Has Anyone Converted a Manual Angle Adjustment Arm to a Linear Actuator?

[rmaynard 15,518]

I have a 416-H with a 48" snow blade. I also have a "Matt's" foot pedal conversion. The problem is that the angle adjustment arm has always conflicted with the foot pedal. Has anyone ever converted their angle adjustment to a linear actuator or hydraulic cylinder?

[ebinmaine 67,672]

I thought about doing both but have not attempted it yet.

I'll be following along to see what the answers are.

 

The issues I came up with on each thing are:

 

Electric linear actuator would work very well to MOVE the plow but might not take the shock of hitting objects hidden beneath the snow or going up against a frozen snow bank. 

It would be just a tad slow. That doesn't matter at all to some people. Just want to bring it to your attention.

 

Additional hydraulic circuit on a tractor that already has hydraulic lift would be fairly easy to add but likely somewhat pricey.

 

 

[Handy Don 12,237]

Following along, as well...

 

21 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Electric linear actuator would work very well to MOVE the plow but might not take the shock of hitting objects hidden beneath the snow or going up against a frozen snow bank. 

It would be just a tad slow. That doesn't matter at all to some people. Just want to bring it to your attention.

Agreeing with these two points (and noting that the notched plate that locks the plow position is pretty beefy to absorb hits). If you were clever, you could retain the latching plate and have an electromagnet lift the latch pin whenever you wanted to change the plow angle and then drop back in by spring action--I'm thinking of something like a car door locking mechanism.

 

22 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Additional hydraulic circuit on a tractor that already has hydraulic lift would be fairly easy to add but likely somewhat pricey.

This is fairly easy if you have a Sunstrand hydro with hydraulics because the pump pressure relief is built into the pump housing so another circuit can be added (some of the HY control valves were able to be stacked to achieve this).

If you have an Eaton 1100, where the pressure relief is built into the single-spool lift control valve, plumbing another circuit is much more complicated and pricey--I've done a bunch of research on this.

Some (or all?) C-195s and some (or all?) D's had two circuits from the factory.

[ebinmaine 67,672]

6 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

(and noting that the notched plate that locks the plow position is pretty beefy to absorb hits)

I should clarify that I was going to leave the lock position out of of mine. 

The actuator or hydraulic cylinder would have been a point of contact. 

 

[Achto 27,609]

I'm going to be doing this very thing with a C-195 shortly. Running a set of remote lines to the front and adding a ram to pivot the blade. Will do a post on it once I get into it. Cub Cadet had an add on ram to pivot the blade that could be used with some of their tractors, My Dad's 782 for example had remote hydraulic ports front and rear on the tractor and a blade with a ram to pivot the blade. 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Achto

[ebinmaine 67,672]

5 minutes ago, Achto said:

I'm going to be doing this very thing with a C-195 shortly. Running a set of remote lines to the front and adding a ram to pivot the blade. Will do a post on it once I get into it. Cub Cadet had an add on ram to pivot the blade that could be used with some of their tractors, My Dad's 782 for example had remote hydraulic ports front and rear on the tractor and a blade with a ram to pivot the blade. 

Will you be using the ram as the lock position point or still using the existing plow lock pin?

 

 

[Handy Don 12,237]

14 minutes ago, Achto said:

I'm going to be doing this very thing with a C-195 shortly. Running a set of remote lines to the front and adding a ram to pivot the blade. Will do a post on it once I get into it. Cub Cadet had an add on ram to pivot the blade that could be used with some of their tractors, My Dad's 782 for example had remote hydraulic ports front and rear on the tractor and a blade with a ram to pivot the blade. 

With hydro, I'd go without the lock plate. With electric, I'd want to keep it--maybe incorporate the mechanical latch control with the electric pivot control.

If you already have a second circuit, valving it to manage a different cylinder is quite straightforward.

Have long envied the built-in Cub and JD remotes at the front and rear of the tractor. My goal is to emulate that on a 520.

[Achto 27,609]

19 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

Will you be using the ram as the lock position point or still using the existing plow lock pin?

 

I'll be ditching the lock pin and using the ram to lock position.

[wallfish 17,015]

An additional hydraulic cylinder can be added to a circuit by using a double selector valve. A selector just allows for one control valve to operate two separate double acting cylinders. Unfortunately only one at a time but it's a simple thing to add a cylinder that way.

Agree, the cylinder can handle the forces applied so no need for a mechanical lock position. Actuator, probably a good idea to let a mechanical lock mechanism take the brunt of the applied forces instead of the actuator. 

 

Bob, would it be better to redesign the handle itself?

Flat bar can be bent in vise. A new piece of flat bar can be bent to go around the foot control or bend the existing handle? Pic of your set up?

[rmaynard 15,518]

I have already bent it too many times.  I should find another one. The more that it is extended outward, the less leverage you have, and the easier it is to bend.

