Grader Blade Edge

[Tom Bond]

After seeing many ideas in a previous post about protecting an ashphalt driveway while plowing with a grader blade, I gave one of the ideas a try with some scrap schedule 80 PVC I had at the shop and here's how it came out. I ripped a 1/4" slot the entire length of the pipe. My grader blade is about 3/8". I had to beat it on from one end to try to slide it the entire 8'. The whole length just wouldn't slip on from the front no matter what I tried. Anyway, after about 4' it locked up tight. Had to cut the pipe and beat on the remainder 4' from the other end. There's really no way to fasten it unless I want to drill and pin my blade but the PVC is so tight on there I don't think it will go anywhere. I gave it a few good kicks and dropped the blade on it 4 or 5 times. It's pretty solid but we'll see after the 1st. plowable snow. (if we ever get any this year) I'm curious to see if it rides up over the snow or if it will clean it pretty close to the surface.
 

[old]

If it tries to ride up just add some weight and or adjust the top link for a better angle. Your blade would not hold up to all the weight I have on my blade but I have a very heavy duty blade
 

[Royse]

Looks great Tom, let us know how it works.
I'm thinking of doing something similar to mine, but not for pavement.
I had crushed asphalt put on my dirt drive and I don't want to plow it all off!
 

[George Marsh]

I don't have an ashphalt driveway. Mine is concrete. I wonder how much damage a blade can do to ashphalt? If it leaves a few marks, so what? People where I live seal their ashphalt every year. Won't the sealer cover up scratches?

BYW, I have a 3 inch steel pipe on my grader blade and it works just fine on gravel and concrete. However, you need to level the gravel before it snows. If your drive isn't level, you will grab some rocks.
 

[Jimmyjack]

I got asphalt and scratching is minimal, but it is frozen most of the winter. I dont recoat it either.
 

[GT65]

It could rip the blacktop up if you were close to the edge or had some potholes to start with.
Tom is there no way to weld 2 or 3 pieces of short steel pipe on the back of your blade. You know so you could run some threaded rod through it and have the lower end welded on to a steel dish to make your own adjustable shoe.
Come on Tom I've seen your work before.I bet you could adjust it to where your hardly leaving any ice behind then double or triple nut the rod,paint it up and make it look like a factory application!
Seriously this time of the year if you don't scrape it way down(I'm afraid using that pvc will leave too much behind!) it could be worst then if you did nothing
at all and we don't need anyone slipping and getting hurt!
Good Luck! GT65
 

[George Marsh]

On 12-29-12 I posted a reply and a pic of my slag pipe to Jetbird who titled his post, Just plowed my drive for the first time. Very easy to build.
 

[ASEguy]

I adjusted my toplink almost all the way in so I "drag" the cutting edge across the asphalt so it doesn't skip across.
 

[ASEguy]

I almost used PVC pipe also. I considered a through bolt on the ends to prevent lateral movement. The wood I used worked great. I also found out I had low spots on my driveway which has about a 10 degree angle from top to bottom. I enjoyed the seat time so much I plowed three neighbors driveways. I do like your set-up.
 

[souNdguy]

IF it won't stay on, wire it on using some bailing wire. just drill a couple small holes in the plastic pipe on each side of the cut, add some bailing wire over the top of the blade. since your pipe is in 2 sections.. doing that in 4 or 6 places will do it... IF it needs it anyway..
 

[showcrop]

Most snow falls it will clean down very close to the pavement. A deep heavy drop though, it will tend to leave more than you want even with weight on it. That last storm we had here, I had a tough time to get under it with the bare cutting edge.
 

[LeoinMI]

Looks good and should do the job. When I plowed snow for the airport we used adjustable rubber blades on the front plows of our trucks. Has anyone thought of using heavy duty rubber tubing in place of PVC or metal pipe? Finding that kind of tubing is kinda tough. We have a supplier here in Michigan but it may be too expensive to go that route. Just an idea.
 

[KCTractors]

Will the PVC hold up in very cold weather with-out breaking and how about wearing on a gravel surface. I just might try PVC myself on my snowplow.
 

[Turman]

I AM TRYING THIS WITH A PIECE OF ABS 1 1/2 inch , I
didn"t want to set up my table saw , used a jig saw with a short
blade , I did some checking abs and PVC it sounds like abs
has higher tensil strength and bends more, PVC is more brittle
, will let all know if we get any snow around seattle, might
have to drive up to the mountains wimpy area , we get snow
about once a year sometimes !!!