Plow on Loader arm versus Sub Frame

[gerford]

I'm wondering how others plow with the new SSQA? Loader arms or sub frame mounted plow?

I recently traded in my BX 23 with a sub frame mounted snow plow and bought a B2610 with the SSQA. The BX 23 was a plowing machine, easy to use - up,down, left and right and it worked perfect
.
I'm having problems getting used to the loader arm mounted plow. Its so picky on the height of the loader arms and angle of the curl. A little high on the loader arms and the blade digs in, a little low and the blade rides high. the curl cant be too far back either.
Its a great feature to be able to take the plow off and put the 72" bucket with the SSQA but its not easy to plow compared to the sub frame mounted plow.
I'm thinking of getting the sub frame and plow and returning the SSQA plow to the dealer, which he said he would gladly do.
With the sub frame plow I would have to take the loader arms off to attach the plow and put them back on when I needed a bucket.

Pictures below show the SSQA plow uses a chain for a float so it can follow the counter of the ground and that works well if the loader arms are adjusted just right.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Do you check your level indicators when you set it down. Takes a little practice to train your eye but they work pretty good. Or you could modify them to something that works better for you.



gg

 

[Notforhire]

So much depends on your situation. If you plow a lot and don't mind switching between loader arms or subframe, I think a subframe mount is the way to go. If you need to switch often, it may not be worthwhile.
I've used both systems and much prefer a subframe mounted plow. Loader arm mounted plows were always too far out front for my liking. I don't like the side thrust on the loader arms, or the leverage against the steering.
The only plus to the loader arm mount (IMO), is the ability to swap back to a bucket easily.

 

[chim]

I have a similar setup and will take a couple pictures of the simple home made indicators that might help. They're just two magnets with Tyrap "whiskers" for referencing the loader position.

 

[RNeumann]

The FEL mounted plow works best if you float the FEL and use small adjustments with curl to set the cut. To me it looks like the feet are one spacer to high- meaning you need to get the SSQA too close to the ground. But this is hard to tell from the photos.
The chain is designed to keep as much weight off the blade as possible. If Durango is an area with freeze thaw all winter that’s a good choice. But if it’s an area like mine that stays frozen all winter the chain style doesn’t do me much good. I want all the weight I can get on the blade to cut the snow and ice. And even then I’m leaving a layer of ice on the driveway. I don’t know if the lack of weight could be part of the problem- do you feel like it’s skipping and more weight would help?

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I do not think I would mount a plow on my BX with only one curl cylinder. Kubota makes a frame mount attachment for a plow. It has hydraulics for rotation. I have the frame mount side to adapt a blade, but never got around to finishing the project. The small loader frames are very flexible, they are not designed to take stress laterally, only vertically

Ron

 

[gerford]

Those are some good suggestions.
I haven't looked at the level indicator on the plow blade at all. I use it on my bucket all the time and being new to the SSQA never thought about the level indicator on the plow. I did put the yellow wand on the SSQA to tell when its vertical and I'll keep an eye on the horizontal indicator on the plow.
Durango gets a lot of freeze thaw and we can get a lot of snow.
I've had the loader arms where they are to close to the ground and with varying terrain the arms runs it into the dirt and that is the tricky part.
When I was at the dealer it sounded like a great idea. Move the plow off and 2 minutes later you have the bucket on but the plowing is not as easy. I've got my wife and neighbor who fill in for plowing so it needs to be as easy as possible.

I'll go out and play some today and thanks for the advice on level indicator, washer height on the plow, curl, etc.

Here's a pic from a few years ago with the mighty BX playing in the snow.

 

[RNeumann]

If the loader arms are too close to the ground you need to lower the shoes. The level arm or level indicator is there for reference and repeatability. But it may be tilted forward or back depending on how much you need to cut. Obviously if you lower the shoes the level indicator will change.

You have a wonderful tool. You may need to make some tweaks but overall it will serve you well. I’d definitely keep the SSQA plow with all that snow- it’s more versatile than the frame mount.

 

[Sno]

Has anyone had skids or casters mounted at the ends of the loader arms so they can float at a set height over the ground? It would seem that might make the plow function like a frame mount although further out front. You’d need one more hydraulic circuit or use a plow with its own system.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I'm wondering if a second set of adjustable shoes were installed close to the SSQA, if that wouldn't help to solve the problem. Leave the loader arms in float and the weight of the loader can rest on those shoes and the shoes right behind the blade can control the blade without having to control the full weight of the loader too.

All things being equal I'd far rather use a frame mounted plow. When I think through all the forces involved I like where a frame mounted plow puts them vs a front end loader mounted plow. That being said I can also understand the convenience of an SSQA plow.

 

[RNeumann]

Before I spent any time putting shoes on the SSQA or loader I’d make the chain longer.

But before I changed the chain I’d lower the shoes on the blade. One spacer lower raises the SSQA or loader several inches to make the same cut.

 

[chim]

Has anyone had skids or casters mounted at the ends of the loader arms so they can float at a set height over the ground? It would seem that might make the plow function like a frame mount although further out front. You壇 need one more hydraulic circuit or use a plow with its own system.

Yes. The whole video is interesting, but at around 4:40 Paul goes into that. Mine is set up with chains, and because of the height of the frame on the Fisher bottom trip blade, the FEL arms can be carried higher and don't run aground. I prefer not to have the weight of the FEL arms constantly bearing down on the blade.

Viewer Question (Kubota Snow Plow) - YouTube

 

[lt190b]

I'm wondering how others plow with the new SSQA? Loader arms or sub frame mounted plow?

