Snow Attachments Seeking elegant way to attach PVC pipe to FEL bucket blade.

[Captain Dirty]

Half of the driveways I clear are stone or gravel. Using a PVC pipe over the FEL blade to limit "dig in" sure seems appealing.
How do you fix the pipe to the bucket? I have a 1/2" hole in each end of the bucket for the tooth bar I remove for snow clearing. If the pipe becomes brittle and fractures in less than a season it doesn't make sense to spend much time to fashion a bracket.

TIA, Captain Dirty

 

[LittleBill21]

use metal pipe, plastic is not going to last long.

 

[JerryK]

My experience is PVC does not hold up very well, especially any use well below 32 degrees. ABS, the black stuff, will take more abuse. But you are better off just biting the bullet and going to your local fab shop and buying a piece of Schedule 80 [1/4" wall ] 2" I.D./ 2.5" O.D. steel pipe split by their plasma cutter. Lots of shops up my way have stacks of them ready to sell for commercial plow trucks. Last one I bought was about $90 for 8' hunk with about a 3/8" slot cut into it. Then weld a couple tabs on that to bolt to your bucket. You can cover that with PVC if you want, the pipe support would probably keep the PVC from shattering so quickly.

 

[PILOON]

The colder it gets the more brittle any plastic will get.
As suggested, go metal from the get go.

That or make up a set of clamp on skids that raise the blade proud.

 

[jgayman]

It sounds like you need a pair of these.

Edge Tamer - Move Snow With Your Tractor Loader Bucket – R2 Manufacturing

 

[Soldier415]

It sounds like you need a pair of these.

Edge Tamer - Move Snow With Your Tractor Loader Bucket – R2 Manufacturing

Leaves too much snow on the ground and prevents being able to back drag with the edge of the bucket to pull snow away from buildings/garage doors etc.

 

[coolreinfarm]

I used 2” pvc drainpipe, cleared the driveway twice (blacktop) barely worn . I took a sawzall and took off about 1/8 inch down the middle beat it on the cutting edge with a rubber mallet. When it wears down I’ll flip it over to the other side. Pvc is inexpensive compared to other methods, not a scrape mark on the drive way!

 

[Stomper]

I just went through the a similar situation. I built mine out of steel tube and it works great. Check out the tread below it might help. The one I built is in the last few posts
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/snow-removal/388228-snow-moving-not-easy-i-8.html#post4934037

 

[Bob E]

I've had the same piece of pvc on my lawn tractor snow blade for about 4 or 5 seasons now. But, the 42" blade is fairly light, it floats, and I'm only riding along at walking speeds...
Slid it onto the cutting edge like coolreinfarm, but I used and angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to slit the pipe. As long as the kerf is narrower than your fel blade the pvc pipe should clamp itself in place.

 

[powerscol]

Try black Polly irrigation tubing (high pressure has the thicker wall then the 80 psi stuff). You can run a bolt through each end (use one of your edge bolts) You can cut it with a welding iron blade or a carpet knife that you heat with a touche. Some of the pipe brands actually has a line printed on it.