First time dozer blade user....quick question, PIC attached

[BigRed84 65]

Hi everyone.  I rexently picked up an old dozer blade to use as a back up since I've been having issues with my snow thrower throwing the chain.  Anyways, i used the dozer to push some dirt and leaves around....works great.  We got an early 4" of heavy wet snow last week here in CT so i got to use it for its inteded purpose.  Worked well....but not great.  Angle lever hits the muffler, not that big of a deal..but annoying.  In some spots....even with a flat driveway, the blade lifts slightly, leaving a thing layer of snow under it.  I just bought a stall mat to cut a 3/4" thick rubber edge.  

 

Anyways, my main question is regarding the angle the blade sits at.  In all my searching,  everyone elses blade seems to lean forward, so as to show the upper edge of the blade leaning slightly forward past the lower edge that makes contact with the ground.  Check out my picture.  Is something wrong? 

 

Also, is there a way other than adding weight to the front of the dozer frame, to put some down pressure on it....even when holding the hydro lever for a second it can easily be lifted.  

 

Thanks all! 

[The Tuul Crib 7,336]

30 minutes ago, BigRed84 said:

Hi everyone.  I rexently picked up an old dozer blade to use as a back up since I've been having issues with my snow thrower throwing the chain.  Anyways, i used the dozer to push some dirt and leaves around....works great.  We got an early 4" of heavy wet snow last week here in CT so i got to use it for its inteded purpose.  Worked well....but not great.  Angle lever hits the muffler, not that big of a deal..but annoying.  In some spots....even with a flat driveway, the blade lifts slightly, leaving a thing layer of snow under it.  I just bought a stall mat to cut a 3/4" thick rubber edge.  

 

Anyways, my main question is regarding the angle the blade sits at.  In all my searching,  everyone elses blade seems to lean forward, so as to show the upper edge of the blade leaning slightly forward past the lower edge that makes contact with the ground.  Check out my picture.  Is something wrong? 

 

Also, is there a way other than adding weight to the front of the dozer frame, to put some down pressure on it....even when holding the hydro lever for a second it can easily be lifted.  

 

Thanks all! 

 Might try and make a bracket in the front for you attach O-magic  bracket and weld something to put weight on it .

Edited November 21, 2018 by The Tool Crib

[moe1965 737]

I will  be a first time user as well this year.  If we get snow.  Can't help with your question but I will be tuning  in just in case I have the same issues 

[ebinmaine 67,277]

I've run plows on a couple different pickup trucks in the past but this will be the first year that I've used one on a garden tractor.

 

 

Wheelhorse had two ways of connecting the plow to the lift handle.

 

One way was to run a short length of chain from the lift handle to the same lever that pulls up on the mower deck.

Then that lever is connected to the plow frame.

In that method there is only the weight of gravity pushing down on the plow.

 

The other way was to eliminate the lever that lifts on the mower deck and run a solid bar from the plow frame straight to the lift handle.

That permits you to push down or forward on the lift handle to create down pressure.

This was known as The Wheel Horse Down Pressure Bar. I have one on my Patriot Horse and I like it quite a lot.

 

 

As to the angle of your plow. If top of the plow is tipped backwards in relation to the bottom of the plow it is not necessarily a negative. It will make it so that your plow will tend to lift the snow a little easier. That's particularly valuable up to five or six inch of snow but I found tonight while plowing about 8 in of snow that my tipped back plow blade was allowing the snow to come right over the top of the blade.

 

 

[wallfish 16,985]

You can add a solid link bar to replace the chain which lifts the plow frame. That will give you down pressure but the trade of with a hydro is, it doesn't float with the terrain as much. Adding a slot hole to one end of the solid bar will allow it to float up and down as far as the slot is long.

 With a manual lift the blade will float and the lift handle will move as the blade moves. Push on the handle for down pressure.

 

edit, looks like Eric and I posted at the same time. he beat me!

 

 

Edited November 21, 2018 by wallfish

[BigRed84 65]

Snow going right over the top is exaxtly what i was thinking might happen with this vertical set up....thanks for the replies and the arrow pointing to the adjustment location.  I'll take a look tomorrow to see if I can figure it out.  

 

Thanks!!  

 

P.s...is there a recommended throttle setting for pushing dirt or snow?  I was at roughly half throttle to push the 4" and it seemed to bog down just as i was getting to the side of the driveway so i wasn't concerner.  Wasn't sure if we should ever run full throttle without any additional load being taken from from the engine?

Edited November 21, 2018 by BigRed84

[jay bee 896]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

I found tonight while plowing about 8 in of snow that my tipped back plow blade was allowing the snow to come right over the top of the blade.

