Snow Attachments Best type of snow plow...

Yooper3830 · Oct 4, 2005

I have a 3830HST and I'm getting ready for my first winter with it. I have a driveway that is has a circle in the middle and is roughly about 100' long and 80' wide at is greatest point. I've plowed with my ATV for several years but in heavy snow the blade rides up and it's useless.

A friend has a 4340 and he bought a used truck plow and fabricated a quick attach and uses it on his FEL with the bucket tilt hydraulics operating the blade angle hydraulics.

I'm leaning more toward a rear plow. I have a 72" Befco backblade. I was thinking about finding (where?) some 1" rubber wear bar and using the backblade to plow in reverse (I know - sore neck time). I have blacktop that I want to protect so a metal wear bar isn't an option.

I work at a metal fab shop so I can be creative if I want.

Questions:

1. with a rear blade, does pushing backwards work better than plowing forward? My guess is yes because you're not packing the snow as you drive on it.

2. Any idea where I can get rubber wear strips?

3. Has anyone built basically an oversize box blade for the 3pt designed for snow? My drive is short enough that I could probably "capture" the snow in a box; I don't necessarily have to have it roll off the plow.

4. Anyone have any FEL based plow ideas the really work well fro them?

Thanks!

ronjhall · Oct 4, 2005

I bought a rubber cutting edge for my FEL mounted blade at this place. Click Here It's the last item on page.
Here is a thread where a edge was put on snow blades. Click Here There are some pictures of my blade.
I have a Curtis blade on my FEL. It works great. Here is a link to my photo gallery on TBN. It shows my blade mounted on FEL.
My old Farmall had a Myers truck blade mounted on it. It worked very well and a lot cheaper than my Curtis blade.

MFChief · Oct 5, 2005

I don't personally have a plow, so I have no experience with this, but several threads on this forum have discussed using strips cut from rubber mats made for horse stalls.
If you do a search for blade edging or such, you should find a lot of references to this.
Terry

odleefs · Oct 5, 2005

Urethane wear strips/cutting edges are even better than conventional rubber...check 'em out here

Good Luck,
Steve

keeney · Oct 6, 2005

I made awear strip for my small 54" front blade on my JD4100 out of UDPE - Ultra-high Density Polyethelene. Its a very abrasion-resistant plastic that can handle the cold.

I made the strip out of 1/2" by 4" beveled on both sides so I can flip it over when it wears out.

After last season, I figure I will get another season out of the first edge and then have to flip it over next year.

Pictures in the original post/thread:
54" to 66" Blade extension & Wear Strip

- Rick

Slamfire · Oct 6, 2005

(
1. with a rear blade, does pushing backwards work better than plowing forward? My guess is yes because you're not packing the snow as you drive on it.

Thanks!

)

Using the three point hitch in reverse, is not a good idea. You are putting the load on in the opposite way the design envisions. In the case of powder it doesn't seem to be troublesome, but with heavy wet snow it is possible to have problems with the lift arms rubbing on the inside of the tire if your sway adjustment isn't perfect. I would imagine you'd have more of the light dry snow in the upper pensinsula than wet, but it would probably be in greater volume than here in the mid south. I plow forward, limiting the rear blade height with position control so it never actually touchs the surface of my driveway. The tread width of my tractor is narrower than that on my trucks, so the snow packed by the tractor tires isn't much of a problem. Of course good snow tires help considerably with the little bit than packs under the truck tires. We have more trouble with freezing and thawing than yoopers do, so mud is a big consideration here. Good luck. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

jimmysisson · Oct 6, 2005

I've ben using an 8' pickup plow on the 3pt on my Massey 135 2wd tractor for 5 years. THere's a homemade triangle frame that uses the lower arms and an adjustable top link. Adjusting the link changes the angle of attack of the cutting edge. That's useful depending on snow, ice, light, heavy, etc. I use double ring chains on the loaded ag tires. Two problems arise: first is how slow the lifting is when cold - it takes about 1/2 hour to warm up the oil to get reasonable response time. Second is that you can only lift so high, not enough for high banks that we sometimes need here in western Mass. However, the tractor turns around basically in its own length, will push almost anything, and is easy to raise slightly for pushing snowbanks back over the lawn. The light front end makes turning a snap. Ya do get sore in the neck though.
My new machine (1993 2120 NH fwd) has a Fisher pickup plow on the quick-attach with the power angle run by the remote valve. Just got it so haven't tried a winter with it, but look forward to facing the front end for a while. That rig dangles the front of the plow from a chain, so you adjust the angle of attack by the height of the loader.
I don't know about abnormal wear on the 3 pt arms. I use rigid braces to homemade pivots bolted to the bottom of the axle housing and aligned with the 3 pt. front mounting pins, so I don't have much side sway. That works pretty well for most situations. My rear plow was just a cheap way to move snow, but it worked pretty well, just hard on the neck.

