Plow blade repair.

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Well Saturday we had another decent storm and plowed 13 hrs for the township.. I must have had between 16-20" of snow. I'd rather get 6-8" storms as its easier on the plow and we don't plow all that much longer in most "Big" storms. As usual the plow broke down.    This time it was a clogged pump intake screen that shut me down for about 2 hrs. Also sheared off the 2nd corner protector.Well I'm not going to spend $90 some dollars for a new one if I could avoid it. I thought I'd go see if my buddy had some scrap 5/8" x 6" high strength plate I could fab one out of cheap. He wasn't at the shop, and his shop guy mentioned he was just down the street from my place repairing a crane, so I went by to say hi. Well after I talked to him a bit, I walked out to the truck and found this mess after the snow on the blade had dropped off in the sun. You really are not supposed to see daylight between the trip edge and the main blade. This is the same problem I had with the last blade, but that time I didn't catch it until I'd really F'd up the blade and the springs had come loose.It's a bad design, that they have now corrected in the "newer" blades. They weld on the blade skin, then welded the trip edge stop to the skin. There's not really much that holds the stop in place but a few tack welds between the 1/8" skin and the vertical ribs. if those tacks break, then the stop gets hammered up from the edge slamming back into position against the stop. Luckily I had a chunk of 3/8"x 2-1/2" bar for another job that got put on hold, so I could cut out the old 3/8"x 1-1/2" stop and replace it.This will take a 3 posts, so give me a few minutes to get all the picts up. Attached ImagesLast edited by DSW; 02-08-2010 at 07:15 PM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Ok now for the prep work. This is a real PITA with the compression springs installed, and getting the springs off is a MAJOR job to replace them. I figured I'd lean the plow against the curb to compress the springs, then drill holes in the spring guides to lock the edge in place while I work on it. I lucked out! Someone in the past must have had to do this, because there were already holes drilled in the guides. A few scrap pieces of 1/4" SS rod and I can start ripping this apart. This held the edge down so I could work well.I took the demo saw with the abrasive blade can cut between the old stop and the blade skin to get rid of the worst parts. Then I measured about where I thought the new top of the stop should go and clamped the new stop above the line and used it as a guide to remove the extra 1" of skin so I had more rib to weld to, and the ground off any 1/8" that stayed on the ribs. A bit of trimming with the 4 1/2" grinder and slitting wheels to get the line real straight and the ground as much as I could for easy prep. I'm glad I chose to run the demo saw for the rough cuts. I used up most of the rest of the 14" blade left from the shed demo doing the 2 9' cuts. I burned thru 4 cutting disks trimming back the 36" or so that I had to trim 1/8-1/4" to get the new stop to fit well. My plasma would have  been easier, but I don't have the big air bottles at the house right now, and my scuba adapter is out on loan. My O/A torches are disassembled right now and I just didn't want to waste time on them.The last pct shows their idea on how to mount the stop. You can see where the 3/8" is just laid on the 1/8" skin and tacked with 4" welds. I didn't have to cut the stop free from the ribs at all. Only slice thru the skin behind the stop to free it. A good bit had cracked along this line over the years, and if you look at a few of the picts you can see where the skin tore around the tacks to the ribs on some places.BTW this plow was originally an old municipal plow that the township sold after they beat it well. I got the "blade" a few years back after I Fubar'd the old one the same way this one  is. You can tell in a lot of place where this blades been patched over the years. Attached Images.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Ok, last one for today. I tried to weld this all back up this afternoon, but winds were 10-20 mph gusting to 35mph. I burned in the tacks with stick, 3/32 7014. Not the prettiest, but good enough for now to hold things in place. Clamping was a real PITA. With the trip edge off, I could clamp to the ribs, but with it on there wasn't enough to grab onto to suck the 3/8" tight. I cheated and scrapped a HF 3" junky clamp to help hold things in place. I wanted to use my good steel one, but it's MIA right now.  