Tiny tractor utv snow plow conversion.

[jjeff]

Recently bought and assembled a cheap Chinese 70" utv plow I'm planning to weld to a blank 1/4" qa front loader plate which I'll use on my 21hp subcompact tractor up north. Currently have it set up to be 71" wide majority of plowing is me keeping it angled. For clean up I usually straighten it out. Figure as of now I'll cut the plow tubes around where qa plate sits on them in pictures I can still manually angle plow to its max either way and it won't stick way out on qa plate. After this ill weld a pipe to cutting edge, possibly use heavier duty trip springs than What came with plow I have laying around collecting dust and possibly have to chain the front tractor tires. Tractors front tires are so tiny atv vbar chains will fit it lol Now questions seeing as loader attachment arms are completely hydraulically adjustable ie raising lowering ,curling plow, and float. is it going to matter much where I weld plow arms to qa plate? Low, high, or in the middle of qa plate? I kind of lucked out I'll be cutting plow arms very near a cross support plate on plow arms and it will still allow complete max angling of plow. Look forward to suggestions and insight. All welding will probably be done with 7018 rod they are by far produce the strongest welds I've ever done and I'll probably run some 8018 beads for hard facing pipe.

 

[jjeff]

So yesterday eve cut plow arms, welded plow to qa plate, put in a few simple gussets using scraps and pieces of cutoffs my welds are using 7018 electrode definitely not the easiest to put a good looking bead down for me anyway however I know the welds are super strong. Plow tubes are definitely thinner than 1/4" qa plate so a few burn thrus oh well. Tonight or tomorrow I'll cut a notch in pipe and weld it to cutting edge. I welded plow arms approx 2" higher than bottom of qa plate to mimic where it would sit on a sxs.

 

[jjeff]

So got a few things done last night. Cut notch in a pipe to weld to cutting edge on plow. Unfortunately last night on my plasma cutters torch, drag tip, electrode, swirl ring and cup finally met it's maker. Of course I overlooked having spare parts on hand however it's not to upsetting considering these are considered consumables and I got 7 yrs of intermittent use out of them. So I finished cutting pipe with my 4.5" cordless angle grinder and about 4 wafer wheels lol. Considering I'm almost done building this at a fraction of the price of what it would cost me to buy a manufactured qa subcompact plow it definitely helps me to justify buying tools I may or may not need to build something . Finished welding a few gussets on plow arms to qa plate I'm welding pipe to cutting edge and hard facing it with low hydrogen 8018 electrode cuz a buddy gave me several full containers of these electrodes and I don't really know what else to do with them. Looking forward to testing this plow out this winter on my subcompact up north. Oh yeah I tell people that ask, stepladders pink cuz they don't disappear as often as non pink stuff. Actually I used it as a stand to rattle can a homemade accessory for my daughters pink go kart.

 

[Runner]

Looking good! Bottom of the QA plate looks like where Curtis mounts their plows, so what you have should work great.

 

[jjeff]

Looking good! Bottom of the QA plate looks like where Curtis mounts their plows, so what you have should work great.
View attachment 4124644

Thanks, however I tend to over build certain things I never built before, definitely didn't waNt the qa dogs buried under snow lower than blade when plowing, and welding it a few inches above bottom of it gave me extra room to use longer gussets. a friend asked me if I made a sheer point on it so it might fail there instead of possibly bending loader Arms if I'm plowing a heavy snow or I hit something hard. It still has functional trip springs and I'm still amazed how much a simple pipe aids in preventing cutting edge digging even if it's kind of time consuming and inefficient for me anyway notching groove in pipe with a grinder instead of plasma cutter though. One of these days I might weld angle iron brackets to pipe, drill, and thru bolt it into existing holes used by cutting edge. Hopefully my prototype on conversion doesn't require significant mods when it's finally up there.

 

[Runner]

Thanks, however I tend to over build certain things I never built before, definitely didn't waNt the qa dogs buried under snow lower than blade when plowing, and welding it a few inches above bottom of it gave me extra room to use longer gussets. a friend asked me if I made a sheer point on it so it might fail there instead of possibly bending loader Arms if I'm plowing a heavy snow or I hit something hard. It still has functional trip springs and I'm still amazed how much a simple pipe aids in preventing cutting edge digging even if it's kind of time consuming and inefficient for me anyway notching groove in pipe with a grinder instead of plasma cutter though. One of these days I might weld angle iron brackets to pipe, drill, and thru bolt it into existing holes used by cutting edge. Hopefully my prototype on conversion doesn't require significant mods when it's finally up there.

You will probably be running a forward tilt to the blade most of the time to keep it from digging in too much, so that should also help keep the hardware from digging in.

 

[jjeff]

You will probably be running a forward tilt to the blade most of the time to keep it from digging in too much, so that should also help keep the hardware from digging in.

Slight Forward tilt with float engaged I'm thinking. I do think I can't tilt it to much when it's angled though or the full length wont be plowing snow somewhat evenly or efficiently. Anyways definitely looking forward to using this setup.