MikeIA · Oct 6, 2005

( Has anyone built basically an oversize box blade for the 3pt designed for snow? My drive is short enough that I could probably "capture" the snow in a box; I don't necessarily have to have it roll off the plow. )

I used some scrap plate steel to box in the ends of my 6' Howse blade. I braced them diagonally in to some existing holes. It really cut down on the amount of time it takes for me to clear my drive...no more chasing little windrows back and forth across the big area. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

SPT · Oct 6, 2005

I would try using the rear blade with a wear strip as suggested. I've used a 6 foot rear blade with liquid filled turfs on my B2910 on a gravel drive about 200 feet long (and level) driving forward. This leaves the FEL for clean up or other uses. With a little practice you don't need to turn around to watch much. I have rotated the blade 180 degrees when the ground isn't frozen solid and driven forward. Of course you don't have that problem or kicking up some stones with blacktop. I'm looking for skid shoes or something to keep the blade up a bit. Packing the snow really hasn't been a problem and I'm careful to lift the blade before turning too much. You may get a bit more snow however.
Good Luck

LBrown59 · Oct 6, 2005

Best type of snow plow...

A snow blade on A pick up.
What's better about it**** the heated cab.

George2615 · Oct 7, 2005

I took out my 4 bucket mounting pins w/ E-clips and replaced them w/ 1" dia. hitch pins from TSC for quick change. I got an old 7' truck plow blade and shaped and welded c-channel to the back of the blade to line up with the loader arms. Pull 4 pins to remove the bucket then mount the 7' blade with the 4 pins and go. Takes me about 10 min. to changover. Also welded skid plates or shoes to the blade bottom and by rolling / curling back the plow I can have the cutting edge anywhere from on the ground to up about an inch or two. I plowed about a half dozen driveways last year by straightblading like the guys that plow big parking lots do. Was much faster than using the back blade.

penokee · Oct 7, 2005

Gotta agree - can't beat the warm cab - Boss Plow works nice:V-plow, wing either side or scoop.
penokee /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

LBrown59 · Oct 8, 2005

( Gotta agree - can't beat the warm cab - penokee /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

If I had a 4x4 truck I'd get a snow plow for it and forget about paying about twice as much for a snow blower for the tractor and freezing my rear off to use it.

George2615 · Oct 8, 2005

Re: Your question #4. I have just added a few photos in the Mahindra section of my 4 pin change over from bucket to plow blade.
George

EdK · Oct 8, 2005

( ( Gotta agree - can't beat the warm cab - penokee /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

If I had a 4x4 truck I'd get a snow plow for it and forget ... )

Can't agree entirely with this line of reasoning. My neighbor and I share a drive. After about 1600' of common drive there's a fork and we each have another 800' or so each. Whenever we get a lot of snow - like 18", 24" or more, he is out there several times incrementally dealing with 8-12" of the heavy, wet stuff before his truck becomes overwhelmed.

With my tractor, I can wait until the storm is over and shove 24" all at once. Sometimes I can even watch the snow moving 10-15' in front of my plow. It can really push! I have a Fisher plow and a bobcat-style quick attach custom fabricated for the loader arms. I can easily stack 10-12' high as well - no slamming your truck into a bank.

MikePA · Oct 9, 2005

Would someone with a front mounted blade that doesn't angle describe how it's better than just using the FEL bucket?

George2615 · Oct 9, 2005

When I take my bucket off and put on the blade I can then push a path 90" wide instead of the buckets 60" width. Plus I don't have to lift and dump a bucket load of snow each pass. I originally attached the plow blade to the bucket but at the end of the pass the bucket was full of snow that came over the top of the blade thus requiring me to try and dump out the snow from the bucket with a 90" blade in front of it. Since my bucket mounts to the arms with 4 pins it was simple to replace them with 1" hitch pins and weld brackets on the plow blade. Hope this explains your question.
George

George2615 · Oct 9, 2005

I agree with you that plowing with a truck and heated cab is the best way to plow, I have a plow for my truck too but it's much more fun using the tractor.