Homemade Plow Progress

19643 Views 32 Replies 18 Participants Last post by TAHOE99, Jun 11, 2013

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · Apr 29, 2012

2

As some of you know, I have been making a plow for my SS12. It has been a long time coming to get this far, I have had way too much going on to be able to work on it at school up until lately. I started with a plow that my grandfather made, and ended up using 1 piece of it to build a new one. The old plow was very beaten and rusty, and wasn't built square. I gave up on trying to fix it and bought some new steel. I cut the rubs out of 4"x1/4" flat stock, and it worked well. The skin is 18 guage and the plow is 4' wide. Not sure how high it is, haven't measured it yet. I am going to bolt on a piece of 3" x 1/4" flat stock for a reversible wear edge on the bottom.

Here are some progress pictures:

The middle two plow ribs have scrap welded to them which is welded to short pieces of angle iron. I am going to have to remove the middle two ribs to drill holes in them for the pivot, and this way I can place them back and weld them on. Should work, in theory :fing32:.

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1 - 20 of 33 Posts

Umaxman

· #2 · Apr 29, 2012

Your doing a fine job making that plow, looks really good

wayneb

· #3 · Apr 29, 2012

Nice work! If you don't already have your cutting edge, buy cold rolled steel instead of hot. Cold rolled is a little harder and has a nicer surface but it is a little more expensive.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 29, 2012

wayne, I was planning on buying whatever flat stock was cheapest, and then trying to harden it with oil and a torch. From what I have gathered, you heat up the metal to a cherry red, submerge it in oil, and then reheat and allow to cool slowly to "temper" it. Not sure how tricky this actually is, or how well it would work in this application?

I will certainly look into cold rolled though, may be a much more viable alternative.

Aksarben96

· #5 · Apr 29, 2012

Why go through the hardening or replacement with cold rolled ,if you drill the angle iron you have and put a rubber blade edge on and a piece of flat stock as a clamp you will never wear the steel in the first place .

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #6 · Apr 30, 2012

I need steel over rubber. Rubber wouldn't last as long and I don't have an asphalt drive.

bentonkb

· #7 · May 4, 2012

I think that angle iron is just 0.36% carbon, so it probably won't harden well enough to make it worth the effort. And danger too; dropping a 4' long piece of red hot steel into a tank of oil is not easy to do without catching it on fire.

Consider laying on some hardfacing rod instead.

Aksarben96

· #8 · May 4, 2012

Don't under estimate a rubber edge . If the rubber is 1/2 thick or thicker you should be fine on most any surface like concrete,asphalt or gravel . The blade slides with less effort , will pass over frozen stones , clean more completely and with no grinding or scraping noise.Can be used on grass without digging in.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 4, 2012

Problem with rubber is that I would have to buy a stall mat to cut it out of, which would be way more expensive than a steel edge. I could end up using this blade for gravel too, so I think a steel edge is best. Just realized how impossible it would be to harden it - there is no way for me to heat all of it up at once.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 4, 2012

I think what I'll do is get some 3/8" x 3" flat stock. Even hot rolled won't wear too bad, and having it 3/8" thick will help it last longer and give some weight to the plow. Since it's cheap, I don't mind replacing it as needed.

Tractor-Holic

· #11 · May 5, 2012

Best thing to use ,is a REAL cutting edge,from a full sized plow ,like a Fisher,etc...
I go to the town DPW barn during the winter,and ask if they have any "junk" ones lying in their scrap heap,often I come away with several "good" ones perfect for my trucks plow,that were taken off 10 foot 6 wheeler dump truck plows...
I cut them down for use on my plow truck,and my garden tractor plows...they wont wear out in your lifetime!...I bolt them on so I dont have to cut them off ,should one happen to crack ...

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jun 5, 2012

I'll update this thread tomorrow with plenty of pictures. The plow is mostly done now, just detail things that I'll work on over the summer.

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jun 6, 2012

4

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. As always, any questions or comments are welcome!

More pictures here.

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burnout2499

· #14 · Jul 6, 2012

looks fantastic. r u going to use chains or AG tires?

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jul 6, 2012

Chains. Too poor for ags lol, plus I got the chains free :fing32:

fordracing2105

· #16 · Jul 7, 2012

Looks good

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #17 · Nov 18, 2012

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. I am currently off at college, so work has halted since I left. I am hoping to get the plow in a usable state before January. I have a few important things left to finish - hoping to get them done while I am home next week. I'll try to post an update sometime then.

I didn't realize I had left out the link to the rest of the pictures of the project, so here they are:

http://s860.beta.photobucket.com/user/dmorrill22/library/SS12/Plow Project

dmorrill22

Discussion Starter · #18 · Nov 26, 2012

2

Here is a couple crappy cell pictures of the bracket I made to hold the angle rod and the switch setup for the winch:

The switch is wired to the contactor for the winch, and I made a handle to operate it so I can wear gloves and not worry about fiddling with a tiny switch.
I just have to make a box to cover the switch mechanism, and add in a light that indicates when the plow is raised fully.

As for the plow blade itself, I haven't had a chance to work on it much this week, so I won't have much to share until december. I did work on getting the edge bolted on - still have a few holes to drill, but it is almost done. Also got all of the rust stripped on the blade so it is ready for paint when all is finished.

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Yooper75

· #19 · Nov 27, 2012

If a 30,000 pound loader can't tear up a rubber edge a lawn tractor is going to have a tuff time. The rubber edge is da bomb on gravel because that's 90% of what we plow here at work with very little gravel loss or damage unlike what you get with just the loader bucket or conventional plow with steel cutting edge.

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TEOTWAWKI

· #20 · Nov 29, 2012

wayneb said:
Nice work! If you don't already have your cutting edge, buy cold rolled steel instead of hot. Cold rolled is a little harder and has a nicer surface but it is a little more expensive.

The angle from a bed frame, you have to cut it with a grinder and it is almost imposable to drill but it welds good.

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