Putting a 2.75" hardened steel pipe on rear blade for plowing in soft conditions?

[In.the.Piñons]

The real questions is if the ground is that soft do you really even need to touch the ground with the plow?

With my roller coaster of a road, it would make my job 10 times easier if I could just drop the blade (float) and go. On a flat road, I could see just setting a blade 1" from the gravel and having at it, but that doesn't work with my road unfortunately.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

There’s no need to do anything to the blade. Just turn it around so the cutting edge faces the rear and drive forward. It will skim the snow off the road without digging in.

I did try this but I found my blade just collected the snow. To be fair the section of road I was trying it on was below grade, but still, when facing forward, the blade would still clear and push snow to the side of the road rather than just collecting. Maybe it would have done better with less snow, or dryer snow?

 

[In.the.Piñons]

Being that the OP has a FEL, I wonder if triple Edge Tamers might work for some conditions?

I have four Edge Tamers on my 84" bucket. Works great for clearing open areas/intersections. It fills up to quickly for plowing the roads though.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

I think I'll try the pipe since I already have it. Also, since I will have all those rear remotes soon, I can put the gauge wheel back on and see how that does. Maybe even revisit turning the blade around since I now have a hydraulic top link to play with the angle.

 

[jyoutz]

I did try this but I found my blade just collected the snow. To be fair the section of road I was trying it on was below grade, but still, when facing forward, the blade would still clear and push snow to the side of the road rather than just collecting. Maybe it would have done better with less snow, or dryer snow?

It does work better with drier snow and you have to angle the blade to kick it to the side. I don’t think there’s any snow removal solution besides a blower that would do anything differently on a below grade level road. It has to be able to kick the accumulated snow to the shoulder.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

The hottest month in Edgewood is June, where temperatures can get into the mid 90s. In July -August temperatures fluctuate between the mid 70-80s depending on whether or not it has rained that day. Now we are in the low 70s, headed for the 60s soon. It’s not really a hot climate; even Albuquerque only get an average of 4-5 days per year when they might break 100 degrees. Keep in mind that Edgewood is over 6,500’ elevation and where I live is 6,950’.

Ah, you're up a bit over Edgewood proper, which I'm sure helps.

Anyway, "hot" is relative and to me 80 is about the max I want to be subjected to.
The overnight lows of 30 lately has been delightful I think, and 65-70 for highs is quite nice.

I haven't even left a single window open overnight lately or the bedroom would likely get to below my preferred 55 degrees.

 

[jyoutz]

Ah, you're up a bit over Edgewood proper, which I'm sure helps.

Anyway, "hot" is relative and to me 80 is about the max I want to be subjected to.
The overnight lows of 30 lately has been delightful I think, and 65-70 for highs is quite nice.

I haven't even left a single window open overnight lately or the bedroom would likely get to below my preferred 55 degrees.

It has been in the 40s at night for the past week and low 70s for highs. September and October are near perfect.

 

[LD48750]

With 1/2 mile gravel drive/private road I tried the PVC pipe and steel conduit.
Neither worked for very long.
I then clamped some 2" angle iron to my york rake & was surprised by the results.
Now I have angle iron bolted to or replacing the cutting edge on front & rear blades.
I can even plow snow from grass areas without tearing it up.

 

[hoofty]

I have a few miles of gravel road that I need to plow - conditions are often soft. It's full of ups and downs, like a roller coaster, so being able to float my rear blade would make life a LOT easier. Turning the blade around does not work well because the rear of the blade is full of uneven edges due to all the reinforcing, so it just gathers snow.

It's a very heavy attachment, probably close to 1,600lbs and I'm hoping the pipe will allow the blade to "glide" over the gravel without digging in and messing it up too much.

I have done just that. I would use a larger pipe. Mine is 4" and I wish it 6". Get the thickest wall you can get. After 8 years of use mine is wearing thin wear it contacts the ground. I had a welding shop cut a slot in the pipe and it fits over the cutting edge on the snow plow. 3 steel straps bolt it to the plow and allow me to attach or remove it. I wish there were covers over the ends as it collects stones and dirt when the blade it angled. Works great to clear snow from my gravel driveway and grass areas with out destroying the sod or pushing all the stone off my driveway.

 

[strykerAKAmack]

UHMW link
picked up 2 2x6x48" pieces for my
Skidsteer plow ,bolted right on after drilling holes .

 

[Frxdy]

I have a buddy that cut a slot in a 10 foot 6 inch piece of 3" galvanized pipe with a "chop saw" for his 10 foot plow. He left 3 inches uncut on each end. He welded tabs and holds it on with 5/16" chain. It works great! We have non-frozen roads in the Fall, and the Spring, here in Maine. Wheels are no help, they just sink in the soft ground.

