Skid material for snowblower

[Stewed]

I recently bought a snowblower which I use to clear my driveway and parts of our cul-de-sac. I've adjusted the top link of the 3pt hitch so that I get the best scraping on my driveway with is cement pad. It makes a heck of a scraping sound and probably scratching the heck out of the driveway.

Does anyone have any ideas for what I can put on the bottom of the SB so that I can get good contact with the driveway but not scratch it. It would also have to be quite a solid material due to all of the scraping activity. I've pondered looking at high density plastics but wanted to make sure i'm not reinventing the wheel.

 

[Wildfire]

Hum that's an interesting question. Does your blower have adjustable outer skids on each side of the blower?

I have a regular paved driveway and the sounds that come from my steel cutting edge when I'm plowing would make one think that I'm killing the poor driveway but I never see any sign of damage. If you have a cement driveway it could be a different story.

You could place a Teflon strip along the skids but remember, something has to give. If the driveway don't have any wear the part hitting it will BUT If it were mine I would fabricate a couple of adjustable rollers and would just keep the blower up off the driveway and still get most of the snow off with out any damage. They could be pneumatic wheels and they wouldn't have to be on each end of the blower. They could be even on the back end of the blower.

Ah heck that's just my little mind getting the best of me but I bet you could make it work!

 

[ipz2222]

Wildfire. When you start haveing an idea, do you build the thing in your head before you start?? Draw it out on paper?? Start building, then change as you go what does't work????
I too am in the auto bussiness, automatic transmissions. I'm constantly have to build new tools to disassemble new design transmission. The tools are availible but very expensive.
All my cutting and welding is stuff I've learned on my own so some of itdoesn't look as good as I want but it's better than several years ago.

 

[Wildfire]

Wildfire. When you start haveing an idea, do you build the thing in your head before you start?? Draw it out on paper?? Start building, then change as you go what does't work????
I too am in the auto bussiness, automatic transmissions. I'm constantly have to build new tools to disassemble new design transmission. The tools are availible but very expensive.
All my cutting and welding is stuff I've learned on my own so some of itdoesn't look as good as I want but it's better than several years ago.

I used to do transmissions when I worked for GM. Spent two years at them but can't say I enjoyed doing them. I never had to remove or install them. The dealership had a guy for that. Your right. tooling is very expensive but although I try and build tools that look good it really don't matter how they look If they work.

When it comes to my ideas they usually start out as a small thought and quickly develop into something that I dive into. To be honest I lay awake some nights just going over designs in my head and by the time the morning arrives the blueprint is embedded in my little brain and I just dig I and get'er done.

Those who really know me and watch the progress of my work have often remarked that I must have a vision and I guess there right. Very seldom do I stray away from the design in my head unless I see better materiel that can replace what I started out to use. The biggest problem I have when I design and build anything is I never limit myself to a budget. If I have to deal with a budget I rather not even attempt to build it.

Case in point. The custom Miller welding trailer I built for our new Miller trailblazer. With no plans I started to fabricate the trailer with a $1500. target in mind and stopped just short of $5000. but you get out what you put in and this trailer has been great for our business. The same thing happened when I built the Miller Crazy Cart. Just started to build and it evolved as I went along. You will notice as time goes on your tools will look better and better. As they say "practice makes perfect". Thanks for the question.

If you haven't seen the Miller video's you can view them here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFXtSEypnY

I chose the song for this last video because the first words said "you come out at night, That's when the energy comes"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uLBlSThbJ0

 

[Stewed]

Wildfire, I've seen enough of your videos and posts to know that you may build pneumatic rollers but I don't have the ability.

Also, my objective is to get as good a scrap on the cement as I can w/o scratching it. Therefore I like the teflon strip idea but not sure how to attach it. I guess I could cut the strip with a grove in the middle where the scraping edge of the blower would fit and then use some industrial adhesive to attach.

If I get a good scrape of snow then I don't have snow compaction which eventually turns into ice. In the end I want to use less salt and have the cleanest driveway in the neighborhood. Currently my neighbors find it funny that I snowblow my driveway with a 37HP tractor, a clean driveway would lessen the humor!

 

[Eric McCarthy]

I'd make the teflon edge bolt on for the simple fact its going to wear down over time and its alot nicer to undo a few bolts rather then busting knuckles trying to pry off an adhesive.

 

[Marty394]

Check with some of the major small blower manufacturers. The place where my wife works installed a bunch of pavers, and didn't want their blower scratching them up. Their blower mfg was able to come up with an optional teflon cutting edge that bolted on.

Bob

 

[meanjean]

I think Eric has the right idea with bolting teflow on.
Countersink the bolts so they don't contact the deriveway.