washers..thanks for the input and pics

I am searching for the same solution. I have a Frontier front blade that I want to pull the shoes off and insert same style with a roller. My use is on hard surface and don't want to score it up. Keep me posted on your solution.

 

[ray66v]

I just remembered this site has some photo's of HD plows with casters: RT Reversible Trip Blade Snow Plow

 

[fatboyinmaine]

for Maine lobsters its best to look online for the best price, most places will ship anywhere.

 

[fatboyinmaine]

yes caster wheel like that or similar. how come the common pick up plow manufactures like fisher dont make a wheel kit using the same hole as the shoes? im still on the hunt for the right set up. thanks

 

[JD 4520]

I decide on a solution for this and went for polyurethane. See a new thread on Polyurethane Side Shoes.

I'd be interested in what you have decided on wheels.

 

[psdx]

This is a set of yokes and wheels for a King Kutter RFM. Note the sleeves above and below the tubing. I can set the blade height easily, and can actually go from riding high on the wheels to scraping concrete by adjusting the hydraulic top link from my seat.

 

[fatboyinmaine]

psdx, nice set up, thats the idea i have for my fisher plow. its far enough back to allow the trip edge to work, and swivels. i found a few suppliers online to get casters from, not cheap though!!! thanks for the input

 

[psdx]

The wheels and yoke are crazy expensive. I got the fabrication done for free and paid for only the steel by having the local high school career center do it in the welding shop. I think each wheel with the yoke was $90 and the steel for the tubes and brackets was about $40, so $220 all together.

 

[bigdad]

I get these at TSC.

 

[fatboyinmaine]

how much were they? does the snow build up on wheels?

 

[bigdad]

how much were they? does the snow build up on wheels?

Fifty bucks a Pop at Tractor Supply. I have never had snow stick to them. Bearings with zerks on the swivel and the wheel.

 

[zmansmac]

I started out years ago with caster wheels similar to Ray66v's on a modified back blade that I used for snow plowing on my FEL. But they were problematic in that I ended up bending the wheel brackets a couple of times (not the best quality caster) and I had a couple of flat tires. Last fall I bought a used snow blade and modified it but I wanted better casters for the doing the gravel part of my driveway. So I borrowed the design from my Swisher tow behind mower and made my own. Just had to buy a piece of 1/4 inch x 1 1/2 inch flat bar. I had the little bit of angle stock needed and the 3/4 inch rod from an old garden tractor rear end. And I did have to buy a little bit of DOM tubing for the rod to fit into. The set up basically looks similar to what psdx has. My wheels are 10 inch and I highly recommend getting solid rubber ones no matter what size. I think I paid about $45 for the pair.

 

[ray66v]

I started out years ago with caster wheels similar to Ray66v's on a modified back blade that I used for snow plowing on my FEL. But they were problematic in that I ended up bending the wheel brackets a couple of times (not the best quality caster) and I had a couple of flat tires.

Interesting. I used low grade Chinese casters on mine, (around $30 each). I worried about the quality of them, when I made the plow. But, decided to test the concept, before spending large amounts of money on it.

I wanted to have pneumatic tires with tread, so they could grip better, rather than skid. As soon as the wheels skid, they will move gravel, and my goal was to keep that from happening.

After 5 years of use plowing snow, I have never had anything bend, or any flat tires.

If I built another one, I would not change any aspect of how I originally made my casters.

 

[zmansmac]

The solid rubber tires I have have tread and look just like the pneumatic ones so gripping is not an issue. I have some rocks lining parts of the driveway that can get hidden with higher amounts of snow and you know what can happen when you're in a hurry some times. Hence my flat tires. My original casters were also of the Chinese variety and under normal conditions probably wouldn't have been a problem. They are fairly strong going forward but cannot take much of a side load. And that in combination with me letting the FEL down too fast caused the problem. This problem could have been lessened by limiting the amount of swivel but that is not easy to do with that type caster. On my new ones I welded short stubs of rod stock to limit the swivel to only what is necessary with the angling of the plow.