Snow pusher on gravel.

[DJ54]

Thanks for the visual DJ54. If only I was a welder!:confused3:

There's only one way to learn.When I was around 14, Dad sat me down with a pile of scrap metal, and a 50 lb. box of 6011, 1/8"rods. Still have the old Mid-States 180 amp buzz box, and still works fine. I've since graduated to a good used Millermatic 200 MIG. Great for new steel, but still use the old Mid-States, and vintage tall upright Lincoln 180 amp welders, for doing repairs on some not so new steel, on whatever.

I fix, and build a lot of things around here, but when it comes to custom built truck hitches, I take it to a pro.

 

[b737drvr]

Yeah, that’s what I thought when I jumped in with both feet when I needed to weld something on my equipment trailer. A buddy of mine lent me his cheap Harbor Freight welder, and I decided I pretty much sucked at welding (of course maybe the welder wasn’t the greatest either) In any event, if I ever really need something important welded, I keep my welder neighbor down the road from me in business!

 

[ray66v]

I plow 325' of gravel drive with this setup, and by packing down a layer of snow. I only move about a 5 gallon pail of gravel each season.



The casters allow the plow to be set above the gravel, until a base is compacted. Once a base is there, I can put the blade all the way down.

It also has a steel pipe in font of the cutting edge.

You DO NOT need to slit the steel pipe. It's a lot of unnecessary work. Just weld 2 tabs on it, and bolt it to the front of the plow.

 

[PA hayseed]

OP, 3 questions

1) when you use a snow pusher, do you put it in float, and is the adjustable rubber piece int he back even with the metal?
2) When you use pipe, are you using schedule 40 or 80?
3) You are talking about a snow pusher right? not a snow blade or rear blade or box blade correct? I see people talking about a lot of other equipment ideas that might not work with a snow pusher.

I have a different issue than you, I need uhmw pads/skids, the vendor sells them, but they want 560.

 

[PILOON]

I run a heavy truck plow with shoes on it. Sometimes the road is so soft that the shoes don't provide enough float so I get two grooves from the shoes plus the blade digging in. In those cases I take off the shoes and raise the plow a hair to take the weight off the cutting edge and plow the road that way. It makes a messy plow job because the angled blade is not parallel to the road surface every where and in the dips and rises I leave piles. But then I just back drag the whole thing to neaten it up. It does leave a little snow on the road but that is fine by me.

gg

Agree. I also back drag to leave a nice finish.
However for early season results I have welded oversized 'shoes' onto my blower so as not to blow gravel and on my angled plow blade I added one oversized to the dragging corner blade.
Works!
I made that oversized shoe like 10" with an upturned front. (like a small sled) as I found that the factory mushroom skids simply dug in much too much.

 

[dennis103]

With my 8.5 v-plow on my truck, I have had good luck running the truck up and down the road or driveway to pack the snow down and give the shoes a compacted base to ride on.

 

[PILOON]

Yep!
I do same when first event is a mere 3-4 inches as for sure you want a base to work on.
However nothing is worst than 8 inches of wet on unfrozen ground as we had.
Shucks gravel, grass and shrubs all took a beating this year.
The city plow truck even plowed more gravel than snow.

 

[herm0016]

Yep!
I do same when first event is a mere 3-4 inches as for sure you want a base to work on.
However nothing is worst than 8 inches of wet on unfrozen ground as we had.
Shucks gravel, grass and shrubs all took a beating this year.
The city plow truck even plowed more gravel than snow.

yes. our first real snow was 16 inches on the warm ground! my drive is all tore up.

 

[jake98]

All the way down, then 2 taps up seems to be the key for me. But I'm gonna put a pipe on the edge too. Or move south.

 

[bridge4]

All the way down, then 2 taps up seems to be the key for me. But I'm gonna put a pipe on the edge too. Or move south.
View attachment 631107

:laughing:

One or other hu :thumbsup:

 

[ten300]

I always drag the first couple snowfalls. Or if it’s a good dump of snow, do a poor job clearing the snow then drag. Helps the base set up quick. Maybe try that

 

[JerryK]

Several steel/fab shops in our area carry 2" I.D. thick wall [ Sch 80 ] steel pipe that they cut length wise with a plasma cutter with a boot a 1/2" [ ish ] slit in them to slip over the blade edge. I got both of mine at Gaylord Machine for in the neighborhood of $80 each. I have one on the cutting edge of both my front blade and front blower. Weld tabs on them to put a couple bolts thru the blade to make sure they stay on. I went the ABS plastic thing for years, but that never held up. And PVC pipe really shattered quickly, especially when really cold. A lot of plow trucks up here in God's country use the pipe method. Still will dig in if the ground is soft, but better than most methods. Here is a picture of my little 1526 front blade and 2555 blower both with the split pipes on the cutting edge. Leave the pipe on the blade and push leaves off my trails, too. Just put the 3/4" plastic wings on it for snow in the winter.

 

[Corm]

I have a mile long gravel driveway. I clear snow with a very HD Rhino rear blade. If I need to clear snow before the driveway has frozen, rock hard - simply reverse the rear blade 180 degrees and plow forward. It will nicely clear the snow and leave the gravel right where it is.

That is exactly what I've done for years. Works great!