itn
Member
northmainer why no chains in the rear? do you find them ineffective or is it possibly fender clearance?
Grading FEL + snowplow = clear driveway?
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NorthernMainer
New member
I dont have any for the rears but am sure it would be awesome maybe someday! I have the rears filled with Rimguard [I think that added 275lb to each tire] and I run that rear blade; its 350lb so I have around 1000lbs on the rear; which certainly isnt alot, but with standard ice chains on the fronts, it is about unstopable; and will quite frankly push 2 ft of wet snow without a bit of crabbing, or riding up, or any of the common problems, that everyone speaks of .
We did quite a bit research when we designed our adaptors for JD and Kabotas and found that the angle and altitude is VERY important. Of course the Fisher Plow has proven itself all over the country . When I lived in Alaska the most common plow was a Western plow, and they were constantly broke or bent or just not working . Fisher plows were considered alot like a Winchester to an Indian, most would give anything they had to own one!
Anyway I will post another picture showing the Fisher going thru about 22" in our last storm[probably has over 3ft in front in this picture as blade is 28" from memory] it is NOTHING for this outfit. My drive ways to the house and the shop; used to take me 1 1/2 hrs to do with the 6' QD bucket, it now takes me 20 mins to clean them up and put the tractor away with a 90" plow that ANGLES to clean up ever pass............
Have fun
E
We did quite a bit research when we designed our adaptors for JD and Kabotas and found that the angle and altitude is VERY important. Of course the Fisher Plow has proven itself all over the country . When I lived in Alaska the most common plow was a Western plow, and they were constantly broke or bent or just not working . Fisher plows were considered alot like a Winchester to an Indian, most would give anything they had to own one!
Anyway I will post another picture showing the Fisher going thru about 22" in our last storm[probably has over 3ft in front in this picture as blade is 28" from memory] it is NOTHING for this outfit. My drive ways to the house and the shop; used to take me 1 1/2 hrs to do with the 6' QD bucket, it now takes me 20 mins to clean them up and put the tractor away with a 90" plow that ANGLES to clean up ever pass............
Have fun
E
Mech said:
I have a boom mounted Frontier 72" and it can get tough to handle sometimes, especially on uneven surfaces goig up a driveway - probably due tyo my inexperience with using a boom mounted blade on the emd of my loader arms - seems to be way out there. But I put on a rubber blade this season and that helps me not scuff up my asphalt driveway. Anyone got any tips onperfecting the use of the long as **** boom mounted on loasder forks Frontier blade?
NorthernMainer said:I dont have any for the rears but am sure it would be awesome maybe someday! I have the rears filled with Rimguard [I think that added 275lb to each tire] and I run that rear blade; its 350lb so I have around 1000lbs on the rear; which certainly isnt alot, but with standard ice chains on the fronts, it is about unstopable; and will quite frankly push 2 ft of wet snow without a bit of crabbing, or riding up, or any of the common problems, that everyone speaks of .
We did quite a bit research when we designed our adaptors for JD and Kabotas and found that the angle and altitude is VERY important. Of course the Fisher Plow has proven itself all over the country . When I lived in Alaska the most common plow was a Western plow, and they were constantly broke or bent or just not working . Fisher plows were considered alot like a Winchester to an Indian, most would give anything they had to own one!
Anyway I will post another picture showing the Fisher going thru about 22" in our last storm[probably has over 3ft in front in this picture as blade is 28" from memory] it is NOTHING for this outfit. My drive ways to the house and the shop; used to take me 1 1/2 hrs to do with the 6' QD bucket, it now takes me 20 mins to clean them up and put the tractor away with a 90" plow that ANGLES to clean up ever pass............
Have fun
E
speaking of pushing snow, my JD4100 pushed almost 24 inches out of my driveway with a runnng start and no chains on turf tires. That was downhill, but it if I would have had my current machine, that would have been a lot easier.
Nuru said:I have a boom mounted Frontier 72" and it can get tough to handle sometimes, especially on uneven surfaces goig up a driveway - probably due tyo my inexperience with using a boom mounted blade on the emd of my loader arms - seems to be way out there. But I put on a rubber blade this season and that helps me not scuff up my asphalt driveway. Anyone got any tips onperfecting the use of the long as **** boom mounted on loasder forks Frontier blade?
