Ploy cutting edge?

[Diesel_Brad 34]

Hey guys, I'm looking it add "wings" to my 48" plow to be able to scoop and cary snow a little further.

 

I plan on having them on about a 45* angle for less run off and it will also help when angled to not let snow run off the front edge

 

My concern is with a steel cutting edge on the wings "digging" in to my asphalt  Or do you think I am being worried over nothing

[stevasaurus 22,769]

You could put little metal feet on the bottom corners of your blade to hold it 1/4" up off the asphalt.  Use the star wheel by the lift lever to hold your blade up a little.  Do a search in "Implements & Attachments"  for dozer blades and you will find pictures of what others have done.  There may be a wing kit for you blade also.  Look in the Manual section for that.  

[Pullstart 62,931]

Check out a poly cutting edge.  I am not sure if there are small ones available, but they work great on commercial truck plows.

[ebinmaine 67,760]

I've considered doing the same thing to the same size plow but with a lesser angle on the wings so that the snow would come off the edges when I do have the plow angled. 

 

@pfrederi has a plow with a plastic cutting edge so he may be able to comment here. I don't know if he has any with feet.

@WVHillbilly520H does have information for plow feet. 

 

 

I'm under the impression that a lot of Pennsylvania snow storms are kind of on the warm and mucky side so my question would be if you get six or eight inches of heavy snow do you remove most of it with something else or depend solely on your Wheel Horse?

[Diesel_Brad 34]

Right now I dont have the best feel for the machine(New Holland GT22 Same as Toro/WH 522xi) But I am pretty pleased with how it handles 4" of SLOP. Unfortunately It just runs all over the place leaving me constantly chasing windrows. I have 200lbs of steel wheel weights and another 150lbs of rim guard in the rear tires. I changed out the turfs for Carlisle All Trails and studded them. In the front I have 50lbs of weights on the front tires.

 

For any large amount of snow I have the 2 stage 44" blower which works GREAT on everything but the wet slop

 

I made wings for a 6.5' plow I had on my ford ranger and it worked quite well. But that obviously weighed quite a bit more and I had 1.5" rubber cutting edges on the wings

Edited January 4, 2021 by Diesel_Brad

[ebinmaine 67,760]

4 minutes ago, Diesel_Brad said:

weighed

That's the key word right there I think.

 

I have an 1974 Wheel Horse c160. Stock weight is less than 600 lb. With everything that I've done to it and me sitting on it it weighs about 1,300 lb. 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

4 minutes ago, Diesel_Brad said:

Right now I dont have the best feel for the machine(New Holland GT22 Same as Toro/WH 522xi) But I am pretty pleased with how it handles 4" of SLOP. It just runs all over the place leaving me constantly chasing windrows. I have 200lbs of steel wheel weights and another 150lbs of rim guard in the rear tires. I changed out the turfs for Carlisle All Trails and studded them. In the front I have 50lbs of weights on the front tires.

 

For any large amount of snow I have the 2 stage 44" blower which works GREAT on everything but the wet slop

 

I made wings for a 6.5' plow I had on my ford ranger and it worked quite well. But that obviously weighed quite a bit more and I had 1.5" rubber cutting edges on the wings

I have 2 XIs and find them rather impressive but they've not yet been through the snow test.  I am surprised that you have yours weighted to the max and yet you aren't happy with them.

Snow blowers are awesome but sometimes you need a slushblower.  Seems one has to build their own with rubber wipes on the impellers.  Makes a HUGE difference!

I had terrible issues this weekend with a new to me blade that just loved the snow and wanted to keep all of it!  Snow was just right for not wanting to slide either...  I'm gonna sand it smoother, though it's not that bad, and then I'll try some lubes.  Lot's of thoughts about snow glides in a can on this forum but I help much because I've seldom used any.

 

I do hope you can fine tune your GT22 and share your successes because I have a XI with a 48" 2 stage that I want to use next season.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

6 hours ago, stevasaurus said:

You could put little metal feet on the bottom corners of your blade to hold it 1/4" up off the asphalt.  Use the star wheel by the lift lever to hold your blade up a little.  Do a search in "Implements & Attachments"  for dozer blades and you will find pictures of what others have done.  There may be a wing kit for you blade also.  Look in the Manual section for that.  

The xi series don't have the "star wheel" or manual lift, but if the factory blade it has provisions for the skid shoes that "may" still be available, if not I did a thread a while back with a blueprint and dimensions to make new ones. 

 

3 hours ago, Diesel_Brad said:

Right now I dont have the best feel for the machine(New Holland GT22 Same as Toro/WH 522xi) But I am pretty pleased with how it handles 4" of SLOP. Unfortunately It just runs all over the place leaving me constantly chasing windrows. 

