Loader Mounted Blade Build

wvpolekat · Feb 21, 2011

DISCLAIMER: I fully realize that this does not have any trip mechanism and could result in any number of broken/bent items on my tractor and personal injury to myself including cancer of the eyelashes. I accept this risk because I know how this will be used and under what conditions. To me, the owner of said tractor and attachments, this is an acceptable, calculated risk. Please do not turn my build thread into preaching about this. I am well aware of it.

Just wanted to share my latest project which is a loader mounted blade made from my rear blade. The blade will be also be able to be converted back to a rear blade. It's primary use will be snow removal. If I need to move dirt, I will mount it back on the rear of the tractor.

My design was inspired by zmansmac. You can see his blade here and here.

I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I will describe things as best I can. It really was a pretty simple build.

Parts list:

Kubota B7500 with LA302 FEL
County Line\TSC 6' rear scrape blade
6' piece of 3x5x.25 steel tubing ($70)
2.5" to 2.0" receiver hitch adapter sleeve.
4x 3/4" hitch pins from TSC
1x 5/8" Hitch pin from TSC

Approximate cost not including tractor or blade: $100

Tools Used:

Oxy/Propane Torch
Hobart MIG Welder
4" angle grinder with various cutoff, grinding and flap wheels.
Assorted hand tools. Hammer, Punch, etc.

The first step I took was to cut the main beam of the blade approximately 10" from the blade pivot. I wanted to keep this as short as possible because this will determine how far in front of the loader arms the blade will be.

After cutting the blade off, I turned to the loader mount. I first cut the 3x5 to be the same length as the distance between the outside of the bucket mounting brackets. I used the angle grinder for this to get a clean cut without grinding after using the torch.

Next up was the mounting brackets. These were modeled after the mounts on the back of the factory bucket. They were then cut from the remaining 3x5 steel tube. Lacking a 3/4" drill bit, the pin holes were cut using the torch in the skilled hands of my ex father in law who was helping me. They are not 100% clean, but the plan is to add 3/4" ID bushings like the factory brackets eventually.

Here is one before making the holes

After mounting the brackets on the loader arms and making sure the pins aligned properly and we had full range of motion, the beam was clamped in place and tacked. Range of motion was once again verified without binding, it was removed for final welding.

Here it is on the loader arms:

We had found that a 2.5" to 2" receiver hitch adapter sleeve fit perfectly inside the beam on the blade. This would also allow me to use any 2" receiver hitch pieces on the loader beam. One of these will also be used to rejoin the blade to it's 3ph frame. Added bonus is that it turns the 3ph frame into a 2" receiver hitch when the blade is not attached. It could be easily used as a starting point for any number of things.

Because of the short length of the sleeves we had available, we had to surface weld it to the beam. Ultimately, this proved to be a bad choice. During testing, it quickly broke off. I am getting a longer piece of 2.5x.25 square tubing and it will be run through the beam for much greater strength. Maybe it was a bad weld, but it was obviously the weak link. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the blade mounted before the weld broke.

Here is the broken weld, to me it looks like it had almost no penetration. I have had lots of things welded by him and never had a problem. Either way, it is what it is.:

Still to do:
Fix the broken weld with something stronger.
Add power angle. I have most of the parts for this, but it was just not a priority at this time.

Thanks for reading. Comments and suggestions welcome. UNLESS THEY ARE ABOUT THE LACK OF TRIP MECHANISM.

crashz · Feb 21, 2011

Its missing something that zman has. Wheels.

Wheels or skids would allow you to raise the blade so its just above ground level and would not dig into a gravel drive. I dug a huge ditch into my driveway with my truck plow last week while trying to move a pile of snow and ice. If the shoes/skids were on it would have done much less damage.

Wheels would allow you to float along without to much effort or drag either.

And while you don't want to hear anything about trip edges, wheels or skids might help you avoid needing them. If you were to angle your blade so that the cutting edge was leaning forward slightly (top of blade significantly forward of the bottom edge) and added wheels or skids to the back side for support and repeatable angle, you would ride over small obstacles. Larger ones like stumps would stop you dead though. But then again it would stop any blade dead.

I'm thinking three castor wheels, two on the blade and one behind the mounting beam, to be set level with the blade down. Make them removable and height adjustable. I would use solid core or foam filled tires for these. Air filled tires might flex to much and let the blade dig in.

