How useful is a snow blade - front or back?

[yelbike]

:2cents:My two cents. I have 50" and 60" blowers for big snow falls(none this year). I use a 84" Back blade and loader for smaller (6" or less) because I find it so much quicker. I would not put the blade on the front for the same reason I did not go with a front mount blower. The FEL is way too useful of a tool to leave it in the shed.:thumbsup:.IMO

Have patience when it comes to finding a used blade. I'm from the winnipeg area so I know your over woes about candian pricing(My new toy a Z465 is coming from Arkansa). I found a heavy duty but old John deere 84" back blade for $200 and on another deal was a KK scoop with a 84" kk back blade packaged for $260.

Deals come up, check auctions, kijiji, usededmonton.com. The hunt can be almost as enjoyable as using or making a new implement.:laughing:

One thing nobody mentioned was the use of a box blade for snow removal. It works good if the snow is light enough and the drive is short enough. The advantage is your not leaving windrows on each side of your driveway. You'll pay for doing that around here the next time it snows or blows.:ashamed:

 

[JackDWaller]

Thanks for the latest 2 cents worth - it is way more valuable than that. I am in the process of constructing a rear blade. That choice allowed me to justify a Hypertherm Powermax 45 plasma cutter to my wife :laughing: - wow - is all I can say about that.

JoeL4330 sent me a picture of his Landpride with all the bells and whistles and once I saw that, I was hard pressed to be satisfied with the most basic blade. That's probably a mistake on my part but it's in my nature.

So here's what I'm doing. I'm kind of following the Landpride format with the option of adding hydraulics later. I have fastened two 7 foot x 3/4" thick blades (cut back to 6'-3" for my JD 2320, about 14" tall) together using 5/8" thick 23" diameter pipe cut appropriately as backing. Welded into this backing is a rectangular channel that allows the main rectangular vertical support tube to pivot, thus providing about 8 degrees of tilt either way. The blade can be inverted top to bottom to give me the choice of a very sharp edge or the flat worn edge. I have rightly or wrongly assumed that I can benefit from floating tilt with skids at either end of the blade and a guage wheel in the middle. It's too late to turn back on the tilt so we'll see (of course I can always just lock it at level - 0 degrees). All this is going to be over build and heavy but I have been assured that heavy is good.

I also am constructing the main member that goes from the iMatch out to the blade so it can swing to offset the blade. To do this I will be creating taller pivot points for rigidity. The blade itself will also angle via a pivot point. The square tubing I am using is 3x3x1/4 beefed up when necessary.

After typing here for a few minutes I think it makes more sense to include the pic of Joe's Landpride because it, in scaled down form is my guide. And my daughter has just taken 3 pics of this grungy looking project (my camera is fried). Two are of the blade proper and one is the piece that attaches to my iMatch 3-point.

I am not a mechanical engineer, machinist of mechanic so can't claim what I am doing is particularly great but those of you that build things will appreciate that there is a small sense of pride involved (very humble pride of course ) Caviat: 90+ % scrap material, including 23" D. heavy pipe pulled from my fire pit after 25 years of burning, grader blades found in county ditch etc.

Jack

 

[yelbike]

Thats Not over built. Its built to spec for land mine removal for use in Iraq!!!

 

[SensibleNick]

The advantage is your not leaving windrows on each side of your driveway. You'll pay for doing that around here the next time it snows or blows.:ashamed:

Looks like you're going to make yourself a fine tool there And congrats on the plasma-cutter: one has been on my "work out how to justify it" list for a long time

I now own a snowblower because I was unable to follow the excellent advice I have quoted. Our driveway offers little choice when it comes to leaving windrows, and the results are inevitable.

Before: (I was REALLY happy with this job- I thought I'd done a fine bit of work)

The same driveway (looking the other way) a few days later.

Moral of the story... Get that snow as far away from your driveway as possible!!

