It's that time of year again when the snow starts piling up and I decided I needed to start working with my brain and not my back to get it out of here, so I finally put something together that I've wanted to do for a longgg time.
I bucked up the cash last year and bought a nice Craftsman 24" snowblower, only to find that while it is better than shoveling, it's not very time efficient and it sucks having the snow blow back in your face. I decided I needed to do something different this year.
I have had my Cub Cadet 1525 since it was new in '03 and it has always been great for cutting grass. Until this year, I didn't know that Cub Cadet made ground engagement attachments for that tractor. I had thought one would need one of their larger garden tractors for such attachments.
Well I began looking around on CL and found a 46" plow off of a Husqvarna Tractor for $100 and bought it. It didn't come with a 'trip' spring on it, which I didn't like, so I made my own (I copied from another plow that I googled) out of a piece of AllThread, a garage door spring cut to length, and a couple nuts and a plastic handle I found in the hardware aisle at Lowes. Now if I hit a crack in the driveway with the tractor, it doesn't transfer the stress to the frame, instead the blade hinges and spring absorbs the impact.
I figured I might be plowing at night to keep up with the snow, as I don't want to put too much stress on the tractor's transaxle. Since I'd be plowing in the dark, I decided tail lights might be a good idea. The tractor already had good headlights, so I was good there. I went to Harbor Freight and bought a pack of red clearance lamps and they had vehicle work lights on sale so I bought one of those too.
I attached the taillights with stainless steel 1/8 sheet metal screws and wired them into the headlight circuit so they come on together. I made gaskets for them out of an old foam sanding block. I mounted the work light right behind the cup holder facing rearward so I can see behind me. It was wired on its own circuit with its own switch and fuse. I also have a mini SMV triangle on order to attach to the back of the seat.
With visibility taken care of, the last issue came down to traction. At 6'3" and 270 lbs, I provide a good ballast over the rear wheels myself, but I wanted to still be safe. Instead of buying expensive wheel weights, I bought 15 gallons of washer fluid to fill the rear tires with. Each gallon weights about 8 lbs, and each rear tire took 6.5 gallons, so I added over 50lbs for less than $30. I also special ordered a set of tire chains from Agway for the rears.
Named after its Kawasaki engine, I present the Plowasaki-
I bucked up the cash last year and bought a nice Craftsman 24" snowblower, only to find that while it is better than shoveling, it's not very time efficient and it sucks having the snow blow back in your face. I decided I needed to do something different this year.
I have had my Cub Cadet 1525 since it was new in '03 and it has always been great for cutting grass. Until this year, I didn't know that Cub Cadet made ground engagement attachments for that tractor. I had thought one would need one of their larger garden tractors for such attachments.
Well I began looking around on CL and found a 46" plow off of a Husqvarna Tractor for $100 and bought it. It didn't come with a 'trip' spring on it, which I didn't like, so I made my own (I copied from another plow that I googled) out of a piece of AllThread, a garage door spring cut to length, and a couple nuts and a plastic handle I found in the hardware aisle at Lowes. Now if I hit a crack in the driveway with the tractor, it doesn't transfer the stress to the frame, instead the blade hinges and spring absorbs the impact.
I figured I might be plowing at night to keep up with the snow, as I don't want to put too much stress on the tractor's transaxle. Since I'd be plowing in the dark, I decided tail lights might be a good idea. The tractor already had good headlights, so I was good there. I went to Harbor Freight and bought a pack of red clearance lamps and they had vehicle work lights on sale so I bought one of those too.
I attached the taillights with stainless steel 1/8 sheet metal screws and wired them into the headlight circuit so they come on together. I made gaskets for them out of an old foam sanding block. I mounted the work light right behind the cup holder facing rearward so I can see behind me. It was wired on its own circuit with its own switch and fuse. I also have a mini SMV triangle on order to attach to the back of the seat.
With visibility taken care of, the last issue came down to traction. At 6'3" and 270 lbs, I provide a good ballast over the rear wheels myself, but I wanted to still be safe. Instead of buying expensive wheel weights, I bought 15 gallons of washer fluid to fill the rear tires with. Each gallon weights about 8 lbs, and each rear tire took 6.5 gallons, so I added over 50lbs for less than $30. I also special ordered a set of tire chains from Agway for the rears.
Named after its Kawasaki engine, I present the Plowasaki-
. I used to own a lot more of them but I thinned out the collection, now I'm slowly trying to rebuild it.