Do you have your front sway bar attached? Are you trying to take a full swath every pass?  This is my blade weighted down this past slushy/ice...

Edited January 5, 2021 by WVHillbilly520H

[JoeM 7,874]

I think I know what you want but like Jeff says some weight and keeping it stable with a bit over lap might be the answer.

 

Something different maybe somewhat the same is a snow pusher. it worked good. floated it a bit with the slotted bolt area and locking self locking nuts, bottom angles acted like skid runners and stopped it from digging in.  Did not angle it just pushed pretty much straight and it would push a pretty good jag. Fuel for thought

 

 

 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

32 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

The xi series don't have the "star wheel" or manual angle, but if the factory blade it has provisions for the skid shoes that "may" still be available, if not I did a thread a while back with a blueprint and dimensions to make new ones. 

 

Do you have your front sway bar attached? Are you trying to take a full swath every pass?  This is my blade weighted down this past slushy/ice...

I only have a mid-mount blade and a 2 stage for my XIs.  Are you saying the XI snow/dozer blade doesn't have 5 manual angles like the others?  I sort of picture both of mine with cabs and one with blade the other with blower.

[Pullstart 62,931]

@Diesel_Brad have you read about the roller chain trick?  One wrap around the front tires (deflated) then re-flared will help with the snow pushing your front end...

[DennisThornton 4,769]

48 minutes ago, JoeM said:

I think I know what you want but like Jeff says some weight and keeping it stable with a bit over lap might be the answer.

 

Something different maybe somewhat the same is a snow pusher. it worked good. floated it a bit with the slotted bolt area and locking self locking nuts, bottom angles acted like skid runners and stopped it from digging in.  Did not angle it just pushed pretty much straight and it would push a pretty good jag. Fuel for thought

 

 

 

Thanks for reminding me!  So now I need another tractor for snow chores!  One with a blade, one with push blade with sides and of course one with a blower.  Nice!  Oh!  And of course 3 hard top cabs!

 

And!  Now I wonder if rather than a push blade with both sides if it wouldn't be handy to have a right handed and left handed push blade to catch those snow flakes that don't slide like they are supposed to!  Maybe angled sides that would face forward when the blade was angled

 

That's TWO MORE tractors at least!

 

Seriously!  Well, perhaps more seriously, it would save me quite a bit of time if I can't have a wider blade but could just contain what I do try to push and the snow not spill out.  If I had blade sides that could be deployed and retracted.  Sides that would face forward even when the blade was angled.  Not extensions.  Not catch more snow but just keep it from sliding out.  Heck, even if it just manually slid on and off, drop over a couple of bolts.  I have a pretty long driveway and usually have to go over it twice to really clean it off.  Sometimes 3 times for heavy snowfalls.

 

Easy on and off side catchers.  Angled forward when the blade was angled!  

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by DennisThornton
slide to slid

[ebinmaine 67,760]

17 minutes ago, DennisThornton said:

side catchers.  Angled forward when the blade was angled! 

That's about what I was thinking. 

Whatever side is forward would have the extension pointing straight. 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

2 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

That's about what I was thinking. 

Whatever side is forward would have the extension pointing straight. 

Yes!  I really hate getting on and off but it would still save me time if after all the main removal was done I could cleanup with the angled catcher.  Probably could just use one side for the little remaining snow.  Should be an easy project.  Plus, my new to me Bolens is only a 42" blade and all the snow stuck to it so I just came off a rather aggravating snow removal where this angled catcher would have been a hit!

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

1 hour ago, DennisThornton said:

I only have a mid-mount blade and a 2 stage for my XIs.  Are you saying the XI snow/dozer blade doesn't have 5 manual angles like the others?  I sort of picture both of mine with cabs and one with blade the other with blower.

No (stupid fat fingers of mine) meant to write "isn't manual Lift" not angle... I corrected that above.  Yes the xi is 5 position but the old ones were only 3. Plus they have the front anti-sway bar to keep the frame from wiggling in the rear attach-a-matic.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

2 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

No (stupid fat fingers of mine) meant to write "isn't manual Lift" not angle... I corrected that above.  Yes the xi is 5 position but the old ones were only 3. Plus they have the front anti-sway bar to keep the frame from wiggling in the rear attach-a-matic.

Ahh!  That's better!  Don't have the XI dozer/snow blade yet but I'd like to.  Then I'd need another XI though, blower, dozer and grader.  

 

Funny thing though.  I think I'll miss my manual lift and down pressure for the dozer/snow blade!  So precise!  I can push snow off of unfrozen gravel driveway.

 

You know!  I'm guessing that lots of folks with blacktop don't know what I mean.  When we first got the TC35 I was pretty new to hydraulics and FELs.  Gal thought we should buy a snowblower for it but I said let's wait a bit.  First snowfall I put about half of the driveway in the yard!  Tractor didn't care if the drive wasn't frozen yet!   Then we ordered the snowblower!  But even it can make a mess out of a soft driveway!  

