Plow attachment

lstinthot · Sep 17, 2014

Any suggestions for fabricating a mount for a snow plow. I am planning on attaching truck plow to a John Deere 790. I'm thinking about welding a cross bar with two tabs sticking out to the front of the tractor and using the bucket hydraulics to raise and lower the plow via chain to bucket. I will run two hoses to the plow hydraulics for the left and right movement of the blade using the curl and dump function of the front bucket.

Any concerns with the hydraulic lines? Do I need a relief valve somewhere or just unplug hoses and attach new ones to plow? Should I block the plow from dumping?

I have looked at some of the plow attachments for trucks and the metal for the tabs does not seem to thick. I was thinking of doubling up some 3/8" steel and drilling holes to accept the pins on the plow.

Thanks,
Mike

RedNeckRacin · Sep 18, 2014

DO a search. There are tons of plow builds.

lstinthot · Jan 7, 2015

Completed a plow attachment. Tested with plow brace and it works pretty good. True test will be when I put a load on it and test the welds strength.

lstinthot · Jan 7, 2015

I used carriage bolts to hold it on. The cross bar is solid against the tractor frame. The hydraulic hoses will be hooked up to the dump and curl of the front bucket.

skyhook · Jan 8, 2015

Nice,:thumbsup: You may want to re-enforce that bar that the chain will be hooked to,
wouldn't want to see that bend for some reason. Just a thought.

SHORT KID · Jan 8, 2015

It is hard to tell, but is your A frame going to be fairly level with the plow on and on the ground? It is the recommended way. Great looking fab work by the way. I had a 770 with an adapter to the loader arms and a Meyers plow, worked great for years. When I bought the Mahindra I changed the adapter to it and it is still going strong. I have been using this setup for 15 years now. Looks good, good luck with it.

lstinthot · Jan 10, 2015

Do not plan on using that bar. Just a quick clamp to test for binding. Most likely going to run chains to the loader arms.

skyhook said:
Nice,:thumbsup: You may want to re-enforce that bar that the chain will be hooked to,
wouldn't want to see that bend for some reason. Just a thought.

lstinthot · Jan 10, 2015

SHORT KID said:
It is hard to tell, but is your A frame going to be fairly level with the plow on and on the ground? It is the recommended way. Great looking fab work by the way. I had a 770 with an adapter to the loader arms and a Meyers plow, worked great for years. When I bought the Mahindra I changed the adapter to it and it is still going strong. I have been using this setup for 15 years now. Looks good, good luck with it.

I believe it's level or pretty close. Plow is at another house right now. They will meet tomorrow. I will consider mods if it's to far off.

We did fit up with clay molds and wooden patterns over there and welding at my place.

lstinthot · Jan 11, 2015

Just have to get some D rings to move the chains to the outside. We pushed some leaves and dirt. It works great.

I did take a video but it's to big to post I guess.

Now bring on the snow!!

PILOON · Jan 11, 2015

Very similar to how I rigged a plow to my Mitsubishi some 8-10 years ago.
Parallel to the ground and FEL for lift.
Most truck rigs use only one chain except for big highway rigs. (they use a V cable from each side of plow and lift from the center using a pulley for central lift)
I am sure you are safe to use the center of your FEL cross tube for lift (as your pix shows) as in fact there is no strain other than the weight of the plow.
Actually 2 lift points would be counterproductive as you want that plow blade to follow contours of the ground otherwise you'd find corners might dig in.
Big rigs actually use a swivel plate so that the blade contours no matter which way the truck might lean.(also why the V cable lift)

On small rigs they rely on slop in the lift pin holes. (like 3/4" pins in 1" holes)

Nice build!.

lstinthot · Jan 11, 2015

Thanks for the info. We will keep that in mind and find some way to secure it better to the center of the cross support if we end up needing it to float side to side more. Might have to weld a hook on to it. Right now it is run to the outside holes. This will be used mostly on gravel so it will have to be off the ground most of the time unless the rocks are frozen good. It will be a learning curve.

PILOON said:
Very similar to how I rigged a plow to my Mitsubishi some 8-10 years ago.
Parallel to the ground and FEL for lift.
Most truck rigs use only one chain except for big highway rigs. (they use a V cable from each side of plow and lift from the center using a pulley for central lift)
I am sure you are safe to use the center of your FEL cross tube for lift (as your pix shows) as in fact there is no strain other than the weight of the plow.
Actually 2 lift points would be counterproductive as you want that plow blade to follow contours of the ground otherwise you'd find corners might dig in.
Big rigs actually use a swivel plate so that the blade contours no matter which way the truck might lean.(also why the V cable lift)

On small rigs they rely on slop in the lift pin holes. (like 3/4" pins in 1" holes)

Nice build!.

lstinthot · Jan 15, 2015

Hydraulic hoses arrived and we were greeted with failure. The hoses were connected to the quick disconnects where you would disconnect the front bucket with 90 degree fittings on the plow. Started up the tractor and the blade moved some, then all hydraulics stopped.

Could this be air bound? Wouldn't it be able to work out a little air left in the cylinders. Lines were not vented before trying to move left and right.

Reconnected lines to loader and nothing is working now. Is there a bleed valve somewhere on the 790?

Thanks in advance

PILOON · Jan 16, 2015

Your new hoses were empty so the pumps first job was to fill the hoses which they did partially and then ran out of fluid.
Top up the hydraulic reservoir and you should be good.

At least that's one theory.
Generally purging, priming is not required as the pump simply circulates the oil and only oil gets pumped.

lstinthot · Jan 16, 2015

PILOON said:
Your new hoses were empty so the pumps first job was to fill the hoses which they did partially and then ran out of fluid.
Top up the hydraulic reservoir and you should be good.

At least that's one theory.
Generally purging, priming is not required as the pump simply circulates the oil and only oil gets pumped.

Well it turns out the hoses were not hooked up right. Works great. Now on to the next project.