plowing snow with the PT1460

[American Bulldog]

I hadn't used the snow plow for my PT yet. I had meant to bolt some pipe to the bottom of my blade, so as to plow the gravel driveway easier, but I never got around to it. So anyways I tried it out with just the rubber blade installed. I must say that I was very impressed with how well this tractor plows. Depending on how hard I wanted to dig, I could either use the float on the arms or the draft control. I could also leave it up a little if necessary. I was able to plow very fast, and at the same time do a great job. Beside the bucket, the plow is my favorite attachment.

All I need now is to get some tire chains, and this thing will go anywhere, and plow anything.

 

[Clumber]

Are you using the casters to control the height? I am assuming not. We have not had serious snow since I bought the PT and the snow blade. So I have not used it on snow. I like the idea of the 1" pipe.

I did try moving the spacers on the casters up and down -- seems to achieve too much height or too little when floating on the caster wheels. Not sure wjat you mean by use the float on the arms or the draft control?

 

[American Bulldog]

Are you using the casters to control the height? I am assuming not. We have not had serious snow since I bought the PT and the snow blade. So I have not used it on snow. I like the idea of the 1" pipe.

I did try moving the spacers on the casters up and down -- seems to achieve too much height or too little when floating on the caster wheels. Not sure wjat you mean by use the float on the arms or the draft control?

No, I do not have casters, and I did not use any pipe or anything. The rubber lip is much more forgiving than a metal blade, and the gravel is frozen in place to the point that the rubber lip does not lift it much. It is quite a bit colder here than it is in Maryland. Tonight it is supposed to drop to -5 or so.

When I push the loader control all the way forward, it relieves pressure on the arms, and lets them float along the ground. Sometimes the weight of the blade is too heavy, and starts digging in too much. In that case I do not put the loader in float, but rather use the draft control switch on my dash. Not sure if the PT425 has this. This is a really nice feature, because it applies an adjustable pressure on the arms to lighten the weight of the blade. My the nature of mechanics, the weight is then transferred to the front tires. The draft control greatly enhances traction when pushing a large pile of snow. If I cannot get it done with the draft control, I then turn it off and run with the plow an inch or two off the ground. This transfers all the weight of the plow to the front tires, and give maximum traction.

Again, I was truly amazed at how well the plow works with that rubber lip. I have bashed PT when attachments do not meet my expectations, so it is only fair to give kudos when it is due.

I will try to take some pictures tomorrow.

 

[Gravy]

Sadly, the 425 does not come with draft control.

 

[American Bulldog]

Sadly, the 425 does not come with draft control.

Yeah I looked it up, and draft control does not start until you get to the 1430. It is truly a must when mowing on any sort of hill.

 

[Gravy]

Draft control is one of those things that I'd love to have on the machine. However, it would add to the cost of the machine, in which case I might not be able to afford the machine...

 

[Clumber]

I bought the casters and the cutter bar because my road needs grading this spring. I did not get the rubber tip bar because I thought it was useful only on concrete or asphalt. Thanks for the posts. I may now try the rubber bar over the pipe idea.

The draft control is a neat feature.

 

[Gravy]

The rubber edge does wear faster than I'd like. The first 5 winters didn't get much snow here. Last winter and the beginning of this one have worn it down from about 70% to nearly zero. That doesn't really add up to a whole lot of miles of plowing. I need to come up with something cheaper and/or more durable.

There's a freeway just a few miles away. Anybody know how to drill holes in an old truck tire tread?

 

[toy]

The rubber edge does wear faster than I'd like. The first 5 winters didn't get much snow here. Last winter and the beginning of this one have worn it down from about 70% to nearly zero. That doesn't really add up to a whole lot of miles of plowing. I need to come up with something cheaper and/or more durable.

There's a freeway just a few miles away. Anybody know how to drill holes in an old truck tire tread?

Get a hole punch [not a paper hole punch] and a hammer and a block of wood. Mark out where you want your holes and punch the hole.

 

[Marks481]

I also didn't get the rubber lip, since I figured it was less useful on gravel.

Also, $150 was outrageous for something that I could cobble together myself for less then $50.

I am getting a rubber blade from here ($53 with shipping gets me 10 feet of 3/4" by 4" blade, enough for two snow plows):
http://www.rubbercal.com/Rubber_Snowplow_Blades_725psi.html

Add a 2.5" x 1/4" plate as a bolting plate to fix it on the snowplow ($17). 7/16" fastners will run me about $10.

I will have to find how my drill press likes punching through rubber with a hole saw.