Snow blade question: narrow frame to wide frame

[PACub100]

A bit of advice as well, be sure to plow BEFORE you drive on the snow. I dunno about the other guys here but my experience is if you drive on the snow, when you go to plow afterwards the blade is light enough that it just wants to ride on the packed snow and not get down to the surface of your driveway. I got disappointed when I'd wake up in the morning, realized it had snowed overnight, didn't have time to plow and when I'd gotten home from work, tried to plow my driveway and couldn't get down to the pavement because the blade rode on the tracks I'd made earlier.
Maybe I didn't have it set up right, I dunno. I have a snowthrower and prefer that so my blades just sit for now. "Your results may vary..."

 

[mgwin]

The "feet" on the plow are designed to keep the blade from totally contacting the surface when pushing snow. This is for driveways that may be concrete, and have the crack relief grooves in them. You wouldn't want to catch one of those grooves! I have a 700 foot gravel drive, and cannot let my blade all the way down either. If you can get the snow down to an inch or so, you should be able to get in and out with your vehicles fairly easy. At least until they plow the roads and leave nice piles at the end of your driveway!

 

[hydroharry]

PACub100 - after the snow is packed down it's more like ice. You could try locking the blade height at the surface level rather than allowing the blade to "float". If you do this you really don't want very much speed or you risk the blade "tripping" the springs, or worse yet causing the tractor to stop quick and throw you over the top. (don't ask me how I know this).

Marty - yup, those dang piles at the end of the driveway. And they really aren't snow. They are nearly compacted ice. Busting thru them really abuses the tractor, but heck, what's a guy to do. Snow shovels usually won't work and a pick ax takes forever. And for me it was dangerous because of cars coming down the road I lived on and you couldn't really see them coming. I don't know how many times I'd bust thru some of the snow on top and the car would swerve to miss me. And then since nobody lived across the road from me, I'd plow it across the road and ram it into the pile on the other side. I'd raise the blade in an attempt to lift the snow up and across the pile but the pile would usually end up tripping the blade and stopping the tractor (this was my 1450 with the hydraulic lift).

So, the moral of this story is - keep a sharp eye out for snow. Start plowing it when there is only 2-3inches, even if you have to do it 6 or 7 times. It's also helpful to plow some of your street/road so when that big ole city/cty snow plow truck comes by he leaves smaller piles in front of your driveway.

 

[Dustin Wilson]

It mounted up pretty well. Took some time to sand and paint it.

 

[mgwin]

Harry,
Good idea about plowing the road too. Will try that, if I ever get any snow higher than a dusting
As for plowing when it gets up to 2-3 inches, have you forgotten about B.R.S.?
Last time I got to plow was some time ago.

 

[hydroharry]

Harry,
Good idea about plowing the road too. Will try that, if I ever get any snow higher than a dusting
As for plowing when it gets up to 2-3 inches, have you forgotten about B.R.S.?
Last time I got to plow was some time ago.

Marty - I sorta forgot about the B.R.S. stuff after I went to using a thrower. This was me throwing wet heavy stuff in late March, and below it is how I think.

 

[mgwin]

March of this year? I was planting part of my garden in March!

 

[hydroharry]

March of this year? I was planting part of my garden in March!

No, that was March sometime in the '90s.

 

[hydroharry]

It mounted up pretty well. Took some time to sand and paint it.

Dustin - geez, it looks pretty nice. However, make sure you get some grease on the base where the A-frame pivots. Also, I sure hope the springs on the trip lock lever and the angling adjusting lever are in good shape. And, a big note about that trip lock lever - I highly recommend you never lock the blade from being able to trip while you're using it for snow removal.

 

[Dustin Wilson]

Sanded, painted, installed

 

[mgwin]

Nice!
You still might want to consider doing something with that muffler. I would hate for it to break off the exhaust port on the block, after you have spent so much time getting the tractor to looking nice. You could brace it, or go back to the original exhaust setup.

 

[hydroharry]

Looking nice Dustin. I like the lift you're getting with that lift rod. I assume it's raised all the way up in your pic. Hope you can come up with some chains for your ag tires unless you already have them. Ags then to spin more than turfs on snow.
Are you only intending to use this machine for snow work?

 

[Dustin Wilson]

Hi there,

Yes, that is with the rod raised all the way. That's good to know about chains. I will get some within a few months.

For now, this will be used in winter for snow and for mowing. The mule drive for the mower deck was surprisingly easy to remove!

 

[hydroharry]

Hi there,

Yes, that is with the rod raised all the way. That's good to know about chains. I will get some within a few months.

For now, this will be used in winter for snow and for mowing. The mule drive for the mower deck was surprisingly easy to remove!

How hard is it to raise or lower the blade with the Armstrong lift handle? I kinda thought you might find it to be fairly easy and probably would decide against getting the spring assist that are generally quite hard to find.

And I see you discovered the IH Quick Attach latch when you removed the mule drive and subframe for the mower deck. Should'a been a couple R-clips to remove that hold the subframe to the lift arms, and then unsnap the Quick Attach latch at the front holding the mule drive assembly. Waalaa - it nearly falls off itself and sometimes does.

Now, if your Quick Attach latch looses it's spring action make sure you check back with us about where the springs are, what they look like and how you replace one (since only 1 usually goes back).