[EB-80/8inPA 1,655]

3 hours ago, wallfish said:

Flat bar can be bent in vise

I tried that.  The closest I could get was an arc in a piece of bar stock I was working up from scratch.  Decided to grind away the original where it was contacting the PTO in two places.  That actually worked, but then when plowing at an angle, the plow pulled out from the mounting bracket (which it never appeared to be fully engaged by now matter how much I tried).  One humorous consequence of this was that it pushed the plow sideways and the control lever over to where it interfered with the brake pedal.  That was fun!  At this point I’m out of ideas.  The implement cross reference doc doesn't seem to mix and match for different years, so the only valid part shown is for the B-80’s years of production.  I’m going to reenlist the no name 8 for plowing as its plow at least matches up and it works.  Unfortunately, I have other stuff to repair on that machine and soon enough the snow will be flying.  If you look carefully you can see where I butchered it all up to clear the PTO:

[rmaynard 15,518]

16 hours ago, wallfish said:

Bob, would it be better to redesign the handle itself?

Flat bar can be bent in vise. A new piece of flat bar can be bent to go around the foot control or bend the existing handle? Pic of your set up?

 

John, as soon as I get the plow installed (probably Sunday), I will get some pictures.

[wallfish 17,015]

EB80 makes a good point.

Bob, What about a curved flat bar section? I know you don't weld so a new section can be bolted on by drilling 4 holes. I have a curved piece from a snowblower attachment you can have.

[rmaynard 15,518]

@wallfish I'm going to have to look at that possibility. Once I have it installed again, I will try to envision that kind of mod.

 

I like the design of the lever for the XI series as pictured below.

 

[wallfish 17,015]

That crude drawing is probably a bit dramatic size wise for the amount the handle needs to avoid the pedal but I could wrong. Or, if it's only a 1/2" - 3/4" or so of space needed, maybe just double up that section of the handle with another flat bar bolted to it and cut or grind out the needed space. The added piece of steel will support it.

Just think'n out loud

[edgro 677]

Here is what i did to solve the problem

[rmaynard 15,518]

The other thing is that the bar hits the muffler when pushed forward. The modification above would solve that problem as well. 

[ebinmaine 67,672]

12 hours ago, edgro said:

Here is what i did to solve the problem

 

 

 

Nice work. 

 

I've had a plow on a B80, 1267-ish, and C160. 

Both of the B & C tractors of course have the separate brake pedal that the earlier model does not. 

The boots I wear to move snow are HUGE. 

 

I solved the above by moving the whole plow frame forward about 2" by reconfiguring the axle bracket. 

I could then leave my trailer hitch on year round as well.  

 

 

[EB-80/8inPA 1,655]

On 11/12/2021 at 7:57 PM, EB-80/8inPA said:

, the plow pulled out from the mounting bracket (which it never appeared to be fully engaged by now matter how much I tried).

FWIW, I did finally manage to get the troublesome left side of the plow seated in the bracket (doing it first instead of both sides together) and was then able to fit the right and close them both up.  Unfortunately, the plow frame won’t permit inserting the keeper pins for the locking arms, so it’s anyone’s guess how long it stays connected.  But it’s working for now!  I do wonder how nice it would be to have the correct implement for the machine so all this futzing around could be avoided.

[ebinmaine 67,672]

1 hour ago, EB-80/8inPA said:

correct implement

What's on there now???

 

 

2 hours ago, EB-80/8inPA said:

Unfortunately, the plow frame won’t permit inserting the keeper pins

 

When I had a similar issue I used bolts with nyloc nuts and tightened them up so the lever couldn't move. 

The plow stays on for months so I only had to set it once. 

 

[EB-80/8inPA 1,655]

21 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

What's on there now???

Another long frame plow from an earlier year that I thought would fit when I picked it up at the BS a couple of years ago, but apparently, they're not all alike.  But I only had $50 in the thing, so I'm not unhappy.  Well, not too terribly unhappy.  Slightly frustrated, maybe?  I think it was @gwest_cawho provided some helpful info in another thread about it, but I can't readily find the post.  I wonder if there's a cross reference for attachments that covers all years, mixed and matched.  What I've seen shows only the implements for each model year tractor.  One can see if that model shows up on other years and/or models, I suppose, but it takes some digging back and forth.  I had no luck trying.  But I DO now know the model that will fit.  I just have to find one.

[ebinmaine 67,672]

14 minutes ago, EB-80/8inPA said:

Another long frame plow from an earlier year that I thought would fit when I picked it up at the BS a couple of years ago, but apparently, they're not all alike.  But I only had $50 in the thing, so I'm not unhappy.  Well, not too terribly unhappy.  Slightly frustrated, maybe?  I think it was @gwest_cawho provided some helpful info in another thread about it, but I can't readily find the post.  I wonder if there's a cross reference for attachments that covers all years, mixed and matched.  What I've seen shows only the implements for each model year tractor.  One can see if that model shows up on other years and/or models, I suppose, but it takes some digging back and forth.  I had no luck trying.  But I DO now know the model that will fit.  I just have to find one.

MOST long frame plows will fit long and medium frames from around 66 or 67 up to the end of production. 

 

Have you started a separate thread about it?

 

 

[EB-80/8inPA 1,655]

Just now, ebinmaine said:

Have you started a separate thread about it?

No but that's probably not a bad idea.  tnx.

[ebinmaine 67,672]

11 minutes ago, EB-80/8inPA said:

No but that's probably not a bad idea.  tnx.

I'd be super curious to see what you find. 

I'm wondering if maybe the frame is right but other aspects ......

 

Snap a few pics and get whatever numbers you can..