Snow Attachments Side wing on a snow blade?

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Hi all,

We are finally enjoying some decent snow here in Edmonton. I've had the opportunity to get some seat time over the last several days pushing snow around. Although I am having no trouble clearing the driveway and turnaround area wide enough to leave lots of clearance, it would be nice to be able to push the snow a little further.

I have a 5' blade on my B2410 that more than covers the rear track unless it is angled, which it generally is /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif. It is just about in line with the edge of my tires then. The result is that if I want to push the snow further I have to either go in reverse or drive over the windrow. I don't want to do either.

Has anyone ever added a simple "wing" to a blade to allow the blade to appear as if it is offset? Pictures? Ideas? (Other than "buy a new blade" of course /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif).

Thanks in advance.
Kevin

kokopelli2 · Jan 21, 2003

i have wings on my meyer snow plow but i am not sure how you could do this with the 3pt blade. the meyer plow hase added ribbing on the moldboard for support and placed to bolt wings. i cant think of how to attach a wing to a 3pt blade so that you could take it off and use for purposes besides snow. check out the meyer website for pictures of wings.

Spencer · Jan 21, 2003

A lot of blades are designed so that you can offset the blade to one side or another. I know its not the wing you were looking for but it might be worth giving a shot.

Pks · Jan 21, 2003

Kevin,

I have a B2400 4x4 and use a 6 ft rear blade. On its minimal angle settin it pushes the snow past the outside edge of the tires (which are set as wide as possible). Every time I make a pass, the snow is pushed outward about 0.5 ft past the tires (without driving over the windrow). I drive forward to save my neck.

Regarding the snow-wing idea, I'm not sure you will get much help from it when the snow gets heavy against the blade. Even though my tires R1 (and R4 tires with chains) are filled with fluid, the rear end can get pushed around (a little) when driving forward. If the angle of the blade is increased, the pushing around gets worse. If you add length to your blade (snow-wing) you might get pushed around a lot.

It's really hard to say without trying it. I think the pushing would be greatly reduced if you went backwards with a large angle on the blade (or with a snow-wing). You might just try a 6 ft blade to see how you like it.

Also, my blade can be unbolted and refastened in an offset position to aid this idea. Maybe yours has that capability?

Wingnut · Jan 21, 2003

Kevin ... it probably isn't a lot of help ... but I can tell you that they can be made. My stepdad built (from an existing blade) a front blade arrangement and added a huge wing to it ... and used it for several years on his 8N Ford (until his death 2 years ago).
Unfortunately ... Bill was a real tinkerer ... even built a backhoe attachment for the 8N ... so the fact that he made one work... doesn't mean that it'll be easy.
As I recall, he used a 5 foot blade (connections ran under the tractor to a strong point on the frame) with 2 cylinders attached to a side frame (yeah, he built that too) for lifting ... and built a 6 foot wing off the right side. The side frame provided an attachment point for a support for the wing. It worked well enough that he could do the 1/2 mile gravel drive in 2 passes ... one out and one back .... put the windrow well off the road. This was up in Cold Lake.
No reason why you couldn't do it to a back blade .... except that a support attachment might be a bit more difficult. (I doubt that bolts or a weld at the blade attach point would hold)

pete

rdbrumfield · Jan 21, 2003

I think I am thinking of a wing in a different way. I use one on a motor grader "14G cat." What we did was weld a 3/4 inch bolt near the top and bottom of the blade sticking straight out. Used a flat plate in the fashion of an extended triangle with holes to match the bolts. by lying the plate on the ground and matching the holes it creates a 90 degree wing that carries the gravel. It does not leave a windrow until the blade is filled. The one other thing is that you will have to attach a chain to the wing from a point on the top of the blade. In this way it will keep it stable and you can adjust the angle somewhat. It might give you an extra foot or so, but will carry three times the snow that the blade by itself will. Hope this helps.

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Spencer,

/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif Unfortunately, as I've noted earlier on the forum when people were asking about "good blades" to buy....I admitted that I cheaped out and bought a blade that did not either offset or tilt (although it will turn 360 degrees and has 6 angles).

I just want to add an "extension wing" off one side.

Thanks,
Kevin

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Peter,

Thanks for the response. <font color=blue>You might just try a 6 ft blade to see how you like it. </font color=blue>

That's a possibility, although honestly I think if I consider buying another blade I'll just get another 5' blade, heavier duty, with the tilt and offset capability. That would solve my snow removal issue and still allow for "regular" 5' work where the 6' might be too big for my B2410.

Kevin

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Hey Pete,

Sounds like a similar thing as I'd like to do, but I want SMALL!! Like a 12-16" wing at the most. I'd like to think a bracket of some sort would hold but it would also have to be a quick pin release so I can turn the blade around when I need to. I tend to drive forward with the blade reversed, pushing the snow with the back of the blade.

Thanks,
Kevin

Boondox · Jan 21, 2003

There was a post earlier about using horse mat type rubber on the bottom of the rear blade...and I was thinking it might be stiff enough to use for a wing like you describe, yet still have enough give to let me scrape up against my stone walls without damaging them or the tractor.

Hmmm, this post has me thinking again. My wife considers that a dangerous situation! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Pete

beenthere · Jan 21, 2003

A wing (sorry no pictures) that I built for a plow like a rear blade was just a wood 2x6 that would extend the top half of the blade out to the side. This would not clear the snow below about 4 inches, but would move the windrow of snow out away from the blade so it did not slide back down onto the plowed area. The 2x6 was in brackets behind the plow that would allow it to slide back out of the way and could be pinned in either position - out or in. Worked very good. There is less stress and strain keeping the snow moving that is already moving in that direction. The wings on most road plows are used like that, to just roll the snow in the windrow back away from the roadway.

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Pete,

<font color=blue>Hmmm, this post has me thinking again</font color=blue>....I like the idea of the rubber horse mat, just need to come up with a way to make it "quick release" for when I need to turn the blade around.

Kevin

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Beenthere,

Any chance for a pic?? Not sure what that would look like.

Kevin

beenthere · Jan 21, 2003

Post a pic of your blade, and I will draw in the setup I used to have. Don't have it anymore, so can't post a pic for you.

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Beenthere,

I'll take a snapshot tonight and post it.

Thanks,
Kevin

Thomas · Jan 21, 2003

I added to my plow about 8" on each end,and works real good even plowing at 45 degrees..rear tires are 8" or so from the wind row.

Next time I fab the ends of the plow,I shall make it even foot..much better.

Straight pushing also piling up the snow,much cleaner and quicker. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Knight9 · Jan 21, 2003

Not a great photo, I was going to take a couple but the batteries died in the camera.

Kevin

Wingnut · Jan 22, 2003

since you're not talking "big" .... 3 bolts c/w wingnuts would make it "quick release" .... and you could probably even make it "reversible" so it could be used on the opposite side.
As small as you're talking, you likely wouldn't even need a backer plate ... just fender washers to provide the support.

pete

beenthere · Jan 22, 2003

Knight9
I touched up your photo with the approach I found to work well for extending the reach of the blade, at least for moving snow further back so it didn't fall back into the path the blade had just cleared.
This could be a bit out of scale, but the idea is to have two brackets that capture a 2x6 or 2x8 behind the blade. Removable with a couple pins.