 

[jjeff]

Finished welding pipe on cutting edge, hard coating on bottom of pipe in a criss cross pattern hopefully get it painted today. Won't post on this thread until it's actually up north plowing to say how it works.

 

[jjeff]

So up north for a few days plowed about a foot deep of snow clearing lawn parking area and small driveway on hill with my backwoods hacked cheap Chinese sxs snow plow conversion that's welded on a cheap 1/4" qa plate did pretty good and was sturdy and durable as I used it twice to get me out of areas I got stuck in cuz I stubbornly pushed it's limits on current tractors set up capabilities to far, pics to follow later this morning I will say I need to finish tph weight box, and will be getting vbar tire chains either for front, back or both axles. I give this hack conversation a 7 out of 10 due to $$ I saved and functional use of plow so far. Next year I will also find and take the time to remove mower deck which due to time constraints up here I left on this winter. Snow drift but finally got my new 1/2 ton back also in picture with a brand new transmission runs great with good gas mileage towing a two place snowmobile trailer, like I expected. Definitely glad I took the time to weld a pipe on cutting edge barely dug in the soft ground minus a few loader arm with plow on f-ups.

 

[jjeff]

Final post with a few things I learned on this dying thread
#1 it took 3 times plowing with it to not overdue my tiny tractors capabilities especially plowing deeper snow 12"+
#2 traction is key and will be constructing a better tph weight box plus will be acquiring and using v bar tire chains for at least one of the axles.
#3 Weld plow lower than qa plate I thought I did however I should have welded plow lower cuz unless you have plow curled in a very small sweet spot the qa plate will also dig into snow.
#4 you can and I did use my plow to get me unstuck several times curl plow completely Forward so it practically flat with ground lift the front axle using using loader controls curling back while using the diff lock and reverse the rear wheels got me out when I was almost certain I'd need to hook a tow strap and pull it out instead. I didn't. I recommend straightening plow not leaving it at an angle or you will probably bend the plows angle setting mechanism. I did and learned not to do it again. So if you price a qa subcompact manual angle plow they were over 3x what I have in this one, minus my time modifying it to work with a qa. Yes I recommend like a broken record welding a pipe to cutting edge. Any questions or comments feel free to ask or comment and criticize to make this better

 

[John_Mc]

Not sure how much your loader weighs, but if you are having problems with your loader putting too much weight on the plow when it is in float mode, you might want to search for some of the underslung plow set ups that some others on here have used. Rather than floating the whole loader assembly, they just float the plow and its pushtubes.

I'm not describing it well, but if you fins some of those threads, you'll see what I mean.

 

[airbiscuit]

The loader mounted plow set up I like best, are underslung (like truck mounts below and behind the QA Plate), and then the plow is suspended in front of the plate - so it can float. You can tilt the plate forward to apply down force if you choose to. (I would have had QA adapter a little more vertical so the cylinders aren't extended)

 

[jjeff]

Those are heavier plows than what I have for a 21hp tractor. My only problem if I call it that is I didn't weld plow low enough on qa plate so despite what I kind of foresaw, I thought I welded the plow low enough but it turns out I should have mounted the plow lower on blank qa plate. 95% is with plow at an angle and it does have what I consider a sweet spot when properly curled, so trip springs don't engage constantly nor does the edge dig in. Anyways next year I might cut the plow mounting braces and reweld the plow lower on blank qa plate. I give this a 7 out of 10 rating currently on this rather cheap backwoods contraption.

 

[John_Mc]

Those are heavier plows than what I have for a 21hp tractor.

It's not the weight of the plows I'm concerned about. It's the weight of the loader arms. The whole point of the underslung mount is to allow lifting the loader arms and floating just the plow mechanism.

 

[airbiscuit]

If you're going to redo it, why not do underslung so you have a lighter float plus the option of down force? Here are better pics

 

[John_Mc]

If you're going to redo it, why not do underslung so you have a lighter float plus the option of down force? Here are better pics

View attachment 4642626

Link does not work

 

[jjeff]

I understand your concept however what I have by just welding plow mechanism to qa plate does the same thing I can float and curl in or out put plow at same time angling it forward or backward. Loader arm weight doesn't seem to be an issue I can float and can use plenty of downforce, enough I can lift front axle of tractor if I need to. its finding the sweet spot of amount I need to curl plow in or out when the plows angled so the lower side of plow won't dig in when it's curled to far and balancing it by curling plow in or out so the cheap trip springs don't engage unless I hit something hard. I don't see a need to undermount the plow on tractor just reweld and brace it lower on qa plate so the qa plate has plenty of ground clearance when plows lowered and probably use some beefier trip springs I already have laying around. I don't foresee me bending loader arms unless I'm really stupid using current setup. Thanks for the insight.

 

[airbiscuit]

Not trying to be argumentative. Probably not a big deal on a smaller unit like yours. I just like the design, and others might choose that approach.

 

[jjeff]

I'm definitely not either and appreciate others experiences and ideas using qa front snow plows.