ssqa snow plow build under way

[CJHL]

I'm kind of late to the party, but since I am planning on doing something very similar, just a few questions. What thickness is your SSQA plate? How much snow do you get when it snows in your area? I am using the 60" blade I have from when we sold our old Kioti and bought the new Kubotab2650. It is significantly heavier than the one you used, but like you, I am using what I have. We did get a 63" front mount blower with our machine, so the plow project for me is kind of just a for fun thing. I can easily see 12-16" of snow per storm, as we get close to 200" per year on average. Right off of Lake Erie in the heart of the snow belt. Post some pictures or video of it in action once the white stuff starts falling! I tend to agree with others about having the chain method for floating as well as the float built into the loader, but it looks like you have a paved driveway so, i don't think you will have much of a problem. I have a gravel driveway, so I don't want a lot of down pressure until things get frozen and packed in or it would be a weeks worth of raking in the spring. I did see the Kubota offering for the SSQA plow attachment and it does not have any float built into the unit itself. I do have a few pictures of that, but they are on my phone. Bottom line is, it's all about using what you have and having a fun experience when building something like this.

 

[GeneV]

I'm kind of late to the party, but since I am planning on doing something very similar, just a few questions. What thickness is your SSQA plate? How much snow do you get when it snows in your area? I am using the 60" blade I have from when we sold our old Kioti and bought the new Kubotab2650. It is significantly heavier than the one you used, but like you, I am using what I have. We did get a 63" front mount blower with our machine, so the plow project for me is kind of just a for fun thing. I can easily see 12-16" of snow per storm, as we get close to 200" per year on average. Right off of Lake Erie in the heart of the snow belt. Post some pictures or video of it in action once the white stuff starts falling! I tend to agree with others about having the chain method for floating as well as the float built into the loader, but it looks like you have a paved driveway so, i don't think you will have much of a problem. I have a gravel driveway, so I don't want a lot of down pressure until things get frozen and packed in or it would be a weeks worth of raking in the spring. I did see the Kubota offering for the SSQA plow attachment and it does not have any float built into the unit itself. I do have a few pictures of that, but they are on my phone. Bottom line is, it's all about using what you have and having a fun experience when building something like this.

Hi CJHL, I purchased a 1/4" plate, but considering your circumstances I'd go thicker for yours. I'm going to echo advice I got and recommend you order from Titan Attachments...great plate at a good price.

I'm in the Chicago area, we get some snow but not anywhere close to your numbers (Where are you btw?...post your location in your profile). But we've been known to get a foot dumped on us at once. Disclaimer: unless that happens overnight, I don't let it build up to that before I go out there to plow.

One thing I didn't take into consideration is where to weld the plow crossframe onto the plate. I welded it low, but should have welded it flush with the bottom of it, or even under it. Consequently, as is, when I have the plow pivoted it's not sitting flush with the ground.

The other day, I adjusted the attack angle of the plow, so now it sits more flush. Next I need to change the bolt it pivots on to a longer bolt, give it more slop so that it's fully flush to ground when pivoted. The upside to that is that it will have even more "float".

 

[CJHL]

I'm in Erie Pa. I was looking at the titan plates for sure. You can't beat the price. I am thinking probably the 5/16" plate or possibly the 1/4". I am going to fab it up so the plow is held on by a large set of pins and will be removable from the plate. I've got the idea worked through in my head, now I just need to get it started. I really am impressed with the flexibility of the ssqa mounting system.

 

[ovrszd]

I'm in Erie Pa. I was looking at the titan plates for sure. You can't beat the price. I am thinking probably the 5/16" plate or possibly the 1/4". I am going to fab it up so the plow is held on by a large set of pins and will be removable from the plate. I've got the idea worked through in my head, now I just need to get it started. I really am impressed with the flexibility of the ssqa mounting system.

Welcome to TBN.

Unless you already have multiple attachments that can be modified to fit your tabbed plate, you'll probably never remove the blade. But I like the tab idea in case you get a different blade.

Yep, SSQA is a brilliant idea.

As the OP is already mentioning, you need flexibility in the mount system to allow the blade to follow contours. When the blade is sitting on the ground the attaching beam needs to be horizontal. If not, when you angle the blade, one end will go up, one end will go down. Very, very important.

To best manage that, I suggest you design the bracketry so the blade sits flat when your bucket level indicator says it's flat. Makes it much easier to return the curl function to the correct position each time it's moved.

 

[GeneV]

I'm in Erie Pa. I was looking at the titan plates for sure. You can't beat the price. I am thinking probably the 5/16" plate or possibly the 1/4". I am going to fab it up so the plow is held on by a large set of pins and will be removable from the plate. I've got the idea worked through in my head, now I just need to get it started. I really am impressed with the flexibility of the ssqa mounting system.

So you could mount other attachments on the plate, eh? That's a real smart idea, looking forward to seeing you fab this up!

 

[deezler]

Gene, looks pretty good!

Do us a favor and give us a report back after using, even if it fails in any way, ok? I would also not be surprised if it pretzels up when you hit an immovable object someday. But! That may never happen for you. Good luck, regardless.

 

[GeneV]

Gene, looks pretty good!

Do us a favor and give us a report back after using, even if it fails in any way, ok? I would also not be surprised if it pretzels up when you hit an immovable object someday. But! That may never happen for you. Good luck, regardless.

 

[GeneV]

Well guys, I finally got a chance to try it out today. Only a few inches of snow, but it got soaked with rain overnight, so kind of heavy. Well sorry to bust some bubbles here lol, but the plow did not turn into a pretzel. :dance1:

I was a little worried before that the blade wouldn't sit flush with the ground when angled. What I did was loosen the screw at the pivot point where it angles, and then yanked the plow up and down a bunch of times on each side to loosen the bracket at the pivot point, allowing for more play (up/down and side). This allowed the blade to float even more, so that's a win overall. Plow did great.

 

[MIkeWard]

Well Thanks guys
You all inspired to set up a plow for my tractor.
Tac welded for fitment then welded it up. Worked good

 

[senecak19]

I'm in Erie Pa. I was looking at the titan plates for sure. You can't beat the price. I am thinking probably the 5/16" plate or possibly the 1/4". I am going to fab it up so the plow is held on by a large set of pins and will be removable from the plate. I've got the idea worked through in my head, now I just need to get it started. I really am impressed with the flexibility of the ssqa mounting system.

I am in the midst of building the “underslung” version using a Titan plate. Im trying not to spoil the story because I intend to post a storyboard when complete. More or less a hybrid version of a few others builds on here. It’s mocked up and tack welded together, so it’ll be functional very soon! My criteria went something like this...
- I used a 1/4” plate because Titan was out of the 5/16”
- I live in Western mass and see roughly 60ish inches of annual snowfall
- I intend to plow a 100’ stone driveway and a 40’ paved driveway.
- My tractor is smaller than most on here so weight was a concern (L3200).
- I’ll be carefully pushing a 7.5’ Fisher plow.

Best of luck with your build! Be sure to take many photos!