Making a Plow - the sequel

[timo4352 147]

Sycoticca's success building the plow for his horse got me motivated to start mine. I've got a bit more to start with - this Deere plow was given to me. I tried briefly to sell it and got no bites, so today I started the process of making it fit my tractor. I've now got $38 bucks into it after stopping by the steel yard and picking up some 1-1/2" square tubing and some 3" angle iron. Just got the plow setting in front to size things up and get some measurements here. Over the next few days I should have something going on this. I would be interested in seeing underneath the rear of anyone's plow setup if you've got pix to post. I'm mostly concerned with how low I should have the rear of the frame - just below the axle tubes maybe?

Let's see - I've got a couple pics here somewhere....

 

 

[timo4352 147]

So, I spent most of the day Saturday and half of Sunday working on this and now have a working plow.

I made my own quick hitch for the rear end, I used the front part of the JD plow and fit my square tubing into it. The rear part of the frame I copied from wheel horse plow pics I've seen. It's nice having the electric lift on there,  I even pushed a little bit of gravel around the drive (after dark) just to see it work. I think it'll do just fine. I'll pretty it up some and paint it.  And may work on remote angling when I get the itch to tinker some more. If I leave it yellow - I think it needs a Meyer snowplow sticker to cover up the Deere

Now the question is will it be more fun snowblowing or plowing  .............

[Butch 194]

Nice!

[timo4352 147]

Just got in from pushing some dirt and gravel around and this thing works great. The tractor didn't even flinch. I'm sure when I've got the weights and chains on it'll be a beast. Good times. Good tractor - them Wheel Horses.

[timo4352 147]

Well....back to the drawing board....i just came in from plowing a pretty deep heavy snow, all was going good until I broke my homemade quick hitch thingy.

I was able to limp it into the barn and take the plow off and mount the snowblower up to finish the job. I'll try again with some grade 8 bolts, and maybe step up from the 3/8" to 7/16" or 1/2" as well.

I twisted those two grade 5 bolts, the upper plate got bent, and it scratched the hell out of my new white paint on the one rear wheel.

    this is the before pic - it's not so pretty now    

[bmsgaffer 2,043]

One more thing to note.

 

The quick-attach wheel horse mounts have a cross bar (crappily) welded in that keep the two pieces clamped to each axle at the right distance apart from each other and parallel.

 

I think it helps with the severe unbalanced loads this mount sees when plowing.

 

(I know about this because I just broke mine recently, and have been plowing and praying until I can get it re-welded.)

 

Also, the quick attach levers should be inside the plow frame so that the plow frame itself will help hold them together and prevent them from tearing up a wheel/tire. I would still do the grade 8 bolts too.

[timo4352 147]

right on the money 

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,033]

I like the addition of this feature introduced on the 5xi models.

 

 

Garry

[Stigian 1,234]

That's a nice it of fabrication work on the frame and rear hitch, it would be a good idea to fit the cross bar Brandon mentions. It will help with strength and getting the plow on and off with ease..

 

Here's a pic of a rear hitch I made for my 312-8

 

[dodgemike 52]

In the 60's our first Wheel Horse was a A Charger 10, I think. Dad and I went to a local scrap yard and found a perfect side out of a hot water boiler. Well some angle iron

and bolts and the old Lincoln 225 we had a snowplow. I went to our local dealer and even bought paint. Wish I had a picture.

[timo4352 147]

My plow frame was reassembled as first built, but using grade 8 bolts - I stayed with 3/8" bolts.

I've used the plow a couple times since, and today's 6 inches or so was heavy wet snow. So far so good. 

[Ken B 3,164]

Nice job on the blade. The blade looks good yellow! Put a Fisher decal on, much better than a Meyers! Lol!

[mrc 810]

i'm with ken on this one!!!  i love old school fisher speedcaster plows.  simple and rugged.  mike in mass. 

[Tankman 3,518]

Nice job on the plow mounting. I did a similar project 30-40 years ago.

 

Never worked on the angling of the blade from the driver's seat. Please post pic's if you tackle that part of your project.

 

The Deere stickers gotta go!  

[timo4352 147]

Well....... back to the snowblower... good thing I have both...

I broke my homemade rear hitch thingy again plowing yesterday. Never did get a support bar across there.

Disapointing...

may find a real WH plow for her someday and forget about this one...

[Phil854 130]

Nice job on the plow

[can whlvr 993]

whats breaking on your hitch,if you have the round notch deep enough the force should push on your angle iron,just throwing that out there not picking on your build,sound like she just needs tweeked a bit

[Ed Kennell 38,022]

2 hours ago, can whlvr said:

 not picking on your build,sound like she just needs tweeked a bit

I agree, don't give up.    Try switching the two brackets L to R and R to L so the angle is on the inside of the plow frame and on the heavier part of the axle.  Remove what appears to be a wooden wedge under the plates.  The plates will tilt and lock better to the tapered axle without them.

Then add another pair of bolts to each bracket near the inside edge of the plate as close to the axle as possible.  

[WNYPCRepair 1,916]

2 hours ago, can whlvr said:

whats breaking on your hitch,if you have the round notch deep enough the force should push on your angle iron,just throwing that out there not picking on your build,sound like she just needs tweeked a bit

 

 

It's hard to tell from the pictures, is the notch in the angle iron, or just in the latch part?

 

Nice work on the plow and mount, I agree, just needs some tweaking. Do you have pictures of how it broke? maybe we can figure out what is causing it from pictures, because the hitch doesn't look that far off from the factory hitch

 

 

 

 

On January 26, 2014 at 7:55 AM, gwest_ca said:

I like the addition of this feature introduced on the 5xi models.

 

 

Garry

My xi plow doesn't have the stabilizer, I would love to make one, can anyone provide pictures and measurements?

Edited January 20, 2016 by WNYPCRepair

[DennisThornton 4,769]

12 hours ago, WNYPCRepair said:

 

 

It's hard to tell from the pictures, is the notch in the angle iron, or just in the latch part?

 

Nice work on the plow and mount, I agree, just needs some tweaking. Do you have pictures of how it broke? maybe we can figure out what is causing it from pictures, because the hitch doesn't look that far off from the factory hitch

 

 

 

 

My xi plow doesn't have the stabilizer, I would love to make one, can anyone provide pictures and measurements?

 

Guess I learn something everyday here!  I've seen homemade stabilizers but didn't know Toro had a kit!  Pretty simple looking and while measurements would be handy the drawing alone with some comparing to the plow frame should get one close enough.

[timo4352 147]

Thanks for the encouragement. 

The holes for the cross bar are fully in the angle iron. I'll have to look at switching the brackets left - to - right. See if I can make that work.

It really needs the cross piece welded in there to hold the angle irons together --- keep them from twisting. I think that's the main problem --- an uneven load and it just twists the thing off the axle.

I would like to fix it.   It is nice to scrape the snow down with.

If it had springs, and folded when I hit something it would be way better too, but it does not, and that is another project.

That's why I was thinking I might be best to find a WH plow and be done with it.

 

 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

While I think your project has merit and that you could work the bugs out I would want the springs for sure!

[jeff lary 171]

Great job but I was wondering something,..

 if one side of your homemade quick hitch can move without the other kind of independent like, could all the torque put on one side bust your axel housing? I would hate to see something like that happen. I don't know what sort of forces are being generated at the rear hitch assembly but I am willing to bet that they are significant, maybe in the High hundreds to low thousands of pounds per square inch ? at the hitch when plowing and more if you snub up against something frozen solid like a rock. Keep looking her over it will come to you. I am sure you are clever I have every confidence you will figure it out. Jeff

[WNYPCRepair 1,916]

6 hours ago, timo4352 said:

Thanks for the encouragement. 

The holes for the cross bar are fully in the angle iron. I'll have to look at switching the brackets left - to - right. See if I can make that work.

It really needs the cross piece welded in there to hold the angle irons together --- keep them from twisting. I think that's the main problem --- an uneven load and it just twists the thing off the axle.

I would like to fix it.   It is nice to scrape the snow down with.

If it had springs, and folded when I hit something it would be way better too, but it does not, and that is another project.

That's why I was thinking I might be best to find a WH plow and be done with it.

 

 

Yeah, if it is twisting off, then the crossbar may be all you need to fix the hitch. 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, DennisThornton said:

 

Guess I learn something everyday here!  I've seen homemade stabilizers but didn't know Toro had a kit!  Pretty simple looking and while measurements would be handy the drawing alone with some comparing to the plow frame should get one close enough.

I could rig one, but I would like to duplicate the factory kit if possible

 

 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2016 by WNYPCRepair

[timo4352 147]

Found a WH plow locally for a decent price. Got the right hitch with it too. Fresh paint job on there today.

No more headaches with my Deere homemade plow.