Snow plow project

[jimbo913]

Here are some photos of a Meyers ST90 snow plow that I mounted to my L5030. The plow was shot and required a complete rebuild from frame up. The frame was stamped #1 so who knows, this could have been the first one ever made...

Sorry I dont have any photos of the tear down or rebuild but I can explain what was needed along with any hints or upgrades for someone considering this project.

Step one was to remove the old front sheet metal by cutting off the old bolts and welds. This was a tough job which would have been easier had I owned a cutting torch.

Step two was to sandblast all frame parts.

Step three was to repair any broken welds, and there were several.

Step four was to cut down the A-frame to shorten it as much as possible. I have a 300 yard gravel drive which is in poor shape and very uneven, so I opted for a floating blade design.

Step five was to cut all the steel brackets and braces. As you can see I added grease fittings at the pivots.

Step six was to order new quick attach plate, sheet metal, hardware, cylinders, hoses, springs, pins, and flags.

Step seven was to weld in the new sheet metal. This is where I had to get creative. I could not locate any local shop for rolling 90" long steel, and I didnt want to cut it in half and weld it back together, so I decided to bend the metal myself (16 gauge). The method I used was to line the plow frame with thin luan board (bolted it), and close in the ends with 2x10s. Then I poured concrete into the plow frame and reinforced with rebar. After a week cure, I lifted the frame and flipped it with loader. Then I placed the sheet steel on top of the revese concrete form, placed the frame on the steel and pressed the frame down with my loader, and welded it in place.

Step eight was to weld brackets onto quick attach plate.

Step nine was to paint everything with Kubota enamel.

Step ten was assembly and mounting.

Since taking the photos, I have wrapped the hydro hoses in leather cover with velcro closure, and I have added a reciever extension to the upper chain mount so that the chain is closer to vertical.

 

[cabu]

Very nice job. Looks really professional. I was just thinking if the distance of the blade to the FEL is a little bit to far. Are the forces not to heavy for the FEL?

Do you have already snow?

carl

 

[jimbo913]

I agree that closer to the attachment plate the better, but it wouldn't have been easy to put the pivot behind the QA plate so I went with this setup.

As for weight, it is designed for floating use so I only lift it when finished plowing, turning around or to push tall piles of snow. The entire plow is lighter than my empty loader bucket so I don't think that it's an issue. I do like the fact that I will be able to push the snow a long distance off my drive while keeping the tires off the lawn.

No snow yet, but I will post back after first use.

 

[magicheater]

I agree that closer to the attachment plate the better, but it wouldn't have been easy to put the pivot behind the QA plate so I went with this setup.

As for weight, it is designed for floating use so I only lift it when finished plowing, turning around or to push tall piles of snow. The entire plow is lighter than my empty loader bucket so I don't think that it's an issue. I do like the fact that I will be able to push the snow a long distance off my drive while keeping the tires off the lawn.

No snow yet, but I will post back after first use.

Here is what I did with an old plow I had. It does not have trip springs but I don't plow at 30MPH either. It works very well for pulling snow backwards when cleaning near buildings.

 

[jimbo913]

I am hoping that my floating plow is heavy enough to back drag as well. Still waiting on the white stuff. Probably won't be any since I spent so much time on fixing this old plow. The more I think of it, I might just be ok with that...

 

[Stumpy]

Wow that is a really neat idea for bending the plow skin. I wish you had pictures of that. Nice job!

 

[lovemyorange]

That is great fabrication. We don't have snow where yet either, but I have been wanting to get something like this made. I know that it won't be long. Last year, we had a lot of ice? Do you think this would break it up if you dropped it down? The reason I am asking is because I have a couple of wheel loaders. I would like to try and fabricate something like this.

 

[jimbo913]

Stumpy - Thanks. Always too busy working to take photos.. I still have the concrete form laying in a drainage ditch in my field.

Lovemyorange- If you tilt it to where the plow blade would contact the ground, then raise and drop it, I am pretty certian it would break ice. I intend to tilt it to where the blade is 1" off the drive and plow is running on skid shoes without weight on loader.
If it starts to push me off course (like some say happens with plow angled), I will just tilt down slightly and raise the plow slightly to put weight on front axle.