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Starting to get cold here in Utah, I think it's going to be one of those cold, but less snow winter. Sometimes it will be a snow year that buries us, hopefully, I won't need a snow plow.
Now that we are back on the subject of a snow plow...
Recommendations for whether to use shoes on the plow or not? The used unit I got did not have them. I could make up something (Meyer's shoes are expensive), but since the drive is gravel, not that well manicured, and I will not be using "float," I am assuming they are a waste of time. Any other opinions?
I have a LandPride 6' box scraper. I just don't bother to drag all the gravel back to the top of the hill and re-do the leveling every time it rains. I am looking for a ditching bucket for my excavator to make that job a little easier. Gravel = #57 limestone with fines .
When I did the drive with my bucket last year, I never went completely to the gravel. My 4WD gets up the hill with a couple of inches of snow just fine. I was planning to do the same with the plow.
jpanhalt-
I plow snow, once commercially but now days just for myself and a few neighbors. Angling the blade goes a long way towards reducing trails left behind from a full blade of snow, thus reducing the number of times to back-up and drop the blade again to remove that small snow trail that falls off the sides. There are situations where depositing snow to one side or another is the only choice over pushing it forward so angling again is necessary. If all you need to do is push snow forward then angling isn't an issue for you, even more so when attached to a tractor that doesn't travel down the road at 45-55mph. Mounted to a truck, an angled blade offers better aerodynamics and more importantly safer cornering to reduce hitting an oncoming vehicle at an intersection!
The plow is finished, except for getting some new hydraulic lines made (some of the ends leaked in the old unit) and the electrical. It will be power angling. I had planned to install it today and get some pictures, but I will wait until things dry out a bit from our rains last night.
BTW, I used POR-15/Chassis Saver polyurethane paint on it. It applies a lot differently than the acrylic enamels I am used to. It does dry to a high gloss without brush marks. I am a little worried about its adhesion to the base metal, but maybe that was because it was not completely cured after only 24 hours. Surface was very hard, but since it is moisture curing, I am hoping that is the reason.
Which did you use, POR-15 or Chassis Saver? Don't know about the chassis saver, but you know you need a top coat on the POR, don't you? POR is not UV stable, so it needs a top coat of another paint.
I used Chassis Saver. It has the same caution. My plow will not be left out in the sun. I don't doubt the effects of UV, but I think the topcoat suggestion is largely CYA advice. A local welding/hydraulic shop made a stump remover for his skid loader and used Chassis Saver on it. He leaves it outside year round. The finish is still in good shape after three years with what one might call just a little chalking on the surface. I have seen industrial enamel look worse in the same time.
My main concern is adhesion to the base metal. As for top coating, the cured surface is so glossy (I used gloss) that I wonder what would stick. As an aside, I used to use PPG DP 40/401 epoxy (and well as its other colors). It stuck to everything and everything stuck to it. You barely needed to wipe the mill oil off of steel tubing, and it still stuck. Of course, it is no longer available because of lead. Last year, I tried Dupont 1858S enamel primer on a sprayer frame. I liked the way it applied, and its acrylic enamel topcoat (just regular automotive chassis enamel) has stuck well. It was on the recommendation of the aforementioned welder that I tried Chassis Saver for this project. Next Summer, I hope to have my questions answered. For projects where appearance matters to me, I do like to spray. I think Chassis Saver would be a real PITA to spray, to say nothing of what it would do the the equipment. I did use a mohair roller on the large flat plate of my attachment, and it seemed to work OK.
Got it all pinned together and mounted on the tractor today. I was worried about getting the blade attached to the unit by myself (i.e., getting the blade attached with the two pins to the pivot unit). Turns out that was very easy. Just had the blade on its face, put the loader over it, and tilted down.
If it works as I hope, then next year I will shorten the distance that the pump hangs out from the loader mounting plate, which is 5/16 thick. The top bar is about 4"; it could easily be shortened to 1". I only used 2D CAD for this and was worried about clearances to reach the bottom pins on the loader hinge. Basically it is just a Meyer ST7.5 that I shortened the hinge distance from 31" to 16" and put the hinges on the bottom of a skid loader plate. I used 4X6X3/8 angle for that attachment. Based on some rough calculations, I put in gussets to reinforce the rear edge and face plate. Will get the hydraulic lines cut, system flushed, and hopefully have the battery connected to the control solenoid by Friday. Now, all I need is snow to test it (ugh). It was a gorgeous Fall day, as you can see.
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