A tip for curtis plow owners

M

Mark.Sibole

Well-known member
Here is a tip for anyone who has a curtis plow from Kubota on their RTV .Most who own one will know you have a limited amount of lift on the plow and are lucky to have 4 to 6 inches ground clearance while raised.Today I looked over mine to see what I could do to get more lift.The way its designed the bars hit the frame and only allow you the short lift.I examined mine to see what could be done that was easy with no major surgery.What I did was where the bars hit the frame plate I marked the area with a grease pencil and ground out 1/2 inch of the plateand then ground the notch on a 45.By removing the 1/2 inch of steel which does NOT effect the structural quality I gained 4 inches of lift so I have about 10 inches of ground clearance now instead of the 4 to 6 inches.If anyone is interested in this let me know and ill post some pictures.It took about 1 hour to do with a heavy dury grinder but in the end was well worth the effort to gain the xtra 4 inches of ground clearance.I may in the future grind off more to bet more clearence but my back has been bothering me and im happy to have gained what I got today.I think they should have designed this a lot different from the beginning but you know how Kubota is sometimes.Hopefully this will help me from getting stuck because the plow blade wouldnt come up high enough.
Have a great new year and ill check back in periodically to see if there is a need to post images.


Mark
 
Mark.Sibole said:
Here is a tip for anyone who has a curtis plow from Kubota on their RTV .Most who own one will know you have a limited amount of lift on the plow and are lucky to have 4 to 6 inches ground clearance while raised.Today I looked over mine to see what I could do to get more lift.The way its designed the bars hit the frame and only allow you the short lift.I examined mine to see what could be done that was easy with no major surgery.What I did was where the bars hit the frame plate I marked the area with a grease pencil and ground out 1/2 inch of the plateand then ground the notch on a 45.By removing the 1/2 inch of steel which does NOT effect the structural quality I gained 4 inches of lift so I have about 10 inches of ground clearance now instead of the 4 to 6 inches.If anyone is interested in this let me know and ill post some pictures.It took about 1 hour to do with a heavy dury grinder but in the end was well worth the effort to gain the xtra 4 inches of ground clearance.I may in the future grind off more to bet more clearence but my back has been bothering me and im happy to have gained what I got today.I think they should have designed this a lot different from the beginning but you know how Kubota is sometimes.Hopefully this will help me from getting stuck because the plow blade wouldnt come up high enough.
Have a great new year and ill check back in periodically to see if there is a need to post images.


Mark
Click to expand...

Mark

I'd love to see the pictures of the modifications. I could certainly use the added lift on mine.

Thanks, Bob
 
avantiguy said:
Mark

I'd love to see the pictures of the modifications. I could certainly use the added lift on mine.

Thanks, Bob
Click to expand...

Bob,Ill take a few pics for you tomorrow and post them.
I hope this helps ya out as It is a PITA with the lack of clearance.Ive struggled for 8 years with mine with this issue but i know it will be a huge help.
 
I tried to get the best angles for this to show how it was done and how it worked.1st image shows how much I ground out the frame and where I ground it.I can sure go more in the future but its to damn cold out there for me.2nd image shows how it used to lift or how high before gringing and the 3rd image shows how much more lift I gained.I measured it and gained 3.5 inches of lift or clearance so it definatly helped.
plow1.jpg

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plow2.jpg

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plow3.jpg

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The grinding took NO integrety from the strength of anything..
Hope this helps
Have a great damage free 2017

Mark
 
The problem I was having was the stock feet that came with the plow were actually digging into the gravel driveways I plow and actually pulling the plow down into the gravel. So I picked up these feet at tractor supply and a 1" drill bit to retrofit, it's snowing now hopefully I can get a chance to run the new feet!
 

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Good luck with the new pads for your snow plow. I finally took mine off because of the same issue. That is, if the gravel in the driveway isn't frozen solid, the feet just dig in and the blade then does a great job of scraping all the stone to the side. You don't realize the extent of the damage until the snow melts. That gives you another job. Pulling all that gravel out of the grass and back onto the drive. Now I just raise the blade an inch or two and go for it.
 
