Thanks for the comments. If I had to do it again, I'd go with round shoes. The rectangle was great in theory, as it's an easy way to add square inches without the fab time of round plates. However it tended to spin about, changing the angle and height of which it kept the cutting edge. Also it was allowed to hinge too much, as sometimes it would end up nearly vertical and dig into the ground. And I shouldn't bother with the drag spike... It was worn out in no time.
Plow shoes will a keep the plow in better shape than scraping with just the blade obviously because you're just pushing the snow and not scraping the ground. I made shoes like that and the 1/4" steel lasts about two years on my driveway. My next pair are going to be 1/2" steel plate so they'll last twice as long hopefully. I have a gravel driveway, so I would never scape the snow all the way down to the gravel anyway. I'd much rather have a 1/2" of snow left instead of scraping the ground all the time. I think I can push a lot more snow with shoes on than without.
I assume you built this ski also for the times in fall before road freezing and times in spring during thaw when the gravel road is almost NON-plowable with the round snow plow skids. That is when I have problems. In fact, I have designed but not yet built similar "skiis" for my track loader to solve the exact same problem. My design mounts the shaft forward of center so it is forced to TRAIL the end in the rear and keep straight with forward motion direction. (Centering will always allow complete rotation.) Additionally, to assist this I have a "keel" fin on the blade-- long triangle deeper near the back of the ski, like a water ski keel. I would make the assembly out of AS400 -- high wearing steel x 3/8 to 1/2" thick. Your (our) idea has lots of merit and should work. Another thing to consider is the angle of the ski. At Northern Hydraulics they offer round snow plow feet that have additional angle brackets allowing 20 or 40° angles to be set. If this system doesn't work at the angle now set maybe changing the angle could?! Nice job on these so far. Keep going!
You will not get the same results on ground that is not frozen. Frozen ground will be beneficial with shoes. Totally different results. Also, round shoes is the way to go on any type of ground. They help protect flat driveways from your cutting edge and great on gravel. Those pesky cracks in driveways are really horrible. Your blade will tear that up quick and lots of less tripping of your blade or tilting depending on the plow set up. Shoes extend the life of your plow.
I'm glad I found your video. I am just now getting ready to build a set just like the ones you made. Looks like I'm going back to the re-design phase.
Glad I could help.
Pvc across the bottom of blade from side to side you slice a notch in the pvc is what ive seen in had ski like this didnt work got all jacked up
Suoer cool shoes
Thanks for the comments. If I had to do it again, I'd go with round shoes. The rectangle was great in theory, as it's an easy way to add square inches without the fab time of round plates. However it tended to spin about, changing the angle and height of which it kept the cutting edge. Also it was allowed to hinge too much, as sometimes it would end up nearly vertical and dig into the ground. And I shouldn't bother with the drag spike... It was worn out in no time.
Plow shoes will a keep the plow in better shape than scraping with just the blade obviously because you're just pushing the snow and not scraping the ground. I made shoes like that and the 1/4" steel lasts about two years on my driveway. My next pair are going to be 1/2" steel plate so they'll last twice as long hopefully. I have a gravel driveway, so I would never scape the snow all the way down to the gravel anyway. I'd much rather have a 1/2" of snow left instead of scraping the ground all the time. I think I can push a lot more snow with shoes on than without.
I assume you built this ski also for the times in fall before road freezing and times in spring during thaw when the gravel road is almost NON-plowable with the round snow plow skids. That is when I have problems. In fact, I have designed but not yet built similar "skiis" for my track loader to solve the exact same problem. My design mounts the shaft forward of center so it is forced to TRAIL the end in the rear and keep straight with forward motion direction. (Centering will always allow complete rotation.) Additionally, to assist this I have a "keel" fin on the blade-- long triangle deeper near the back of the ski, like a water ski keel. I would make the assembly out of AS400 -- high wearing steel x 3/8 to 1/2" thick. Your (our) idea has lots of merit and should work. Another thing to consider is the angle of the ski. At Northern Hydraulics they offer round snow plow feet that have additional angle brackets allowing 20 or 40° angles to be set. If this system doesn't work at the angle now set maybe changing the angle could?! Nice job on these so far. Keep going!
You will not get the same results on ground that is not frozen. Frozen ground will be beneficial with shoes. Totally different results. Also, round shoes is the way to go on any type of ground. They help protect flat driveways from your cutting edge and great on gravel. Those pesky cracks in driveways are really horrible. Your blade will tear that up quick and lots of less tripping of your blade or tilting depending on the plow set up. Shoes extend the life of your plow.
Well you graded your driveway
New feet are 40 bucks