Really Struggling With A Front-End Snow Blade

[Fallon]

A 3/4 mile driveway is justification for a snow blower.

Not really. The type & amount of snow you get dictate that along with where you can put the snow. A plow will be a lot faster than a blower unless it gets really deep, or you get lots of accumulation & end up building banks you can't plow more snow over.

 

[KubotainNH]

Unfrozen gravel is going to be difficult to plow.
Some type of pipe across the cutting edge might help there.

The plow on my Jeep is only 6.5' and it would dig into that driveway unless frozen over with packed down snow. Seeing the OP is not in constantly frozen territory then some sort of wheels on the plow may be best if the pipe doesn't work. That looks like one heavy setup.

 

[rekees4300]

Not really. The type & amount of snow you get dictate that along with where you can put the snow. A plow will be a lot faster than a blower unless it gets really deep, or you get lots of accumulation & end up building banks you can't plow more snow over.

Yes I agree there are many variables and the OP should weigh those before investing in a blower. I have been clearing a 900' gravel driveway for 15 years using a front blade and a rear blower. Seems to me a blower would likely benefit the OP since he has 3/4 mile driveway. That's a BIG variable.

 

[Morning Wood]

I made a mount for an old 6' Meyer on my ford 1720. You cannot run the loader in float with a plow. You will drive your front wheels off the ground or dig in too much. Mine is setup with a chain lift as well. I set the loader arms to a height that makes the a frame level to the ground and then tilt the loader and that creates slack on the chain and allows the plow to float on its own. It works very well this way when running he plow straight. I however made the plow connection very stable and stuff with side to side lateral movement. So, the plow works poorly when put in the angled position. The leading edge will tend to dig in unless I run the loader and a frame very close to the ground. I attribute this problem to the tractor having little suspension movement and the plow reaching different contours quite a ways before the tractor does. Also I made he mount too rigid. Have to figure out a way to fix that. I suspect that your blade is indeed made for a skid steer and would work much better mounted to one rather than your tractor.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice.

Have a 7' Diamond Hydraulic front-end blade quick-connected to my Kubota 7040 for plowing snow and two font-end hydraulic remotes. The blade is heavy - 900 lbs - and has two mushroom skids (maybe 6" diameter). I have read posts on here about how to use these things and have seen the recommendations to put the blade in "float". On my M7040, you set in float by pushing the joystick all the way forward and locked.

Tried that today and dug up about 3" of gravel. So, with a big snow coming overnight, I am resigned to using my old method - trying to keep the blade fixed a few inches above the gravel - someone called that the bulldozer method. That process isn't easy given that there is literally no 5' section of my 3/4 mile long driveway that is flat. I am constantly rasing/lowering the blade depending on whether I am going uphill or downhill.

Is there a chance that the "float" isn't working? That blade sure as **** did not float on top of the driveway (fairly well-packed crush and run). Can the downward pressure on float be adjusted?

I have alot of rock rake work to do this spring.

Bummed in Virgina

A heavy loader and a heavy plow all pushing down. I'd pop out the mushrooms and pop in a pair of skid skis. think of the letter J with a longer, wider flat and upturned leading edges with the pin.

Basically you want to get more surface area to support all that weight a hitch off of the grade so you don't dig in. I take it your diamond blade is really made by Meyers? Meyers has skid skis for their plows, but with this weight you may want to add another set of of mushroom skids or try these: Meyer Snow Plow 7ft 7 1 2ft 8ft 8 1 2ft Shoe Assy Meyer 09126 Stock 1303005 | eBay

This summer grade the drive so it is easier to plow.

 

[tcreeley]

There is a pivot in the center. The pivot is attached to the frame that rotates when you angle it. It gets about 15 degrees of pivot in each direction so it will follow contours well. It's the stock small light truck (probably actually for a jeep) setup more or less. I made a bracket so I could drop the bracket on the quick hitch (the shiny piece I have since painted). Then removed the winch & just ran the chain to the top link of my quick hitch.

If I find another truck plow with hydraulic angle for cheap, I'll probably build a new one & try to sell this one for $500-700 (Cost me under $250 to make including the SSQA QH adapter scrounging garage sales). If I do end up building another one, I'll re-engineer it so the plow is much closer to the tractor. This one doesn't push me to the side bad at all, but I really can't make a tight turn with much load on the blade.

Here you can see it flopped to one side.
View attachment 415012

Here you can kind of see how it pivots on the nub used to adjust angle & the pivot point in front (loose bolt hole with a rubber washer underneath) at maximum tilt the plow frame will hit the plow subframe. The right side frames are touching in the picture, so it's articulated as far as it will go to the right, but will articulate much further to the left given the angle I have on the blade at the moment.
View attachment 415019

I took the same snowbear set up and put it on my tractor after the second elec winch burned out. I didn't keep the pivot but cut in front of it and bolted on to my bucket. I miss the pivot - useful. Nice job!

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When plowing- if I am digging gravel I tip the angle of the plow forward, close to a 45 and plow. My float is useless. It is the angle That makes the difference for me.

 

[schmism]

You say the plow has shoes, but i cant see any in the pics.

If you adjust the shoes correctly, and and frozen ground there is no reason you should be able to lower your loader so that there is slack in the chain the the blade ride on the shoes just fine (assumeing you have them adjusted right)

 

[mike69440]

You have it tough as you dont have any hard frozen ground.

I use 8" diameter large shoe mushrooms on my 8' Commercial Fisher on the L39, but still makes a mess till the ground freezes.

 

[s219]

So yeah, I think others have mentioned that the problem is you are floating the whole FEL. What you really need to do is keep the FEL fixed at the right height and have some float in the plow mechanism, where only the plow is under the influence of gravity.

Soft gravel is tough to clear snow on though! The storm 2-3 weeks ago in VA was no problem for me -- powdery snow over frozen gravel. Last week it was heavy dense snow over soft gravel. A lot more difficult to clear without tearing up the gravel when it's soft, even with the best setups.

Here's a thread about the pipe I fabled up for my rear blade edge at the last minute before last weeks storm:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ipe-edge-protector-rear-blade.html?highlight=

It worked well. As I note, I previously used PVC (the heavier thicker Sch 40 stuff) and it would barely last a storm. So I think metal is a must. At a minimum, I have found I need 1" pipe (which has an OD about 1.25"). For a heavier plow like you have, I'd think 2-3" diameter is a better bet.

Good luck! Be interested to see how much snow we get this time. I am seeing anywhere from 3-6" to 6-12" shown in the models, depending on which one you like. I may not even bother clearing snow this time, as the ground is extremely soft and muddy now, and I don't expect it to stick for more than 1-2 days. Between the warm ground and the upcoming warmer weather, I don't think this snow will accumulate or stick around.

 

[Fallon]

You say the plow has shoes, but i cant see any in the pics.

If you adjust the shoes correctly, and and frozen ground there is no reason you should be able to lower your loader so that there is slack in the chain the the blade ride on the shoes just fine (assumeing you have them adjusted right)

My 72" land pride back blade has shoes attached & about 3/4" below the blade. As it digs as much gravel as my front blade with no shoes & not much difference than before the rear shoes, I haven't bothered putting the shoes on the front. The blade uses nonstandard 3/4" shank shoes rather than the standard 1" shank shoes. I picked up some standard shoes, but haven't rejiggered brackets to fit them yet.

Your assumption of frozen ground is also off. Here in Colorado we get so much UV things melt pretty good in the low 20s if you clear the reflective snow a bit. It will also bounce between highs of 20 & 60 every few days. Very annoying for plowing.