Skid pads??? Needed? Necessary?

[RedDirt]

I had the same problem with my snow blower, I made some ajustable brackets and put wheels on. I adjust the wheels so it is up enough not to hit the gravel and then when I take the blower off I put them down all the way and I can move it around the shed quite easily.

Thinking of doing the same.
Do you have a couple of photos of your wheels and brackets?
Thanks, Ray

 

[DGS]

I bought the skid shoes designed for my snowblower and they work great when they are finally adjusted right.
Having a gravel drive you need something to keep it off the stone
I have left them on all winter long as I have to use the blower come springtime as well. We always get snow after our first thaws hence the reason for keeping them on.
Regards
DGS

 

[RedDirt]

I'm coming down the stretch on my blower conversion and I am waffling between skids or wheels (for gravel road/driveway).

I'm leaning towards skids. Seems fairly wide and long skids would work best. I'm thinking 3 1/2" wide and about 10" long, leading and trailing edges arched up. Cutting edge settings at 1" and 2" above gravel.

I've considered as wide as about 5" to achieve the most "float".

For you guys with blower skids, what width/length do you recommend? Do they gouge when turning? Anyone have straight skids that swivel?

Swivel skid idea: Mount the skid on a round shaft through a pipe attached to blower. Shaft is attached to the skid 1/3 from front of skid. Skid is angled about 5 degrees up towards front. Maybe skid would track somewhat through a turn like a wheel caster? What do you think?

For the wheelie guys, what diameter/width works for you? I was looking at some Surplus Center 5"dia x 2" wide wheels. I think they should swivel so they don't gouge the gravel when turning.

We get transitional snow here. Rarely get a hard freeze. Mostly rather wet snow, dumps of up to 12"-16", lasts a few weeks then often followed by by rain and melted away so the shoes will be left on all winter. Road is fairly thin layer (3"+/-) of 3/4" crushed slate w/fines over hard pack clay mixed with decades old road base. Drive is in good shape, flat, no ruts, good stable base and good drainage.

 

[PILOON]

My drive conditions are similar.
2" x 10" skids work fine for me on a 60" blower and I leave them on all winter.

 

[RedDirt]

My drive conditions are similar.
2" x 10" skids work fine for me on a 60" blower and I leave them on all winter.

Thanks Bob. My drive is curved. Do your skids gouge the gravel when turning? What do you think of my swivel skid idea?

The gear change and TPH mounting fabrication went well: just waiting to get the gears back from machine shop that has big enough broach for the keyways. Then fire it up and check for vibration etc when fully assembled. Just skids and chute rotation and painting left to be done. Look for a post on the conversion soon.

Ray

 

[TRACTORMAN-DOWN]

do you have down pressure on the three point hitch,if not i think that is going to ride up all the time on you real bad if you have wet heavy snow,you should make short pipe skids that go the same direction as the blower and mounet them like you have that pipe, skids and bracket on the out side of blower, we never get snow here in maine

 

[PILOON]

Ray
Not really, and not enough to worry about as maybe that is only the first snow event.
Driving after first event compacts the base and then the skids are sliding on compacted base.
Actually after about 3 events the skids can be remouved, however I leave them on and just get a better base as time goes on. Since I also have a front plow I can trim this base back at any time. Also you can remouve the skids once the base is established and end up with a perfectly smoothe drive, better than it is in the summer.
(My paved drive is recycled pave compacted over dirt base so I have all kinds of bumps and dips. I needed to hard surface due to erosion and did not remouve rocks down to frost level. (4ft around here))

Also I did try swivil skid shoes with bad results on my plow.
The shoes would not swivil, the continued to track straight and gauged worse than without. Mushroom shaped skids (omnidirectional) are the only type that will work on turns (about 4" diam like Fisher etc use) At that (on a plow) they still dig in until the base is frozen hard!*
I think that for skids to swivil one would need the pins to be sorta 'L' shaped in order to let them swivel. Too complicated IMHO for the short time benefit.

* so with plows, we simply back blade the first snows to create a base.

 

[RedDirt]

Ray
Not really, and not enough to worry about as maybe that is only the first snow event.

Ok...good. I'll do the straight skids for now and deal with a swivel design later if I don't like the fixed ones. I'm making mine 10" x 3" wide as my top gravel is loosened up a bit each year after raking leaves.

Got my gears back from machine shop, assembled and did a test power-up last night. So far so good.

 

[garc]

 

[RedDirt]

Nice adjustable wheel design, garc. I'll keep it in mind if I don't like the skids I built.

