Snow plow shoe material -- cast iron or steel?

[PatsPOS]

Well, to make a long story short, I'm kinda tired of plowing the top layer of gravel off of my folks' driveway when the ground is anything but completely frozen. So I hatched a plan...I found some 6" wide and fairly long pieces of 3/16" plate lying around, and figured I could weld them onto the shoes that are already on the plow (I don't know what kind of plow it is, but we bought Meyer shoes a few years ago, and they fit like a glove). I'm hoping the wider shoes will float over the surface a little better and not dig everything up.

But not far into my scheming, I realized I didn't know what kind of material the shoes are made of. If they're steel, I'm not too worried about welding the wider plates to the old shoes. But if they're cast iron, well...I'm not set up for welding that at all. And I'm not really afraid of fabbing up a new pair of shoes out of the steel plate I have, but that sounds too much like work! :lol:

Thanks in advance for any advice. And if it makes anyone feel any better, the plow isn't mounted on a truck...it's on a Ford 2000 that saw duty with the PA Air Nat' Guard. 8)
Pat

 

[johns48jdb]

i wouldn't worry about the type of material it is. no more and no faster you'll be traveling it should wear a long time. i have some good luck just welding cast iron to steel using a mig welder. just did it on some small stuff and don't know how well it will hold up against shock loads. can you bolt it on. shouldn't take to much. also any way to add some gague wheels behind the blade to keep from digging in to deep.

 

[JK-NY]

Fisher plow shoes are cast steel.Not sure about Meyers . I have cut up plow points and welded them on to worn Fisher shoes and it works fine. If your plan doesnt work maybe you could find shoes off a Diamond plow , they are 2X as wide as a Meyers shoe .

 

[Anonymous-0]

put a grinder on material you want to use...look at sparks...if theyre brite orange/white color its steel...dull orange or hardly any spark at all and its cast iron.

 

[LouNY]

Pat, I had and have the same problem with my 10 ft. back blade. I added some Meyers shoes to and then added 6in. wide flat stock to act as a kind of ski. It did help some but when the frost goes out or the driveway gets real soft it doesn"t do much. I have also tried them with the plow truck and again they helped a little but not as much as I hoped. Mine have worn some but I just built them back up with welding rod.
Good luck
Lou

 

[PatsPOS]

Well, thanks for the advice, guys. But, after some discussion with my dad today, it looks like I'm gonna be fabbing a new pair of shoes from scratch. I think I have a pretty good idea on how I want 'em to look, so it's just gonna be a matter of cutting some brackets and stickin' everything together. I'm still a fairly green welder, so I reckon I could use the extra practice!

Thanks again,
Pat

 

[Shetland Sheepdog]

Another thing that might help is springs from the head gear down to the front of the A-frame. Something like the Meyers trip springs will work. The idea is that they carry a lot of, but not all of the weight of the blade! :shock: I haven't used them, but a fellow that I know has been using them for years. He pushes a 9 ft municipal duty Fisher plow with a JD 6320 4x4 and it don't take long to tear up a LOT of ground with that set-up! :roll: :roll: He swears by the springs! :wink:
Dave 8)

 

[RWK in WI]

In northern Wisconsin we have the problem
plowing snow on sand roads / drives until the
ground is frozen. On some of our plows we
have bolted angle iron to the front of the cutting
edge with the other side of the angel going
down and back and providing a way to pack
about an inch of snow down and keeping ftom
touching the gravel. On other plows we use a
length of 4 to 6 inch pipe with a slit cut in it to
slip over the bottom of the blade to keep it
from touching the gravel We call these
sandguards.