Snow Plow Build

[George2615]

No float, no rotating/articulating blade, and no hinged brake-away blade. I don't mean this as critical, but be careful. Even with those three features if not careful mine adds a lot of stress to my FEL arms and frame. Maybe I like to drive too fast.
I like the bright yellow. Mine is black, and when clearing the drive entrance at the road (it's a hidden drive), it makes me nervous to have the blade out there too far.

As Kenny mentioned, the cutting edge itself trips. There are 4 adjustable springs that allow it to trip.
When straight across the plow is no further out than my standard QA bucket.
I will be able to use float once I install the 4 shoes. 2 on the blade and 2 on the back of the A frame.

A crossover valve wont work with a DA cylinder. Differing amounts of fluid.

When trying to collapse the cylinder, it will try to bypass MORE fluid to the rod side than it can hold. Since hydraulic oil wont compress, its as good as not having a crossover valve at all.

When trying to force it to extend, you have to create ALOT of vacuum around the rod seal, will likely suck in contaminates and dirt/water and have limited effect on acting as a cushion.

Not sure what you paid for the DA cylinder, but you can get a PAIR of 1.5x10 SA cylinders for ~$70 delivered. Then you KNOW the crossover protection will work perfectly.

Quick Attach and HLA sell plows with a single DA cylinder that uses a crossover relief. Seems to me the relief would only allow fluid from the extend side of the ram to bypass to the retract side. Am I not correct?
Also, where can you get 2 single rams for $70.? When I was pricing rams they were $70. each.

 

[LD1]

Special Buy Snowplow Welded Cylinders - Single Ports

They went up a little bit. Probably the time of year it is.

I bought a pair of 10" stroke cylinders back in the spring for $29ea

 

[George2615]

Special Buy Snowplow Welded Cylinders - Single Ports

They went up a little bit. Probably the time of year it is.

I bought a pair of 10" stroke cylinders back in the spring for $29ea

I see they are now $41. each. Not a bad price but mine require 1" dia. pins and these use 3/4".
(nevermind, I found other cyls. with 1" pin dia. Thanks,)

 

[Buggs67]

I like your build.

And the yellow is a good idea for visibility. I painted mine yellow also. Here's an old pic before I got my tractor.
:laughing:

It's the plow from my quad. If I can find a small used plow maybe I can rig something to my tractor. But with the snowblower, quad and FEL I think I'm ready.

 

[Ford850]

The cutting edge trips on this style blade rather than the whole blade.

That makes more sense. I can see the pivot points now... thanks for the correction.

 

[BAP]

Most snowplows that are built to angle, need to be able to flex as they angle. If it is rigidly mounted when it turns, it will end up with the edge closest to the tractor digging in and the farthest edge off the ground. Hopefully there is enough flex to let it lay flat on the ground when turned. I would be hesitant to put the loader in float because if you hit something frozen, the tractor is apt to try and drive over the plow because the plow will come to a stop, but by being in float, the lift cylinders will retract, allowing the front of the tractor to go up.

 

[George2615]

Most snowplows that are built to angle, need to be able to flex as they angle. If it is rigidly mounted when it turns, it will end up with the edge closest to the tractor digging in and the farthest edge off the ground. Hopefully there is enough flex to let it lay flat on the ground when turned. I would be hesitant to put the loader in float because if you hit something frozen, the tractor is apt to try and drive over the plow because the plow will come to a stop, but by being in float, the lift cylinders will retract, allowing the front of the tractor to go up.

My plow does not flex as you say. The blade is attached to the A frame with 2 pins that it pivots on. As long as the A frame is level the blade will turn level and not dig in. I have installed 4 skid shoes. 2 on the plow and 2 on the back of the A frame. When I lower the loader arms down the plow sits on the 4 shoes and the cutting edge is about 1/2" off the ground. I can turn the blade lock to lock and the cutting edge remains level. I can raise or lower the shoes depending on the driveway being frozen or not.

 

[George2615]

Special Buy Snowplow Welded Cylinders - Single Ports

They went up a little bit. Probably the time of year it is.

I bought a pair of 10" stroke cylinders back in the spring for $29ea

Bought a pair of cylinders, swivel fittings and hoses at a local plow shop today. They do not carry cushion valves (crossover relief). Went to several places to find one but no luck. One more place to check tomorrow then I'll give up looking and order one.

 

[LD1]

Bought a pair of cylinders, swivel fittings and hoses at a local plow shop today. They do not carry cushion valves (crossover relief). Went to several places to find one but no luck. One more place to check tomorrow then I'll give up looking and order one.

How much were the cylinders at the local shop?

 

[George2615]

How much were the cylinders at the local shop?

Got the 2 cyls. swivel fittings, and 2 hoses for $90. Had I ordered them the cyls. alone plus shipping would have been that much.

 

[Fallon]

Bought a pair of cylinders, swivel fittings and hoses at a local plow shop today. They do not carry cushion valves (crossover relief). Went to several places to find one but no luck. One more place to check tomorrow then I'll give up looking and order one.

A crossover relief valve & cushion valve are different I believe.

A crossover relief dumps cylinder ports together when overpressure. A cushion valve is a plunger on a spring. When overpressure the spring/plunger collapses a bit to temporarily give.

 

[Green Power]

Good looking plow George! Get some action pictures when the white stuff comes.

 

[LD1]

Got the 2 cyls. swivel fittings, and 2 hoses for $90. Had I ordered them the cyls. alone plus shipping would have been that much.

Thats a pretty good price :thumbsup:

I think you will be much better off with the 2-cylinder setup

 

[George2615]

Mentioned in post 27, the A frame is level. Plow blade turns left and right and cutting edge remains even to floor. Plow sits on 4 adjustable height skid shoes. Trip edge is 1/2" off the ground. Dual cylinders installed. I'll probably use the DA cylinder for a top N tilt on the 3 pt.

 

[nybirdman]

After the ground freezes you should be able to remove the skids and scrape right to the dirt/asphalt.

 

[George2615]

After the ground freezes you should be able to remove the skids and scrape right to the dirt/asphalt.

Not if it is like last year. Ground was only frozen for about a month and I plowed up a lot of stone using the bucket to plow with. Also created a lot of tire ruts in the yard in Feb. when I pushed the snow banks back across the yard which I thought was frozen. I had to re - level (rake) the driveway in the spring.

 

[George2615]

A crossover relief valve & cushion valve are different I believe.

A crossover relief dumps cylinder ports together when overpressure. A cushion valve is a plunger on a spring. When overpressure the spring/plunger collapses a bit to temporarily give.

The valve at Surplus Center site says it is a cushion valve. The valve is a Prince #DRV-4HH. I just bought and installed one on my plow. Bought mine from a Hyd. shop in PA for $68. plus shipping. Paperwork that came with it says it's a crossover relief valve. (differential poppet double relief)

 

[George2615]

My final version was to put 2 cylinders on instead of the one DA cylinder. Either setup will work since they are plumbed to the cushion relief. One local tractor store said he uses a single DA cyl. for plows he installs on tractors and does not use a cushion relief. (Maybe he doesn't use them so he can fix them when they break) The standard plow cylinders give more angle than the DA cylinder so I went with them. I'll use the DA later for a top N tilt. I've also removed the rear set of skid shoes. It's easier to use with just the front ones. Only used it once so far a few days ago for a small 4-5" snowfall. Had to have the loader arms hold the blade up. Plow shoes left trenches in the gravel driveway since its not frozen yet but worked very well on the paved driveways I plowed.