Minute Mount II 1st cutting edge

[jimmy86]

I am pretty sure I saw a post a while back that mentioned something about wearing down the bottom of a new plow before actually installing an actual cutting edge, am I correct?

If this is correct, how much would I allow to wear off before adding a cutting edge?

I have a 7.5' MMII.

[snowplowjay]

Most recommend running on the base angle for 1 full season before adding a cutting edge. I would just run it and monitor the wear until you feel it is sufficiently worn to add a cutting edge......


Jay

[snonut12]

I would try to wear off about 1" then slap on the cutting edge. After two seasons I've only worn off only a small fraction of an inch.

[John Banks]

It's obviously going to depend on the type of plowing you do. With driveways, it will take a while to wear down the base angle. If you're plowing larger lots, roads, etc it will obviously wear quicker. Check it periodically as you don't want to wear the base angle down to the point where you have to replace it, but I think about 1 1/2" is about right, about to the point where you're close to the steel ribs on the base angle.

[snonut12]

John got that right. I do driveways and most of them are gravel/dirt so I usually plow with the blade raised slightly above the ground so nothing much is wearing off the base edge.

[nsmilligan]

I can't figure out where this got started, about allowing the plow to 'WEAR IN"
before adding an edge, except if you plow very little and want to spare the expense of an edge for the first while. I can't get a full season out of a U-edge, and less then a 1/2 a season out of a hardened steel edge. It makes no diffenence if the plow edge is worn before the cutting edge is installed, the 1st time they will both wear in together. The only thing is you have to monitor the wear, on the Fisher there is a double edge out near the shoe mounts, don't let the trip edge wear pass this, another easy indicator is the your bottom spring mounts (the long piece that the bottom of the trip springs mount to) is showing ANY wear your edge needs to be replaced. Just because the wear edge is an OPTION on Fisher plows, you should NEVER use the plow without one. Don't use an edge greater in width then Fisher recommends (6"), the extra width makes the edge trip easier( and it sometimes won't untrip) and puts more strain on the spring mounts.
I use Carbide edges, I can get a couple of seasons out of a set.
Bill

[jimmy86]

Having my 1st brand-new plow, I just wanted to take care of it from the start. I think I will grind a couple of marks a 1/2 inch from the bottom outside of the trip edge so that I can keep tabs on the amount of wear.

[SIPLOWGUY]

I never understood why it is necessary to wear down the edge first. I bought my first new plow last year and put the edge on upon installation. I had no problems this last season. My others plows were used and the cutting edge was worn with the trip edge. My guess is they were put on when new too.

[wyldman]

You really should wear the base angle down first.Wear it down to the point you would be replacing it (if it was a replaceable edge).

Two reasons.

1 - The taller the base angle,the easier it trips.If the base angle is not worn,and you install an edge,you could be making it longer,and increasing the leverage on the trip mechanism.

2 - If you run an edge in conjunction with the unworn base angle,they will wear together,but put less cutting edge force on the ground.The weight on the edge is spread out over a larger area,so it won't scrape as well.Fishers don't have a real steep attack angle anyways,so you need all the cutting edge pressure you can get.It will also defeat the purpose if you decide to install a urethane edge.You need the overhang for it to flex,and you don't want the steel base angle to touch and posssibly mark up the ground.

[SIPLOWGUY]

My new X-Blade has a very steep attack angle. It scrapes great!

[Snowboy]

If your not running a cutting edge you get a crummy scrape as well. The new V the company bought was not useing a edge and it left a film of snow on the ground so then we would go over it with the loader. Double the work and more salt.

[nsmilligan]

You really should wear the base angle down first.Wear it down to the point you would be replacing it (if it was a replaceable edge).

Two reasons.

1 - The taller the base angle,the easier it trips.If the base angle is not worn,and you install an edge,you could be making it longer,and increasing the leverage on the trip mechanism.

2 - If you run an edge in conjunction with the unworn base angle,they will wear together,but put less cutting edge force on the ground.The weight on the edge is spread out over a larger area,so it won't scrape as well.Fishers don't have a real steep attack angle anyways,so you need all the cutting edge pressure you can get.It will also defeat the purpose if you decide to install a urethane edge.You need the overhang for it to flex,and you don't want the steel base angle to touch and posssibly mark up the ground.
Chris i'm surprised at your reply, 1st the trip egde of the Fisher is 6" as new so what's the diffrence if you bolt on a 6" wide wear edge? 1.they take longer to wear together As I said in my post DO NOT install a wider edge (ie) 8" as ity will trip easier and casuse undo stress to the plow.

THIS IS AN URBAN MYTH! PERIOD THINK ABOUT IT!!

[wyldman]

I think I explained it pretty well Bill.I wasn't trying to dispute your reply though.

Running a cutting edge with the unworn base angle together gives you less cutting force on the edge.You now have almostt double the surface area touching the ground,so you have almost half the cutting force available at the edge.

You also need to wear some off the base angle to get the correct amount of overhang when running urethane.Usually the overhang is about equal to the thickness of the edge being used.

[JD PLOWER]

We have used and continue to use 8" by 5/8 thick cutting edges on our Fishers (except the Vplow) and the only side effect we've had has been the bolts snapping on occasion. Some (JoeyD) have solved this problem by drilling out the bolt holes to a larger diameter and installing grade 8 bolts.
The plows have held up fine and the edges last considerably longer than the stock factory edges. They do trip easier then a stock setup but we've had no premature failure of any springs or frames that have cracked on the straight blades. The V plow however did split the A frame and it uses a 6" edge.

Slightly off topic; When talking about how long a person should be able to use a certain cutting edge we should all keep in mind that what one person plows probably is very different then what others plow. In other words saying you will get three seasons out of this or that size edge really doesen't mean anything. We all plow a different amount of hours and different types of accounts in different weather conditions. All these things add up to a wide range of variables regarding how long something will last.

Sorry, just something that kind of bugs me. 1eye2

[Joey D]

I agree the Fisher needs to be worn down some before the edge is installed. Wearing the trip base at the same rate as the cutting edge results in poor scraping due to the reasons Chris mentioned. I always ran the 8"x5/8 edge and the leverage was not a problem. The bolts don't like it so drilling out to a 5/8 and using grade 8 solves that.
I was going to weld a brace on the top of the trip base to help with the stress on the edge but the 5/8 bolts solved it all.