Front snowplow bracket help

Anonymous Poster · Dec 5, 2002

Hazmat, you might be able to shave some off the collapsed length of the cylinders by redrilling the pin holes.
Most plow cylinders have a couple inches of excess length in both ends.
Of course, you could also rotate the quadrant 90 degrees, and add some length to the A frame arms too.

gbirky · Dec 10, 2002

hazmat,
I noticed that you have two cylinders for angle. Only one is required if you have "double action". I doesn't take much force to angle the blade. That should decrease your cost for angle power by 50%.

Greg

hazmat · Dec 10, 2002

<font color=blue>That should decrease your cost for angle power by 50%.</font color=blue>

You'd think so, But the double acting cylinders I've priced so far are more than 2X a similar size single acting. I've requested a catalog from Surplus Center, maybe they are cheaper than Northerntool, agri-supply or Bailynet.

beenthere · Dec 10, 2002

Seems like all snow plows have two cylinders for angling the blade. Do you have one that has only one double acting cylinder? I would guess that for as many years snow plows have been around, that the best way is two cylinders. I paid Western about $70 each for the 3 of mine, and I expect they can be picked up somewhere for 10 - 15% less than that.

There is a pretty good load on the cylinders, which is probably why the cyl. rods are 2". When pushing snow with the forward edge of the angled blade, there can be a lot of pressure against that angling cylinder extended on that side. Again, I expect that the design is pretty well tested out over time. Then again, there are improvements made in their design all the time.

I like the 6-ways, with scoop, v-plow, right and left angle, and even the ones that roll forward about 180 degrees to catch snow and drag it back, like from in front of a garage door. Will just dream and wish for some snow so I can have a good excuse to put my plow on and plow some snow.

hazmat · Dec 10, 2002

I think some factory tractor blades (deere, new holland etc.) have a double acting cylinder. I'm pretty sure that the 54" Deere blade for garden tractors is setup that way.

Never seen it on a truck plow.

htiek126 · Dec 10, 2002

With the double acting, the push is stronger than the pull (based on the surface area within the cylinder and minus the area of the cylinder rod on the pull stroke). So you just need to take that into account by increasing the diameter of the cylinder and/or getting a longer stroke cylinder and attaching it further from the center (moment arm).

Anonymous Poster · Dec 10, 2002

Regardless of single or double acting, DON'T forget the pop valve, or you'll be busting hoses and cylinders.

hazmat · Jan 7, 2003

I've got some progress to report:

I ordered up the steel & will pick it up this afternoon. My buddy with the welder is back in town. Hopefully, I can get the pieces cut to length & ready to go, so we can weld it up next week.

The wife is going to get me the hydraulic cylinders for my birthday/w3tcompact/icons/love.gif

The plow doesn't have a spring trip, but I'm going to get a strip of rubber for the cutting edge, hopefully that will lessen the impacts a bit. If not, maybe the next "revision" will be to add the spring trip.

gbirky · Jan 8, 2003

I've been out of the loop for a while, and just saw the post on double acting cylinder costs being more than 2x singles. That's really strange. Guys I have talked to say that you can make a double out of a single just by drilling, tapping, and putting a fitting on the non-powered end.

As for the comment on forces on these cylinders - I understand that they are great while plowing, but if you angle while the blade is up and not plowing, the force is very small. That of course only means that you don't need much hydraulic pressure to move the blade. You still have that large force while plowing.

hazmat · Jan 8, 2003

<font color=blue>I've been out of the loop for a while, and just saw the post on double acting cylinder costs being more than 2x singles. That's really strange. Guys I have talked to say that you can make a double out of a single just by drilling, tapping, and putting a fitting on the non-powered end.</font color=blue>

Well I must have been having an extended brain fart when I was reading the catalog. Looking at it again right now, I found that I was comparing two different double acting cylinders. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gifI'm getting ready to place my order today, might require some more figuring on my part.