To lift or not to lift. That is the question

[tommyg 154]

I'm wondering if the hydraulic cylinder that raises and lowers your snow blade on a D series should be able to apply enough down pressure to raise the front end of the tractor off the ground. I hear other Wheelhorse's do. Mine certainly does not. But everything seems to work just fine.

[squonk 43,843]

You need a solid link between your plow and tractor

Edited November 13, 2013 by squonk

[tommyg 154]

That I have.

[Austin860 82]

I can do that with my snowblower

[AMC RULES 37,196]

Humm, seems like it should...    

how much do them big ol' D's weigh? 

[Austin860 82]

About 1,200 pounds haha. They weren't exactly light

[Hodge71 665]

Mine picks my 18 Auto up off the ground with no problem at all. It definitely get up enough to see daylight under the front tires

[pacer 3,177]

Whats a snow blade??? we dont have anything like that down here...

 

But I do have a rear blade on my 180 and Im pretty sure it would lift the tractor, but the 3pt limits out just before 'lift off' A 'float' setting sure would have been nice sometimes...

[Trouty56 567]

Do you have the rock shaft pinned??

both the rear and mid rock shafts are designed to float unless pinned....

[KC9KAS 4,744]

The rear 3pt hitch will lift my GT-14 rear off the ground....don't know about the front, as I have a chain for the lift link on the push blade.

[tommyg 154]

Do you have the rock shaft pinned??

both the rear and mid rock shafts are designed to float unless pinned....

Hmmm. I didn't pin it. Not even sure how to. How could I tell?

[Trouty56 567]

 

Do you have the rock shaft pinned??

both the rear and mid rock shafts are designed to float unless pinned....

Hmmm. I didn't pin it. Not even sure how to. How could I tell?

 

 

Was looking for a photo...OK...this is the rock shaft under the D series....the 3 vertical pieces in the middle have to be pinned....you will see what i mean when you look under the tractor.  It is designed to only lock in the lifting motion without the pin inserted.

 

[tommyg 154]

Interesting. I'm going to have to take a look. When you say "pinned", you're referring to a clevis pin?

[Trouty56 567]

1/2 incher....yep....I leave mine float....especially a good idea with the blower up front....I do pin the 3 point when it is time to change the rear tires to lift the rear but remove it then....I keep a couple spare pins on each side just below the 3 point arms on the rear of the tractor,

Not sure of the spring loaded link for the snow /dozer blade....it may expand if down pressure is applied to the blade...gonna check that when I mount it soon.....I've seen youtube videos of the front end in the air from down pressure so I know the cylinder is strong enough....

[dparke 16]

Mine will lift the front tires about 8 inches off the ground with the rockshaft pinned.  The downside, however, is that with the shaft pinned, I can't lift the blade clear of the ground.  I wound up leaving it unpinned, and just hang weights on the dozer blade if I need to scrape ice or anything like that. 

[tommyg 154]

Thanks! I think I get the picture. All this time, I thought that rockshaft was just a one piece mechanism with the various arms at different angles for the different implements. I used the plow this fall to move some dirt around and felt that I ought to be able to scrap the opposite direction better with a little better down pressure. But evidently, all I had was the weight of the blade. I could see this being handy for my scraper blade as well. I do have the spring loaded mechanism that I've yet to install which should give me pressure along with some float to the blade this winter.

[Trouty56 567]

Mine will lift the front tires about 8 inches off the ground with the rockshaft pinned.  The downside, however, is that with the shaft pinned, I can't lift the blade clear of the ground.  I wound up leaving it unpinned, and just hang weights on the dozer blade if I need to scrape ice or anything like that. 

 

This doesn't make sense since when the pin is through the lift is against the stop....can't go any higher...and 8 inches below horizontal seems wrong too.....

 

I checked the spring loaded snow plow link and when the rock shaft has a pin in it the spring will compress about an inch and prevents the tires from raising off the ground....  I guess a solid link would lift the front.....see the paint was rubbed away at the bottom of the spring.....