Thickness of quick attach plate to use

[MFWD]

Hello,
Yesterday, I just bought a used snow plow (one that had attachments for a truck) to put on my skid steer. It is a 1970's Meyers trip edge plow that is 7.5' wide. This plow is heavy duty, back when the steel was still good.I will have to fabricate a new mount set-up that I can put on a quick attach plate to fit my New Holland L170. The question I have is how thick of a quick attach plate should I use. Anywhere from 1/4" thick to 1/2" thick are readily available. I was thinking about using a 3/8" one because the plow is so heavy, but I could also get a 1/2" for about 20 bucks more. Is a 1/2" one overkill and a 3/8" one would work fine. Instead of welding the attachment point right to the plate, I would probably weld the attachment point to a bigger plate and then weld that to the plate. That would spread out the stress.
Has anybody here done this type of thing and what is your opinion? Thanks ahead of time for your help.


MFWD

 

[RNeumann]

My plow “plate” isn’t even solid all the way around. It’s around 1/4” at best and us shaped like an up side down U with just a steel strap across the bottom. I don’t see a need for 3/8” or 1/2”

 

[chim]

Best thing you can do is search the boards and Youtube before completing your plans. Different folks have different ideas and it's helpful to see what others have done. I recently used a 3/8" plate to build an 8' plow and it feels very sturdy:

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/407444-ssqa-snow-plow.html

 

[ruffdog]

My QA to 3pt adapter is 5/16 with the top edge being a 3/8 piece welded on. I would not go thinner than that.

 

[George2615]

I went with the overkill. My plate is 1/2" though now I think 5/16 or 3/8 would have been fine. I have seen other not fully solid plates with plow blades attached that have held up well. If you think about it really, we are using these to plow snow. I'm not using it as a dozer blade although I imagine at some point the snow blade may hit that immovable object. That's what cusion relief valves are for and they work well.

 

[ovrszd]

My plow “plate” isn’t even solid all the way around. It’s around 1/4” at best and us shaped like an up side down U with just a steel strap across the bottom. I don’t see a need for 3/8” or 1/2”

I agree. The plate itself is only there to hold the brackets. The beackets do the work.

I've built a few. I've had some failures. It was always the bracket design that failed.

 

[Xfaxman]

Hello,
Yesterday, I just bought a used snow plow (one that had attachments for a truck) to put on my skid steer.-------------------------------I will have to fabricate a new mount set-up that I can put on a quick attach plate to fit my New Holland L170. The question I have is how thick of a quick attach plate should I use. ----------------------------------------

MFWD

1/4 inch should be OK if you add reinforcement to the top, so it can't bend up with the leverage of the weight of the plow way out front.

Like the top plate on my fork frame bent up:

Replaced the bent top and added guessets:

Gussets on my stump bucket:

Gussets on the dual receiver hitch plate:

They also sell the blank heavy duty plate: Eterra Blank Heavy Duty Skid Steer Mounting Plate | Skid Steer Solutions

.

 

[ovrszd]

Gussets are your friend.

 

[ruffdog]

Nice lookin gussets too!

 

[Fallon]

The load profile for pallet forks is going to be pretty different than for a plow. With forks it will be wanting to bend open the top pocket most of the time due to the load & leverage. With a plow the force will mostly be pushing straight into the plate. It will pull down on the top pocket when running around with the plow off the ground, but not when plowing.

I'd go with a lighter plate & reinforce critical areas like xfmans gussets & a bar where the plow mounted if needed. Would cut down on weight a bit. Weight isnt that helpful for a snow plow like it is for a box blade. Snd you'll be welding on the plate anyways.