Soft snow plow edges for asphalt

[WinterDeere]

I have a SSQA plow on my loader and quickly discovered that floating the loader did not prevent the plow from digging into my gravel driveway. I added a float valve to the curl cylinders and that solved the problem. It's a manual valve that I have to remember to engage after setting the loader arms to the correct height and then disengage before raising the loader.

Nice idea. Where did you install the valve? Any sketches or photos would be good for ideas, should others need to go that route.

I got my new UHMW edge mounted yesterday, as it was too rainy to do much outside:

 

[Stonehaller]

I mounted the valve on the right loader support bracket. Existing hoses from the loader valve go to hard lines on the right loader arm. I inserted tees where the curl function hoses connect to the hard lines. I then hosed from the tee to the float valve. I replaced an existing 90 deg fitting in the tank port on the loader valve with a tee and hosed the tank port of the float valve to that tee. When I pull the float valve it connects both sides of the curl cylinders to tank. The picture is looking down on the right loader arm.

 

[ruffdog]

I have a SSQA plow on my loader and quickly discovered that floating the loader did not prevent the plow from digging into my gravel driveway. I added a float valve to the curl cylinders and that solved the problem. It's a manual valve that I have to remember to engage after setting the loader arms to the correct height and then disengage before raising the loader.

Yes, then the plow float pivot (curl pins) are close to the ground vs the FEL pins which are very high. Interesting.

 

[WinterDeere]

Beautiful solution, @Stonehaller. Gonna keep this one in my back pocket, in case what I already have needs further improvement.

How's it handle the situation when the snow is sticky, and piles up to great weight in front of the plow? With the usual loader float, the tractor can "climb" up on the loader pivots, at some point when pushing resistance gets high enough. But with the curl pivots being lower to the ground, I'd think this is probably less of an issue, on your rig.

 

[Stonehaller]

If the gravel is not yet froze, I have to be careful as heavy loads can push the skids into the gravel. When this happens, I lower the loader a little which raises the blade edge and angles the skids to help push them back on top of the gravel. Once the gravel is frozen, I don't have this problem. I have a concrete pad in front of the garage. To remove hard packed snow stuck to the concrete, I can back drag with the loader raised enough to pivot the blade edge down to contact the concrete. So far, I have not had a condition where it actually lifts the front of the tractor. I do set the skids so the blade edge is up about 1.5 to 2 inches to keep it well clear of the gravel. I can adjust that some just by where I set the loader arms. I use a back blade too with a rubber horse mat edge. I use both together. The front blade pushes deep snow and drifts and the back blade cleans up what is left by the front.

 

[GeneV]

It's a "snow-edge" by Ratchet Rake that has a "sacrificial" edge to save the blacktop.
What I like about it is it makes a novice operator like me with a FEL much more proficient in that the angle can be ± 15 degrees without issue. ( the one toggle at 90 isn't tightened down yet ) And just to mention ... the edge is advertised to last 32 hours but I'm on my 5th season without much wear at all. ( Kinda makes me regret buying the spare edge )

Ratchet Rake, LLC - Tractor rake, Snow Edge, Tractor attachment, Bucket attachment, Loader, Skid loader, Kubota, Skid steer, Landscape rake, Brush remover, York Rake, Harley Rake, Rock Rake, Tractor rake attachment, Construction attachment, New Holla

View attachment 772145

Oh I had one of those! Yeh, for 300 bux, it does the job as far as protecting the driveway. A plow is better though in every way for managing snow.

Here's me using it: