Thanks, that's a really nice setup you have yourself. How does the truck handle the weight? And you're right, the manual angle is getting to be a real PITA. The prices on pumps is more than I would be willing to spend right now, but maybe next season.
So I got a little carried away and discovered that Ranger with a Meyers does not a dozer make. After beating the snot out of the trucks at work moving back piles, I forgot I was driving my truck and started to ram some of the piles at home. Not a good idea. Luckily the weak spot is the mount and not the truck, hitch receiver or plow. Nothing broke, but the back angle piece was bent like a bread tie, and the tube steel was curved like a banana. This didn't prevent the plow from operating (thankfully) but did cause the plow to sit funny. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was eager to repair the damage.
The angle was fairly easy to get somewhat straight with a lot of heat and a sledgehammer. The square tube was impossible to bend at all, and so had to be cut out and replaced. While I was hammering, one of the plates for the pins cracked in half which was very strange and makes me question the quality of that steel. Surprisingly all the welds look great, with not a single visible crack even looking with a light and my glasses. In case you couldn't tell, I'm not entirely confident in my skills as a welder.
So after everything was straightened as best as possible and the hitch tube replaced and snapped tab repaired, I decided to add some additional pieces to strengthen my original design. Since the angle seems to have taken the bulk of the hit, I figured that would be a good place to start. I had a similar (but unfortunately not exactly alike) piece of angle that I welded behind the original piece to hopefully add some strength. I also decided to cut off the excess length of the first piece of angle to save weight. Originally I cut the piece as long as it was because the plow frame itself was longer and therefore wider before I opted to cut it down some, then I just left it wider in case I wanted to make a detachable mount for lights or similar but I don't think that would happen and if it does I'm not going to do it the way I was first thinking.
Since the square tube also bent, and worse could not be straightened, I made some changes to that too. I didn't have a similarly sized but thicker piece of square tube, but I was able to get a hold of a small length of of tubing that fits almost tight inside the one I already have. I drilled a few holes in the outer tube to weld to the inner tube, then filled them and ground flat. The inner tube was only long enough to extend about two inches into where the outer slides into the hitch receiver, and about the same beyond where the outer meets the angle. I would have liked it to be all the way, but unfortunately this was the only thing I could get. My local welding shop owner was nice enough to give it to me for nothing, though B) Additionally you can see where I changed the tube support pieces to something that is more attractive and probably stronger. Despite all this extra steel being added, because I removed the additional angle from either side of the plow mount tabs I think the whole thing is maybe only 10-15 pounds heavier than before.
Since the tube fits loose in the receiver, the mount had a tendency to wobble and clank. I investigated some commercial fixes, but they were too expensive or ineffective so I came up with the idea of just using a bolt to press against the side and take up slack. As it is now it just threads into the wall of the tube, which is thick enough to only pick up at best two full turns. If and when it fails I will weld a square nut on. This, in combination with the 5/8 hole drilled with a twist bit for the hitch pin as opposed to before when it was made with a 3/4 hole saw, has made a major improvement on clanking and wobbling.
As mentioned previously I've noticed the contactor terminals corroding. I didn't get around to cleaning them up but after the plow broke they got way worse. Also, the plug for the remote completely fell apart, forcing me to wire nut the connection together in the cold dark snow. I eventually decided on just moving the whole thing under the hood and having one dedicated QD plug for the motor. This makes the everything fairly permanent, and means the plow will only mount to my vehicle. This is a far cry from what I originally set out to build, but overall it's no less practical and much more reliable.
Since the winch contactor no longer took up the space where the lift chain originally went, I welded the safety/transport chain there so it no longer has to be looped through the handles. I remember saving the original chain hook piece that was welded the the frame, but when I went to find it of course it seems to have disappeared. I just welded a link directly to the plow frame, which seems strong enough. Now it's just a single loop through the driver tow hook then the chain attaches onto itself via a grab hook. I marked the link which seems to support the plow at the best height with electrical tape.
So far I've only got one storm with the new setup, but no issues as of yet. The contactor's new location makes it much louder and it makes a definite clack audible in the cab. The problem I keep having is getting the pin in to lock the angle in place. I've enlarged the holes twice, but after a little use something must bend and I have to struggle to get the pin in. I think I may try just using a 1/2 pin instead in the future. The shock absorber idea does work by the way, it's just difficult to keep the plow exactly where I want it after pushing into piles.
Yesterday would have been a great day to try everything out again, but since they predicted snow showers with minimal accumulation, not the 4 inches that we actually got, I never bothered to set up the plow. Since I had my quad ready as a backup for situations such as this, I used that to clear my driveway to get to work. I forgot how much better using the truck is. Just two passes short of being finished, the quad plow winch had an electrical problem preventing me from finishing. Already late for work I parked it and planned to finish by hand when I got home. I was almost convinced it would have been easier to just shovel the whole thing by hand, until I made it home and shoveled just that little bit. Then I remembered how much better the quad is than shoveling.