DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 4


Part 4 We build a steel snow plow frame to attach to the receiver hitch lift. After painting, skinning, and assembling we actually got to plow some snow!

If you want to start from the beginning or jump to a certain part, here is an index of the snow plow build process:

DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 1 – lifting frame and winch
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 2 – Completion of lifting frame
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 3 – Building Plow pivot and cutting edge
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 4 – Complete plow frame and assembly (First time plowing snow!)
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 5 – Build blade angle adjuster
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – In Action! – Action pics and final thoughts

Base Edge and Plow Frame

The base edge is the part that the cutting edge will bolt to. I am building the main frame out of 2×3″ tubing with 3/16″ thick walls, which I mostly chose because it was laying around my garage from a previous project. I cut the piece to be as long as the two HDPE cutting edges I cut and drilled in Part 3.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Cutting the 2×3 3/16″ wall rectangle tubing with the chop saw.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Throwing a bunch of stuff together to see what will work.

You can see in the picture above, I was playing with making the plow have a forward rake to it. At this point I was still waffling on if I wanted to have the moldboard curved or not.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Once making some measurements, I cut two uprights from the 2×3 tubing.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Mocking up the base edge with the two uprights that will make the main part of the frame.

I ended up going with 10 degrees of forward rake and no curve to the blade. After thinking about it for way too long, I decided it just wasn’t worth the extra work. Also, if I get enough snow on the blade that it is curling over on the blade the Honda is probably close to ceasing forward motion anyways.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

By the way, Gertrude’s B-day was Jan 19th, so I got her a special treat. Happy Birthday Gertrude!

Next step is to cut a 2×3″ piece of angle iron the same length as my main pivot tube so I can use it as extra support.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Marking the extra angle iron support.

I then welded the uprights to the base edge on the plow. You can see here I used my favorite pipe clamp to hold the pivot tube between the uprights at the 10* angle that we discussed earlier.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

My dial indicator is on the pivot tube so I could find the 10* angle with the base edge laying flat.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

After tacking it together, I bolted it back onto the plow lift to make sure it looked right.

It was then time to weld in the extra angle iron frame support and start building the rest of the push blade out of light duty angle iron.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

I then put in the supporting angle iron. You can see I installed it with the angle part on the bottom so it doesn’t interfere with the pivot bolt.

The angle iron I chose to build the outer frame from is just light duty 1.5″ x 1.5″ by 1/8″ steel. Since the main frame is built from the 2×3″ tubing really all this angle iron has to do is contain the snow. After building the rest of the frame, had to throw it back on the plow mount so I could play with it.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Here you can see I finished welding everything together and added a couple extra angle iron uprights.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Straight plowing.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Windrowing to right.

Skinning the Plow

YAY, it works! (in theory….) Now I need to skin the plow. I decided to use some sheets of aluminum I have laying around that I bought years ago used from a scrap yard. I have no idea what kind of alloy it is or what I paid for it, the only thing I care about is that it is aluminum sheet and it was cheap.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Measuring and marking the aluminum sheet to cut. One piece for each side.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

After cutting them with a 4.5″ grinder and cutoff wheel, i threw them on the plow to make sure they fit.

NOTE: As you can see in the pic above, the aluminum sheet goes over the base edge almost to the cutting edge bolt holes. If I were to do this again, I would not have done that. I would have recessed the angle iron frame ~1/8″ so the aluminum stopped before the base edge and didn’t interfere with bolting on the cutting edge. The bolt on cutting edge now has a slight angle on it because of the aluminum is acting like a spacer on one side.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

I wanted to jazz the aluminum sheet up a bit since it was very dirty, so I grabbed my cordless drill and a 3M abrasive roloc disc and went to town on it.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Before and after.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

I also cut a small piece of scrap aluminum to cover the hole in the center of the plow. Again, I have no idea what kind it was but this alloy was soft enough I could cut it with tin snips.

Painting

Before screwing and bolting a bunch of stuff to the plow frame, I needed to paint it first. As I learned in my A/C cage project, I now ROLL paint on all of my projects. It is much easier, cheaper, and less mess (no spray paint dust everywhere).

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

First I wipe the plow down with mineral spirits to get the grease and dirt off.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Pour some paint in the pan and get to rolling! Just make sure you have a piece of cardboard down to catch drips.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

After painting.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Looks good up close. I like how the roller puts it on nice and thick. This was right after rolling it, the paint smooths out before drying.

Final Assembly

After letting it dry overnight, I attached my aluminum skin to the plow frame with self tapping screws which are just fine for my small plow. Depending on how thick your plow frame is, you might have to pre-drill the holes, use bolts, or even just weld on a steel skin.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Attaching the aluminum skin with my cordless drill and self tapping screws.

After reassembling everything, I am pretty much done! (for now)

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Wahooo!!!!

You can see I added a couple of old ~2ft long CB antennas so I can see where the blade is at in the rearview mirrors.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Plow raised all the way up.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

View from the rear.

Since it was already snowing and I hadn’t finished the angle mechanism yet, I stuck a small piece of flat bar in the pivot and tightened down the pivot bolt with the blade at a slight angle. I will add an adjustable angle mechanism at a later time.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Small flat bar inserted to lock the blade angle until I am able to finish it.

PLOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Fresh snow! (though not very much…)

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

First Pass.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Driveway plowed.

Receiver Hitch Snow Plow

Job well done Honda Hauler!

Thoughts and Observations

So at this point you all probably think I am a little crazy. I just spent a ridiculous amount of man hours and materials building a small plow to shave 20 minutes off hand plowing my driveway. I say I am NOT crazy though for a couple of reasons.

  1. This project tested my design capabilities and challenged my ability to accurately build moving parts
  2. I have ALWAYS wanted my own snow plow. As a little kid I used to ride around with my dad at 5AM before school “helping” (drinking coacoa and blabbering about random stuff) him plow parking lots. When I got a little older I was upgraded to hand plowing and pushing the snow blower.
  3. I can now plow pretty much any driveway in about 5-10 minutes and can leave the plow on the car to do my parent’s driveways without it being huge or not fitting in the garage
  4. The HDPE cutting edge is really quiet, so I don’t have to worry about disturbing the neighborhood if plowing early in the morning.
  5. My total cost on this project not including tools I already own was about $300 vs. $1,200+ for the cheapest non-powered Snowsport plow. It doesn’t take many of these projects to pay off an investment in your own welder.
  6. It actually worked pretty well. I will have to post more pictures when we get some REAL snow.
  7. Gertrude and I had fun building it.

Read on to Part 5 where I add some final touches like an adjustable angle mechanism.

 

 

If you want to start from the beginning or jump to a certain part, here is an index of the snow plow build process:

DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 1 – lifting frame and winch
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 2 – Completion of lifting frame
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 3 – Building Plow pivot and cutting edge
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 4 – Complete plow frame and assembly (First time plowing snow!)
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – Part 5 – Build blade angle adjuster
DIY Receiver Hitch Snow Plow – In Action! – Action pics and final thoughts

 

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