Keifer said:
Pulling all that gravel out of the grass and back onto the drive.
Click to expand...
If you have a decent backpack blower, it works well for putting the rocks back in the driveway.

When I was using a push type snowblower, I was throwing rocks. Put some kids training wheels (since they're nice and skinny) on the outside so it wouldn't dig. It worked well.

For a blade or snowplow, I was thinking of putting swivel casters on the back of the moldboard that keep it 1" above the ground. Swivel casters so they can track straight when you turn the blade.
 
Keifer said:
Good luck with the new pads for your snow plow. I finally took mine off because of the same issue. That is, if the gravel in the driveway isn't frozen solid, the feet just dig in and the blade then does a great job of scraping all the stone to the side. You don't realize the extent of the damage until the snow melts. That gives you another job. Pulling all that gravel out of the grass and back onto the drive. Now I just raise the blade an inch or two and go for it.
Click to expand...

My neighbor had the same issue and said he solved the problem by putting a groove in a length of pipe and slideing it on the bottom of the blade. Pipe allowed the blade to push snow without digging into the gravel.
 
Rubber strip

I just clamped a 6 inch rubber strip from a stall floor mat to the bottom of the blade and it sweeps the gravel driveway and I don't use the factory skids anymore. When it gets chewed up you can just flip it over. I got this tip from one of our posters.
Randy
 
That might have been me (using the rubber strip).

Randu - Are you using the rubber strip on a RTV plow or a tractor 3-point hitch?

I was using a tractor back blade and my results were mixed with this approach. The main issue was I was using a light-duty back blade of the 3-point and with no weight or down pressure, it wanted to raise up when it hit heavy snow. I now have a heavier blade but haven't put the rubber on yet.


 
I just took my skids off and tried the pipe cut lengthwise. it worked awesome in my nice pea-stone driveway and on paved stuff.
However my neighbor is a widow with a 1/4 mile gravel drive. when i went to plow her i thought it would rattle the buggy apart.

Bottom line the pipe is good for smooth stuff.
 
Rubber strip

Bczoom,
That's on my RTV front Curtis plow. I have a gravel driveway.
Randy
 
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Alaskanassasin said:
The problem I was having was the stock feet that came with the plow were actually digging into the gravel driveways I plow and actually pulling the plow down into the gravel. So I picked up these feet at tractor supply and a 1" drill bit to retrofit, it's snowing now hopefully I can get a chance to run the new feet!
Click to expand...

I changed mine out also but went a different route.I picked up some used pads from a real trick and cut off the posts and re welded half inch grade 8 bolts on them for the posts so they dont bend.Either way is fine but I generally look for the easier least expensive way.I used to keep mine removed and just put a yard saver on the blade but it floated a bit more than I liked so I went back to the pads.The plow just isnt heavy enough in weight to keep it on the ground and the electric lift just dosnt have the power to lift the plow if I add weight.
Have a wonderful day and glad I could share some tips for you all on this.After 10 years of ownership there isnt much I dont know about the rtv 900s.But I always have room in my large head for more knowledge...Keep safe out there.Ginds here 40 to 60 mph with snow to start then turning to rain then back to snow.Should be quite the mess here today..
 
Plowing snow

The wheel I wish I would of invented it.If most would mount these most problems should be solved go a least 2 inches wide the bigger od the better.Skids dig unless ice. This will not work always but most of the time works well.JOE
 
cchaffee said:
I just took my skids off and tried the pipe cut lengthwise. it worked awesome in my nice pea-stone driveway and on paved stuff.
However my neighbor is a widow with a 1/4 mile gravel drive. when i went to plow her i thought it would rattle the buggy apart.

Bottom line the pipe is good for smooth stuff.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the real world test. Curious what size pipe did you use? Bob
 
curtis plow

Mark,
I looked at my plow setup and I don't know if I can cut that part out without messing with the upright angle.
Randy
 

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