Pipe on back blade. What size?

hadley

Member
Have heard how lots of guys have had satisfactory results keeping the gravel in the driveway by putting a piece of plastic pipe on the cutting edge of the blade. Cutting the pipe and sliding it over the cutting edge is a given, but what size pipe works best (I realize this could vary depending on size of cutting edge) and also how do you keep the pipe from sliding off the end of the blade when it is angled? Thanks
 
I initially used 3" schedule 40 PVC. Sat on it and cut it with a circular saw. I did this on a 7 foot manual angle blade (meaning not a very heavy blade)
I drilled a few holes on each side and used rubber bungy straps to hold it on the blade.
This worked for 2-3 times. BUT, being cold, the PVC cracks.

I have an 8 foot land pride blade I use. Its twice as heavy as the 7 footer. For that I used a 2 inch black pipe. Its been on for 6 years with no problems. If it did it again, I would have used 3 inch black pipe.

Rick
 
Hope it's ok to link another site here.

Folks on the linked site talk about this a lot, most say PVC doesn't work, ABS will and seems most use steel for durability. Pics I've seen looks like most use what they have in the 2-3 inch range.

Here's a 12 page thread on the subject, you can also do a search on for other threads on the subject on that site.
Pipe for snow blade:
 
I use 3 inch steel pipe. Welded 3 1/4 inch 4x8
brackets to pipe and used the 3 bolts that hold
the cutting edge of blade in place. If I had a
larger pipe I would have used it.

Pipe won't prevent removing some gravel from
drive. Dress out drive, level it, before it
snows. The steel pipe will tell you when you are
in the gravel at which point you lift it up. All
the snow I remove goes in the road, not in the
grass.

Some people think that having grass growing in
gravel is a bad thing. Actually, it a good thing.
Pipe will slide over frozen grass and all the
gravel stays behind.

I made the best 8 frt snow blade for my FIL. It
fits inside the bucket. It's not bolted to
anything, just chained in so it can't fall out. I
made it out of an 8 ft 2x12. Attached a 4 inch
plastic pipe to the bottom. Braced it with wood,
used steel straps to hold pipe in.

First home made blade is light weight. Second if
the ground is unlevel, it won't dig in on one
side like a back blade will. Third, I can push
snow off the lawn and not disturb the grass. It
removes no gravel either. It floats over the
surface.

Someday, when I find an old back blade, I plan to
design a blade that can float in 3D like the
blade in my backhoe. Plan to make it as light as
possible too. This will be my Round 2 it project.
 
If you use a pipe you will leave snow on the driveway and if you get sun or rain you have a sheet of ice. Scrape it off and if you get a little gravel in the grass I use my landscape rake in the spring and drag the gravel back on the drive. No snow no ice and no broken bones. IT IS CALLED COMMEN SENCE

Bob
 
Every year I spend a half day fixing my CPA's 1/2 mile drive because someone pushed his snow/gravel mix in his yard.

I clean 12 drives with a slag pipe. Leave about 1 inch of snow. Son comes out, it gone next day. I don't remove rocks from my yards.

If you are concerned about falling on snow, use common sense, get yak traxs.
yak trax
 
(quoted from post at 19:35:08 12/19/14) If you use a pipe you will leave snow on the driveway and if you get sun or rain you have a sheet of ice. Scrape it off and if you get a little gravel in the grass I use my landscape rake in the spring and drag the gravel back on the drive. No snow no ice and no broken bones. IT IS CALLED [b:a37e35d857]COMMEN SENCE[/b:a37e35d857]

Bob

That would be "COMMON SENSE".
 
George I live a little farther north then you and we don't have the good fortune of the sun coming out and melting the snow like you. If I had that weather I would not plow at all, just let the sun do the plowing for me. Up in the north woods we have to rely on common sense.

Bob
 
Getting your Son to come out and do that the next day would be the toughest part for many. I would just let it melt...LOL!
 
Here's the pictures. When this one wears out I am going to a 3" pipe. This blade is around 850lbs. I don't think PVC would last anyways.
Rick
a177059.jpg

a177060.jpg
 
Bob,
How far north do you live?
If it didn't snow in Indiana, I wouldn't have any tractor therapy in the winter. The slag pipe works best for me. No extra work in spring removing rocks.

Grand kids like the snow too. PuLL a sled behind a tractor, they have a ball. They like doing donuts with the go-cart. Driving on the trails with the kaw mule.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!
GEORGE
 
creative ideas

harsh North here.
I just bolt/weld on mounts for real snowplow shoes/feet.
One pin to adjust the washers.
adjust them high early in the season, lower after the ground freezes.
January rolls around.......take em right off.
The snow/ice packed in the gravel driveway is so hard then, til March,
a bulldozer couldn't get to the gravel

Question for the pipe users.
(not a flame, just an honest question from someone always looking for new ideas)
Doesn't the pipe allow the blade to ride up and just run over the top on dense snow?
Just curious

ps I'm with the other poster.
Ain't no Sun up here in winter.
And if it does come out......it's lying to us...doesn't do squat
 
I did just that to a heavy 6' Ford blade behind my
8n (SE MI). Only used it for 1 year then removed
the shoes. Sold the blade with the tractor with
the mounts still on it 14 years later. I found
that the shoes didn't help at all when the drive
was not froze solid and caused snow to build up
when it was. Best solution to the problem was 42
yds. of cement.
 
Nonewparts,

My blade is heavy enough (850lbs) that it will pretty much hug right to the ground. I have yet to have it ride up on hard snow.

I tried skid shoes. Two problems I had. If your driveway is not really hard packed, the shoes will dig into the looser stone, then the blade drops and starts grabbing stone. The other problem, it seems we have had quite a few early storms the last couple years where we have had to plow yet the ground wasn't frozen yet.

You still pick up a few stones here and there. In the spring I make one pass each way with the landscape rake to grab the edges and the level the drive in one pass.

Yes, when the sun comes out, it will glaze the driveway a little and make it icy. My drive is level so I just take it slow. Could be a problem in hilly country.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 12:44:23 12/21/14) Nonewparts,

My blade is heavy enough (850lbs) that it will pretty much hug right to the ground. I have yet to have it ride up on hard snow.

I tried skid shoes. Two problems I had. If your driveway is not really hard packed, the shoes will dig into the looser stone, then the blade drops and starts grabbing stone. The other problem, it seems we have had quite a few early storms the last couple years where we have had to plow yet the ground wasn't frozen yet.

You still pick up a few stones here and there. In the spring I make one pass each way with the landscape rake to grab the edges and the level the drive in one pass.

Yes, when the sun comes out, it will glaze the driveway a little and make it icy. My drive is level so I just take it slow. Could be a problem in hilly country.

Rick

Thanks Rick
Got a Farmall SC with a fasthitch blade (heavy) not doing anything in the winter.
Been considering getting it out there in the snow with the Ford and Kubota.
I'll try the pipe idea on that one.
 

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