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Giant V-Plow Mounts On 4-WD
You'd have to look hard to find a bigger tractor-mounted snowplow than the one used by Mel Lapp and son Doug of Cochranville, Penn. They built a V-plow equipped with 20-ft. long wings on their Case-IH 9350 4-WD articulated tractor.
The bright yellow plow has rigid wings that cut a 10 1/2-ft. wide path. The wings are 12 ft. wide at the top and about 11 ft. high. The plow is mounted on a steel subframe that mounts under the front end of the tractor and extends back to the articulation point. Two big hydraulic cylinders on each side are used to raise or lower the plow.
"We use it to keep the road open on our poultry farm and also to plow snow on state and township roads in our area. We haven't found a snow drift yet that can stop it," says Melvin. "We keep about 100,000 broiler chickens in four large buildings and always have a lot of semi trucks going in and out of our farm that deliver feed or haul chick-ens to market. We decided to go with an extra big snow plow and be ready to work for the state at the same time. The plow cost about $10,000 to build. We had a blizzard last March and plowed around the clock for an entire week."
"Our local Case-IH dealer C.B. Hoober & Son of Intercourse, Penn., designed and built the plow and also mounted the subframe, which we bought from an after-market manufacturer. We generally plow with the wings about 6 in. off the road in order to reduce wear. We use a Case-IH 7120 tractor that's equipped with an 11-ft. wide, 42-in. high blade to follow behind and clean up. The blade on that tractor can be angled left or right.
"The plow's wings slope up and out to-ward the back so when we push snow we're cutting 10 1/2 ft. wide at the bottom and 12 ft. wide at the top. The wings raise straight up and are 11 ft. high at the back. If we have to clear a 13-ft. high drift we raise the plow 2 ft. off ground in order to break through. We apply liquid wax to the entire surface of the plow to make it more slippery.
"The 310 hp 4-WD tractor has no trouble handling the plow. We carry 35 100-lb. weights on back that help balance the weight of the plow."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lapp Farms, 118 Friends Meetinghouse Rd., Cochranville, Penn. 19330 (ph 610 593-6571).


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1997 - Volume #21, Issue #6