How to make a cheap snow plow.

[jfive]

I know some of you like me live in the northern part of North America, and could use a snow plow, so I thought I would share. Over half way done and have all the material to finish, and the grand total is 250.00 so far. That includes 38.00 of crap to paint it the proper way when I am finished. Here are the links to where I got the idea, and pictures to follow later tonight as I get my camera charged and take some shots and load them with photobucket.
http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=92978&page=2
http://www.everythingattachments.com/Slider-scrape-blades-p/trimfg-slider.htm

[jfive]

Made a mistake, but I can fix it. I was not paying attention and welded the main beam that the plow will sit on to the wrong side, as I had to stand it up to tack it with the stick welder. At this point having the old flux core wire feed would have been nice if only to tack things. Oh well, I am gonna fill the holes, and drill new ones, as I had two nice fillet welds done, before I even noticed it. Would have been a mess to cut apart and reweld. Amazing what you can do with a 78.00 used harbor freight welder.
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af172/jfive_5/1203110200.jpg
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af172/jfive_5/1202112202.jpg
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af172/jfive_5/1202112201a.jpg
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af172/jfive_5/1202112201.jpg

[Cutlass327]

I'm guessing this is for a ATV or Lawn Tractor?

*on edit - I see it is a drag-behind for a truck now.. Couldn't go to links before..

Not bad, going to get a HF cheap atv winch to lift it? May I make a suggestion? Get a heavy spring, maybe a "trip spring" used on a larger plow, and attach it to the plow, then the cable of the winch to the spring. This would allow for the give needed to not snap cables or winches like they were talking about in the first link.

[jfive]

I actually plan on using a hydraulic ram. My idea is to mount the ram on a 1" piece of all round, and using my existing 5th wheel hitch to brace off of, and then running an extra power steering pump off my engine with a control valve to control the up and down of the plow. Granted this will add to the cost, but I think it will be worth it in the end. For now, looking at using a chain come along. I like the idea of a spring though for the guys using the cheap winches. I debated using one from northern tools, as they have one for 50.00 right now. Might use one temporarily till I get the power steering pump fabbed up.

[jfive]

Drew a cad of what I have in mind. Hope it works good, as I have been putting in a few hrs on this one.
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af172/jfive_5/snowplowbackbladedesign.jpg

[jfive]

Calling it quits for tonight, but got pretty far on it. If it ever snows, I will be glad I built it, and if not, it was still fun.
http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af172/jfive_5/1203112245.jpg

[fordnut71]

looks good. that welding school really helped you out on you level of projects now.
only thing i would change would be the power steering pump to run the hydraulics. id used a electric power pump instead. having been a tow truck driver i seen to many failures of the engine driven pump over the electric.
but dont you have the dodge 3500 with the 5.9?
the transmission should have a block off plate on the drivers side for a pto to be installed.

[Ron83ranger]

nice job, looks good. that thing is wide. pretty cool idea.

[jfive]

Its 8 feet wide. Was suppose to be 7 but the guy bending it for me said hey this piece is 8 ft want me to cut it down to 7 or go with that, so since I paid for 7 figured I would take the extra foot, since they have drag plows out there that are like 13ft. I guess I bleed blue too much, as i am thinking of getting rid of the dodge and staying with ford. I actually just got off the phone with a guy about it. I want to do the cheapest route, and after reading through forums, It came down to reading about peoples electric pumps going out. Same with the winches. Can't say I have ever had to replace a power steering pump in anything I own, and after seeing the kit that they sell for hydro winches I was sold. I like the idea of the pto off the tranny except I am loosing the dodge hopefully. Gonna hook it up to old red. A friend of mine actually got the wheels turning on this one as he told me about building some drag plows and using a cheap winch to raise and lower, but then I remembered another friend that had one that runs off the powersteering pump. I read on it and figure I won't mess with the steering as I need that, but what about running it on its own pump. http://www.milemarker.com/products/hseries.html

[Tr00b]

One of those 1000lb ATV winches from the farm store would lift it fine is probably only $100... You could double up the cable to get more lift out of it too.

Alot simpler than power steering pumps etc.

Kick ass plow though. I want one now! Lol.

Is it going to be heavy enough to dig though the compacted snow from where your truck drove?

[jfive]

I rather leave an inch of snow than scrap down to the gravel. It snowed an inch last night, so might get to try it soon. If you look at the pictures in the thread I linked, it looks like it works good for the other guys, and I have a cutting edge I can possibly use to get down into the snow if I need. Need a little more metal tomarrow, and then its ready to paint, and hook it up so it will be ready for when it snows.

[Cutlass327]

Ok, here's an idea. What about an actual plow pump lift? They are designed for this, all you need is a couple heavy wires to run the pump motor (I'm using 1/0 welding cable for mine) and a couple wires to run the solenoid. They have a lift position, a hold position, and a float position. The switch is an ON/OFF/Momentary on. The momentary is lift, the Off holds it wherever, and the float allows the lift ram to lower if the plow drops enough. In the float position you wouldn't need the spring, have to worry about snapping cables, etc. The Myers E47 is one of the most common ones out there, come in just a lift or lift with power angle. You wouldn't need the PA design, since you aren't making yours angle. These ones would have to be much cheaper than the PA ones, since everyone wants the PA.. This would be the simplest way to install/remove it, since you could just mount some connectors in the rear for the heavy gauge wire and use a 4-pin trailer plug for the control wires. No need to disconnect P/S lines, 5th wheel apparatus, etc. It'd be all self-contained on the plow itself.

Here's a site that you can find a lot of info on them:
http://www.meyere-47.com/

[TurboRay]

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to T off of your existing PS pressure and return hoses and run 'em to the back with quick-disconnect couplers. Using the truck's existing PS pump shouldn't subject it to any harm or additional wear - you'll just need to add a little fluid to compensate for the extra volume in the system.

Also, I would attach the forward end of the hydraulic cylinder to the plow itself, rather than making a special attachment point in the bed. http://forum.turboford.org/ubb/graemlins/dunno.gif

C'ya - RAY