Deere Front Blade

[Northstar9126]

I have been following the thread by SkunkWerx about putting a blade on the front of his Kubota. I would like to do the same on my Deere 4300. What is holding me up is how to attatch the blade mount to the middle of the tractor. If anybody has a front mounted blade, either factory made or do-it-yourself, on a similar sized Deere please post a few pictures of your set up. I am hoping to steal your desighn. Thanks.

 

[kennyd]

The factory blade, #74, has a subframe the attached to brackets that mount where the loader mounts are now.

If you log into JDParts and search "74" you should see it-and I will attach the picture...

There is an old post around also from someone that had a Meyers plow on a 4300 or 4310, I will try to find it for you.

 

[kennyd]

Northstar:
I did some searching...
User "BeenThere" put a 7' Western plow on his 4300.

There are some pictures in THIS thread, but a lot of the post's about it are so old I am having trouble getting the links to work.

Hope this helps some...

 

[gunmaker]

Northstar, here's what I did with my 2520. I fab'd a bracket which I welded to a Meyers 6ft blade. The bracket allows the Meyers blade to now function as a stock JD blade, attaching to the JD 4-way hydraulic quick hitch. It works great.

 

[Northstar9126]

Thanks guys for taking the time to help. Both set-ups look excellent. My concern is the amount of stress that they would put on the front end of the tractor should I manage to hit something solid while plowing. The factory plow under carridge looks to attatch on the front and further back on the tractor, which would spread the shock stress out should I hit something. What I think I will have to do is fab up something that does attatch to the front then goes under the front axle back to the mounts for the loader. I don't really like that plan because the plow mount will be so close to the ground but I guess that if I am getting the snow out of the way clearance may not be that big of an issue. Thanks again guys.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Northstar, member Manitou has a JD model 74 front blade I think he is willing to sell. I don't know if the price and logistics will work for you,but it might be worth checking into.

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[zmansmac]

I have been following the thread by SkunkWerx about putting a blade on the front of his Kubota. I would like to do the same on my Deere 4300. What is holding me up is how to attatch the blade mount to the middle of the tractor. If anybody has a front mounted blade, either factory made or do-it-yourself, on a similar sized Deere please post a few pictures of your set up. I am hoping to steal your desighn. Thanks.

Northstar,

When I bought my Kubota I also bought a rear blade with the intent to use it for snow. My sore neck soon made me realize that it needed to be in front. I decided to use the loader for this purpose to minimize the cost. I was a lucky newbie at the time and purchased a Land Pride rear blade which had several advantages in making this conversion. It also allows me to put the blade back on the rear 3 point when I need to. All that was needed initially was some rectangular steel stock to make the cross bar between the loader arms. The following year after getting tired of manually changing blade angle I was able to do that hydraulically. This is a good time to express my thanks to Mad Referee for his help back then. Hopefully the pictures may give you some ideas. And before I receive comments back let me say that I've used this setup for 4 years now and plowed snow here in Michigan up to 6 foot high piles with no problems of stress on the loader arms.

 

[kennyd]

Thanks guys for taking the time to help. Both set-ups look excellent. My concern is the amount of stress that they would put on the front end of the tractor should I manage to hit something solid while plowing. The factory plow under carridge looks to attatch on the front and further back on the tractor, which would spread the shock stress out should I hit something. What I think I will have to do is fab up something that does attatch to the front then goes under the front axle back to the mounts for the loader. I don't really like that plan because the plow mount will be so close to the ground but I guess that if I am getting the snow out of the way clearance may not be that big of an issue. Thanks again guys.

As far as "My concern is the amount of stress that they would put on the front end of the tractor should I manage to hit something solid while plowing." Remember that is what the trip springs are for.

