Front mounted V-Plow and Dual Rear Snowblowers

[MossRoad]

Give the airport in South Bend, Indiana a call and talk to them. They have a very impressive array of snow removal equipment and could probably help you with suggestions. This airport has an impressive history of keeping the main runway open even when the weather is so bad that planes can't take off or land.

 

[drmiller100]

what an interesting project. a few thoughts. First, as I read it, the plow is only 11 feet wide. For the size of that tractor, 11 feet is NOT very big. On the other hand, your basic backhoe isn't going ot push it either.
Towing with a trailer. There is a reason that they don't put trailer hitches on articulating tractors. When you turn the steering wheel with the tractor not moving, weird things happen with the rear of the tractor. It is kind of weird to get used to.
Years ago I ran a vermeer twin rake. Basically, it had a boom, and was similar to your idea of two trailers. It was IMPOSSIBLE to back up. I don't know if you would ever need to back up.
How about get rid of the plow? Bear with me.
Lose the plow, keep the brooms. Turn the brooms so they sweep snow away from the center, and off to the side. Then mount two blowers side by side in front of the tractor.
So, from the front, is a triangle. The brooms in front, then two self powered blowers mounted side by side, all mounted off the front of the tractor.
Because you are always doing runways, you can probably make the "rule" that you always blow to the "right". Then you can get your blowers mounted such that the snow goes out the sides of the blower below your line of sight.
Does this make sense?

 

[eltufto]

Sorry about the lack of posts, but other, more pertinent, projects came up that took me away from this one. But I'm at the point now of having my design finalized, and will be making a presentation soon to see if we want to move forward with the idea. At this point, I don't have a design you could build the machine with, just an idea fully thought out.

Drmiller, answers to a couple of your ideas. I don't believe the issues with the trailer will come up, because of the way I have it mounted to the loader. Essentially the trailer is just an extension of the loader. I decided to take off the couterweights on the back, and attach a custom mount in their place (I estimate the load from the trailer will be approx. equal to the counter weights). This way the trailer follows rigidly behind the loader, with two large castor wheels supporting the rear of it and making turning easier.

The sweeper idea would make things a heck of a lot easier, but the problem is that the snow can really build up around the lights, and become almost as solid as concrete. Because of this, you really need a plow to push the snow away. The brushes inside the plow are there mainly to clean any snow left clinging onto the light, they aren't that effective at removing large amounts of snow.

And for those wondering, here are some computer images I've created of my final idea. Guess we'll see what happens from here.

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MikePA: Changed inline images to links. Not only were they inline images, they were inline images to a secure (https) site which caused an IE security message to pop up whenever any one viewed the thread. Another (new) reason not to use inline images.

 

[eltufto]

Yeah, so the site my pics are on got messed up... I'll try to get them back up soon

 

[Junkman]

why not post your pictures to this site so they will be here for years to come???

 

[MikePA]

As I noted, I changed your inline images to links. When people try and view them, they are still going to get a security certificate message.

As Junkman suggested, you might want to attach them to a message(s) here.

Also, in consideration to TBNers who use modems, inline images are discouraged since it 'forces' them to download them, whereas an attachment gives them a choice.

 

[ducksjunk]

In a world with a million suggestions, here's a couple of thoughts. What about reoving the plow wings similar to another suggestion, and replace them with 8' snowblowers just ahead of the brush. They could be side shifted to open for the lights. Another thought from someone who has done battle with winter snow for 50 years. cutting down on equipment and manpower is an excellent idea on paper, but keep in mind that snow removal is one of the hardest things on equipment. relying on one custom built unit will leave you in the position of having nothing to fall back on when it is down for repairs. Only happens when there's a **** of a storm coming in. Could create some unhappy managers!!!