 

[barrowes]

I have a buddy that cut a slot in a 10 foot 6 inch piece of 3" galvanized pipe with a "chop saw" for his 10 foot plow. He left 3 inches uncut on each end. He welded tabs and holds it on with 5/16" chain. It works great! We have non-frozen roads in the Fall, and the Spring, here in Maine. Wheels are no help, they just sink in the soft ground.

I would vote for the "turn the blade around when the ground is not frozen" method.

I lived and plowed my 1/4 mile driveway in NH for 20 years with a straight blade. Until the driveway was frozen fairly hard, I would drive the tractor backward with the plow's convex side of the plow facing rearward, so it naturally glided over all the bumps and undulations of the driveway. Served to "sharpen" the plow blade as well.

Then when the driveway was froze hard (around later december), I would turn the blade around and again drive backward (always backward), but this time with the concave side of the plow facing rearward in the direction of tractor travel. This allow the blade to bite into the snow and scoop it away, but not bite into the driveway (because hardpack driveway was frozen hard like concrete).

Snow plows avoid most of the problems because they can tilt on a spring, so when they start biting into the ground (or hit a rock, etc.), they tilt forward by design. But if one is plowing with a straight grading type blade, that capability is not included (by design).

 

[panamaguy]

I have a local guy that gets it from the oil fields. Cost me $35 for 9ft length 1/4" thick, 2 & 3/4" dia. J55 tool grade steel, schedule 80.

Its actually 2 7/8 drill stem. Very hard and would last a long time for what you are doing.... But if you weld any tabs etc to the pipe you need to preheat it. I have used drill pipe lots to make what the oil industry calls tumble racks. So lots of heat were the mounting tabs are as it will disperse quickly

 

[henerythe8th]

I made brackets to hold snowplow shoes for when the ground is soft.

View attachment 4133412

This is the answer.
They made skate shaped ones, too!
Easy on/off!

 

[Gord Baker]

I have a few miles of gravel road that I need to plow - conditions are often soft. It's full of ups and downs, like a roller coaster, so being able to float my rear blade would make life a LOT easier. Turning the blade around does not work well because the rear of the blade is full of uneven edges due to all the reinforcing, so it just gathers snow.

It's a very heavy attachment, probably close to 1,600lbs and I'm hoping the pipe will allow the blade to "glide" over the gravel without digging in and messing it up too much.

 

[Gord Baker]

I have a few miles of gravel road that I need to plow - conditions are often soft. It's full of ups and downs, like a roller coaster, so being able to float my rear blade would make life a LOT easier. Turning the blade around does not work well because the rear of the blade is full of uneven edges due to all the reinforcing, so it just gathers snow.

It's a very heavy attachment, probably close to 1,600lbs and I'm hoping the pipe will allow the blade to "glide" over the gravel without digging in and messing it up too much.

No blade attachment will cure 'roller coaster' terrain.
Hire in a capable guy with a small dozer to plane off high areas.

 

[JsJs]

What you describe is better termed a trail. Road requires gravel bed to be called as such.

 

[dstriplett]

I'd say - if you have the money - go for a landscape plane. It contains the gravel and redistributes it evenly across the surface without carrying a ton of it from one place to another like a box blade can.

 

[Eebbee]

The blade came with a hydraulic gauge wheel, but it sits back about 3-4ft behind the blade. It didn't seem to work very well with my roller coaster roads, but then again I was new to tractoring back then. I could see gauge wheels that are right next to the blade working better, but that's a lot more of a project than fitting a pipe to the blade.

The gauge wheel set away from the blade serves the purpose of straightening the ground, leveling bumps and valleys.
You might be able to achieve what you want by setting the wheel closer to the blade so that the blade follows the actual road conforming to bumps and valleys instead of leveling them.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

The gauge wheel set away from the blade serves the purpose of straightening the ground, leveling bumps and valleys.

Let's say that the blade is equal distances from the tractor's rear tires and the gauge wheel.

If so, when the tractor goes over a 2" bump it'll lift the blade 1".

Now if the gauge wheel is as close to the blade as possible instead, that 2" lift may only result in raising the blade a 1/4" to 1/2".

There's a reason I put the wheels behind blades and box blades as close to them as possible, and make very long tongues for the towable ones. That way the tractor can move up and down quite a bit without affecting blade height much.

Of course, my goal is to create smooth ground, the OP wants to plow an undulating road - two different things. But having gauge the wheels (I think it'll take two of them, with fairly wide tires) as close as possible to the blade will work far better in his case.