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First year with a plow


Bray D

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bigmark - Ideally, the axle housing sees zero force. It goes into the cap, through the arm, straight to the frame.

That's only true if the cap and RA have metal on metal contact though. I had planned on adding washers between the cap and RA to ensure that was the case, but I struggled to break my bolts loose to add the washers so I didn't do it. I'll keep an eye on it, but I highly doubt that anything catastrophic is going to come of this. I'll notice a loose front end long before it gets to the point of no return.

85_Ranger nailed it. Time is money when commercial plowing.

Listen to SVT :D
 


bobbywalter

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theres no electrical issues or excessive load at all with this if your winch is working correctly. but i am sure you know that.


the gm trucks were having issues here from 07-12 or so with destroying the front frame sections with certain plows and conditions. even not commercially plowing.


the mounts on the axle are a decent idea, to work with what you have to work with, as it will do a very nice load transfer...seen it work real good for limited weight rigs like this with soft suspensions.

but mounting to those caps is not a good idea at all. building a heavier mild mount welded to the housing next to it is better...i have seen the caps fail on eb/150 when mounted that way. i was going to do it on my bronco and remembered seeing them failed that way.
 

Bray D

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but mounting to those caps is not a good idea at all. building a heavier mild mount welded to the housing next to it is better...i have seen the caps fail on eb/150 when mounted that way. i was going to do it on my bronco and remembered seeing them failed that way.
Interesting. I'll keep an eye on it for sure.

Do you remember exactly how it failed? I assume it cracked the cap in half.
 

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If it cracks..then its time to get busy with the ol' mill and make a billet steel cap.lol
 

bobbywalter

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pretty sure they are available...theres moly units but shaped similar to stock.
 

Bray D

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If it cracks..then its time to get busy with the ol' mill and make a billet steel cap.lol
It would be awesome to mill them with the tab already on it. That'd be pretty slick.

pretty sure they are available...theres moly units but shaped similar to stock.
I can't TIG so welding anything other than plain carbon steel becomes risky.
 

Bray D

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Did my first legitimate plow job today. We got ~5" last night, so I cleaned up our drive as well as a buddy's lane (almost 1/2 mile long). The plow did great, but man is it rough! I suppose that's just the nature of the beast though.

I was in single low range, 1st gear, approx 1800 rpm. It took a while, but I wasn't comfortable really pushing it. I have the feet set 1/4" below the cutting edge so it rides on the feet the majority of the time, but the dirt lanes are still rough as hell.
 

Mickey Bitsko

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Did my first legitimate plow job today. We got ~5" last night, so I cleaned up our drive as well as a buddy's lane (almost 1/2 mile long). The plow did great, but man is it rough! I suppose that's just the nature of the beast though.

I was in single low range, 1st gear, approx 1800 rpm. It took a while, but I wasn't comfortable really pushing it. I have the feet set 1/4" below the cutting edge so it rides on the feet the majority of the time, but the dirt lanes are still rough as hell.
FYI... unless you are cleaning pavement , drop the plow to the ground then lift up about 2" saves the plow feet AND the truck. better to leave a couple inches of snow , makes less mud.
 

Bray D

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So long as you don't catch ground with it raised a couple inches up. I've read of guys snapping winch lines taught-lining the blade like that.
 

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So long as you don't catch ground with it raised a couple inches up. I've read of guys snapping winch lines taught-lining the blade like that.
^:icon_thumby:
 

Bray D

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I did some reading last night and saw where guys were putting axial slits in 2" pipe and sliding that onto the cutting edge to keep it from digging. It's secured with straps/bolts to the ribbing on the rear of the blade. It would be a cheap and easy mod. I may give it a shot for the next snowfall.
 

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When I use the 3 point blade on one of our tractors I run the blade backwards in softer ground/driveways so it doesn't dig in, but unless you are going to back drag it all...it doesn't work for a truck mounted plow.lol
 

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When I use the 3 point blade on one of our tractors I run the blade backwards in softer ground/driveways so it doesn't dig in, but unless you are going to back drag it all...it doesn't work for a truck mounted plow.lol
There was a guy on here that made a setup to use a 3 point blade on the front of his truck. Didn't really use any of the 3 point setup though.

Over in Europe front 3 points are all the rage so that route could be a possibility too. :icon_thumby:

You can also shorten the center link to reduce the bite of the bit into the ground too. The more you angle (to dump it off the side) it the more the forward end will want to bite though.
 

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Unimogs have the option of front 3 points...
 

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