Holy mackerel, it's not even Thanksgiving yet and you have 8" of snow already?  Now I know another reason why I live in Michigan!!!

[ebinmaine 67,277]

6 hours ago, BigRed84 said:

recommended throttle setting

With an air cooled engine you ALWAYS want to be at LEAST 1/2 throttle when under load (driving is load) so as to keep things cool and happy. (And move oil, and charge the battery).

 

I run mine about 1/2 - 3/4 throttle whenever the tractor is in motion.

 

Very rarely am I at full throttle since I don't run any engine driven implements that need the engine speed for proper operation.

 

 

 

8 hours ago, wallfish said:

edit, looks like Eric and I posted at the same time. he beat me

No way John. You have the Awesome drawing.

[ebinmaine 67,277]

6 hours ago, jay bee said:

Holy mackerel, it's not even Thanksgiving yet and you have 8" of snow already?  Now I know another reason why I live in Michigan!!!

This year is a bit ambitious already.

We've had a dusting several times and last week we had 5 or 6 inches of snow too.

 

[BigRed84 65]

Thanks again for the suggestions everyone.  

 

Weather said my area would see 2 or 3".  We ended up with 6...by the time I got home from work to plow it the following day, it was a nice compressed/wet slop around 4".  I can't wait for the deep stuff!

[pfrederi 17,667]

WH suggests second hole from the top for the top pin through the springs.

[Sarge 3,463]

Most of the solid lift link setups will float to a small extent - the tab welded to the blade's frame has two holes - one round pin hole for solid down pressure with no float, the second is a slotted hole to allow some float action.

 

Pitching the blade forward/rearward changes the cutting action. All the way forward (bottom set of holes) is more for pushing than cutting. All the way back (top hole) is for the most aggressive cutting angle. If you're having problems with the blade wanting to ride up too much on frozen/packed snow the cutting edge is mostly to blame - it's not sharp enough or worn out, which is common. The stock edge is made from standard mild steel and prone to wearing pretty quickly - there are alternatives to replace it with other than a stock edge that are a lot harder but requires some fabrication skills. Most times the issue is the edge is simply worn out completely and the blade is riding on the backing channel/skin versus the sacrificial cutting edge. Look closely, it should be around 5/8" below the blade's main skin at a minimum - if not, it's worn out. 

 

Just fyi - there is a supplier that has lengths of 1055 high carbon steel that is per-beveled for a great cutting edge. Using either the 1/2" thick material it's not too hard to drill that 1055 with cobalt bits and file out the square holes to match the stock pattern if you want to keep the stock setup. This stuff wears far longer and will hold it's edge much better over time, not to mention it's a lot heavier than the 1/4" thick stock material. 

Titan attachments

 

Or, on Amazon -

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Bucket-Cutting-Hardened-Tractor/dp/B01B1TZXCShttps://www.amazon.com/Titan-Bucket-Cutting-Hardened-Tractor/dp/B01B1TZXCS

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkEk-SVEvHg

 

Sarge

 

 

 

 

[SPINJIM 1,981]

59 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

WH suggests second hole from the top for the top pin through the springs.

 

That's where I see most blades set, but I've had trouble lifting slushy snow with that angle.  I have two plows, so I'm going to set one at max back tilt (top hole), and the other at more forward tilt (fourth hole) to see which is better on wet snow versus fluffy snow.   Report to follow.

    Jim

[ebinmaine 67,277]

6 minutes ago, SPINJIM said:

 

That's where I see most blades set, but I've had trouble lifting slushy snow with that angle.  I have two plows, so I'm going to set one at max back tilt (top hole), and the other at more forward tilt (fourth hole) to see which is better on wet snow versus fluffy snow.   Report to follow.

    Jim

Please do keep us posted on that.

I'm in the experimental stages and learning how to plow this year as well so your info would be interesting for me to see.

[c-series don 8,666]

The bottom holes work best for spreading gravel/stone in a thin layer like top dressing. 

Tilted forward it won't want to bite in. For plowing I use the second from the top. I used to use the third from the top because I thought it looked cool! Then I found it works best in the second set!!! 

Edited November 21, 2018 by c-series don

[formariz 11,987]

I keep mine on the second hole from the top. As for downward pressure I tried the solid bar method, but did not like the fact that I lost steering when using it that way. In my circumstances steering is extremely important so is the flowing up and down of plow. So, instead I welded a threaded bar to a large square washer and in turn welded that to plow. That allows me to put extra weight on plow. It works extremely well this way particularly when also scraping snow backwards from tight spots.