Workshop Wednesday-John Deere 5100 part 1

 The boss picked up a new tractor that we'll use this winter for snow plowing. The machine will get a seven foot snowblower hanging off the back of it. For the front we could have added a pusher to the loader bucket but we have found that these tractors are much more maneuverable without the loader bucket. The trick is to find a blade sized right for the machine. We had a few new Blizzard 8611 blades left over and decided to tool this tractor up with one. 8611 means the blade is eight foot six wide and extends to eleven feet. If you continue to extend the wings they will fold forward into a scoop plow. Long time followers will remember when we tooled up a Kubota tractor with similar but smaller plow and another Deere with a Blizzard Speedwing
 I like these kind of projects and this mount will be similar to the Kubota. Usually the type of materials used is determined by what is available in the shop at the time. We had some one inch steel plate looking for a home so the first step was to make a template.

 It's easy to modify a piece of cardboard till it looks like you want. Then it's just a matter of tracing the outline onto the steel plate and attacking it with a torch.

 Not everything gets cut with a torch. I drilled the holes for the mounting bolts with this magnetic drill press. The one inch broach used here bored through the inch thick plate in less than a minute. Nice.

 There was a lot of cutting and welding involved between the last two pics. The main drop plate has a Blizzard mount welded to the bottom and gussets welded to the back.

 There is also a mount on the back for a kicker arm that runs all the way to the rear drawbar mount of the tractor. That black wire loom is the power harness to the plow.

 Here is the completed project. The blade is seen in the eleven foot width and I can't wait to see how productive this machine will be. Compared to a pickup truck these tractors really shine. The operator sits up higher and has great 360 degree visibility. The stock lighting makes it easy to see and be seen. They are a smaller package yet weigh more and have great traction. Overall operating costs are less than a truck too. The only drawback is a truck has the ability to travel down the road much better.
 This may be my blog but I can't take all the credit for this project. The boss supplied his wisdom and vision for what he wanted and also did the paint work. Al did the electrical and helped with the head scratching when we were coming up with a plan for the mount. Troy helped me do the actual building of the mount and Greg installed some tunes in the cab while the tractor was laid up here in the shop. Others involved were Dan who assembled the new blade and Steve, our in house snowplow guru.
 Sorry James, I think your involvement in this project may have been limited to keeping us hydrated when you lost the flip and by letting us use your big impact.
 Next week I'll talk about the plow controller mount in the cab.