QA plate to mount my 7.5' plow on FEL

[scott_vt]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

Hi David,
I would think at some point when you get a chance, you would want to shorten up that plow frame to bring the plow closer to the tractor. My neighbor up the road from me has one of those green tractors with a nifty plow setup. U shaped hooks on top and alignment pins on the bottom. Very easy hookup, and all you have to do is get off the tractor and put two lynch pins on.
We got 2 inches saturday night and 7 more yesterday!

scotty

 

[DavidVT]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

I wanted to leave the snowboard pretty standard but am thinking about finding a way to move the mount pins below and slightly behind the plane of the QA plate. That would eliminate the risk of flipping the frame back at me and would bring the plow closer to the tractor a bit.

I'll have to see about measurements and risks of binding up with curl motions but this is all food for thought.

I will likely run it this winter as is and make improvements next summer if need be. I have less than $150 in the whole thing at this point.

More snow coming. My poor tamaracks are still covered with needles and are straining under the heavy snow..

 

[Deerlope]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

Holy cow, what a clever idea. How did you ever come up with that? I like it, nice lookin work.

 

[PILOON]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

"I can see one big safety issue I need to resolve "

A suggestion that might save the day (or that big headache).

An audio warning system could easily be fashioned by wireing a horn, beeper or even a flashing light in series with a mercury 'tilt switch' such as is used for submerged sump pumps.
The pump switch is relatively inexpensive and weatherproof to boot.
Installation would be a simple matter of clamping so as to have it make contact when you want to be warned of the 'safe travel limit'

The wireing setup is a simple 'series wiring job'

I understand your concern as I have a similarily rigged 'plow/loader' installation on my MT180D, which is quite 'tippy' being fairly narrow.
I don't like to rely on the 'pucker meter' more than necessary.

All too often we hang on to a valve because we concentrate on some obstacle (like the wife's new car while we attempt to manouver too close for comfort).

Good luck!

 

[PILOON]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

"I can see one big safety issue I need to resolve "

Another thought just came to mind----

Remouve the 'lever' from the curl valve!

Generally they are merely held in place with a clevis and cotter pin, that way you'd never accidently 'curl' and replacement would be a snap when going back to bucket mode. (just don't lose the lever!)

 

[DavidVT]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

Well a quick update on my simple QA snow board mounting....

It is now painted, snow tested and ready for action with a fixed plow angle.

Financial invested thus far: (approx)
QA plate from eBay: ~ 150.00
SnowBoard, chain hook, tubing, paint, chain, etc I had already.

Significant labor invested thus far:
The UPS truck dropped the big QA plate and when I got ready it was about 20 minutes of prep work and 20 minutes of welding to a functional attachment.

Now seeing how easy the hydraulic action will be to hook up (Thank you PineRidge), I am starting to put together a shopping list for that.

If you want to see a superior but somewhat similar QA mount with some nice well thought out features, please look at PineRidge's posting:
QA plate on 7.5' snowplow for FEL, let it snow

I encourage any of you thinking of a first (Build it yourself) project to jump in and try it. This was my first and I am pleased that it at least works!

 

[PineRidge]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

<font color="blue">"I can see one big safety issue I need to resolve "
</font>

Believe that I have an easy fix for that issue. I'm working on it now and will let you know once it has been added to our setup.

 

[DavidVT]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

PineRidge,
My leading idea thus far is to fashion a bar (2x4 steel tube in the scrap pile) mounted near the chain hook that will serve two purposes. The mounting would be angled down along the line of the chain.

First and most important to prevent the deadly back flop.

Second to work with an extra forward curl motion of the mount to provide down pressure to the snowboard for the occasions when I would want to do so.

 

[DavidVT]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

I just pulled an old 8' snowboard out of the dumpster at work with the boss' blessing. Kind of rough and no hydraulics but good trip edge and springs ....

I think I will experiment on this one to see if making the frame shorter effects the control of the blade. Making the snowboard's frame shorter will eliminate my concern about having the plow flip back on me if I raise and curl the FEL too much..

More when I make some progress....

 

[DavidVT]

Re: QA plate to mount my 7.5\' plow on FEL

Update:
I had my dealer swap my loader 2 spool joystick for the 3 spool which has a 2nd lever to operate the snowplow (or grapple,etc). I have not seen the bill yet but hopefully it will not be too painful...

The tractor arrived back during a snow storm and the plow worked great! Still destroying lawn as the ground is not frozen yet but.... It was real nice to use the new lever to steer the plow!

Now I need to work to make the plow setup shorter. The plowframe and old truck pin mount on the QA need to be cut down.. I think I may be able to pull at least 12 to 18 inches by doing this. I am watching the other threads where the plows are mounted on the tractor directly. Might be an alternative to explore.

My issue is visibility when I pull to the road between trees with that plow so far out front. Currently I am backing out the to road so I can see what is coming....

With the scraper mounted on the rear and this big plow out front, I am quite pleased.