I doubt I'll do this again. The clamp is some cast POS. As soon as I'd get the 3/8" close, I'd tear the welds out of the clamp. I finally managed to get it close to where I wanted it and tacked up. Tomorrow I hope the winds will die down as expected so I can burn this all in with the  mig. If not I'll tent this whole thing. They're calling for more snow Tues night into Wednesday, possibly another Nor'easter with a decent snow amount.I'm really regretting not spending the cash to put the mount on the new truck this year. for less than $800 I could have had 2 trucks up and running instead of one if I could have found a 2nd driver. The 2nd plow would be a cobbled together POS, but it would push snow, and I'd probably be 1/2 way towards a new Fisher after tomorrows storm. Oh well last year I was lucky if I broke even paying the insurance on the truck with how little we plowed. We had more hours in the 1st storm before Christmas than we did the whole season last year.I guess it could be worse. Mom and dad down outside of DC waited 2 weeks for the county to clear their circle. They didn't even see a plow for almost 3 day, then it made one pass straight in and left. Saturdays storm left them without power for 30 hrs. No heat, and they had the BBQ grill to cook with. I'm betting my sister regrets getting rid of those Kerosene space heaters, the propane heater and stove and the spare 20lb propane tank she gave me. I warned her she'd be smart to keep them on hand for emergencies, but she just wanted to clean out stuff. If I didn't take then they were going in the trash.  This was the 2nd 3' storm this season where they usually don't get more than 2". I have a feeling they might get dumped on again tomorrow.All done for now. I'll post up the finished picts tomorrow if I have time.. Attached Images.No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Snow plows are job security for welders.   That is, if the welder is getting paid to do the welding.My plow edge developed a crack 4 foot long.   You have to look closely to see it, but it spans almost the entire picture.   The plate is hard stuff, AR400 or the like.If it were a standard edge, it would be best to replace it, but this is a custom "gravel" edge that took several days of work to fabricate, so I tried a repair.   Crack ground out about 1/4" deep (the edge is 3/8" thick)Preheated with Oxy for about 15 minutes.   Root pass 3/32" 6010, followed by 1/8" 7018.   Using a Hobart AC/DC Stickmate, on DC, of course.   The little Hobart is a better than average buzzbox.Capped with two passes of 3/32 7018AC.   The AC rod gave me a hard time so no close-up pic.    I had bought a 50 pound tin of the AC rod and don't like it, but can't afford to throw it away, so I use it on non-critical apps.This was intended to be a "temporary" repair but that was two months ago and the repair is holding up fine, so I'm tempted to leave it alone.
Reply:Nice work..Yeah ive got a Hobart Stickmate LX AC/DC and love it..like it alot better than the lincoln tombstones
Reply:DSW,Hurry up and finish the welds on the plow.  The next nor-easter is supposed to start Tuesday night (tonight).    The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:DSW, thanks for sharing some of the wealth. I have been out since 3:00A and I will be back out sometime this evening. You East guys have been hoggin all of the nice weather. We are finally getting some. Man that is the prettiest shade of green falling from the sky. I keep asking my main customer for a company jacket with my title on it. I am head of the "Dept. of Winter Precipitation Relocation". Have fun, be safe."Where's Stick man????????" - 7A749"SHHHHHH!! I sent him over to snag that MIC-4 while tbone wasn't looking!" - duaneb55"I have bought a few of Tbone's things unlike Stick-Man who helps himself" - TozziWelding"Stick-man"
Reply:Originally Posted by Stick-man... Man that is the prettiest shade of green falling from the sky. I keep asking my main customer for a company jacket with my title on it. I am head of the "Dept. of Winter Precipitation Relocation". .
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWMan I cold be making a mint right now down by my parents near DC with my plow and snow blower. They really don't have the infrastructure to handle all the snow they've gotten. The kind of money guys with plows down there must be getting is probably stupid high.
Reply:Good luck Doug..I'm ready and waiting up here......zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.