Question and Advice on D520Lxi for Front Blade!

[Darrell1958 11]

I bought a Very Clean and low hour 520Lxi.

I have 3 D200s as well.

I started looking for a Front Blade for the 520Lxi, and found its very hard to find a front Blade for it.

I put the D200 Blade on it and found it will fit, I know ill have to lengthen the frame by by 2 Inches as well as make mods to the Handle and mounting points for the lift link.

I only have one front blade for my 200's I kind of hate to mod it to just fit the 520Lxi but i will if I have to!!!

If you had a choice of any other blades that would fit the best what would you advise me Blade from a 520H looks to be my best bet

Ill still have mods but when I'm done it will belong to the 520LxI!!! ANY advice would be great Thank you Darrell.

 

[ri702bill 13,139]

Well, The long frame C series, 300 & 400 series plows are very common... why not start with one of those?

[SylvanLakeWH 32,668]

 

They are readily available and inexpensive...

[Darrell1958 11]

Wonder if anyone has tried to mount a John Deere blade on the front looks to me like it would be pretty easy 🤔 4 strong attachment points and 4 hydraulic lines ya have a 4 way blade!!

Edited Thursday at 11:04 PM by Darrell1958

[Pullstart 71,348]

  the Xi series garden tractors are amazing, with nearly a truck frame under them!  Please check out the front axle pivot, it’s the only known weak spot in them.

 

https://www.wheelhorseforum.com/topic/92609-xi-series-front-axle-pivot-repair/

You’ll find a Wheel Horse plow mounts to the rear axle, where load is driven from.  JD plows transfer that stress to the front axle.  I’ say use or modify whatever Wheel Horse plow you need to use their design.  The tractor will thank you.  

[Darrell1958 11]

I seen your posts I've been studying wheel horses for years I've already checked the place your taking about and it seems fine but I will definitely keep an eye on it and maybe do what you did just for the sake of fixing a possible problem... 

Thanks Pullstart! Always be open to improvements 👍

[Pullstart 71,348]

2 hours ago, Darrell1958 said:

I seen your posts I've been studying wheel horses for years I've already checked the place your taking about and it seems fine but I will definitely keep an eye on it and maybe do what you did just for the sake of fixing a possible problem... 

Thanks Pullstart! Always be open to improvements 👍

Great deal!  We’ve got to keep that old iron moving, they sure don’t make ‘em like they used to!

 

[Darrell1958 11]

4 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

Great deal!  We’ve got to keep that old iron moving, they sure don’t make ‘em like they used to!

 

Oh ya if it wasn't for the people on here wow!!! I've been a member since way back but wife's been sick and I kinda backed away!

[Pullstart 71,348]

I’m sorry to hear of your wife’s struggles, hopefully things are better now.  I didn’t realize, my buddy is behind my lever on my 520Xi in that picture!

[Darrell1958 11]

It's ok we go 1 day at a time all will be good ty for you thoughts for my wife and me,, I'll probably get some pics up as I do things 

Ty So much. Darrell Francisco

[Handy Don 17,523]

Seconding the recommendation to use/modify a long-frame WH blade & rear axle attachment.

WH and JD took different paths on tractor frame design and that drove quite a bit of their implement designs as well. 

Interestingly, the WH “frame bolted to transaxle-as-rear-frame” design mimics how a lot of larger tractors were built, including JDs. For its garden tractors, JD chose to use a full-length frame with the transaxle bolted in. 

[OoPEZoO 611]

I'm in the middle of fitting up a front blade on my 522xi right now.  The proper frames are a bit hard to come by......they pop up for reasonable prices, but they sell quickly.  I bought one from someone at the Big Show this year, but it was missing the adjustment arm.  That's the part I'm working on fabricating now.  The frame itself is almost identical to the 300-500 series frame, but its longer than even the 520H extended frame.  I know that because I also have a 314-8 with a 520H swept front axle on it and laid both plow frames down side by side.  The spacing from the rear axle to the lift linkage is the same, but frame is longer to get the blade out in front of the wheels far enough that they don't interfere with steering.  Then there is the adjustment arm.  The 5xi frame has the better/smoother arm, but its much more difficult to fabricate due to having to bend pipe instead of just drilling a hole and bolting it together.  I'll take some pics of what I'm in the middle of and see if its helpful.  

 

My 5xi plow frame is currently on a set of saw horses in the garage if you need any measurements, just let me know what you want.

[Darrell1958 11]

7 minutes ago, OoPEZoO said:

I'm in the middle of fitting up a front blade on my 522xi right now.  The proper frames are a bit hard to come by......they pop up for reasonable prices, but they sell quickly.  I bought one from someone at the Big Show this year, but it was missing the adjustment arm.  That's the part I'm working on fabricating now.  The frame itself is almost identical to the 300-500 series frame, but its longer than even the 520H extended frame.  I know that because I also have a 314-8 with a 520H swept front axle on it and laid both plow frames down side by side.  The spacing from the rear axle to the lift linkage is the same, but frame is longer to get the blade out in front of the wheels far enough that they don't interfere with steering.  Then there is the adjustment arm.  The 5xi frame has the better/smoother arm, but its much more difficult to fabricate due to having to bend pipe instead of just drilling a hole and bolting it together.  I'll take some pics of what I'm in the middle of and see if its helpful.  

 

My 5xi plow frame is currently on a set of saw horses in the garage if you need any measurements, just let me know what you want.

Hey length from the pivot bolt to the rear mounting bar anything ya got will help me. Thank you so much.. Darrell 👍

[Bugzilla46310 54]

As my 520xi came with a single stage blower, that will be used. But I have adapted my JD54”blade from a 425 I used to have to 2 tractors. I cut the front of a doner 425 frame and bolted that to a Simplicity I used to have. The JD quick hitch attached as designed. When we got rid of the Simplicity and got a Kubota BX2680, the Kubota frame width was perfect that allowed me to make a bracket to bolt on to each side of the frame that the JD quick hitch mounts to that. Then tap into the hydraulic. So I would think you could adapt one to the 520Lxi, but I have not studied the frame to know what obstacles are there. A few pictures of how I mounted it to the Kubota.

[Bugzilla46310 54]

Found a picture of the mounting to the simplicity. This is where I cut the front of a doner 425 and bolted it to the Simplicity frame. It was unbolted when the blade came off in order to use the FEL.

 

[Darrell1958 11]

15 minutes ago, Bugzilla46310 said:

As my 520xi came with a single stage blower, that will be used. But I have adapted my JD54”blade from a 425 I used to have to 2 tractors. I cut the front of a doner 425 frame and bolted that to a Simplicity I used to have. The JD quick hitch attached as designed. When we got rid of the Simplicity and got a Kubota BX2680, the Kubota frame width was perfect that allowed me to make a bracket to bolt on to each side of the frame that the JD quick hitch mounts to that. Then tap into the hydraulic. So I would think you could adapt one to the 520Lxi, but I have not studied the frame to know what obstacles are there. A few pictures of how I mounted it to the Kubota.

Nice work Looks great 👍 I know you made them brackets wonderful 😀