I tried my 3x10 fixed skids on raw gravel and when level they dug in even with a decent upturned leading edge. I found if I tilt them up so front edge is 3/4 inch high they glide over the gravel with very little damage.

 

[garc]

Nice adjustable wheel design, garc. I'll keep it in mind if I don't like the skids I built.

Only used it once in our first 6" of wet snow and it worked very well ! First time with a rear blade as well. Bought the 369 pounder to keep the same balance my box scraper gives me. The casters keep it one inch off the ground when it's longitudinally level (lateral is on hydraulic float), I can tilt longitudinally with hydraulics for on the go blade height adjustment and not a mark* on my 1000+ feet of gravel driveways. *Caught the odd high spot which is as it should be .

 

[sw03]

Wahooo! Got it done.

I cannot express my thanks enough to all those who suggested the pipe on the front of the blade. I had a big ol' scrap of 1 1/2 sched 40 so that is what I used. Ran it through the table saw, it cut just fine. One slit was not enough, couldn't get it on nor keep it on. Ran it through again, side stepping 1/2 ".

Perfect. Fits like a glove. Here's to hoping it stays put. What a wonderful idea. Thanks again to everybody. Can't say I am anxious to try it, but I feel better prepared for the inevitable.

Good...I am gonna try it for a 200 ft concrete driveway I have...If it last for one year...great....Cheap and works not to kill it and the FEL.

 

[varmint]

I snowplow about 800' of a well-packed crushed asphalt lane (basically gravel from ground -up asphalt paving, so it compacts pretty well, especially in the summer heat!) using a 5' heavy duty rear blade, and I still had trouble with digging in... float the blade, but I have some weight on top of it, since I don't want it riding up over the packed snow. I had to add some skid shoes, which are about 4" x 8" with up-turned edges, but they tend to dig ruts in looser material. If they are set about 1 1/2" below the blade, everything works pretty well, but it ain't ideal. I liked the idea of a pipe edge, but I am thinking the blade would really just ride over the snow instead of plowing.

 

[varmint]

Ah- I went back and read this thread from the beginning... Schedule 40 PVC- that's a hoot, and I would guess it won't last more than a couple hundred feet. You can slit steel pipe on a table saw... you can, if you have a steel cutting blade, good hearing protection, good eye protection, and somebody else's saw. It's a nasty job, and the steel chips don't do the saw's internals much good. Maybe a grinder?

 

[garc]

Looks like post 49 got corrupted so here it is again

I blew out the pneumatic tires after one season so now I am running steel wheels successfully

You'll have to make your own mounting bracket as I did but much simpler than mine since it doesn't need to be adjustable, just tilt your blade to adjust blade edge ground clearance. Weld on a horizontal plate with a vertical support strut and you are done. Set the caster height to give 1" blade edge clearance with the blade vertical. The wheels (STY103-***-SS-T) came from Algood Casters in BC Canada, page 24. Word of caution: raise the blade before backing up or you will bend the caster assembly.

 

[Lefty7]

I concur- Although I don't have a kubota blade, but used a truck plow. It really helps the blade NOT to scalp the lawn when pushing the snow back over the driveway and prevent scraping of blacktop. However, once the ground freezes up enough, I don't take them off, I just set it higher so blade is touching ground more and it helps in the icy, harden areas.

I agree with radioman, but am using a truck, not a tractor. Been doing plowing this way since '77. I leave 'em on. They're not just helpful, they're absolutely necessary when I'm clearing the back part of my property, which is just mowed turf. Occasional traffic through there makes ruts in a variety if depths, widths and sizes, and my old Meyers plow feet float me over them. Without them, I'd be hitting the ruts and tripping the plow a lot and would bust something. Been there. Prefer to move the snow but leave the dirt.

Of course, the height adjustment is critical, especially when you're on crushed stone. I did lots of long country driveways for $ for 14 years, and in spring some folks would complain a little about the rock kicked off the side, sometimes into their lawn. I always tried to lift the blade just a touch on an upgrade, in an effort to minimize this. (I know, it's a pain come mowing season; I have to deal with it myself.) It's the difference between plowing, (pushing it around on the surface) and snow-blowing, (lifting it and throwing it). In some conditions, like a wet heavy snow, or when the snow is melting with warm temps, the snow acts just like glue, and will yank up the top, loose stones with the plow pass no matter what you do.

I always thought that a truck or tractor with directed lasers out front would be a big improvement.