snow plow shoes

[firhead]

The plow is coming together, on the quick tach, got the float thing resolved (thanks all) but I'm wondering about shoes on the blade. I'll be plowing gravel drive and gravel lanes - no pavement. I currently have no shoes at all - they were scavenged off this piece at some point - and I was thinking of making my own. $75 give or take for new ones. My question is: I know that they are adjusted vertically with washers, and they can swivel within the flanges that hold them on the blade (no problem), but do they have to be able to pivot, like rock back and forth on a hinge bolt? I've seen round glides used but I can't determine if they rock on a ball and socket kind of arrangement or what. If I can make these things rigid, it'll be a lot simpler. Of course the first question should be, Do I need them at all?
Thanks

 

[old]

I made an 8.5 foot wide V-Plow years ago and at first it had shoes but they broke at some point and I have not put them back on. I have a mile plus drive I have to plow if or when we get snow. Been 5 plus years since I have had to put it on my 841S Ford

 

[mcald62]

I welded a heavy piece of pipe to the cutting edge of my old 7.5 Fisher mounted on my skid steer last year. Used it half a dozen times and definitely is an improvement over the cutting edge alone on my gravel driveway. Hope you can see it in this photo. Got the idea from the internet somewhere.

 

[Jim.ME]

(quoted from post at 00:25:37 12/30/21) The plow is coming together, on the quick tach, got the float thing resolved (thanks all) but I'm wondering about shoes on the blade. I'll be plowing gravel drive and gravel lanes - no pavement. I currently have no shoes at all - they were scavenged off this piece at some point - and I was thinking of making my own. $75 give or take for new ones. My question is: I know that they are adjusted vertically with washers, and they can swivel within the flanges that hold them on the blade (no problem), but do they have to be able to pivot, like rock back and forth on a hinge bolt? I've seen round glides used but I can't determine if they rock on a ball and socket kind of arrangement or what. If I can make these things rigid, it'll be a lot simpler. Of course the first question should be, Do I need them at all?
Thanks

You have to decide if you need them as you will get many opinions here and what works for one won't work for another. I expect you will even be told to put pipe over the cutting edge, instead of shoes. Some of that depends on the base material and whether it freezes solid or not. My personal choice is to have shoes. Adjust to hold the edge just clear of the ground to start with until the ground is frozen solid. At that point the plow will ride on the frozen base and the shoes can be adjusted to let the edge contact and scrape the surface, as if it were hot top or concrete.

I have several Fisher plows and have been around them for years. Western and Fisher are owned by the same parent company now. To my knowledge Western and Fisher used rigid round shoes, they do not hinge. Also, on plows with trip edges do not store the extra washers on the stem protruding above the top of the shoe mounts. When the edge trips the shoe needs to drop or the plow skin can be damaged when the stem of the shoe is driven into the back of the skin. You can find a pair of shoes on eBay, with the adjusting washers, for less than $60 with free shipping.

 

[Loosehandle]

If the gravel isn't frozen you will need something, I have round dished shoes on mine but can't say they work the best

 

[big tee]

I put on here what I did for my Deere loader 5 years ago. Still works good but was surprised how fast the bottom of the pipe wears--Welded beads on the bottom twice already.---Tee

Split pipe with plasma--

Drove it with sledge over cutting edge--

Drilled holes and welded tabs on both sides--

Done

Easy off and on--

 

[DRussell]

On my plow there is the adjustment up and down, as you indicate with the washers, and the entire shoe will swivel.

The shoe is basically a pad on the bottom attached to a vertical rod which goes inside of a vertical pipe welded to the plow frame. The shoe cannot pivot and rock back and forth on a hinge bolt and there is no ball and socket arrangement.

There is simply a short pipe, about 6 inches, welded vertically to the plow frame. The vertical rod of the shoe will rotate within this pipe, but there is no other adjustment.

I've had both the round shoes and rectangular flat shoes about 2.5 x 6 inches or so. The best thing I did for a snowplow shoe was to take a piece of plate steel about 10-12 inches square and weld it to the bottom of the shoe. With the much larger surface area it will float on top of non-frozen gravel.

 

[KCTractors]

I agree with putting a pipe on the cutting edge. I put one on a 8' Meyers plow and a 7' NH snow-blower. Both work great with the pipe. I am getting a front-mount snow-blower on a my new LS tractor and I will be putting a pipe on that one too.

 

[mcald62]

Big Tee is right. My pipe edge will need attention soon. I will try some hard face rod.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

My snow pusher has large, fixed shoes. They work fine.

 

[firhead]

Thanks all for the input - the pipe idea is interesting. Thanks for the heads up about not letting the stems stick up too far above the mounting flanges. This blade has been around the block, and I wondered what those patch welds were about directly in front of the mounting flanges on the front of the blade. That's EXACTLY what happen at some point. I like the idea of a removable pipe. Don't have a plasma cutter but I could do some kind of work-around. Probably just simple shoes now if they don't have to rock on a swivel. If I had to fabricate to allow for the rocking function, $60-$70 is starting to sound cheap.

 

[J Hamilton]

Home made skid shoes on ours

 

[SARG]

I prefer the "snow-Edge". I have three winters on mine & it doesn't show any significant wear.

This post was edited by sarg on 12/30/2021 at 09:54 am.

 

[JK-NY]

If you dont plow until you get a little snow pack built up you may not need shoes , otherwise they might help somewhat in preventing digging up gravel or crushed stone driveways. You can always try it without them and see how you do. I have heard of people using a pipe over the cutting edge but never tried it myself. I have never seen any set up to mount on a hinge. Usually aset up like pictured below.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Old used plow points or chisel plow shovels work well for skids and last pretty good. Just weld them on to the shaft you use for the vertical then bend the front end up a bit. I would also put a bit of bend on the back end just so it doesn't dig in if you back up some without lifting the blade. I've never tried the pipe deal though it should work fine. Just us a thick wall pipe would be my choice then some hard surfacing on the bottom side.

 

[SVcummins]

Doesnt that thing render the bucket useless

 

[SVcummins]

Couldnt you just use 2 feet of pipe on each side of the bucket ?

 

[stoughtonfarmboy]

I use a 4 PVC pipe. Just slit it and tapped it on. Occasionally need to rap it back in place if plowing heavy snow. Went for 3 years before it broke. Replaced it and back in business.

<img src

 

[firhead]

Now that looks quick, economical - if something goes wrong it can't go very wrong. I'm gathering also that once the surface freezes up good, we might not need much in the way of pipe, shoes or anything else. Think I'm off to buy some PVC, and I'll weld up some shoes later, maybe never.
Thanks

 

[Russ from MN]

This is what I made years ago, I can move the washers from top to bottom to change the height. But they're worn out, I need new discs.

 

[big tee]

Sure--Then I would need 4 sets of tabs---