Grading Front blade on 4300

[Bob_Trevithick]

I have the 66" front blade, which I love except for one tiny detail. Locking out the spring trip mechanism, for use in pushing serious dirt, is a nuisance. There are two large (1 1/8") bolts with lock washers and nuts that have to be moved from a storage position to the position in which they lock the blade. When I put the blade back in spring trip position in prep for snow pushing, the bolts were very difficult to get out.. no matter how much jiggling I did of the blade. By the time I got them out, some of the threads were damaged, and I was sweating.

I'm wondering if some kind of lock pins could be used instead? They would have to be pretty heavy duty, I suppose, but it would have to be a nicer system than this bolt and nut arrangement.

Anyone familiar with these blades? Know of any reason my idea wouldn't work? Know where I can find heavy-duty pins of some kind?

Thanks,
Bob

Bob Trevithick

 

[ronjhall]

Bob
I had a Myers blade on my old 340 <font color=red>Farmal</font color=red>. I stopped the trip problems by adding a third spring. There are numerous places to purchase these springs on the Net.

 

[Bob_Trevithick]

But I really want an easy spring trip.. driving along plowing snow and hit something, I want it to trip easily. OTOH, pushing dirt, I don't want it to trip at all. The bolts worked great, but they're a royal PITA. I just want something I can slip in and out without breaking a major sweat doing it. Know what I mean?

I hope I can find something that replaces the bolts, but works as well.

Make sense?

Bob

Bob Trevithick

 

[HalseyGreen]

I made a front blade for a 4 wheeler I had, had trip springs and all, to push dirt, I ran chain up through the springs and hooked it on the same hooks as the springs for moving dirt, still had a little play, but worked good and was easy to remove. Look at your setup and see if a little chain would restict your blade from tripping.

 

[Bob_Trevithick]

I'll have to look at it some more and see.. the chain is an interesting idea.

Maybe I can find the clevis pins from heavy transport chain, and use those instead of my bolts. Lots of possibilities, I'll just have to experiment a bit I guess.

Thanks,
Bob

Bob Trevithick

 

[pfoxy]

Not familiar with the design on your blade, but the 375 blade I had on my 750 came with the sort of pins used to attach 3-point implements. Worked fine for me, and I used that blade a BUNCH.

 

[Bob_Trevithick]

<font color=blue>...the 375 blade I had on my 750 came with the sort of pins used to attach 3-point implements. Worked fine for me, and I used that blade a BUNCH. </font color=blue>

Thanks, Paul. That sounds hopeful.

It's hard to explain the design, but essentially when the blade trips forward, there are a couple pieces of metal that are allowed to slide against one another. When the bolts are in place, they connect these two pieces together. There is probably considerable shear force, which may be why they used bolts. The bolts allow the two pieces of metal to be forced together to help resist the shear. I worry that if one pin shears and the other doesn't, there might be a problem. Then again, this blade is built like a tank, so probably it would be fine.

Thanks again,
Bob

Bob Trevithick