Snow Blade and the wheels

[jfischer]

Any out there have the Snow Blade with the Caster wheels on it? I was about to take mine off the new machine yesterday, and noticed that they seemed to have made the arms that attach it to the blade shorter then the old ones I have seen that were welded onto the blade.

If you go in reverse to drag something, the caster wheels won't turn around and roll like they should, but end up just hitting the blade, and dragging across the ground. It looks like they needed to add any inch or two more space between them and the blade.

What might you have done to fix this, (short of welding something to space them out more)?

Just a thought, I know that M R has them on his blade, but from the pictures it looks like they are the older type.
Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

Thinking about it, I never recall backing up with the blade on the wheels. I always lift when reversing, except when back-dragging from the garage door, and then I have it tilted forward and its off the wheels. However, I'm fairly certain mine will pivot 360 degrees without hitting the back of the blade. Next time I'm out (the plow is still on), I'll take a look. Mines a 2001 model year.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a picture of it (man, 14 years ago!) and you can pretty much tell they caster 360.

 

[jfischer]

Hey M R, I saw that picture of yours before, and why I said yours has a LOT more space between the blade and the wheels. Only reason I can think they shortened it, is people might be putting too much down pressure on the tire, if it is not in float.

I too would just tilt it forward to drag in two main places, off the front of my carport that hangs out about 10 feet with concrete, and in front of my garage that has about 10 foot that is on a slant coming out of it.

Here are a few (bad pictures, taken with phone) but will give you an idea of what mine looks like.
Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

Ahh... yours are bolt on option, correct? Mine are welded on. They weren't an option when I bought mine.

I wonder if your's work better with keeping the blade perpendicular to the ground when angling than mine do. Hmmm.....

Anyhow, since you don't back drag with the wheels down, it shouldn't ever be an issue going backwards, but I can see now what you mean would happen if you left them down in, say, soft dirt, loose gravel or grass... it would skid. Strange design.

 

[jfischer]

M R, that is the only design they offer now. They don't have the weld on version like you have. They are a semi hard style tire, even though they still have where you can put air in them, but are more rounded off then the older styles, that used to go down when it got cold, and come off all the time.

If things will dry up, and warm up a bit, I hope to get out and play around a bit. Things are just too muddy right now, and really don't see a reason to get all muddy and dirty if I don't have to.

I know when they were plowing at the factory they didn't have any wheels on their blades at all.

I think they should help a lot with doing my gravel road, and do as you said, and just kick it a hair back, to keep the blade off the ground, even though I know the crown of the road is going to mess with it a bit, but a lot better then the skids i used to use on the JD.
Jeff

 

[ponytug]

A couple of thoughts; those tires may not actually accept air, despite the tire valves. Mine came foam filled. I felt pretty silly for trying after Terry pointed that out to me.
If you were to move the wheels a little farther outboard, they would have more room to pivot.
It would change the angle of the blade, but moving some of the height rings from top to bottom would also open up more pivot space.
I agree that the easy ability change the height sounds like it will be of benefit on gravel, and other surfaces.

All the best,

Peter

 

[jfischer]

I called Terry at the Factory today and asked him about this problem. He said they have not used the longer extended Casters like on M R machine for 10 years. Said that the wheels are designed to only go in one direction. Found that if you made them longer with the bracket to extend them out, or bring them further out towards the end of the blade, that they would hit the tractor, (or I guess he was talking about the wheels on it) when they were any further out.

I will go out and see what I find when I turn it, as I think it has a pretty good angle all the way around when you turn it, and it keeps the blade from eating into the ground when you do swivel it all to one side, of which I have found I have had problems before with some plows.

They might be level and fine when it is straight, but go up or down on the ends when you turn it. Will tell of what my results are.
Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

I called Terry at the Factory today and asked him about this problem. He said they have not used the longer extended Casters like on M R machine for 10 years. Said that the wheels are designed to only go in one direction. Found that if you made them longer with the bracket to extend them out, or bring them further out towards the end of the blade, that they would hit the tractor, (or I guess he was talking about the wheels on it) when they were any further out.

I will go out and see what I find when I turn it, as I think it has a pretty good angle all the way around when you turn it, and it keeps the blade from eating into the ground when you do swivel it all to one side, of which I have found I have had problems before with some plows.

They might be level and fine when it is straight, but go up or down on the ends when you turn it. Will tell of what my results are.
Jeff

That makes sense. As you may or may not know, your model has a different FEL configuration than my 2001 model year. Yours has more lift height and the arms are connected in different locations. It makes sense that if you move the wheels outboard further, it will hit the front tires if you angle it all the way.

Several folks wanted to change the fixed rear wheels on the 60" finish mower to casters and quickly found out there's no room for the same reason. Took some thinkin' to get it working. :laughing:

 

[jfischer]

M R, I got a chance while ago to go out in the garage, and start the machine up and moved the snow blade up down, and right and left, and I do see if you moved the caster wheels 4-6 inches out towards the end of the blade, they would hit things when you turned them around, because they would be out longer then the blade is.

When I turned it all the way one angle or the other, it still has 9-10" before it would hit the front PT Tire, so I don't see why they couldn't have put that extension in there like yours has, rather then the 2" or so piece between the mount, and the round part holding the caster fork rod. They have it so far in now, that even if you stuck 4 or more of the spacers in it, (and screw all of the angle of the blade up) I still think it would hit. They just needed to make it like yours was. I wonder if it could have been why people had the problem with it rolling tires off the rims when they put down force on them? The tires are now foam filled. so that shouldn't be the problem.

I always lift the blade in reverse, except for the few places I need to back drag, and will just try to stick it in my mind to tilt the blade forward, so it won't drag the wheels.

Jeff

 

[MossRoad]

The pneumatic tires like mine came with roll off the rims on all of my wheeled attachments, (mower, brush hog and snow plow). I think it has nothing to do with down pressure. It happens when I go over small, sharp inclines and turn at the same time. Or, say, a large rock or stump. As the caster tries to pivot, the sidewall of the tire pushes against something and if the angle is right, the caster doesn't pivot and it pops the seal and down it goes instantly..... GRRRRR!!!!! :laughing:

I put solid hand-truck tires on one set of casters and they work great. I rotate that set of casters between my brush hog and snow plow, as they aren't used in the same season and I'm too cheap to buy another set. I should get them for my finish mower, though, as I pop them at least twice a month.

I wrap a ratcheting tie-down strap around the popped tire and that squeezed it enough to inflate it. I wonder if I can tube that small of a tire? Probably. Ah, I'm too lazy to check!

 

[ponytug]

You can get small tubes. I've got some small wheels that take a 4.25" tube.
Ask me if you want a tube...

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

Where did you get the tubes?

 

[ponytug]

Amazon, and I think Global Industrial. I fished around a bit trying to find a source where the shipping was less than the tube. They are for dollies, hand carts, etc. If you don't have a tube to match from, start with the tire size, and some of the descriptions will mention the tire size that it fits.

All the best,

Peter

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks, I'll poke around. :thumbsup:

 

[cqaigy2]

I picked up some inner tubes at Harbour Freight, that fit those smaller tires.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks!

 

[KentT]

I have the old style blade and similar vintage as MR's. As he alluded to, the biggest issue with using that configuration, especially when plowing my gravel driveway, is that when you angle the blade it changes the whole geometry of the setup. You can use the shims on the casters to set the blade height (in relation to the caster wheels) with the blade straight - then when you angle the blade the leading/front tip of the bladeg oes down and the rear tip goes up. This makes them pretty much useless for controlling blade height. I find that I often just leave mine set high, and try to manually control everything with the lift and tilt cylinders and controls. With them down, you can't do that because one or the other caster wheel will contact the ground before you can get that part of the blade at the height you want...

Moving the casters closer to the blade in the new design likely reduced this issue...

 

[jfischer]

When I did have the blade on it in the garage, on a good flat floor I set it so the blade was a hair off the ground, maybe 1/2" to 1", which I have found is good for gravel. The caster wheels were in contact with the floor. When I did an angle right or left, I don't think I saw it moving up or down on the ends, and the caster wheels were still in contact with the concrete.

I will check again, before I put it away for the Summer Season, and see if that is so, or I was just thinking it.

 

[MossRoad]

When I did have the blade on it in the garage, on a good flat floor I set it so the blade was a hair off the ground, maybe 1/2" to 1", which I have found is good for gravel. The caster wheels were in contact with the floor. When I did an angle right or left, I don't think I saw it moving up or down on the ends, and the caster wheels were still in contact with the concrete.

I will check again, before I put it away for the Summer Season, and see if that is so, or I was just thinking it.

If that's how its working when you angle it, pat yourself on the back, make note of how many shims are above and below and enjoy!