Chattering Fisher

[wfd44]

A friend of mine was telling me this afternoon that he had trouble with his new (to him) 7'6" RD MM1 plow chattering on his dirt driveway and leaving the surface like a washboard. Hew was wondering what might be causing this. He is not plowing with shoes. He previously had an old style Fisher and never used shoes on that and never had this problem.

I told him to check to make sure the A-frame is paralell to the ground and/or run shoes. I assume that if his truck were too high it would make the angle of attack too steep and could cause this. He has a 2005 (I think) GMC 1500 with the bars turned up a turn and a half or so.

Any feedback on my theory?

Any other suggestions?

[snonut12]

Blade chattering on gravel/dirt driveway is common because the blade is too low to the ground thus catching the loose material. He need to bump the blade up a tad above ground. Shoes may help but I never use them.

[EZSnow]

My guess would be that the edge is tripping/returning repeatedly. Although, not being a "fisher" guy... it's only a guess.

[atgreene]

The edge is too new/ too much of an angle. Drop the a-frame back down one set of holes and try it. That, or take it down the road and wear in the new edge. I just changed mine again and put a 6" x 5/8" edge on and it's hoping all over the place. As long as it's angled sharp, it shouldn't jump, straight across and it will hop like crazy.

Tell him not to let it hop like that, either. Otherwise he will bend pins and the gussets that hold the springs. I've had to rebuild mine a couple times now.

[snonut12]

Also he might want to check the trip springs. A broken or weak spring will cause the edge to trip more easily.

[wfd44]

He dropped it down to the top holes in the A frame and its all better now. Told him to also take a look at the trip springs (checking for collapsed coils). Pepsi but no Captain Morgans today. :(