Once in a while, the wind isn’t right for the AgriMetal pto leaf blower to handily move the leaves in the direction I’d like. Can’t wait because weather forecasts predict rain/snow conditions to make things even worse. Or, it might just be easier to push the large leaf windrow to a collection spot rather than having to turn it over and over all the way across a wide open area.
This was the situation a week ago while clearing a neighbor’s acreage while they were on vacation. A blank SSQA plate mounted on the loader arms was tried for pushing the large leaf windrow through his trees to a pickup point. But the leaves rolled off the outside edges and the loader arms would gouge the grass. Time to rethink this idea. Tacking on another strip of metal to the lower edge of the plate…..or a piece of thick belting might work to prevent the loader arms from digging into the sod.
Looking in the scrap pile, a flat sheet of rusty metal just slightly larger than the SSQA plate was just lying there. Why not turn that into the dozer? Some small scraps were found to make the lower mounting brackets. A quick trip to the surplus store for the top angle mounting bar also produced a piece of HDPE plastic for the bottom edges. Usually, there’s a selection of belting to choose from but nothing that would suit this application was available at this time. But for a $20 bill, I had what I now needed to get by with.
Here's the results:
For $20 and some welding supplies, this worked pretty slick. Once the windrows became quite large, a couple of quick trips with the blade would push the major portion to its pickup spot. Then back to blowing. The HDPE edge will still get replaced with some stiff rubber belting when available.
The main (rusty) plate is 3/16” steel. The side plates are 1/8”. And the top bar is 3/8” (only because that’s what was available in the “shorts” bin. Guessing total weight is about 50 to 60 lbs. Now that it’s a keeper…..we’ll give it a proper sandblast and paint job next spring.
This was the situation a week ago while clearing a neighbor’s acreage while they were on vacation. A blank SSQA plate mounted on the loader arms was tried for pushing the large leaf windrow through his trees to a pickup point. But the leaves rolled off the outside edges and the loader arms would gouge the grass. Time to rethink this idea. Tacking on another strip of metal to the lower edge of the plate…..or a piece of thick belting might work to prevent the loader arms from digging into the sod.
Looking in the scrap pile, a flat sheet of rusty metal just slightly larger than the SSQA plate was just lying there. Why not turn that into the dozer? Some small scraps were found to make the lower mounting brackets. A quick trip to the surplus store for the top angle mounting bar also produced a piece of HDPE plastic for the bottom edges. Usually, there’s a selection of belting to choose from but nothing that would suit this application was available at this time. But for a $20 bill, I had what I now needed to get by with.
Here's the results:
For $20 and some welding supplies, this worked pretty slick. Once the windrows became quite large, a couple of quick trips with the blade would push the major portion to its pickup spot. Then back to blowing. The HDPE edge will still get replaced with some stiff rubber belting when available.
The main (rusty) plate is 3/16” steel. The side plates are 1/8”. And the top bar is 3/8” (only because that’s what was available in the “shorts” bin. Guessing total weight is about 50 to 60 lbs. Now that it’s a keeper…..we’ll give it a proper sandblast and paint job next spring.
