Skid Shoes For Box Blade?

[jimainiac]

Has anyone ever tried putting skid shoes on a box blade? I just got a new-to-me box blade in time to do a little driveway grading before the ground froze, and now I'm using it to push snow around. I always used a rear blade before, and I'd adjust the blade to be roughly vertical for best results going forward or backward. Now I worry about the rear-facing blade catching on frozen irregularities and transmitting too much shock through the 3 point arms. Seems like if I had shoes on it like on my truck mounted snowplow, I might avoid catching the edge. Trying to think of how to mount a pair of adjustable shoes on the the sides of of the box. Or is that a really dumb idea? I tried searching TBN on the subject without luck.

 

[Fallon]

I've thought about trying to fab up some gauge wheels for mine & seen a thread or 2 of people talking about it (not many though). I may end up just making a land plane instead.

 

[Thomas]

Weld nipple each side box,nipple inside dia. just tad bigger than skid shoe post,drill nipple to match skid post hole for adjustment.

Copy setup on plow add to your box blade.

 

[jimainiac]

Thanks, Thomas, for that suggestion. That got me going, and I went out and took a shoe off one of the plows to experiment with. The shaft diameter is about 1 1/8" to 1 3/16", and I found a piece of 1 1/4" ID steel pipe to use. Should be able to attach the pipe to the side of the box blade, back near the blades.
Just wondering if you had done this, and if so, did you like the result of having shoes on the box blade? I don't know if this will be an improvement or a wasted exercise. One tippoff might be that I haven't seen shoes as an option on box blades. But that never stopped me from tinkering before!

 

[Guesseral]

Thanks, Thomas, for that suggestion. That got me going, and I went out and took a shoe off one of the plows to experiment with. The shaft diameter is about 1 1/8" to 1 3/16", and I found a piece of 1 1/4" ID steel pipe to use. Should be able to attach the pipe to the side of the box blade, back near the blades.
Just wondering if you had done this, and if so, did you like the result of having shoes on the box blade? I don't know if this will be an improvement or a wasted exercise. One tippoff might be that I haven't seen shoes as an option on box blades. But that never stopped me from tinkering before!

I haven't done it but when you weld the tubes to the side of the BB make sure you space them out a little so the lynch pin can be closed completely.

 

[Thomas]

"Just wondering if you had done this, and if so, did you like the result of having shoes on the box blade?"

I did it for friend but use skids instead of shoes,12" skids made box less tippy more level.

 

[jimainiac]

I haven't done it but when you weld the tubes to the side of the BB make sure you space them out a little so the lynch pin can be closed completely.

Thanks for that suggestion, but I learned from bitter experience that those lynch pins can get pulled off by the ice and snow (finally found the shoe in a snowbank). I use a bolt with a nylon locknut on my shoes, so I thought I'd drill a hole, or several holes at different heights, through the pipe.

 

[jimainiac]

I did it for friend but use skids instead of shoes,12" skids made box less tippy more level.[/QUOTE]

Thomas, did you make the skids from angle iron? I was thinking that skids might work better, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Were they adjustable?