[Tracs]

I've been thinking I need some extensions and or wings/pusher add ons for my homemade 54" blade.

I will probably make both styles.

The extensions will be 9" each just like the JD kit, increasing total width to 72"

The snow pusher wings also be 9" wide and be fixed into a position 90* to the blade face. Well that is my idea anyways.

If I make the blade into a snow pusher like the one pictured below, should I have the wings angled 90* or should they be at say 45*?

My 332 has a 2 speed locking diff and about 500 lbs of weight, not including operator. Traction and power shouldn't be a issue.

The main purpose for the wings is to plow the backlane. It is 500' long with no where to put snow. I have to push it out the lane into a empty lot. It is near impossible to do with the 54" front blade. It would take 50 passes to move it all.

 

[subllime68charger]

If snow is usually light and fluffy the 45 for max capacity,
If wet and heavy 90 as you'll hold more than you have power or traction to push.

Go with the type of snow you'll have the most of

 

[Tracs]

If snow is usually light and fluffy the 45 for max capacity,
If wet and heavy 90 as you'll hold more than you have power or traction to push.

Go with the type of snow you'll have the most of

Most of our snow is light and fluffy. At the most packed powder. Early October we got 12" of snow and it was the wettest I've ever seen. I wouldn't have even tried to push that.

I did a quick mock up of what it would look like. I had the same metal shop roll some sheet to match the blade I made. That will be cut into 4 pieces to make the extensions, then the square plate will be the wing angles.

 

[Flaken]

Traction and power most certainly will be an issue! One cubic foot of "dry" snow weighs about 7 pounds and "wet" snow around 20 pounds. Multiply that by the 500 foot drive and .........

 

[TUDOR]

There are precisely 3 GTs in the JD line-up that can handle a 72" front plow in 12" of light fluffy snow. All had Sundstrand hydros and Peerless 2-speed rear ends, and none will make a full width opening pass for 500' without at least 650 lb of ballast and 2-link tire chains on turfs.

Light fluffy snow ceases to be either light or fluffy upon contact with a blade. The further it is pushed, the more compacted it becomes.

I plowed snow with a MF1655 GT (same hydro and rear end as a JD400) for over 2 decades using a FEL with a 54" bucket and a 5' back blade on the 3PH. It's 250' from the street to the snow dump behind my garage and more times than enough, the back blade had to be raised to add ballast for traction half way through the push. That tractor weighed 2250 lb when dressed for snow.

That tractor had enough traction to pull a 6000 lb pickup out of a snow filled ditch with the tractor tires on a polished hard packed road, but 24" of wind packed snow would bring it to a halt in 20' just trying to push the bucket.

I was stationed at RCAF Base Winnipeg at the end of February, 1966. Look up the weather stories for that time frame. It's known as Windypeg for a reason.

If you want, I can suggest tips for clearing your lane with a smaller blade and fewer full length trips. Your 90° wings would make a good starting point.

 

[Tracs]

There are precisely 3 GTs in the JD line-up that can handle a 72" front plow in 12" of light fluffy snow. All had Sundstrand hydros and Peerless 2-speed rear ends, and none will make a full width opening pass for 500' without at least 650 lb of ballast and 2-link tire chains on turfs.

Light fluffy snow ceases to be either light or fluffy upon contact with a blade. The further it is pushed, the more compacted it becomes.

I plowed snow with a MF1655 GT (same hydro and rear end as a JD400) for over 2 decades using a FEL with a 54" bucket and a 5' back blade on the 3PH. It's 250' from the street to the snow dump behind my garage and more times than enough, the back blade had to be raised to add ballast for traction half way through the push. That tractor weighed 2250 lb when dressed for snow.

That tractor had enough traction to pull a 6000 lb pickup out of a snow filled ditch with the tractor tires on a polished hard packed road, but 24" of wind packed snow would bring it to a halt in 20' just trying to push the bucket.

I was stationed at RCAF Base Winnipeg at the end of February, 1966. Look up the weather stories for that time frame. It's known as Windypeg for a reason.

If you want, I can suggest tips for clearing your lane with a smaller blade and fewer full length trips. Your 90° wings would make a good starting point.

I would be interested in the plowing tips.

Let me also say that I would never try and plow 12" of snow down the 500' lane with any blade configuration. I live in town and my garage is about 3/4 down the lane (300'). At the far end is a empty lot, that is why I would like to push it that far. The other end (200') just has a boulevard. I have done the lane many times using the 54" blade angled to one side. It works extremely well. The problem is the windrow that starts to form after plowing half of the lane/lot/etc.. Even a 3" windrow will start spilling over the sides of the blade when I try and clean it up, resulting in dozens of passes. The lane has the garbage bins and driveways in it. That is why I can't leave the windrows.

For anything more than a few inches I would use the 47" snowblower anyways.

 

[mopar65pa]

I say just forget the plow and put a snow blower on it. :tango_face_devil:

 

[subllime68charger]

So I'm guessing for the bigger snow falls you use the blower,
But for the small snow falls that the blower is over kill for you want to get the most out of plowing with the blade but not be having to make a lot of passes.

 

[oldgibsonguy]

I have never had a problem using my garden tractor(s) for plowing snow, and that goes back to my Sears GT18 that I had for over 35 years. The fact of the matter is that a blade not matched to the tractor will certainly overwork the tractor to a point where snow plowing is impractical. Last year I used my 580 on my 3 car wide 300' driveway. Uphill and down hill didn't matter, the 580 did the job with the 48" blade in all types of snow, even 18-20" snow falls. However, had I extended the blade I doubt that would have been the case. This year I have a 4wd X738 and 54" blade. We'll see.

 

[Tracs]

So I'm guessing for the bigger snow falls you use the blower,
But for the small snow falls that the blower is over kill for you want to get the most out of plowing with the blade but not be having to make a lot of passes.

