To many times while plowing snow either in my driveway or my neighbors, I have caught an edge of pavement, frozen ground, rock and last week a tree root bringing the Cub to an abrupt stop, nearly sending me over the steering wheel. It is an unpleasant experience at best but every time it happens, I cringe worrying that I may break the lower tank which suspends the front axle hanger or the torque tube where the Cub 54A grader blade attaches. Either of those would be a major problem requiring a tear down and the purchase of new castings ($$$). If the plow frame were to break that could be repaired easier but it would still be a hassle, just ask Rudi.
My observation:
Looking at a wide variety of snowplows they all share one feature, a trip mechanism to allow the blade to trip upon contact with anything that impedes its travel then a spring return to the plowing position. This is true whether the snowplow is for a pick-up, tractor, garden tractor, ATV or skid steer. The Cub 54 and 54A Grader and Leveling blade is just that, a grader and leveling blade that is used by most of us as a snowplow. It is made to move dirt and not snow. Typically when you are grading or moving dirt, it is done at low speed usually in first gear. Also while grading you can see exactly (for the most part) what you are contacting with the blade. Pushing snow you need some speed usually 2nd gear or sometimes 3rd gear to use momentum to both roll the snow off the blade better and to overcome low traction that is incumbent to snow on the ground. The presents of the snow hides what ever may be underneath so you are never sure what your blade will be coming into contact with.
My solution:
I set out to add a trip mechanism to my 54A blade. When I first decided to do this project, my plan was to try to make a fairly simple bolt on kit that I could package and market to other Cub owners with all the needed components to modify their blades. By the time that I had a working design though it was a little beyond a simple bolt on kit. A little blacksmithing is required to copy what I currently have. Others will improve upon what I have done I’m sure as there are some really talented folks here. The pictures below are from my preliminary design which was kind of thrown together to see if it would work and will be tidied up a bit and a few changes made by the time I’m done.
Examining existing snowplow designs one thing was evident, the pivot point needed to be closer to the blade cutting edge increasing the force required to tip the blade over while increasing the leverage (decreasing the force required) for the return springs to right the blade after it has been tipped. To achieve this, the grader blade pivot point had to be lowered. The blades attachment point has 5 possible pivot pin locations. These multiple pivot pin locations are provided to pitch the blade while grading. The problem is the curvature of the brackets that work so well when you are pitching the blade won’t allow you to drop the angle support bracket (that’s what it is called in the Leveling and Grader Blade manual) down to the bottom holes where it needs to be for this modification. This is where the blacksmithing comes in.
To allow the brackets to be used I had to make a cut in the angle bracket as close to the blade as I could on the lower side of the bracket (see photo). The cut was about 2 ½ inches up from the bottom of the bracket. Once the cut was made, I was able to spread the brackets out to the same width as the center of the bracket. Spreading the bracket was done by giving it a whack or two with a big hammer. This allowed the angle support bracket to be mounted to the lowest holes in the blade. After the cuts were made and the brackets spread, those cuts were welded up to gain full strength of the brackets.
Because the blade is effectively raised by mounting it in the lower holes, the linkage needs to be altered to let the angle support bracket set lower than it previously did or the blade won’t touch the ground. My linkage did not pose a problem as it has 3 holes to use and all I had to do was move up 1 hole and insert a shoulder bolt and I was in business. Using a 54 or some 54A linkage may require a little more modification.
This snowplow modification also calls for the removal of the relief spring on the underside of the grader blade. In its place I have used a simple angle iron bracket to secure a 3/8†eye bolt and a short length of chain. The purpose of this assembly is to stop the springs from flipping the blade all the way back to the lifting mechanism. The pitch of the blade, fore or aft is adjusted by varying the chain links and then fine adjustment is made with the eye bolt. The angle iron bracket is attached to the same location as the relief spring bracket and the end link of the chain attaches to the blade in the same yoke that held the other end of the relief spring simply by inserting the attaching pin through the link.
The new return springs I fabricated from a heavy garage door spring and are attached to the angle support bracket with two 3/8†eye bolts and I used a pair of coupling nuts that I drilled a hole through to anchor the spring on the blade. The springs and attachment method may change but seem to work well. I will probably change to a little stronger springs but I want to use it more first.
I did get to plow a little snow with it and was very pleased with how well it worked. More snow is predicted for tonight and this weekend so I’ll be better able to give feedback later.
To convert the snowplow back to a leveling and grader blade will only require the replacing of the chain and bracket with the original relief spring assembly and possibly moving the pivot pins back to the center hole. The only drawback is that I won't be able to pitch the blade as might be needed to crown a road or driveway. Seems like a small trade off to me.
It will be in the CBoK shortly 
