Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Newbie plow tripping

[RNeumann]

I am new to snow removal. I have a 38hp tractor and chains on the front tires. The blade has 2 large springs for the trip mechanism. It also has hydraulic angle.

I used the thing for the first time today. I set the feet and was using the float feature for the FEL. It seamed like anytime I wanted to push a pile (anything more than about 10" or so) or widen an edge it would trip the blade. I'm sure it was taking some force to do so but it didn't seem like it. It felt nothing like getting sand in the bucket or any other bucket work. In fact I felt nothing at all- it just tripped.

Is this a normal part of the safety feature? If so are folks switching back to the regular bucket to move piles etc? I tried to move the piles 6-12" at a time.

Thanks for the advice....front snow blades are a whole new adventure!

 

[Ford850]

Normally they will trip when the bottom edge catches something on the ground, like ice sticking up or a rock. It's better for the blade to trip rather than bend something on the blade or FEL. If you are using it with the FEL in float, that puts even more weight and pressure on that edge so it is more likely to trip. Also, if you curl the blade too far forward it applies more force on the lower edge as it tries to climb up the snow pile and can trip the blade easier.
Try to keep the blade vertical rather than leaning forward or backward. Keep the FEL raised just enough to hold the blade off the ground to move the bulk of the snow, then come back and scrape it clean. If your blade has float built in, raise the FEL enough to keep the weight off the blade, allowing the blade to float on it's own (this is the best method).

 

[LD1]

What style of blade do you have? IS this a SSQA blade made for a tractor, or a converted truck plow?

Running the loader in float on a converted truck plow puts alot of extra weight on the plow.

Do you have any pics of your setup?

 

[skyhook]

A picture of your plow set-up would be nice but,,some springs have a nut at the end so they can be tightened. Depending on the size of the plow, you may be able to add more springs. My 7 1/2 has 4 springs, it originally only had 3 and I had the problem your referring to, adding the fourth spring eliminated that.

 

[s219]

Try not using the FEL float, as that puts all the weight of the FEL down on the plow and will cause issues.

 

[RNeumann]

I'll attach photos or a video today. Thanks for the tips about tightening the spring and using the blade without it tipped forward. I will also avoid float.
It is a SSQA style and it is new and supposedly designed for the tractor.
It might be me who isn't designed for the tractor.....haha

 

[RNeumann]

Here is a quick video of the setup. Thanks for the help and ideas about improving things!

Front blade/plow trip - YouTube

 

[camshawn]

A couple of things I see from you video, the springs are too loose. On the plough I have the springs would be about 2" tighter as a guess. The frame and angle cylinders should be level when you are ploughing. Set the shoes so that the cutting edge is just above the ground with the frame level. I just rest the cutting edge on the ground and go but the corners can dig in. I need to rework my shoe mounts.
My blade is frame mounted so I have no comment on floating the FEL.
Cam

 

[RNeumann]

Thanks for taking the time to look. I will move the springs to increase tension.

 

[LD1]

With that rigid plow setup, putting the loader in float.....what keeps the skid steer frame from just dropping to the ground and pitching the plow upward?

Keeping the A-frame of the plow level is the goal with any plow. As you have it pictured, you need to raise the loader a few inches.

I just dont see how that style of plow works well at all. You really need a float mechanism for the plow itself that doesnt rely on the float of the loader. All that weight of the loader on there aint helping your constant tripping issue.

 

[sailfast]

It will work best in float one everything is lined up and adjusted properly.
Springs. Angle. Shoes. ... then float. Should be no problem except in gotcha spots which you will figure out how to work with.

 

[RNeumann]

Well thank you guys for the advice. I went back out this morning and made the suggested adjustments. I got the A frame level by adjusting the feet up and moved the springs out to the point I could only get about 3 threads started before I needed a wrench to continue tightening it. IT MADE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!! The thing does great- even with the loader in float- BTW my loader has separate controls for up and down float and curl. In other words I can move the curl while floating the blade. Thank you guys again!
Mahindra 1538 snow blade/plow setup - YouTube

 

[Fallon]

With that rigid plow setup, putting the loader in float.....what keeps the skid steer frame from just dropping to the ground and pitching the plow upward?

Keeping the A-frame of the plow level is the goal with any plow. As you have it pictured, you need to raise the loader a few inches.

I just dont see how that style of plow works well at all. You really need a float mechanism for the plow itself that doesnt rely on the float of the loader. All that weight of the loader on there aint helping your constant tripping issue.

4shorts uses a fixed blade & floats the loader apparently & likes the setup. He built skid shoes for the back of the A frame so that takes some of the weight off the blade. Personally though, I'm looking for a floating plow again on my next plow. Loader float just made a mess of thing on my previous floating plow as you would expect.

Ridged loader & floating plow worked great. Around here we deal with so much freeze & thaw cycles we are often dealing with soft ground that isn't frozen solid. Need to put as little weight on the blade as possible or you are plowing dirt & gravel.

 

[LD1]

4shorts uses a fixed blade & floats the loader apparently & likes the setup. He built skid shoes for the back of the A frame so that takes some of the weight off the blade.

Thats the key right there.

Without that, there is no way to control the height of the SSQA plate.....and thus no way to control the angle of the a-frame. No control over that and it wont stay level when angled

 

[RNeumann]

It's nice the loader float is up and down only and the curl can still be adjusted on the fly. I can go from zero to over an inch the way it is set up now. I've never used the bucket level indicator but with the blade it is nice as it doesn't take much to change the depth significantly. I agree that this setup style won't work without the feet.

 

[skyhook]

Nice, and "if" you find it still trips too often, you can now add another set of springs in the old position.

 

[RNeumann]

Nice, and "if" you find it still trips too often, you can now add another set of springs in the old position.

Good point. I found a set locally and could easily add those. Seems like a lot of blades have 4 springs so I don't think it's too much.

 

[nybirdman]

Thats the key right there.

Without that, there is no way to control the height of the SSQA plate.....and thus no way to control the angle of the a-frame. No control over that and it wont stay level when angled

4shorts is plowing asphalt and concrete exclusively;for gravel or dirt "floating" the blade seems to work better.

 

[4shorts]

4shorts is plowing asphalt and concrete exclusively;for gravel or dirt "floating" the blade seems to work better.

There seems to be some confusion to why I put the skids on the blade. Yes most of my plowing is on asphalt but most of our back property is gravel. When I originally did the plow conversion my goal was to get the blade as close to the FEL as possible. Because it was moved back meant the rear of the blades "A" frame could have gouged out the pavement so I simply added those rear shoes to keep the rear frame up. Incidentally I seldom use float mode. I have much more steering control without it and the only time I will use it is on straight pushes if I use it at all.

 

[DK35vince]

There seems to be some confusion to why I put the skids on the blade. Yes most of my plowing is on asphalt but most of our back property is gravel. When I originally did the plow conversion my goal was to get the blade as close to the FEL as possible. Because it was moved back meant the rear of the blades "A" frame could have gouged out the pavement so I simply added those rear shoes to keep the rear frame up. Incidentally I seldom use float mode. I have much more steering control without it and the only time I will use it is on straight pushes if I use it at all.

I did the same thing.
My A frame and cylinders are under the loader arms to keep the plow close to the FEL.
I only added skids to the back to keep the cylinders from grinding in the dirt.
I never use float. Can't steer.