Western uni-mount to skid steer plate

chuck172 · Feb 13, 2014

I'm in the process of buying a new Kubota L3200. I'd like to mount my old electric western 8' snowplow on a skid-steer plate to use with this tractor.
How common is this?
I'd like to use the plows electric pump, will the Kubota be able to handle it?

Fallon · Feb 13, 2014

Pretty common, search around, there are a lot of threads under various relevant forums (snow, diy, attachments, etc).

If I remember my L3200 puts out 40@. Not sure what the pump draws, but I'd imagine you'd be fine if your battery is in good shape. I'd plumb it into the tractor hydraulics though. You should be fine just using the dump circuit for left/right tilt. Just set the bucket/blade curl before moving the hoses from bucket to blade. Might need a lower relief valve depending on the pressures your blade is designed for or already has.

chuck172 · Feb 13, 2014

I'm really unfamiliar with using the dump circut for left/right tilt. Could you explain and/or point me to a link?
Are you saying that I would be able to tap into the loader curl Hydraulics?

Fallon · Feb 13, 2014

Unplug the hoses coming out of your joystick that would go to the bucket curl cylinders. Plug the hoses from the angle cylinders on the blade into those ports. You should just need to make sure your plow has proper pressure relief valves in place as I hear plows run at lower pressures than tractors (2,000psi). If you have all the plow plumbing already, you should have proper relief.

I have a 6' back blade on my L3200. The little plowing I have done so far makes me wish it was a hair wider. 8' might be pushing it, but doable. Some people are concerned with tweaking the loader arms when plowing (or more precisely running into something solid when plowing). Having the blade way out front can present some issues with the side load from the blade pushing you to the side. There's a lot of weight between the blade & loader arms hanging out there, so using float on the arms may not give good results.

Fallon · Feb 13, 2014

Search Results - TractorByNet.com search is your friend.

chuck172 · Feb 14, 2014

Thanks Fallon.

Hdoilcan · Feb 14, 2014

Fallon said:
Search Results - TractorByNet.com search is your friend.

Fallon
I don't mean to sound stupid but how did you come up with these search results? I click on search and then type what I want to search and I get all kinds of threads but they don't seem to be what I'm searching and I wonder why I'm always frustrated with searching. I'd like to know how you go about getting your results and what did you search when getting these results for plow?

aczlan · Feb 14, 2014

Hdoilcan said:
Fallon
I don't mean to sound stupid but how did you come up with these search results? I click on search and then type what I want to search and I get all kinds of threads but they don't seem to be what I'm searching and I wonder why I'm always frustrated with searching. I'd like to know how you go about getting your results and what did you search when getting these results for plow?

He used the Google search box at the top right part of the page and entered "snow plow ssqa"
The built in search has some problems in that if you type in "snow plow ssqa" it sees it as "find posts containing 'snow' OR 'plow' OR 'ssqa'"

Aaron Z

PHPaul · Feb 14, 2014

Fallon said:
Unplug the hoses coming out of your joystick that would go to the bucket curl cylinders. Plug the hoses from the angle cylinders on the blade into those ports. You should just need to make sure your plow has proper pressure relief valves in place as I hear plows run at lower pressures than tractors (2,000psi). If you have all the plow plumbing already, you should have proper relief.

Or better yet, put a diverter valve in the curl circuit:

This way, switching between bucket curl and blade angle is just a matter of moving a lever.

Since those pictures were taken, I've plumbed another set of remotes to the front for my grapple. This way, I can use the bucket curl to tip the forks back, switch the diverter valve to the other position and use the grapple to secure the load.

With a manual diverter valve, you can do the whole thing with fittings and hoses for around $200.