Archive through February 07, 2004

[fmorski]

Bruce:

Kinda nice to get the treats isn't? I have one lady that makes a pot of Chicken and Dumplings each time I clean their drive. Another gets me a cheese, cracker and sausage package, another gives Denny's gift certificates and on and on. Each snow I make a haul and have all that cub seat time (FUN).

I am sure the Crapsman owner down the street would be envious if he only knew about the rewards.

I even let my one neighbor join in with one of the 1450's when he is home. He gets a kick out of it.

That way he does not complain about the herd of cubs in the back yard.

Now, if only the weather guessers could get close. 1.4" when they predict 4-6 is not good. Last three snows have all been 1/4 to 1/2". Over ice, does not make for much seat time. I have an idea on how to break up the ice.

 

[mburger]

Bill - On the hydraulic lift... Wyatt makes a good point about taking a picture of how the return spring goes. Also, all the seals should be available. Almost all lifts will leak somewhere. I replaced all the seals in mine just because I didn't want to have to take it apart more times then I needed to.
Having said that, you can't beat a hydraulic lift.

Mark

 

[roundy fendered cubs rule!]

Gettin' closer with the Original. Just gotta pick up the creeper from the Urshel's.

 

[sblunier]

Jerry B.

My modified 58" blade (a couple 42" blades welded together) works great in heavy/light/wet/fluffy snow....could use about 4 more inches on the top of the moldboard out at the ends.

The extra width is great for limiting the little windrow that spills off of the end of a full blade.

Next summer it will get hyd. angle and the 169 might get dual hyd. while I'm at it.....it's just too much fun to push snow with that monster blade to have to get off to re-angle!!!!

Narrow Frame Hyd. Lift:

They are very reliable, as pointed out before. Like Wyatt says, watch the return spring and they are about bullet-proof.

Yes, I have rebuilt the cylinders, parts can be had from many sources as they are std. o-rings (don't ask for the PN's, because I don't have them).

I wouldn't own a narrow frame WITHOUT hyd. lift, but then again, I only plan on owning one narrow frame....my 100 (??120??)

Snow Removal Freebies?????

I usually get them in the form of bartering......I move the neighbor's snow, he lets me use the dump behind his dam, etc. etc.

I do try to make sure that the widow down the road always has a clean drive, and make sure I never accept anything more than the occasional plate of cookies from her....just can't bring myself to see her shovel (and potentially get hurt) when it could be done with the tractor in 5 min.


By all rights I should be at the St.Louis Toy Show right now, but momma put the kabosh to that one real quick.......

Never fear, Big Steve has the wish list and I'm sure he's checking things off of it left and right!!!

 

[sblunier]

What would REALLY be cool in a Cub blade would be a V-plow like many of the pick-up's are running now. Only problem is it would almost have to have 3 hyd. circuits to be fully functional...hmmmmmmmm

 

[digger]

OH why not just whole hog!

 

[bmoore]

Steve,
Weird. I have had the same thought recently about the V shape. It just seems strange that you are pushing snow to both sides of one lane. Go back down the other lane and you have a nice pile right in the middle. Are they adjustable so you can go down the middle first, then get one full-width straight blade angled to the right to dump it off the shoulder? The V shape should be a lot easier to steer than having an angle to one side. My 8x16's just slide over the top of the snow if the blade gets a good bite. I can slide the rear end around about a foot when I run the blade full of snow into a pile along the edge of the drive. I hope the new weights, fluid, and chains will help that.
Charlie,
Looks like you did a nice job of spreading that gravel. Good and thin, so grass will still grow through, but you have some support if it rains. You must have one strong right arm. Does the recoil from the spring trip shoot the tractor far enough back to get a better running start?

 

[digger]

Bruce,
That's not mine, That's from Kraig's CD's.

 

[sblunier]

Bruce,

A Cub Cadet doesn't have enough lead in it's a$$ to hold a straight line (even with a 42" blade) if it's loaded up good.

My 169 with 280# of extra weight, my fat butt, and 10.50's with brand new 2 link chains will "bounce" along a big windrow and occasionally throw me out into the open when the blade loads up. It will also swing the rear end around when you buck a big pile and one side of the blade breaks thru first.....it's just what happens when you plow snow!!!

BTW, don't think that those same things don't happen to ALL snow plowing equipment.....big tractors, pick-ups, state trucks, maintainers, etc. They all get shoved around by snow, especially with an angled blade...the only difference is the ammount of snow it takes to do it (determined largely by the weight/traction of the machine).

Now, have you done a 180+ spin on a Cub???? Set the blade at full angle, wind'er up good, and go tearing down a gravel drive covered in about 3" of snow.....somewhere there will be a frozen chunk of gravel sticking up that will catch the blade, slam it forward on the spring trip, and turn the cutting edge into a giant ice skate edge.......you will FLY around in a semi-circle as you try an shut it down....and the last thing you will hear will be the blade "clunk"ing back upright (before you start laughing your a$$ off that is!!!!)

 

[bmoore]

Steve,
Kind of like what happened last year when I was in the street to push the remnants of the snow from my drive back into the ditch. I smacked the trailing (right) edge of my blade into the end of the asphalt of my driveway, which is an inch or so above the street, and went winging off to the left, then the leading edge (left) caught the end of the drive, and spun me some more. Great America should have that ride.

 

[wcompton]

Steve- my blade trips quite a bit on my drive. The drive was originally cobblestone with concrete boundaries, the brick's gone but the concrete remains, It's a pain to run the thrower with those and the ruts in an unpaved drive, so I just make sure that I haven't locked out the trip on the blade.

 

[fmorski]

Digger:

Will you take a pic of that blade raised!!!!!

Then take a pic of the weights on the rear!!!

I also want to see the helper SPRING!!!

I know how much spring I had to add to my 4X4 to pick up an 8' blade. The truck is an F-350 and after adding a winch/bumper and the plow mounts(fabricated, not factory) I had to add an extra spring.

Finally, lets see the front tires on the cc with the blade raised.

LOL....

Steve's comments are right on...I have done 180's 360's and everywhere in between. Cubs and blades are made to push snow so I max it out.

Now try spinning a 14000 lb tractor with duals...that is a real ride... I broke the 2 1/2" solid pivot pin on an 8' Rhino in the process....

It is actually easier to spin the big tractor than the cub w/weights and chains when you are on ice.

 

[tschweizer]

Steve/Bruce, I've used a Boss V-Plow on a new Dodge diesel before and I hate them. I'd rather have a wide straight blade like Steve's.

Steve, Scott had to take the big wrecker out Fri and yank out a county plow. It was a new guy and he hit a drift and full angle and sling-shot him right in the ditch. Maintainer couldn't pull him out!!

Steve Hunt, you don't have a brother named Mike do you???

 

[sblunier]

Travis,

Bet he had an "oh $%^&" experience...ouch!!!!! Anything the maintainer can't pull out is usually pretty darn stuck!!!! Guy who used to plow alot around here said he always put his foot in it as soon as the blade hit the drift, along with a generous amount of wheel correction........wanted to make sure he went thru it and didn't end up stopped IN it. Can't say I've ever ridden in a heavy plow truck, but I would bet it would be worth the ride!!!!! (Maintainer too for that matter!!!!)

So the V-Boss lows are annoying???? Seem like they'd be the cats a$$, but maybe you have to use them to make a decision. I know alot of the guys around here who do country lanes etc. use them just to break thru on the first pass...straight blades don't work well like that.

 

[sblunier]

Frank,

2 words......."turning brakes" Big tractors can be made to do anything in snow and ice with a carefull application of the correct turning brake!!!

Now that's fun!!!!!! I used to be able to turn around 180 deg. in the drive with the 684 with out ever turning the wheel more that 1/4 turn....just stand on the brake, bump the wheel, and around she would come....trick was to let off of the brake at the right time to get headed back straight again!!!!

 

[shunt]

Oh, ha ha Travis. Like I've never been asked that one before.

You guys have been talking about snow rigs. I saw what looked like an interesting one around here recently.
Someone had taken an old Gleaner and mounted a surplus county highway department V-plow on it.
Haven't seen it in action, but the concept looked good.

Steve B.
Turning brakes can be fun, can't they?
When I was a kid, dad used to have a NF 656 that we pulled a 3 pt. field cultivator with.
We didn't have quite enough weight on the front so when we raised the cultivator we would pull the front end up momentarily.
If I timed everything just right, I could raise the cultivator, hammer the brake and be heading back down the field without even touching the steering wheel.

(Message edited by shunt on February 08, 2004)

 

[rpatton]

what movie was that from ? I forget.

we have 5 plow trucks for our 7 acre car dealer ,we have one V plow and the rest are straight. The V plow works good to clean up ,we push all the snow throgh the rows to the back and the V plow takes it to the end of the lot with a lot less spill over. Its hard to get anyone to use it though seems most of the guys don1t like it.

 

[fmorski]

Steve:

You do not need ice to do donuts with streering brakes. Especially if they are adjusted right.

The problem I had was hitting a gas valve cover sticking up 1/2" above concrete street pavement with ice. Broke pivot pin and spun me around 180 degrees. I was backing up.

I had to use steering brakes to get the tractor home when the hydraulics broke. Drove two miles with only steering brakes. Fun...on ice...

Digger still has mot posted a pic of the cub with the blade in the raised position...

I have thought about converting the individual disc brakes to steering brakes on my 129. May help keep it straight with that blade full of snow.

 

[fmorski]

Steve H.

I am redoing a 6600 JD combine into a plow. I thought I had a fellow traded out of a New Holland Hydro combine with ford diesel to do it to but he backed out. I had the 6600 and it is not worth much so I am converting it. Taking all the tin off, narrowing it down, lowering the cab and relocating the 329 diesel. Wanted a hydro 4x4 but no such luck yet. That way I could turn the diesel 90 degrees. Maybe I can find one reasonable. Just have to change ends. Will already be ready for the hydro drives. It currently is a gear drive with positorque so it has variable speed for tough times. Also has rear wheel weights so it will counter the blade.
Want to get it narrow enough to fit on my equipment trailer. Will add it to the fleet of 5 cubs, one tractor and one truck plow. It will not be painted green. Yellow & white seem more appropriate to me.


Hate to do a second post but system would not let me edit my previous post.

 

[farmall gray]

There was some discussion about the lift handle grips for the 82 series. They are NLA from CCC.
I got 2 from Madsens a couple months ago. Mcmaster
carr has a big selection of them too.