I usually let the blade down with the float and then pick it up a bit just short of it coming off the ground. It will then work fine if the surface is too uneven. If it is uneven you have to pick it up when it digs in and let it down when it comes off the ground. I got better with practice. If the ground is frozen or it's pavement the skids can help if you lower them below the blade edge and you keep the blade tilt so they are about flat or a little up in the front. I'm also interested in the rubber blade. Did you get that from JD?
DavidVT
Gold Member
NorthernMainer,
I have a similiar setup on my Kubota3430. I see some good ideas on your and have a question.
First, I like how you rigged up the lift chain. I brought mine to the QA plate top edge and that seems to cause too much stress. I have broken two chains. I think I will change to your idea!
Second, I think I will seek out some front chains. Great idea and probably easier to install than the rears. I don't like to run chains at all but this winter I am in trouble having allowed my rear chains to be buried under the snowpack...
My question, when your plow is being lowered and you stop before hitting the ground, what kind of forces are you seeing on the FEL? In my case you can feel the tractor trying to lift the rear wheels off the ground.
I was trying to come up with a way to soften the stress being transmitted to the FEL when the plow is 'bouncing' way out in front of the tractor. I considered some kind of automotive coil spring on the lift chain. Any thoughts on this?
I have a similiar setup on my Kubota3430. I see some good ideas on your and have a question.
First, I like how you rigged up the lift chain. I brought mine to the QA plate top edge and that seems to cause too much stress. I have broken two chains. I think I will change to your idea!
Second, I think I will seek out some front chains. Great idea and probably easier to install than the rears. I don't like to run chains at all but this winter I am in trouble having allowed my rear chains to be buried under the snowpack...
My question, when your plow is being lowered and you stop before hitting the ground, what kind of forces are you seeing on the FEL? In my case you can feel the tractor trying to lift the rear wheels off the ground.
I was trying to come up with a way to soften the stress being transmitted to the FEL when the plow is 'bouncing' way out in front of the tractor. I considered some kind of automotive coil spring on the lift chain. Any thoughts on this?
tuolumne
Gold Member
These chains turned my 3520 from a helpless cripple to unstoppable on our rather steep driveway. Without chains there were days I couldn't get up it with the tractor, but did it no problem with my ancient Ford Explorer. I have the larger version of the R4s, so clearance is really tight and I need to use a few zip ties to keep the loose ends close to the tires. NorthMainer...rim guard in my tires is a bit over 700 lbs each; yours can't be that much less with standard R4's??
NorthernMainer
New member
Ok I will try to answer these. First as far as chain length is consirned ours is set like this: first to hook up into our adaptors you need to pull into the plow and hook up and then set the curl arms to the correct postion that is determined by placing a level onto the A frame of the plow. Then unhook them from the distibution Hydro block and plug in the two hoses that are going to run the cylinders on the plow to angle it. That determines the correct angle so that you are pushing SQUARELY onto the master front pin with the correct altitude. That is now locked, and wont change. Then make your chain length so that with the plow just resting on the ground you have aleast a couple of links of slack so the plow will follow the contour of the ground. Thats it ............. you have now set up exactly the same as it is on the front of a pickup. To return to the same postion every time we place an indicator on the left side of the brush guard pointing towards the Large anodized nut on the loader arms and when they are level you are back to the exact same position ; plow resting with about 2 links of slack.
As far as the weight in the R4s I am probably wrong but thought it was in the 300 lb range per tire so I may have quoted that wrong. And as far as buffering out the effect of dropping the plow swiftly from a great height and then catching it on the joystick. Mine does the same thing to a lesser extent because of my counterbalanced weight but it will certainly still lighten up in the back. That isnt really much of a consirn in real life as 98% of the time the plow is only lifted up and down a few feet unless you are pushing it way up into the air and then you just SLOWLY lower it .
Have you guys gone onto YOUTUBE and typed in "John Deere with Fisher Plow" and watched the little movie of the plow in about 2 ft of snow from a few days ago???? It pretty much tells the whole story. And again I hope this isnt offending anyone, as we are NOT trying to Brag, boast, or even BS about any of this and really only trying to help..................
