Rubber blade -thingie?

[drglinski]

Originally Posted by steve59

I made one a few years back out of 1/2" thick rubber to prevent scratches on my asphalt driveway. I wasn't to impressed with it because you have to plow very slowly to keep it from vibrating.

Bumping this cuz I'm thinking about what I need to do to mine to get it ready for the white stuff.

Any feedback on rubber strips vibrating like this? I'm thinking about going the rubber route and was wondering what others thought about them.

[fourinchdragslicks]

Rubber would tend to chatter, but that could be an advantage in some conditions. I don't know what extreme uses, but UHMW plastic is amazing stuff, it handles abrasion better than steel, and is about as slick as teflon.

If you are looking for rubber, you might try a tractor supply look for conveyor belting.

[Yosemite Sam]

Originally Posted by gcbailey

I know you can get thick plastic ones for skid steers used in parking lot cleaning, but they are $$$ may want to check on a skid steer attachment site.

I gotta agree with gcbailey, the ones for skid loaders are pretty spendy , but they're also 3/4 or an inch thick.

I've never heard anything but good things about etreme, I really can't imagine them selling inferior stuff.

Call them and ask.

[Rguyer04]

At work we use a box blade for snow removal that has a plastic or rubber blade and all it does is turn stuff to ice. It does remove things nicely and doesn't leave marks on the blacktop but it doesn't work well on ice.

[jimbob200521]

I actually have done this with my 1864 for a couple years now and this is my experience/story: I went to Farm & Fleet and bought a 3/4" horse stall mat so I could get multiple edges out of it if needed. I'm now on my 2nd edge and going into this winter, I am going to change it up a little bit. Here's why: the edge works great for lighter snow and a decent amount of heavier snow but once you get a good snowfall, the edge tends to ride up on the snow making it hard to "get under" and push it. In other words, it's not aggressive enough. I don't think this is an issue on bigger equipment because the weight can overcome this issue but with our Cubs, at least in my experience, it can be an issue. The other issue I have had is the outer edges tend to (I'm not sure if I should it wear or they take more abuse or what) become folded back in a sense thus becoming less aggressive. This winter I plan to take a double edged sword approach: I'm going to keep the rubber wear edge but either in front of or behind it (probably in front of it) put a nice thick piece of metal to add some support and hopefully cutting power to it.

Edit: One more thought while I'm thinking about it: Blade Chatter. It does happen, not super often but it does happen. All I usually have to do is slow down until it stops them speed back up, not a huge deal but it may be for some.

I will also comment on the poly/plastic edge from Xtreme. I tried that three years ago and it worked...ok. It was unfortunately very brittle and by the end of the winter I had cracked or broken off a couple good chunks hitting raised sidewalk slabs, curb edges, etc: in other words, stuff that happens when you plow a lot of sidewalks. I'm not hard on my machines so I consider this to be normal wear and tear for the most part.

These are just my observations and experiences so take them for what they are worth. Not everything I plow is 100% flat and smooth so the edges do take a bit of a beating from time to time (gravel driveways, sidewalks, a bit of parking lot).

I also attached a few pics of the edge as it is now. Hope this helps anyone looking into this!

[drglinski]

I've seen your original post and was wondering what results you got. Thanks for chiming in. Why I'm thinking about the rubber strip is because I bought new skid shoes that don't allow the metal cutting strip to go low enough (IMO) on my concrete driveway, and I want something that'll clean up the mess left behind. I thought a rubber strip might work decent as it if hits anything it'll give better than metal/plastic. Not sure about the chatter. I may try it and see if I hate it and if I do I'll just take it back off.

Thanks