Exactly.

 

[TUDOR]

I would be interested in the plowing tips.

For anything more than a few inches I would use the 47" snowblower anyways.

Make the side plates variable in length from 9' to 18", or thereabouts. Adjust them to suit conditions or until you feel that they are optimum for most conditions. (Trial and error works.)

First pass straight down the center of the laneway.

Subsequent passes start at the end opposite the snow dump using short passes to clear the snow from the sides of the lane and create a mini snow dump in the initial pass. Two or three short passes to start with, and then a major pass straight down the initial pass using the windrows to keep the snow in front of the blade. Increase the number of short passes by one for each subsequent major pass until you get a feel for how large the mini dump can be and still allow the tractor to get it in motion. (Again with the trial and error.)

The first mini dump should be about 40' from the start position. The major pushes should be started with the tractor lined up with the initial pass and may require more throttle (and speed) to get the pile moving. (I usually plow at 2/3 throttle for fuel economy which allows some additional power to be available when necessary.)

By the time that you make a major push, the light fluffy snow has been compacted several times and has considerably less volume and more mass than the original conditions.

The problem with a wide blade such as you were contemplating is the friction of both the cutting edge and the width of snow that has to be pushed, and yes, there is friction involved with compacted snow.

With the long push that you have, it will save considerable time if you create a turnaround at the snow dump so that you can drive back up the initial pass at speed rather than backing up and waving side to side due to restricted vision. (My head doesn't turn far enough around to see directly behind me in order to steer straight in reverse.)

A handy attachment is a 5' back blade. In the straight position, it will give an extra 3" of wiggle room on each side for the return trip, and contribute to the snow load moved by an additional 30-50% when plowing. When using the blower, angle it to the side where the next pass will be done and it will clean up the skiff left by the blower, as well as clip off or reduce any tire track compacted snow.

Weight is the key for traction. My GT carried 400 lb of ballast at all times, and if more was needed, the back blade was raised to add its 250 lb. There are 150 lb of steel plates installed on my GT's back blade.

 

[6.2Blazer]

From my experience the angle of the wings is based on whether the blade can still be angled or if it is a stationary blade that will always be straight. If you have a blade that can be angled and you put the wings on an angle you can still windrow snow over to the side. Basically if you angled the blade all the way to the right, the right side wing would then be straight across/perpendicular to the path of travel so snow could still roll off the wide. For a pure snow pusher that is always perfectly straight, I think having straight out (90 degrees from the blade) works better as they tend to "cut" the path in the snow versus dragging along.

 

[Tracs]

From my experience the angle of the wings is based on whether the blade can still be angled or if it is a stationary blade that will always be straight. If you have a blade that can be angled and you put the wings on an angle you can still windrow snow over to the side. Basically if you angled the blade all the way to the right, the right side wing would then be straight across/perpendicular to the path of travel so snow could still roll off the wide. For a pure snow pusher that is always perfectly straight, I think having straight out (90 degrees from the blade) works better as they tend to "cut" the path in the snow versus dragging along.

That is a good idea. The blade is on a quick hitch with angle. I will make the wings angled so that when it is angled to one side or the other the leading wing will be straight ahead.

The wings will be quick attached to the blade. I plan on making both angled and 90* wings.

 

[Tracs]

I finally started some work on the wings.

This set will be 6" per side. They will have a 90* scoop.

The same shop rolled the blade and the 48" wide piece I am cutting down to make the wings. I wish the top bend would have been the same but for some reason its different.

 

[dave_r]

What are you using to attach the wings to the main section?

When I modified a 54" plow to make the ends removable, so I could load it on my truck (9" off each side), I first tried using 3 9/16" solid steel rods, but they bent right away. I cut them off, then using 3 pieces of 1 1/4" x1/8" square tubing, and that's worked fine. And that was before I added scoops so I could push more snow.

Here's the thread showing what I did:
https://www.mytractorforum.com/78-lawn-garden-tractor-accessories/1109137-rfh-modifying-snow-plow.html#post10535393

 

[subllime68charger]

looking good from the pics you posted

 

[Tracs]

What are you using to attach the wings to the main section?

When I modified a 54" plow to make the ends removable, so I could load it on my truck (9" off each side), I first tried using 3 9/16" solid steel rods, but they bent right away. I cut them off, then using 3 pieces of 1 1/4" x1/8" square tubing, and that's worked fine. And that was before I added scoops so I could push more snow.

Here's the thread showing what I did:
https://www.mytractorforum.com/78-lawn-garden-tractor-accessories/1109137-rfh-modifying-snow-plow.html#post10535393

I'm copying the JD wings. A 1" bar will slide 8" into the bottom 1/4" thick angle iron. The top has 1/4" bar stock welded to the wings held to the blade with 2, 3/8" bolts per wing.

 

[Tracs]

Just about everyone has warned me that it would be too big. At 66" with wings I'm starting to think that.... Lol.

 

[oldgibsonguy]

You're doing some nice work, so I hate to rain on the parade. Just make sure you can take those wings off when you find out that tractor won't push full loads any distance worth talking about. That's a lot of snow and a lot of tonnage to be pushing anywhere. I hope I'm wrong, and good luck.

 

[Tracs]

You're doing some nice work, so I hate to rain on the parade. Just make sure you can take those wings off when you find out that tractor won't push full loads any distance worth talking about. That's a lot of snow and a lot of tonnage to be pushing anywhere. I hope I'm wrong, and good luck.

Very easily removed.

The more and more I look, I wonder if I should have just added the wings to the 54" blade without widening it.

I haven't attached the scoops to the wings yet. I could keep working at just making the wings that increase width to 66" and then make the actual 90* scoops qucik mount to the 54" blade.