CForce 600 Tour Snowplow Fab & Install

Started by Siberian, August 21, 2021, 01:38:11 PM

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Siberian

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Siberian
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I got a used "yard sale" snowplow blade and pushtube assembly @ very low cost.  I just got a new 2021 CForce 600 Tour.  The idea is that the absolute MAIN duty of the CF600 is to plow the 300' long and hill-type driveway.

Natch, commercial "universal" plow base mounts were all wider/narrower than the pushtube mount dimensions (12.5").  OK, I have spare metal junk parts, pieces of this and that, cut-off saw, grinder, 20-ton press, and a small 220-240v AC stick welder.  I decided to make my own base plate.

The frame of 600T just happens to be a little under 12" wide at a forward poit,  The "point" I mean is where the front and middle plastic skid shields meet.  This seemed like a good location for base plate.  Another fellow made a plate out of 2"x2"x1/4"  angle held on by 2 stainless U-bolts.  OK, but I thought it needed more than just 2 U-bolts.

I selected the 2 bolts that hold the first part of footboard supports as a rearward bolt location.  U-bolts just before the frame starts to bend and narrow for the front and a frame/footboard-support bolt in the rear. 

Pieces of metal, cut, bend, drill, weld, etc.  Right side had a slot area 1" long and the left side had a match drilled hole for footboard support.  The slot would take up any slight difference in width.  The 4 pieces with holes for match drilled 3/8" hardened pins was a piece of 1.5" x 5" x 1/4" channel. I cut length to 3", then 1.5" for width outboard piece, and 3.5" width for  inboard piece.  When mounting tabs put together 3/4" apart, there was a forward 3/8" mounting hole and another one 2.75" farther rearward.  The forward one worked best.

It was about 1000 or so times crawl under 600, fit, measure, forget some tool, crawl out, repeat, repeat.  Placement of U-bolts not quite perfect, but OK.  One leg of the U-bolt ended up between the mounting tabs.  A little hard to bolt it on with nylocs, but came out fine. My old AC stick welder did a fine job, no problem.  It was about $40 at a yard sale 30 years ago and still works fine for me. Everything welded together and painted black.  After everything was fitted and bolted in place, I cut the extra length of the U-bolts off with a grinder.  Easy to do, no problem.

I added a pulley to the plow front to reduce load and strain on winch cable.  The pulley is bolted with grade 10 bolt/nyloc nut + 1" space to put pulley in center of plow.  The spacer was leftover parts from some old racing parts in "junk jars".  The metal piece on rack is removable by 2 stainless U-bolts to the metal rack (center plastic piece removed).  The winch hook goes to a ring-bolt, which can swivel loosely by grade 10 metal crunch locknut.  If my top bar is not strong enough, I have another heavier bar to use.  I can bend it in press to fit.  I may alter top bar to go under the rack, cut a small 1.5" piece out of center plastic webbing and center plastic can fit with the top bar in place.

Anyway, it all works fine, goes up down nice, and may save some wear on the winch cable.  Cost of plow was $50, stainless U-bolts $9.50, ring bolt $1.  Total cost about $65-$70 with on shelf rattle-can paint.  All other nuts, metal pieces, welding rod, and grade 8 or grade 10 blots were stock on hand.  The pulley was one of 4 pulleys left over from sailing days, in a spare parts" box.  Since I had a Porsche-VW shop long ago, I still have a lot of metric nuts & bolts.  As a matter of fact, I usually think in metric dimensions, and convert to english if I need to do so.  I use calipers all the time to make/measure stuff, so things turn out pretty good, and I thank my machinist friend of 30-40 years ago for teaching me how to think and work with metal.

What would Ivan do in the middle of Siberia?  No shops, near zero cities, etc.  Just get off the sofa and make something that works.  It isn't rocket science.  Just do it yourself, or visit a buddy or 2 that have the right tools and imagination.  Just my opinion.

Photos attached.

YMMV

Siberian

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Siberian
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#1
There was a freak snowstorm here in early October - 10"-12" of wet snow.

The plow on 600 worked fine.  I discovered that I couldn't  see how high the winch was pulling plow up, so 3500#(?) winch bent "L" shape attachment point on plow.  To be fair, the "L" piece was just 1/16" flat stock with a few holes in it.  It was designed (crapped out?) to be used with a hand-pull lever system.  Also bad was the long side of "L" was on bottom, so there was a lot of leverage length to support the bottom pulley.

I made a new "L" piece out of 2" x 2"x 1/4" steel.  No problems now.  I am going to cut 3/8" clearance slots in the under-side ribbing of center front rack plastic piece.  I'll reverse the U-bolts to curve side up and bolts down to leave the front support arm for cable in place.

I used Black Gorilla tape to attach a vertical fiberglass snow-rod (like for parking lots, driveways, etc) to plow. Now I know where is "Lift Correct" height.   

Fixed, no problems now.  Live and learn.

Added the UniFilter, what a TOTAL PITA! 
Some @#%##-assembly person at CFM installed original airfilter with the screw part of clamp UNDER everything on the bottom.  Near IMPOSSIBLE to get it off, unscrew it to replace filter.  I eventually pried everything off with a BF-Lever going backward.  Replaced clamp with screw part on top where it belongs.  What should have been a 20 minute job turned into over 2 hours!  OK, end of rant.

YMMV

murdo

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huntnmachine

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huntnmachine
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Thanks for the info and very cool plow set up
2022 CForce 600

Siberian

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Siberian
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New Front Pulley Holder on front rack.

I also tie an orange plastic marking strap with loop around the gas cap when parked in garage.  This is to remind me to UNHOOK THE BATTERY TENDER BEFORE driving out of garage.  Just guess why I need this simple little piece of orange plastic tape!.

Thanks for comments fellows.

YMMV

Siberian

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Siberian
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I wanted to add one important thing if you make your own SnowPlow Base mount.

I drilled 2 holes in my holding brackets - the ones with the 10-grade hardened pins.  They were about 1.5" apart.  You need to check if there is clearance for the front tire if you put the plow at either side angle.  Some plows have a sharper angle and I suppose a longer plow will also affect the front-back position.

Another thing to consider is how will you park the thing in garage?  Will other things (truck, car) be too close to park it in a straight position or and angle position?  A wider plow makes these things more important. 

Another thing is, the wider the plow, the more work, effort, strain on the plow machine - in my case 600 Tour.   At some point a very heavy wet snow is  A LOT OF WEIGHT to try to move.  My first snowstorm pictured was that kind of snow.  If you do not get a lot of snow, then a shorter plow will work just fine with less wear and tear on the CF machine.

Another useful hint: wax the plow blade with auto finish wax.  It will help reduce the snow buildup on the plow face.  It's a good idea for the wheels also.  You could use silicone spray on the plow face as well.  It doesn;t last as long and is more expensive than auto wax. 

YMMV