Blizzard edge damage.

[JD PLOWER]

In this last storm we had here (about 9") I managed to damage the cutting edge on my 8611. A center section of about two feet broke off of the middle cutting edge, also one bolt sheared from the top and now needs an easy out. Broken edges are nothing new for me but the plows have been well out of warranty at those times. I have a few questions for any one who has had this happen to them while the plow was under warranty. Was this covered under the warranty or was this considered abuse or just a wear item? Anyone have a clue as to cost of a new center edge on this plow? Also can this edge be replaced with a 5/8 hardned edge? I can have one of these edges made up at a fairly cheap price (although with the price of steel going through the roof who knows?) but my concern is will this work on this plow or is the edge a failure point by design?


Any thoughts? :feedback

[Big Nate's Plowing]

not much to add as far as fitment goes but I would like to see a pic of where it broke if possable, for a 2' piece to break out there must have been a bad spot in the steel

[Pelican]

JD, did you hit something or did it just break?

[JD PLOWER]

Pelican I hit several things :D

The plow did pop up once or twice on this lot but no harder than I had done in the past with the plow.

[Jerre Heyer]

JD, We had a couple of ends break hitting manhole covers but only one take a chunk out of the center section of a blade.

As for the 5/8 edge yes you can. Use 1080 high carbon or you could go to carbide if avail. Also you can upgrade the wings with thicker plates or add a pc of 1/4 or 3/8 to the bottom. The wings are T1 so the weld fairly well with mig or stick. I punch holes in the centers and use a 3-4" tall piece and plug weld the holes and weld the top and edges. This gives longer wear to the whole system.

Jerre

[Pelican]

JD, I looked at my 810 and if the cutting edge on the 8611 is attached the same way, you should be able to knock the broken bolt out with a punch, no need for an easy out. You might need to lube it up good due to corrosion, but it doesn't look like the holes are threaded.

[JD PLOWER]

Jerre thanks for the help. Do you know if this is covered under warranty? Also if I do buy a factory edge what are they going for these days?

Pelican your correct, I guess during the storm it must have been filled with ice.
I'll be posting some pics probably tomorrow. Thanks guys.

[Jerre Heyer]

JD, Depending on the time on the edge and the break I think you stand a good chance of Warranty. I know I would be sending samples of the edge to the factory for testing.

Take picts of the affair before removing it. I submit a couple of 6-10" pcs for testing. I'd cut a piece in the area of the break and an end section.

As far as the cost of a set of factory edges about $325. retail if I remember right.

Jerre

[JD PLOWER]

Some photos of the damaged edge. Sorry the quality isn't very good.

Damaged edge. (http://community.webshots.com/photo/116977427/127190460fNTxBp)

Different angle. (http://community.webshots.com/photo/116977427/127190983ZtkQRP)

[snowplowjay]

It definitely looks as if the metal exceeded its Yield point and went into the plastic zone of fracture (sorry for the engineering terms :) )

The blade could have also been a defect from the start and the metal could have been over worked in its formation. (i.e. over cold/hot worked)


Good luck with the Warranty issue of the whole matter.


Jay

[BWhite]

JD,
didnt you buy that Blizzard plow brand new in November . Did you call the company in Manchester for a warranty replacement ? Its to bad if you need to ship a piece for a metallurgical examination . Keep a piece yourself in case you need an independent opinion . Really ....they should drop ship you a new edge , period . It hasnt snowed enough this winter to say the plow has been overworked

[JohnnyU]

I'm going to agree with Jay on this one, there was some type of impurity or stress fault line/crack in the steel, causing it to break far below its intended point.

It should be no problem getting it replaced under warranty, as long as they see how clean the break is, that is the number one clue that something was wrong. From what I can tell, there was no deformation at the break, leading me to beleive that it was weakened long before it ever hit the ground.

What did you hit, I know you said several things, but was there anything that you can rememebr specifically?

[JD PLOWER]

Jerre I think I might need your help on this deal.. The factory is giving me a bit of the run around. Check your pm's please . Thanks JD

[BWhite]

JD,
What do you mean by a run Blizzard warranty around ?

[thesnoman]

Originally posted by snowplowjay
It definitely looks as if the metal exceeded its Yield point and went into the plastic zone of fracture (sorry for the engineering terms :) )

The blade could have also been a defect from the start and the metal could have been over worked in its formation. (i.e. over cold/hot worked)


Good luck with the Warranty issue of the whole matter.


Jay

I am not so sure about the defect. One end broke fair clean but the other end broke very uneven. Everything has its breaking point and my guess is you cracked it (the even break) sometime and continued to use it and the jagged break was from the last impact hit which cause the failure. Without starting a flame war, this is what attracked me to Fishers plows 10 years ago. I have a few on them now and the first on is still in service and has survived some extreme impacts with unknown manhole covers and such that has amazed me. The intergal cutting edge (which is not directly replaceable which is kinda bad) is well braced. I build/weld up the cutting edge once or twice a year as needed with surface hardending wear rods and have maintained the original appearance/design. It is a bit of a hassle but I have had no down time from plow failures since I started using them. You should be glad the the edge failed because it may have saved the main plow frame from damage that would have costed a lot more to repair. Chalk it up to experiance and plow a bit slower on unknown ground in the future because since the whole plow has to trip there is a lot on energy to redirect in a impact which can lead to failures such as this one if energy levels are too high.

[PSDF350]

jd if you dont mind i am real curious how this turned out. thanks.