Wing Plow

beenthere · Dec 20, 2009

Finished fabricating the new wing plow for my Deere 4300 and gave it a trial run last night. It works great. Better than I had hoped for, with pencil design and good friend who is handy with welder and fabbing.

Is quick tach, only two pins to drop in and a chain to secure to the 3 ph lift arm. Will fit on either side and attaches only to the FEL post and to the drawbar. The push bar is telescoping (manual now) to vary the rear of the wing from 5 1/2 ft from tractor center to 8 1/2 ft.
Here is a pic from the rear, but will show more later when outside pushing snow.

gerard · Dec 20, 2009

yes, more pics on connections please. Very nice job. You'll move some serious snow that that set up.

Thomas · Dec 20, 2009

Thumbs up..oh yeah now I am drooling..more pics the better.

kennyd · Dec 20, 2009

That is cool! but it needs some hydraulics

Mark_in_NH · Dec 20, 2009

How dare you merely wet our appetites with just one picture. Very creative build. I want to see more.

beenthere · Dec 20, 2009

Yeah, sorry 'bout that delay. I thought I'd get some outside pics today, but too busy during the daylight hours. And the rust is beginning in earnest, so have it in for some paint tonight - where it is warm.
But here are a couple pics of the front attachment and the rear drawbar arrangement.
And the 2" ball and trailer hitch was just the ticket. Hydraulics to raise the front up and down, and a ram to move the push bar in and out would make it a pretty flexible wing. But not planned at the moment. More pics in the daylight - hopefully tomorrow if the painting goes well tonight.

Plow Jockey · Dec 20, 2009

As I said in another post,nice job!
I'd say you've got a handle on the point cut.
Also the more you kick the rear of the wing out,the less chance they'll
be of it digging in.
Ok some nice wings out there,but who's coming out with twins,one on both sides?

gerard · Dec 21, 2009

Very nice - elegant but simple and functional. I like the K.I.S.S principal!!

Piperflyer · Dec 21, 2009

I take it that the 3 pt hitch moves the wing up & down? Nice set up.

Mark_in_NH · Dec 21, 2009

Piperflyer said:
I take it that the 3 pt hitch moves the wing up & down? Nice set up.

I believe from the picture, that the rear brace is pinned to the drawbar and remains in a fixed position.

JB4310 · Dec 21, 2009

Interesting use of the trailer coupler, and it's ambidextrous

nice build.

JB.

PILOON · Dec 22, 2009

JB4310 said:
Interesting use of the trailer coupler, and it's ambidextrous nice build.

JB.

Yep, sure is!
Mind if I copy?

kebo · Dec 22, 2009

Now that's pretty slick!! I like versatile stuff that makes use of existing attachment points like you came up with. One question... Was the idea to build it like that something that you came up with entirely on your own, or had you seen something pretty similar to it before you drew it out?? Down here in SC we have no need for such contraptions so I had never seen a "wing" on a CUT. In fact, when you said wing, I thought it was gonna be a spoiler or something similar LOL!!!!

Super job though.

RobS · Dec 22, 2009

That is very cool and your fab skills are top notch. Do you find that it moves the tractor around though? I run a six foot rear blade and much more than six inches it's doing more steering than I am!

beenthere · Dec 23, 2009

Thanks for the comments. I started this idea about 2 yrs ago when my son-in-law (a pastor) and I were kicking it around. So I started making some parts out of glued-up scraps of wood and trying to get a feel for where the movement needed to be, and where it would need some strength. Here are some early pics of the models out of wood.

I gave the finished (?) wing a trial run over the weekend late at night, and the next day the rust showed up on the new steel with a vengence. So I brought it inside and painted it. Hope tomorrow to use it and get some pics to post (5" new snow today). I found out that just the wing blade down, and cutting into 3 ft of plowed-up snow bank, the back end would slide and point the front toward the ditch. But dropping the front plow at an angle would counter that push and would plow straight ahead. That was a counter reaction that I didn't count on, but makes it work out great.
Only thing I need to do is get the hang of the joy stick for the front blade at the same time controlling the wing blade with the 3 ph lever. A new skill.

mjncad · Dec 23, 2009

That is very cool. Please keep the pictures coming.

Barely Smokin' · Dec 23, 2009

Excellent job with the fab! Very nice.

So....is the wing plow's job to kick the berm over a couple more feet? Or to just widen the swath?

I noticed that the front of the wing plow is off the ground, so I'm assuming that the entire wing plow is not "level" when down. Is that right? Or is there some other adjustment I'm not seeing?

Curious if the wing plow has a specific application or "job", or if it's there just to move a little extra snow.

irvingj · Dec 23, 2009

Yes, really nice! Great job with the wood mock-up!!

beenthere · Dec 23, 2009

Barely Smokin' said:
...........
So....is the wing plow's job to kick the berm over a couple more feet? Or to just widen the swath?

I noticed that the front of the wing plow is off the ground, so I'm assuming that the entire wing plow is not "level" when down. Is that right? Or is there some other adjustment I'm not seeing?

Curious if the wing plow has a specific application or "job", or if it's there just to move a little extra snow.

Good read, and the wings' job is to push the snow berm over 2 - 5 ft. I've not tried the push bar extended as far as it will go. And correct, the front of the plow is about 6" off the ground. Partly by design (don't want to have to have a heavy wear strip added to the edge) and partly by default (the width of the front of the blade ended up a bit narrower than expected). Also, designed to "shelf" the berm and to push it over the edge of the ditch bank so the wind from the north will not drop the snow onto the drive.

One "fix" that may happen, is to lengthen the front plow support, to get the front of the blade closer to the ground (cool place for a hyd. ram

). But the wing not intended to just add width to the "cleaned" path, as this wing on will not easily allow the rig to be parked inside the shed. So it is off for the initial clearing of the drive, and not needed. But expect it to be very handy to push back and be more prepared for the next snow fall, and not feel trapped with close berms of snow and heavy drifting.

About to go out for some more test runs and for some pics. I need a photographer to get some video.

ovrszd · Dec 23, 2009

Mark_in_NH said:
I believe from the picture, that the rear brace is pinned to the drawbar and remains in a fixed position.

Actually by fastening one end of the rear brace to the drawbar and using the 3pt arm to lift he has increased the vertical height he can lift the blade, versus running the brace across both arms and lifting it in a horizontal position.

Great idea that I would have probably missed until I realized I couldn't lift it very high!!!