Snow Attachments Curtis Snow Blade - Lost Skid Shoe

[DRFoster]

I noticied yesterday that one of the rotating "skid shoes" on my Curtis Snow Blade has lost the disc at the bottom. Are these normal wear items that need to be replaced regularly or am I using it adjusted incorrectly? (It was worn down to the point where the disc simply had nothing left to connect it to the post it was attached to. The other side is not too far behind, wear wise.) The blade itself appears to have an inch or so of wear left. I've been inspecting it regularly, but not the skid shoes.

When I got the blade (new) from my Kubota dealer, he said it didn't come with a manual and was little help in showing me the proper angles to use it at. What I try to do is angle it (top to bottom) so that with the FEL joy stick in the "float" position, the cutting blade and skid shoes both sit on the ground (i.e., I don't want it to ride on the blade or skid shoes alone.)

Is that the right way to adjust it? For people that have these, how often is it necessary (if at all) to move the spacer washers from the bottom of the skid shoes to the top?

As an aside, am I the only one who ever accidently changes the top/bottom angle by inadvertantly pushing my FEL joy stick to dump/roll the bucket? I have a seperate lever for adjusting the left/right angle of the blade. In my second winter now with this thing, I still find myself pushing the FEL joy stick left/right to angle the blade (when it instead changes the top/bottom angle.)

 

[gerard]

I use a back blade w/ shoes but the shoes are like an upside down mushroom so the wear portion is about 1.25 inches of solid steel. I imagine it will take awhile to wear them down and I let the full weight ride on the shoes. I keep the blade about 1.5 inches high so I can plow right onto the grass w/o peeling off the sod. I'm not worried about scraping down to the bare pavement which would be the only reason to adjust it as you've done (letting the blade actually contact the surface). If you want to that you really don't need skid shoes. (You might want to consider a high density polyethylene blade though. Won't tear up the blacktop as much and will wear better than steel)

 

[DRFoster]

The skid shoes on my blade are (were?) similar upside down mushroom shapes. Even new, however, there was no inch and a quarter of steel there. Perhaps 1/2" max. In inspecting the remaining "mushroom", I can see cracks on the bottom around where it connects to the post. I think its days are numbered til it breaks too.

I've thought about switching to the plastic blade after the steel one wears out. I don't notice much damage to the black top other than the obvious scrapping marks. It doesn't dig in but you can see where the blade has slid along.

 

[PaulT]

I have a western mulit-angle plow on a pickup, and it uses the same inverted mushroom type of skid shoe you have. My plow did come with a manual, and here is a paraphrase from memory of how it suggests to adjust the skid shoes.

For solid surface plowing (concrete, blacktop), adjust the skid shoes so the blade is just above the surface (not touching anything). This will provide nearly complete removal of snow, while compensating for any irregularities in the surface of the parking/driveway area. If you have a flat surface, you can adjust the shoes so that the hardened steel cutting edge is the only thing touching the surface (shoes don't touch). when the cutting edge wears away enough, just reverse it.

For irregular surface plowing (gravel, grass, dirt), adjust the shoes so that the blade edge is above the surface sufficiently to not gouge (blade doesn't touch at all). THe blade should be higher than the highest point of gravel or dirt above the overall surface.

My driveway is #2 crushed rock, so I have about a 3/4" clearance. This gets most of the snow while leaving most of the gravel.

I also have a paved parking area, but I have to leave a layer of snow on that because I'd rather leave the gravel intact. With your setup, you could let it ride on the shoes for any gravel work, and tilt it forward onto the blade for pavement work - I'm envious. No harm to let both blade and shoes hit the paved surface, but don't let the blade dig on gravel or you'll make a mess.

One last thing I thought of... If you tipe the setup too far forward to get both shoes and blade touching, you might be getting the leading edge of the inverted cup digging in. If this catches on rocks as you plow forward, it will gouge a rut, and eventually (prematurely) wear or break the bottom of the shoe off. Just a thought.

As for wear on the shoes, yes they wear, yes they are supposed to. One of those shoes with the washers costs about $15 at what used to be central tractor (now Quality Farm & Home, which does not carry anything that anyone would actually need). Probably get it online for about that, too. I wore through one in about 5 years of gravel plowing. They're much cheaper than a new cutting edge, plus the cost of gravel to replace what got scraped off.

PaulT

 

[DRFoster]

Thanks for the in-depth response PaulT!

I got a new set of skid shoes from my Kubota dealer today. They were $70 for the pair. The posts are shorter than ones on the original Curtis skid shoes so I don't have a lot of adjustment as far as lowering them. I think I have enough, however.

I think I've got it adjusted now pretty much as you describe. It'll ride on the shoes with the cutting blade a hair above the asphault (that's all I have to clear, no gravel.)

In talking with my dealer, he says people go through 3-4 sets of these for every blade. He also told me about some heavier duty skid shoes that have the 1 1/4 inches of steel gerard describes above. They're $110 a pair. I'll probably switch to them next go round. I'd have bought them today but he only had one and it was saved for somebody to use in the center of their v-shaped pickup blade.

 

[PaulT]

Sounds like you have solved your problem. Shop around before you drop anything like $50 per shoe next time - even with the thicker steel. Also, compare the cheaper thinner ones by price per year of use. You might find that replacing the thinner shoes from some mail order source at $50/pair is the way to go. Just my .02

PaulT

 

[DRFoster]

So, does anybody know a place on line to buy skid shoes from?

 

[DFB]

Northerntool sells them.

DFB

 

[MaineTom]

I have a Curtis Sno Pro 3000 and the Skid Shoe part number for it is 1TBP50T - call your local Curtis dealer and order one or check that it's the same part number for your model plow.

 

[peterc38]

I have a Curtis Sno Pro 3000 and the Skid Shoe part number for it is 1TBP50T - call your local Curtis dealer and order one or check that it's the same part number for your model plow.

My guess is the OP found what they needed in the 14 years since they posted :confused3: