Snow plow ? Beginner

[tacticalturnip]

Edge tamers will keep your bucket from gouging the pavement and the gravel,
Edge Tamer - Move Snow With Your Tractor Loader Bucket
View attachment 831048

You can also add shoes to your back blade.
If your pavement is smooth the back blade would not gouge into it.

These are absolutely worth their weight in gold.

 

[ray66v]

It has about 2-3" of float the way it was built. It is a "factory" snow plow, not sure who built it.

I'll guess then, there was some slop built in it.

2-3" of slop on the ends, will work to give you rotation on the center axis, meaning the right, or left side can raise or lower some. But, it's perhaps not enough to give you the straight up, or down movement you need for you terrain.

Sorry you are not satisfied. I honestly could not be happier with the way my loader plow works.

 

[BlueKnife]

Your plow appears to have no ability to "float"?

Most heavy loader plows are hinged, and hung from a chain, so it can move up if the terrain requires it to do so.

I've never seen a commercially made, loader mounted plow that hung from a chain. Seen pictures of homemade ones. That design isn't strong enough to hold up to bigger loaders, so you're not likely to see one either. Too much risk of warranty issues and bad press for the manufacturer.

 

[BlueKnife]

I guess the choice is getting to just getting one for the tractor. I'm thinking the 7'6" model to match the L3301's size.
Now to decide to get a mounted one for the front and remove the loader for the winter or a quick attach. I have third function already (diverter) and a 4 valve rear out(s) setup.

A frame mounted plow is lots nicer to use than a loader mounted plow on a light machine like yours. The problem with loader mounted is that it puts the plow far out in front of the machine and you end up getting shoved sideways when you're trying to push heavy snow off to the side. Only downside is that you can't stack the snow as high. Whether that's an issue or not depends on how your driveway is laid out. I'd get a frame mounted plow and then swap to the loader when needed to stack high.

 

[ruffdog]

I've never seen a commercially made, loader mounted plow that hung from a chain. Seen pictures of homemade ones. That design isn't strong enough to hold up to bigger loaders, so you're not likely to see one either. Too much risk of warranty issues and bad press for the manufacturer.

It is the way this bucket plow was made to float...see the chain?

 

[BlueKnife]

It is the way this bucket plow was made to float...see the chain?

View attachment 831201

Is that commercially made? Perhaps I should clarify that I mean SSQA or direct mounted, not bucket mounted. Can't say I've seen an angle capable plow that attached to the bucket. Seems like that'd be awfully ungainly.

 

[ruffdog]

This guy makes SSQA plows with 8-10" up/down float and 4" of wobble float. It has a linkage, not a chain. He also makes them as short as he can so they don't stick way out front.

 

[BlueKnife]

This guy makes SSQA plows with 8-10" up/down float and 4" of wobble float. It has a linkage, not a chain.

Right. Again, I don't think that they're available commercially with a chain. I could be wrong, but I've never seen or heard of one.

 

[ray66v]

I've never seen a commercially made, loader mounted plow that hung from a chain. Seen pictures of homemade ones. That design isn't strong enough to hold up to bigger loaders, so you're not likely to see one either. Too much risk of warranty issues and bad press for the manufacturer.

I honestly wasn't expecting there to be many commercially made loader plows.

Around here, I all I see are pusher boxes when I see commercial snow removal equipment.

Since they were originally pretty much all truck plows, adapted to use with a loader it was already designed to be lifted by a chain, so I guess most peopel just stay with it.

More or less building from scratch, I didn't see a need for it on my rig.

I really like the Minnesota Implements design. They clearly did things from experience, and have a very nice system.

 

[chim]

Addressing one concern mentioned - If a bucket or plow digs holes in an asphalt driveway, the driveway is worthless.

Chain suspension (for a loader-mounted blade) - It's the only way I'd have it. It allows the blade itself to float with just the weight of the blade. Designs without chains or the unique hinge in a link above have the weight of the loader frame bearing down on the blade.

There are quite a few DIY plow projects both here and on orangetractortalks.