I recently traded in my BX 23 with a sub frame mounted snow plow and bought a B2610 with the SSQA. The BX 23 was a plowing machine, easy to use - up,down, left and right and it worked perfect
.
I'm having problems getting used to the loader arm mounted plow. Its so picky on the height of the loader arms and angle of the curl. A little high on the loader arms and the blade digs in, a little low and the blade rides high. the curl cant be too far back either.
Its a great feature to be able to take the plow off and put the 72" bucket with the SSQA but its not easy to plow compared to the sub frame mounted plow.
I'm thinking of getting the sub frame and plow and returning the SSQA plow to the dealer, which he said he would gladly do.
With the sub frame plow I would have to take the loader arms off to attach the plow and put them back on when I needed a bucket.

Pictures below show the SSQA plow uses a chain for a float so it can follow the counter of the ground and that works well if the loader arms are adjusted just right.

gerford, where is the interference between the loader and the subframe?

 

[chim]

I have a similar setup and will take a couple pictures of the simple home made indicators that might help. They're just two magnets with Tyrap "whiskers" for referencing the loader position.

Here is how my setup works. There are two ordinary magnets with holes in the center. A piece of a large Tyrap is held onto them with a screw from the underside. The magnets are placed on the loader arms to make the up/down and curl/dump positions easily repeatable.

One is located on the inside of the right arm so it is at the tip of the level indicator rod when the curl/dump is set. The other is placed on the inside of the left arm and references to the grille guard when the height is set.

The other picture shows what I was describing about the height of the lower ends of the FEL arms when the plow is set to the normal plowing position. There's close to a foot of clearance between them and the pavement. The blade has slack in the chains, and has a good range of movement to follow the contours encountered. It does well without applying the weight of the FEL arms. Probably because the blade was designed to work on a pickup truck without any down pressure. I have encountered a couple spots where traffic mashed the snow down and it was handy to be able to press down on it.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I like your indicator idea chim - thanks !!

gg

 

[Notforhire]

The other picture shows what I was describing about the height of the lower ends of the FEL arms when the plow is set to the normal plowing position. There's close to a foot of clearance between them and the pavement. The blade has slack in the chains, and has a good range of movement to follow the contours encountered. It does well without applying the weight of the FEL arms. Probably because the blade was designed to work on a pickup truck without any down pressure. I have encountered a couple spots where traffic mashed the snow down and it was handy to be able to press down on it.

I like the way you positioned the plow on the SSQA plate. I'm sure having it set back must really reduce the side pressure on the FEL arms.
I still would prefer a subframe mount, but if I needed to use the FEL your system would be my top choice.

 

[chim]

The inspiration was mostly from both Gordon's and Paul's mounting systems (links below). The setback is pretty much the minimum it takes for the blade to not contact the SSQA plate at full turn. Before using it I did have a concern that the 8' blade may act as a rudder if it weren't' cropped in close. The 4240 isn't a huge tractor but it hasn't been a problem. The indicator pics were taken today in the shed without the plow mounted, so they don't really show the view from the cab. You can see the idea behind it though. Here are the links:

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/408923-setback-underslung-ssqa-snow-plow.html

Viewer Question (Kubota Snow Plow) - YouTube

 

[DK35vince]

I like the way you positioned the plow on the SSQA plate. I'm sure having it set back must really reduce the side pressure on the FEL arms.

If the plows A frame is run under the loader arms, the plow blade can be kept much closer to the arms.
I've been running this setup for years and it works fine. ( converted 9' Western truck plow)

 

[chim]

Better Pictures and Explanation

Today was a nice day to park the RFM for the season and swap the bucket for the plow. The pictures I posted earlier weren't the greatest, so I snapped some today. The first photo shows what it looks like from the cab. In real life, the Tyraps are more easily seen than in this shot - more like the larger pics below. They are a simple method of getting the blade set straight vertically and having slack in the lifting chains.

For just pushing straight, the axis of the pivot point of the blade can be somewhat off vertical without being much of a problem. It becomes more important as the blade is rotated to cast snow to the side. The farther off of vertical the pivot point is, the more one tip of the blade will make contact with the driveway while the other end wants to be off the ground when the blade is rotated.

Second is a blowup of the left side. When the Tyrap is even with the crosspiece of the grille guard, the FEL arms are the ideal height.

Third is the right side. When the rod of the FEL level indicator is at the Tyrap, the SSQA plate is at the proper angle.

Last is a side view of the plow adjusted correctly. The frame is parallel with the driveway. That makes the pivot point perpendicular with the driveway surface. Adjusted this way, the entire bottom edge of the blade contacts the driveway surface regardless of how the blade is rotated.

The clearance between the frame and driveway is a measured 8-1/2". That's not as much as I had thought, but plenty to keep it from dragging.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

The FEL mounted plow works best if you float the FEL and use small adjustments with curl to set the cut.

What? Unless you've made a custom hinge like Chim et el, then no, no, no. The plow has float built into it so the loader stays stationary otherwise you're dragging the loader on the ground.

Anyway to the OP, I use the SSQA straight plow on the loader.

NotforHire's remarks are spot on. With a straight plow mounted on the loader, it makes for a long leverage arm increasing "plowing drama" in the deep heavy stuff.

Here is an ever-growing library of snow blowing and snow plowing videos from my channel. All but the last two videos use an SSQA loader plow, whereas the last two videos are a 12' commercial frame-mounted plow. Some videos in the playlist have toe-tappers while other videos just feature the diesel growling against the environment. Here is the first video with toe-tappers from that playlist that shows snow blowing, plowing, and that "plowing drama" I mentioned from the plow being too far "out-there" in front of the weight of the tractor. The "plowing drama" starts around the 7:00 mark.

That all said, if you get a SSQA loader mounted V-plow, much of that "plowing drama" experienced by a straight plow is mitigated by equal forces on each side of the v-plow when making the first run down a driveway. In other words, if you have the funds to do it, my experience says get an SSQA V-plow!