Have you looked around for a JD blade? I found my #380 locally for $400.00. The older ones can be had cheaply because it was a PITA to change from the blade to the plow.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Northstar,

When I bought my Kubota I also bought a rear blade with the intent to use it for snow. My sore neck soon made me realize that it needed to be in front. I decided to use the loader for this purpose to minimize the cost. I was a lucky newbie at the time and purchased a Land Pride rear blade which had several advantages in making this conversion. It also allows me to put the blade back on the rear 3 point when I need to. All that was needed initially was some rectangular steel stock to make the cross bar between the loader arms. The following year after getting tired of manually changing blade angle I was able to do that hydraulically. This is a good time to express my thanks to Mad Referee for his help back then. Hopefully the pictures may give you some ideas. And before I receive comments back let me say that I've used this setup for 4 years now and plowed snow here in Michigan up to 6 foot high piles with no problems of stress on the loader arms.

The simplicity of your design is very nice, indeed!!

 

[Manitou]

Thanks guys for taking the time to help. Both set-ups look excellent. My concern is the amount of stress that they would put on the front end of the tractor should I manage to hit something solid while plowing. The factory plow under carridge looks to attatch on the front and further back on the tractor, which would spread the shock stress out should I hit something. What I think I will have to do is fab up something that does attatch to the front then goes under the front axle back to the mounts for the loader. I don't really like that plan because the plow mount will be so close to the ground but I guess that if I am getting the snow out of the way clearance may not be that big of an issue. Thanks again guys.

Northstar....... I have a series "74" blade with all the mounting gear forsale very reasonable. The only problem is I live on Manitoulin Island. PM me if anybody is interested. Garry

 

[jimmer2880]

zman, I love your design. I think that design may end up on my tractor in another year or 2.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Gunmakers set-up looks top notch, as well. Great "action" pic!

Northstar, reagrding your issue with frame mounting and stresses:

What I have learned reading and by observation is that the larger the blade, and the more work it is doing, And the stronger the machine, the more beefing up needs to be done.

As KennyD points out, for snow, if you are using a spring-tripper then you won't have those sudden impact shocks from suddenly hitting a curb, fire hydrant or lip of a ManHole cover. Those are the shock loads that bend metal.

In snowy conditions, under normal plowing, CUTs and SCUTs are going to lose traction way before they bend frames.

I appreciate your concern, and even respect your idea about trying to connect to the FEL mounting point. Would it be strong? heck yes it would.
Is it necessary, perhaps not.

Look at Dirt Dozing for a moment. Now there is a case where , with the blade locked rigid, and cutting into vrigin soil, with good traction, you would be putting some real load onto the connection points.

I don't know a whole lot about Deere's set-up on their front hitch systems, so I will defer to the experts, but, I would suggest you poking around their website, even going to a showroom, and check out how they connect their front hitches.

I'm not so worried about constant plowing loads on my machine, and new blade set-up for several reasons: I am primarily going to use it for snow, or loose material. My machine is going to "break traction" (slip) far before I break anything metal.

I'm not trying to tell you to build something flimsy, but think it through, and take a look at what the factory does.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kernopelli]

Northstar....... I have a series "74" blade with all the mounting gear forsale very reasonable. The only problem is I live on Manitoulin Island. PM me if anybody is interested. Garry

I also have a JD front hydraulic angle blade with full frame and mounting brackets for the 50 series tractors. It's a JD model #375. It would be quite easy to adapt it to just about any tractor and I would let it go for $300. For anyone in the S.E. Missouri, S. Illinois, W. Kentucky or S.W. Indiana area that is interested I live pretty close. (didn't mean to turn the thread into a classified ad...hope it's OK to mention it here.)

 

[Northstar9126]

I was thinking that the frame for the blade needed to be attached further back on the tractor because that looks to be the way that the Deere factory blade is set up. But after reading what people have posted here I am starting to think that it may not be necessary. I just assumed that the Deere factory blade was ment for moving snow. I now suspect that it is also ment for moving dirt. If that is the case, I will go with something similar to one of the several excellent set-ups posted here as I plan to only use it for snow. Thanks everybody.