Thought you guys might find this interesting. Over Thanksgiving my dad and I built a mini plow for my 4 runner. He owns a couple plow rigs with commercial plows and I also used to have a dedicated plow rig in Montana. I wanted to build something much lighter and simpler than a commercial plow for my 4runner because it's only for my own driveway. And I wanted to get it completely finished for less than the cost of a snowblower. I'm still trying to sort out what type of spring to use. A commercial spring is too long. The ones I bought at the hardware store are WAY too light. Tried some bungie type springs, but they are also too soft. I'm thinking I might double up ATV plow springs (so there'd be 4 of them). So here's what I ended up with:
Thanks. It's smaller than it looks in the pictures. I was actually looking more at building a heavy ATV plow than a light commercial plow. I actually thought about just using a really wide UTV plow with wings, but it would have taken almost the same amount of work and cost too much (in comparison to the snowblower alternative). It's only 6'6" wide and the moldboard is about 18" tall. I'd guess overall weight is around 150lbs plus the winch, so maybe 230lbs total. I think I'm into it for about $175 in steel and $250 for a HF winch. A little atv winch would work just fine, I just figured, why not have a heavier winch to throw in for camping trips (I have a warn 8274 on my cruiser for hardcore wheeling, but this might also work as a rear winch too).
I still have 2 problems to solve. First is quick disconnects for the power cables. Any good budget ideas? The 175 amp winch connectors seem to be $40-50 a set. Seems really high for how basic they really are.
I'm also still trying to sort out the spring issue. I need to hit up some type of industrial supply or something that might have heavier springs available.
And we need some snow. Hasn't snowed since I got it set up.
Id find some used SOLOFLEX rubber bands. (thats what I though you had on the left hand side to begin with) they have different weights and might do the trick? You could then dial it in better by adding or removing them.
Update: I've put it away for now. After the snowiest winter on record (at least for the ski areas) it held up reasonably well. The spring rate is still a major issue. The problem is that the hinge point is too far from the blade edge and there's too much leverage on the springs so it trips too easy. I will add new spring mounts for two or three fullsize plow springs before next season.
Also I managed to bend the angle iron cross bar between the hinge points. That is 2.5 by 1/4 angle. I will probably replace with 3/8 for that piece. It deflected about 1" so it's still fully functional, but needs to be fixed. I believe the bend was due to the blade tripping flat, then the top of the blade catching a gutter. If the spring rate was stronger I don't think it would have bent.
With those exceptions it plowed reasonably well. It doesn't scrape up the packed snow like a commercial plow does, I'm not sure if that's an angle of attack issue or a weight issue but I suspect it's a weight issue. I can mop out my driveway in about 2 minutes that would take 30+ with a snowblower. Overall I'd do it again.
