Modified Snow Plow Lift Link

[edgro 677]

I have areas of my drive that I can never seem to clean to the concrete because of the blade floating.

I like to have the float because I also have a gravel area, and for piling the snow.

I have been thinking it would be nice to have a lift link that would allow float, but could be easily pinned to provide down pressure.

It was sunny, in the 40's here in Michigan Saturday so it was a good tractor day.

This is what I have come up with. With a pin in the hole, we have push, with no pin it's float

I'm going to add a spring to keep the link pulled back to the frame when in float

 

[AMC RULES 37,135]

 Great idea.   

[JoeM 7,874]

There you go! Good thinking.

 

[SylvanLakeWH 26,054]

Another great Michigan  idea!!!

 

 

[Sarge 3,464]

Most of the blade frames have 2 holes to mount the lift link - one is generally slotted about 3/4", which allows for a little bit of float but generally it doesn't work very well overall. Lot of things come into play, such as front tire height, linkage wear and such. Great way to solve this !

 

Sarge

[ronhatch 406]

Nice work on your new lift link!  

  Because of my "High Clearance" 867, (see picture on the left) I had to remove my original lift link and replaced it with a chain to lift the blade which works fine on my blacktop drive but, like you, there are times I want some down pressure.  When needed, I put my foot on the angle lever and push on it. Of course that only works for a 75 year old guy with the lever forward (blade angled to the left), which is fine depending on the  plowing pattern. 

Edited January 21, 2018 by ronhatch

[WVHillbilly520H 10,374]

1 hour ago, ronhatch said:

Nice work on your new lift link!  

  Because of my "High Clearance" 867, (see picture on the left) I had to remove my original lift link and replaced it with a chain to lift the blade which works fine on my blacktop 

Fine looking "Row Crop" you have there 

[Tankman 3,520]

Excellent fab, engineered very well.

[edgro 677]

Thanks for comments, now we need some snow to test it out. (Raining here now)

[jeff lary 171]

 very good idea !, I really like to improve the tools I have, as well gives a feeling of accomplishment

Edited January 22, 2018 by jeff lary

[edgro 677]

So, after plowing with this, I realized down pressure works best with back blading, which is helpful with a few spots I plow. Its a PITA to have to put that pin it and out, so here is second phase of invention. I threw it together and used it today, and surprisingly enough, it seems to work. If I hold the lever engaged, and drop the blade it stays in place, then when I raise the blade it self releases. Shocking to me that a quickie invention actually works on the first attempt. I did have to leave the tunnel cover off, may do something with that later

[edgro 677]

Been snowing daily here, had a chance to use this more. It actually works quite well. I've got a lot of spots that I could never scrape clean due to the blade floating. Now we have down pressure on demand to get those areas

[Sarge 3,464]

Cool idea, maybe a remote cable to lock it on/off that you could mount on the handle of the blade's angle lever ?

 

I've used barbell weights in the past, stacked right on top of the blade's frame, helps a lot . All of mine are hydraulic, but added weight makes a difference.

 

Sarge

[edgro 677]

On 2/6/2018 at 10:49 AM, Sarge said:

Cool idea, maybe a remote cable to lock it on/off that you could mount on the handle of the blade's angle lever ?

 

I've used barbell weights in the past, stacked right on top of the blade's frame, helps a lot . All of mine are hydraulic, but added weight makes a difference.

 

Sarge

Yes very good thinking. That was in my thinking also, then I figured out about having the lever come up through the tunnel area

[Sarge 3,464]

Could just get a spare cover panel - slot it for the handle and add a dogged leg slot to lock it in place, as well as a return spring.

 

Sarge