HOME-MADE PUSHERS.....

[FIREMAN]

OK...HERE GOES...SEEMS AS THOUGHT THERE HAS BEEN A BIT OF DISCUSSION ABOUT HOME-MADE PUSHERS...HERE ARE MY ?'S
1) FULL TRIP OR BOTTOM TRIP(FISCHER) WHICH IS BETTER..OR CAN IT EVEN BE DONE WITH A BOTTOM TRIPPER???
2) WELDING 2 MOLDBORDS TOGETHER...IS THIS WISE?...ANY ADVICE ON BRACING THE 2 TOGETHER?
3) DO HYDRUALICS MEAN ANYTHING...I'VE NEVER SEEN A PUSHER THAT ANGLED(NOT TO SAY THEY AREN'T OUT THERE)?
4) WHERE DOES ONE BUT SHOES...OR MUST YOU FABRICATE THEM?
5) RECCOMENDED SIZES...BY HORSEPOWER, LOAD RATING? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?
6) SIDES, HOW FAR SHOULD THEY EXTEND TO THE FRONT, BEYOND THE ORIGINAL MOLDBOARD..AND HOW SHOULD THEY BE BRACED?


FOR MY OWN INFO....WOULD I SEE ANY BENEFIT FROM MAKING A PROTOTYPE HOME-MADE JOB FROM A 6'5" BLADE..THIS WOULD GO OUT TO A SUB TO USE ON A CASE SKIDSTEER...ANY PICS OF HOME-MADE PUSHERS WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL ALSO ANY COMMON HEADACHES ASSOCIATED WITH THIER FABRICATION?

SORRY FOR THE LENGTH OF THIS THREAD AND THE CAPS BUT MY KEYBOARD IS STUCK ON CAPS LOCK....

 

[frogman]

Hey Fireman,
'Just received a catalog from Mill Supply, Inc. entitled "Discount snow plow parts". They offer shoes. Web site = http://www.discountsnowplowparts.com

Bob

 

[Mark Oomkes]

Just my opinion, but if ProTech and Avalanche have spent all the time and money to do all that work, wouldn't it be easier and probably cheaper just to buy one of those?

 

[John Allin]

Look at...

http://www.snopusher.com

There are pictures of pushers there.

We have found that building our own pushers costs less in materials (as long as you have a moldboard), but labor can be extensive. We have found that buying them eliminates considerable ongoing maintenance and headaches. We built ours before Pro-Tech and Avalanche became common and easy to get.

As for using a snowplow and converting it.... it can be done and we have done that, however you need to add extensions to the moldboard, beef up the back with channel, add the side plates and skid plates, etc. You better be a GREAT welder.

There are pushers on the market with bottom trip, however the idea behind the pushers is that you are "pushing snow" and not cutting to the pavement. Using urethane edges helps, and steel will work too - however there are inherent problems with steel edges on pushers (like... there is no "give" if you hit anything). Also, there currently are none that angle (and work), so hydralics are not an issue.

Pro-Tech vs Avalanche..... both are good. Pro-Tech (in my opinion) is built with more of our industry needs in mind. And, Avalanche is a Canadian company - not that this is bad, but they are 'over the border' and that might (and I mean "might") cause delays in getting help on warrantee issues. I do not know from experience with Avalanche, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

We own 42 pushers now. We built 20 of them, and then started purchasing them. We own no Avalanche's. And the sizes we have range from 8 ft. skid steer mounted, to 20 foot fold ups, to 24 foot HUGE fixed. See Pro-Tech's literature for size pushers as compared to size loaders you need.

We won't build anymore for use on loaders. Skid steer models, we will probably build more of.

[Edited by John Allin on 01-07-2001 at 08:11 AM]

 

[Larrytow]

Hi, I am considering building a pusher also. Question is : has anyone tried one on a truck? After all a plow with wings on is kinda like a pusher, right? So if you take a plow and put sides on, then you have a pusher that angles. You dont have downpressure ability like with a loader though. A 45 angle on the front of the sides would make it real good going up and over curbs I figure. A blade trip plow of course would not trip with sides like this. Either a trip edge plow or a rubber or U edge is required I suppose. Welding and fabrication is no problem as we do a lot of it for our towing equipment. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this and if it's a workable idea.

Regards,Larry

 

[John Allin]

Larry,

There are some inherent problems putting a pusher on a truck. Think of a plow.... if you hit something REAL solid and hard (like a curb) the plow will fail at the A-Frame. It's designed to do that.

A pusher (by the nature of how it is built) has no inherent failure point between the moldboard and the frame of the truck (if it were truck mounted). Thus all the stress is transfered to the frame of the truck. Guess where the inherent failure point is then ??

Truck frames cost considerably more to fix than plow frames.

Avalanche has (in their literature) pushers for trucks. As of the beginning of this winter, it is my understanding that they had yet to actually sell one. So.... there aren't any in use (that I'm aware of), so we don't really know what the problems are yet.

I'd be VERY leery of using a pusher on a truck. I wouldn't do it on any truck I own.

 

[Larrytow]

John, I appreciate the input and cautions you point out. What I am thinking of would still be a plow with an A frame and its built in failure points. It would be like a plow with permanenly attached wings,or sides, only they will be at 90 deg angle to the moldboard rather than 30 deg like pro wings. If I made them with a 45 deg angle leading edge, dont you think it will ride up and over curbs ok? Such a contraption will not be real versitile for general work I know. But we do mainly big industrial lots and my thought is one truck set up this way would be helpfull. The blade can be taken off and a normal blade put on quick enough to make it worth while to have one around for times when it might be usefull. Maybe its a dumb idea, maybe not. Not even sure I will build one. But it is good to discuss it and get others opinions.Thanks.

Regards, Larry

 

[John Allin]

Only other concern I would have would be the strain on the tranny. Gathering snow like that, with no way to release the "strain" by angling the blade, might cause some severe stress on the tranny of the truck - depending upon the size of the truck/tranny.

I have nothing concrete to base this 'concern' on, just a "feeling" that it might not be good on the transmission.

 

[Larrytow]

Here is the Avalanche truck model.

http://www.ledexindustries.com/avalanche/pickup.html

This is what I am thinking of building. I'm too cheap to just buy one. Especialy if they havent sold one yet(ref J.A.A.).

Regards, Larry

 

[Larrytow]

John, I agree about possible tranny strain. You could not put one of these on just any truck. If I do this it would go on a 70 F350 4 by 4 with 4 spd man trans. Trk weight is 9300 lbs without the plow. It is a towtruck also. Could push in low range if required. Never need low for regular plowing with 9 ft Western though. I think I just want a new toy to play with! Something no one has around here yet.I Dont think I would use it with an auto trans truck.

Regards, Larry