Snow Plow started

[camshawn]

Winter is almost here so it is time to get moving on this project. The blade is 8' x 24" x 1/4 rolled at a 24" radius. The ribs are 1/4 plate cut to match the radius on the plasma table at work and 1/4 x 2" flat bar for the cross pieces. The cutting edge is 3/8 x 3" mild steel that is reversible. It should last for 5 to 10 years.
It will be frame mounted to our Mahindra 3616. I will use the loader joystick to raise and angle the blade as needed with a crossover relief on the angle.
Pictures:
Lay out of ribs, tacking.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

that looks great! good job!

 

[Rustyiron]

1/4" skin, you're not fooling around are ya!:thumbsup: Are you setting it up to "trip".

 

[Wolfy]

Well, that is surely a road few travel. Most tractor snow plows that I see are retired from pickup duty.

 

[LD1]

Looks good so far.

Looking forward to see how you do the a-frame and sector. Hope you are planning on a pair of SA cylinders for that crossover to work properly.

How much plowing do you do? I am betting that mild steel wont last as long as you think. Thats a pretty heavy plow on a small 3/8" edge

 

[camshawn]

Thanks for the comments.
The blade will trip, held back by some springs. The little tractor (15hp) with a 6 1/2' blade slowly bent over the last 20 years. This one is a little heavier and has more ribs. The shoes should keep the edge mostly off the ground to help with the edge wear as long as they are not worn out.
I have 2 sa cylinders for the angle. I have the A frame in my head, I just have to get it out.
Our drive is about 400 yards of gravel. We do not get a lot of snow some years (3" last year)but others can have 3 feet, sometimes powder, sometimes poop.
Cam

 

[skyhook]

Very nice, maybe a bit overkill on the cutting edge bolts.

 

[Thomas]

Thats what I call doing it right the first time..nice work.

 

[chuck172]

I frame mounted an 8' fisher on my Kioti ck35. I use the rear remotes to operate the angle cylinders. To raise the plow, I was going to mount a new cylinder to my loader lift hydraulics, and remove my entire loader. I got lazy and for this year I just remove the ssqa loader bucket and sling to the plow from the existing loader framework. It works good. Very simple to go from loader to snowplow. I know I cut a corners with the plow lift this way but I like it like this.

 

[camshawn]

Not much progress this week, fixing things and cleaning up the yard before winter. I went today to get some angle at metal mart, closed on Saturday. Did get another spool of wire and some new contact tips at the toy store so it was not a wasted trip.
On my little tractor, I used the bucket to lift the framemounted plow for years, worked fine, the chain let the plow float and I could push down with the bucket as needed. I will unmount the loader and use the loader valve to control the plow. Our loader comes off in about 10 minutes and that should be faster as I practice more.

 

[camshawn]

I have been cutting pieces and drilling holes for the pivot points as time permits.
Here are a few pictures showing the general layout of the A-frame. I have just laid out some scrap angle to show the shape. The blade will be at the top end and the tractor mount at the bottom end.
I used a piece of 1.5 inch seamless pipe for the main left/right pivot. A friend turned a piece of 1.5 inch round stock on his lathe to give a little grease room on the pin.
Cam

 

[camshawn]

Here are some pictures of yesterdays progress.

 

[Harvey9]

Very nice work Camshawn.

 

[Big Barn]

Looking REAL good!!

Terry

 

[skyhook]

Nice, I'm thinking you may need to add a couple more springs for a total of 4.

 

[camshawn]

Skyhook:
You may be right about the number of springs needed. I will make provision for 2 more. My smaller plow has 2 and it has worked out ok. I was not sure if 2 would be enough with the wider plow. I was thinking of starting with fewer and adding rather than breaking something and removing a spring after the fact.
Cam

 

[DJ54]

I'm thinking you may want to find you a piece of pipe to put on the cutting edge to keep it from gouging into the gravel. Here is a blade Dad made for the old A we had years ago. About the same construction 1/4" rolled steel but rolled 3/16" angle iron for the ribs. Manual angle, as the A had no hydraulics, just the pneumatic "Lift-All" to raise & lower.

He put a factory cutting edge on it, like on a 3 pt. blade. With the pneumatic lift, it would just suck itself into the ground. Flipped the blade around backwards helped, almost too much. Eventually took it off, and just let the moldboard do the cutting. Corners eventually wore, so that's why the corner pieces were welded on.

Saw the idea of the pipe slit & mounted on the cutting edge. Just made tabs to bolt it on, where the cutting edge bolted on. Works great, lets it get down to the surface, but not gouge. And no shoes gouging either.

Some may not believe it, but I've pushed & leveled over 5,000 tons of fill material with this tractor & blade in the last 7-8 years, plus plowed snow every winter. I cracked the push arms (2" pipe) a few years ago, leveling the base for my horse barn (about 3,000 tons). Boxed the push arms with 1/4" angle iron, so it ought to be good for a while. By the way, this blade was built in 1964-65, can't remember the exact year. Hope your's last's this long..!!

 

[camshawn]

Thanks DJ54.
I have read about the pipe cutting edge and will try one if this blade gouges too badly. I will figure out getting a piece of pipe split in the meantime. I am concerned about the corners digging in as we have lots of angle changes on our driveway.
Cam

 

[DJ54]

I clamped a piece of 1" X 1" of angle iron on the pipe, with the point of the angle sticking up, and two edges on the pipe. It makes a self aligning straight edge. Made a pass with the plasma cutter, then moved the angle iron enough to get the width of slot needed, re-clamped, and made another pass. I'm sure you could do the same with a torch, just have to back it down some, and/or use a lot of undercut lead to prevent it blowing back up in your face.

I slipped the pipe on to get measurements for the tab length, and drilled the holes like 1/8" over sized. Bolted the tabs in place, then welded to the pipe.

The pivot point tube, the pivot pin goes through, he made out of thick wall tubing. IIRC, it's like 3/8" walled. A lot of stress right there. It has held up well, for what it's done.

 

[David Devuono]

x2 on four springs, 2 might not even pull that heavy blade back. Mount shoes at the outer corners and that cross over relief valve you mentioned will save the day. Just watched a Utube video of a plow without one busting open the Spool valve.