 

Then I got the Wheel Horse blade and learned how to lift up the blade a bit and can now tell the difference between soft snow and soft driveway!  I don't ever want to give that up!  Not until the driveway freezes solid!

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

@DennisThornton, I have a front mount snow blower and plow ordered and on hold for my Mahindra eMax, hopefully picking it up this Friday, they both use the same sub frame so I can swap between them with ease , hope to make my life easier.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

30 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

@DennisThornton, I have a front mount snow blower and plow ordered and on hold for my Mahindra eMax, hopefully picking it up this Friday, they both use the same sub frame so I can swap between them with ease , hope to make my life easier.

My 74" blower is awesome but doesn't agree with my neck anymore!  Rear mount...  I fabbed up a 7ft snow blade that slips over my front bucket that is pretty easy on and does work well but I really only need it for 6" and over, which we get!  BUT, my little 48" WH cleans better and I think is pretty darned quick on 4" and under.  I run in high gear, zip up to and around things and really scrape the driveway.  If I get to some driveway here and there the sun helps melt it off and I get way less ice buildup especially Feb and on, but even now.  If you can swap quickly then I predict you will enjoy this winter much more!  I'm not as thrilled as I use to be...

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

8 hours ago, DennisThornton said:

My 74" blower is awesome but doesn't agree with my neck anymore!  Rear mount...  I fabbed up a 7ft snow blade that slips over my front bucket that is pretty easy on and does work well but I really only need it for 6" and over, which we get!  BUT, my little 48" WH cleans better and I think is pretty darned quick on 4" and under.  I run in high gear, zip up to and around things and really scrape the driveway.  If I get to some driveway here and there the sun helps melt it off and I get way less ice buildup especially Feb and on, but even now.  If you can swap quickly then I predict you will enjoy this winter much more!  I'm not as thrilled as I use to be...

Once I get it home and pulled out of the crates and mounted I will detail it all here on RS (in its own thread of course).

Edited January 5, 2021 by WVHillbilly520H

[shallowwatersailor 3,213]

 

17 hours ago, Diesel_Brad said:

Right now I dont have the best feel for the machine(New Holland GT22 Same as Toro/WH 522xi) But I am pretty pleased with how it handles 4" of SLOP. Unfortunately It just runs all over the place leaving me constantly chasing windrows. I have 200lbs of steel wheel weights and another 150lbs of rim guard in the rear tires. I changed out the turfs for Carlisle All Trails and studded them. In the front I have 50lbs of weights on the front tires.

 

For any large amount of snow I have the 2 stage 44" blower which works GREAT on everything but the wet slop

 

I made wings for a 6.5' plow I had on my ford ranger and it worked quite well. But that obviously weighed quite a bit more and I had 1.5" rubber cutting edges on the wings

 

Brad, are you using the sway bar that goes to the Front Attach-A-Matic pictured in my 1st photo? The .5xi has a longer wheelbase than other Wheel Horse tractors so the Toro engineers initially offered a retro-fit kit before making it standard after experiencing the blade swaying. I had two, one a Toro and the other NH but both had the swaybar. Without that the dozer blade will have a mind of its own. I tried a rubber edge on the NH dozer (called it my 48" squeegee!) and a poly edge on the Toro dozer. These photos are from when we lived in Maryland. Some winters we would have no snow and others we we would have blizzards with 36" of snow!

 

On my 518xi I ran four 43# suitcase weights mounted on a rear receiver hitch and about 160# on the rear wheels with turf tires. No additional weight on the front end but did not experience the handling that you described. I eventually did install Kenda K502 Terra Trac tires that really improved traction. With them I was able to clear a neighbor's driveway pictured in the fourth photo. The last photo is the final rendition before being sold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by shallowwatersailor

[Diesel_Brad 34]

22 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

That's about what I was thinking. 

Whatever side is forward would have the extension pointing straight. 

And that’s exactly how I plan in making my wings. On a 45° just like I did on the truck plow

[Diesel_Brad 34]

Yes. I do have the anti sway bar as you call it

[Diesel_Brad 34]

I bought some 48”x 1/2”x 4”. I will make the main plow cutting edge out of it and the “wings” edge out of it as well

[ebinmaine 67,760]

24 minutes ago, Diesel_Brad said:

I bought some 48”x 1/2”x 4”. I will make the main plow cutting edge out of it and the “wings” edge out of it as well

That oughtta be pretty close to rugged enough. 

[ebinmaine 67,760]

On 1/5/2021 at 5:26 PM, Diesel_Brad said:

wings

Any updates on this project yet Brad?