 

[JackDWaller]

All I can say is wow!!! I think I'd be praying to go to heaven real quick, where presumably there is no snow. Is that Sweden? Of course, I had some idea what wind can do with fresh snow but here in Alberta where I am, that sort of scenario is uncommon. I certainly admire anyone with the initiative to tackle that. Wonder what folks in Arizona think of snow blade talk?! Ah, but we have winter sports

So my blade is overbuilt - guess I'll need a new tractor :tractor: to accomodate it - have to try that on my wife. Then I'll need to create a long and winding driveway to justify it all.

Jack

 

[SensibleNick]

Yup... it's the south of Sweden - not usually that snowy, but last year we had a winter that had snow on the ground for a solid 4 months and temperatures that hit -25C (around -15F)

It's all the wind. Look closely in a couple of photos and you can see nearly bare grass in the field to the right.

Like in this one:

Have a look at all the photos if you fancy https://picasaweb.google.com/sensiblenick/Winter20102011# (including my backblade with wheels to ensure I don't mess up the potentially soft driveway, and a nice wing on it: makes pretty edges.

 

[JackDWaller]

Nick, I looked at the blade with the dual gauge wheels. They are not set up as "casters" but look like they do the trick nicely. I imagine you can't back up while they are down but that probably doesn't matter since you can raise the blade. I am just in the process of mounting the two skids on the outer ends of my blade and now I'm wondering if wheels wouldn't be better. For dirt or gravel they would be for sure. I had originally thought of one wheel in the center only. Do you use the wheels in snow?

Any comments??

Jack

 

[SensibleNick]

This backblade was the cheapest I could get. It is actually designed with Cat2 3-points in mind, and the points are a little too far apart and high for my little tractor. Next time I have nothing to do (ha!) I might hack the frame about a little. On top of that, the fixing of the wheels is really sloppy. I hate it.

(My) Rear wheels are great once you have them set up correctly but I have half a plan to make them hydraulicly retractable: It's hard to lift it and the wheels high enough to stop the wheels dragging. and changing the hydraulic toplink to help lift high enough messes with the perfect setting I'd just managed to attain.
I do use the wheels in the snow just to get things started and attain a nice smooth hard snowy surface, and then I take them off.

I can't reverse (blade down) with my wheels because - as you point out, they only swing though 180 degrees. (might have to fix that when I get all hydraulic on it )

If I were in the situation you are in, I'd be playing with one castoring wheel.
I think the system you're taking inspiration from is by far the nicest way of going. the notated picture had me drooling and wishing for more remotes... you're starting with a clean slate, so why not make the best tool you can?

Worth noting though: I would not be able to do this (see below) if I were using skid-plates/shoes. I like to rough the stuff up, smooth it out, and let the rain pack it down. Skid-shoes would leave big ruts.

 

[JackDWaller]

Nick, Thanks for that - it seems "sensible" and it gives me more confidence going forward. Due to health issues, my progress is slow but determined. Because I don't want to have to revisit this in the future I'd like to get it right the first time.

Yes, isn't Joe's blade a dandy!!

My problem is obviously that in spite of having some "common sense", I've never done anything using a 3-point hitch with dirt or snow. Since posting the pics you viewed, I have completed two mounting plates that can be utilized to place either skids or wheels, and based on your comments, I will mount the skids I bought, but plan on removing them and placing wheels in the summer. I will drill and tap holes in the plates for the appropriate bolt-on mechanism. Perhaps the pair of wheels could be smaller ones with a larger caster in the center that is potentially hydraulic for adjustment on the go. On the other hand maybe three is ridiculous??

Any other readers have a sense of where this should go?

Jack

 

[cttractor]

Have a look at all the photos if you fancy.../QUOTE]

Enjoyed your photos -- thanks for sharing!

I'm always amused at my surprise to find that your surroundings look no different than our surroundings here in the states. I half expected to see the Aurora Borealis hanging in your background sky while you were plowing snow at night.

Also, kudos on the chain sets you made. We often compliment the builders on this site for the nifty attachments they build that look as if they're commercially made. Your chain design looks even better than the chain sets I see around here.