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Greetings,
My old plow truck finally gave up, and rather then explain to the wife why I continue to put money into two toys (plow truck + tracker). I decided to consolidate. This meant mounting a meyer's 6.5' plow on the tracker. For reference the plow/subframe was originally on a 89 Chevy Blazer, and I'm just using it for my driveway/neighbor's driveways.
This is basically just the rough in, I'll post more pictures as I fine tune it, and hopefully we'll get some snow, so I can report on how it performs. Let me know what you think, good or bad! Anything I might be missing, or should reinforce etc...
First I extended the front frame to have somewhere to bolt on the plow subframe:
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_10_12_10_9_50_16.JPG)
Here's a closer look at the extended front pieces. I still need to add some bracing, but it's welded around the tube and to the side of the actual frame rail. There shouldn't be too much front-to-rear pressure against these mounts, it's mainly to hold the weight of the plow up. Where the plow actually mounts to the frame, there are tubes that run back to the main frame, which should take the majority of the impact.
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_10_12_10_9_47_42_0.JPG)
Here you can see I cut the original plow frame so I could extend the tubes to run all the way back to the main frame(past the crumple zone). Currently in place is approximately 2.5' of black pipe. It's not the strongest, but I had it on hand so we'll see how it holds up.
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_10_12_10_9_47_43_1.JPG)
This pic shows the tubes running under the carriage, there's just enough clearance between the control arms and the tubes.
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_10_12_10_9_47_43_2.JPG)
Lastly, I added a piece of angle iron to give the back section of the plow frame something to mount to. This is actually spaced down about 1 inch.
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_10_12_10_9_47_43_3.JPG)
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I have broken 2 frames where your front mount is welded, just from stress
of off-road pounding.
I would suggest before it breaks to pound a piece of DOM or heavy wall tubing
into the end and plug weld or weld the end into the existing frame tubing, those
stock frame parts are not that thick.
You might only get a foot or slightly more, depending on the fit of the tubing or
your sledge hammer size, if you get really lucky you might be able to get it all the way
through to the other side, in that case I would drill the stock cross member just through
to the inner tube and plug weld it.
Also in addition, weld a brace between the front a-arm mounts, this to reduce the
flexing of that upper round cross member, that should make the frame pretty bullet
proof in the front
Wild
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Somehow I don't see this working out too well, BUT, I have been known to be wrong from time to time.
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Thanks for the input Wild. The extensions are welded to both the cross member and the frame rails, but in general it's a weak point. My thoughts were front mount doesn't take as much abuse, but I guess just the weight of the plow bouncing on the front while driving could be enough to do some damage. I'll definitely reinforce the front cross member and between the a-arms.
Somehow I don't see this working out too well, BUT, I have been known to be wrong from time to time.
Where's the fun in things always working out as planned! If it breaks, in standard zuki fashion, I'll rebuild it better!
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I just keep seeing in my head the first time you lift the plow blade and the rear tires lifting off the ground. :o
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LOL, :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
That would be a sight.
It's a snow plow blade, not a bulldozer blade, it doesn't weigh that much ;)
Wild
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That would be interesting, and it is a meyer known for their weight! I think I'll be OK, I'm certainly not the first person to mount a plow on a tracker. I plan to toy with the idea of cutting some of the metal out of the plow, and surfacing it with plastic, maybe cutting up some of the those blue 50gal drums and riveting it in place. Don't know yet, we'll have to see how much the weight really does effect the front-end.
Couple more pics for you...
Per Wild's advice - Dom tubing pounded into the front cross member. I probably could have gone all the way through if I had enough material, but I only had enough to go 13" deep on each side. I welded the ends, but still need to plug weld it.
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_20_12_10_7_47_05_1.jpg)
Here's a pic of the plow sub-frame extended, welded, and primed.
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_20_12_10_7_47_04_0.jpg)
I still need to put a brace in between the a-arms, where do you think would be the best placement of the brace, low by the a-arm mounts, or up a little higher?
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That looks/sounds good to me, I was looking for a pic to show
you where the cross bracing should be, and I finally found one,
I know there is a closer view of one, but I couldn't find it but
this one should do just as well, it's just not a closeup
(http://www.zukiworld.com/month_080110/images/double-down-in-the-desert-racing-zukiworld-challenge/starvationridge2010265.jpg)
Wild
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Thanks Wild, no need for a closer pic, the placement is perfectly visible, and it makes sense. Thanks again!
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Well finally got some snow last week, actually first Blizzard since like the 80's. Over a foot of snow wasn't exactly what I was expecting for a trial run...
But it works, and it works well. The tracker successfully plowed +20" snow drifts without any issue. To be on the fair side, the snow was fairly light. Doing any larger passes with the blade angled, it definitely had potential to spin the tracker around, but it wasn't hard to adjust to that factor.
I haven't mounted the control in the cab yet, so I'm not completely done, but here are a couple shots from the latest...
Added some bracing:
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_04_01_11_10_36_29_0.jpg)
Here's the subframe all bolted up:
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_04_01_11_10_36_31_1.jpg)
And a final shot after plowing:
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_04_01_11_10_36_33_2.jpg)
No action shots yet, but it's suppose to snow later this week, so I hope to get some vids.
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I have broken 2 frames where your front mount is welded, just from stress
of off-road pounding.
Wild
I have broken one there too... definitely beef it up a little...
Zig
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Here's a quick video of the tracker plowing. I've already made a couple passes, and now I'm just widening the drive. We are suppose to get more snow tonight I'll see if I can get the wife to shoot a video from the outside.
Snow Plowing with Tracker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ht1uXXF1Vc#)
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Looks like a nice driveway. I'd love to live in a wooded setting like that. Now that I see the length of the driveway, I can see that a plow is the only way to go.
How's it holding up?
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Very cool!
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Very cool!
X 2!
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Thanks, plow is holding up fine, and I'm really pleased with it thus far.
We got hammered with approximately 27" of snow Tuesday night. As much as I hate to admit it, it was simply too much for the tracker. I had no problems with shorter portions of the drive, where I could a take 20' passes and push the snow off. But on the long straightaway, with trees on both sides, and no where to off load the snow, the tracker simply doesn't have the weight to push it.
Clearing was slow going, but the tracker did it, but I wouldn't want to have to do it again.
Here are some pics when I got started...
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_13_01_11_6_41_39_0.jpg)
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/1/7898_13_01_11_6_41_40_1.jpg)
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Holy crap dude, thats insane.
Edit: I'd probably throw some drift cutters on there.
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I'm still mongo impressed and it's still very cool!!! A two-door too! These little trucks are just remarkable. Do you have a locker in the rear of your truck or are you running open diffs on it?
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Thanks, currently running with open diffs. I locker would be great, a little more weight in the back we help a lot too. We've been getting hammered with snow lately, and the tracker keeps on pushing. We got about another 12" Wednesday night, had no issues moving that much around.
So far the only issue I have had is I drained the battery from too much up and down with the plow, tiime for a GM alternator. I have an 89 chevy blazer I plan to pull the alternator from, I don't think it will take too much work to get it in place, but I haven't looked at it up close yet to see.
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Amazing amount of snow and your rig is the little Tracker that could! Trail Tough sells a bottom bracket for the GM alt swap that makes the whole job a bunch easier for around $25 if I remember. Then all you have to do is modify the top bracket to make it longer.
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That's like.... what... 3 FEET of snow you've had within the last two weeks??? This isn't "normal" snowfall amounts for you guys is it? That's on par with the northern peninsula of Michigan.
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Yeah, completely out of the norm, in fact it's snowing now, well ice is falling from the sky. Connecticut had record #s in January, something like 57 inches.
I spent much of the past week raking the roof of my house, and chasing various leaks from the massive ice dams. Found the calcium chloride in a stocking trick works best at cutting through the dams.