The only sacrifice would be that you won't be able to scrape clean to the pavement surface.

wvpolekat · Feb 21, 2011

I am undecided about wheels right now. I don't plow gravel surfaces, only smooth asphalt and concrete. So, digging in is not much of a concern. But, the option is still there, will just have to see how it works. I really want to be able to scrape all the way down.

wvpolekat · Feb 24, 2011

Got the bits to fix it today. Going up Sat morning to hopefully finish it and get some pics of it all assembled.

Going to try to get the cylinder mounted too.

wvpolekat · Mar 5, 2011

New pictures.

I got it all assembled and working with power angle.

I had one slight problem. When I put the receiver tube through the cross beam, it was right around 1/8" out of plumb. This ends up being about 6" at the end of the blade. So, it does not sit flat on the ground. I have the parts to fix it and and give it rotational float as well to conform to the road better.

I am going to split the "stub" right where it comes out of the beam and insert a 2" round bar as a pivot with a pin to lock it level and some chains to limit it's rotation.

Now, for the pictures:
Here it is from the front, of the ground, you can clearly see that it is not level.

Here is where the stub goes into the beam from the rear blade. The new pivot will be in the black section to the right of the blade beam.

Here is where the angle cylinder mounts to the loader beam.

Here is where the angle cylinder mounts to the blade. It is a weak mount on purpose. The hope is that it will give way if something is struck.

I have a video showing complete range of motion that I will upload later.

LD1 · Mar 5, 2011

Hey, you do realize there is no trip on that blade and you could really screw things up.:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Seriously though, nice looking build. I am looking forward to some pictures of it in action:thumbsup:

But maybe next time, resize the picture a little smaller. I dont know if it is just me, but they took foreeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvveeeerrrrrrr to load. I am on the computer at work and while it isnt is fast as my RR at home, it is by no means sluggish and I still had to wait a good bit.

For pics on the internet, there is no reason to go much bigger than 600x800 which will give you ~ 100kb picture. No need to upload massive pics.

And if you did resize them and the internet just had a little hic-up here, I do apologize. But pictures usually load MUCH quicker than these did.

EDIT: I just checked and the pics are indeed 5MB + EACH. That is about 50x's larger than needed.

I dont meant to sound grouchy, and I do look forward to more pictures, but.....

If you dont know how to resize, just ask. There are a ton of us on here who do it all the time and can guide you through it. Downsizing makes browsing and reading much more enjoyable for everyone.

Iplayfarmer · Mar 5, 2011

X2 about the big pictures.

That's a very heafty looking blade set up. You've done good work. I'm jealous. I have a blade that I intend to mount to my loader (or in place of it) someday, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'm eager to see your rotational adjustment solution. Looking forward to more pictures.

LD1 · Mar 5, 2011

I did just take a closer look at some of the pictures.

I do see a potential problem.

It has to do with your cylinder mounting, or more precisely, how close it is to the center pivot of the blade.

I think it may give you problems when plowing with the blade angled and trying to windrow. Given the extreme leverage the blade has over the cylinder, if you dont use a PRV, you will be constantly blowing hoses. If you do use a PRV, you will have a hard time keeping the blade straight. And even though you designed the mount to be a weak link, I think the hoses will pop first.

There have been a few posts where this has been covered in detail. I'll try to find a link. But the math is simple and if you can take some measurments, that will help vs trying to guess.

But this will give you some Idea:

It appears your cylinder mount is about 4" away from the king pin of the blade. The edge of the 6' blade would be 36" from the king pin.

That is a 9:1 lever ratio.

Assuming here: 2.5" cylinder and 1.25" rod

It would only take 1600lbs of pushing force on the one edge of the blade and 1200 on the other to develop 3000PSI in the cylinder and hoses. Depending on which way it is angled. (collapsing the cylinder will take more force than trying to extend. Meaning a cylinder had more push force than pull).

Developing that kind of force isnt hard to do when pushing.

Especially if you catch a curb, get a good bite, catch the edge of sod, etc.

Since you already have it built, try it and see how it performs. But if I becomes an issue, I'd go to a longer cylinder that way you can move the pivot fathrer from the king-pin. And a larger diameter cylinder will help as well.

LD1 · Mar 5, 2011

This is the thread that has some good info

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/194136-making-my-blade-power-angle.html

In post #3 there is also another link to some more good info.

pat32rf · Mar 5, 2011

Judging by the background in the pictures I don't think that you will have enough snow to worry about a trip mechanism, but you do have a lot of leverage working against that 2" receiver...You might have to stop in a hurry (before running over the blade) if something lets go.