As far as the weight in the R4s I am probably wrong but thought it was in the 300 lb range per tire so I may have quoted that wrong. And as far as buffering out the effect of dropping the plow swiftly from a great height and then catching it on the joystick. Mine does the same thing to a lesser extent because of my counterbalanced weight but it will certainly still lighten up in the back. That isnt really much of a consirn in real life as 98% of the time the plow is only lifted up and down a few feet unless you are pushing it way up into the air and then you just SLOWLY lower it .
Have you guys gone onto YOUTUBE and typed in "John Deere with Fisher Plow" and watched the little movie of the plow in about 2 ft of snow from a few days ago???? It pretty much tells the whole story. And again I hope this isnt offending anyone, as we are NOT trying to Brag, boast, or even BS about any of this and really only trying to help..................
DavidVT
Gold Member
Thank you for the feedback, you are very helpful indeed!
My setup is home made and I've kind of backed away from it due to the stress it seems to be placing on the tractor both the bounce and twisting.
However, with your success, I will dig it back out and try again.
While I added a third spool for the plow swing, I like your idea of locking the curl. I am not sure the kubota will do the same thing but I think it is well worth trying.
My properly has quite a bit of curls to the driveways.
I have some concern about how much twisting stress the big plow puts on the arms of the loader when traversing some angled sections of the roadway. One side will be in contact with the ground and other hanging in mid air... Do you have any thoughts about this swivel stress?
I considered adding some kind of limited swivel to the front of the quick attach plate that I use for my plow frame. Something simple like a big center bolt holding two plates together and a couple zerks on the back so I can load some 5th wheel grease once a year.
I love your set up and agree the fisher plow is the way to go!! And I love to lift the FEL and push that big plow high into the snow pile.. Can't do that with a pickup truck...
By the way, I have a spare 8' snowboard which I found in a dumpster. I plan to put it directly on a QA plate for straight plowing with the plow against the QA plate but the trip edge just below so it can still function.
My setup is home made and I've kind of backed away from it due to the stress it seems to be placing on the tractor both the bounce and twisting.
However, with your success, I will dig it back out and try again.
While I added a third spool for the plow swing, I like your idea of locking the curl. I am not sure the kubota will do the same thing but I think it is well worth trying.
My properly has quite a bit of curls to the driveways.
I have some concern about how much twisting stress the big plow puts on the arms of the loader when traversing some angled sections of the roadway. One side will be in contact with the ground and other hanging in mid air... Do you have any thoughts about this swivel stress?
I considered adding some kind of limited swivel to the front of the quick attach plate that I use for my plow frame. Something simple like a big center bolt holding two plates together and a couple zerks on the back so I can load some 5th wheel grease once a year.
I love your set up and agree the fisher plow is the way to go!! And I love to lift the FEL and push that big plow high into the snow pile.. Can't do that with a pickup truck...
By the way, I have a spare 8' snowboard which I found in a dumpster. I plan to put it directly on a QA plate for straight plowing with the plow against the QA plate but the trip edge just below so it can still function.
NorthernMainer
New member
I have not investigated the physics involved with the stress you are concerned about. I will say this about that because of the nature of our set up where you are using the weight of the plow to hold it down and have gone compleatly away from the theory of trying to apply any down preasures at all then the chain is your saving force as of course there is some tolerance in the blade moving up and down on each end because of the slop between the aframe and rear attach. However with that said you are of course right in that a 90" plow could bear outradious stress if you caught it into a bank going 10 mph. To be honest I have done some pretty darn tough stuff with mine to prove to our local JD Dealer it was the "hot set up" and he wanted to see what it did against a frozen bank that wouldnt move [even with a 966 Cat against it] and we walked the little 3203 right down the line right off sideways and then measured everything up to see if the loader arms were tweaking at all and we were ok ???? You can bend anything of course ; and if the end of those arms could move [any] I am sure things would move. We tryed to engineer the adaptors so that couldnt happen. Good luck with your project and I hope it all works out for you.
Happy Tractoring
Earle
Happy Tractoring
Earle
