Well after 4yrs of contemplating to get one I Completed my Fleet of Snow Removal Attachments wish list ........ last week I finally saw one and bought myself an early X-mas present a "Blizzard 8611 ss Power-Plow " I was getting pretty sick and tired of OEM made blade breaking down on me 4 times a winter for the last 3-1/2 years .... it was sold to me as the perfect match'd blade for my skid "BS to BC" ...... once I seen it and seen how the Blizzard Power Plow was built, I knew I had to own one. I've owned a Meyers, an Artic plow and the latest the Bcat blade with wings (which looks identical to an Erskine/Quik attach blade)..... the Blizzard 8611 Power-Plow is the heaviest biggest built blade they make .... the weak points that I had issues with on the others, like tilt pins, a-frames, pin boss's, tilt springs, hyd cyl's and thin metal in the blade shell bending were all too light built for the weight of my skid .... all of those weak points are way heavier constructed on this new one. Also looking forward to not having to get out and fold wings anymore, at the touch of 2 joystick buttons it'll widen out to 11' and also make it a scoop blade if you want. I guess time will tell if we made the right choice. As it seems like every where else ...... Now all we need is to get some more decent SNOW falls to find out. I'll post some pics as soon as we get some .......... Merry X-mas to you all ......... CHEERS ....GK
Good choice! I really like the 8611, plowed with one on a tractor and have always wanted one for a skid. It scrapped way better than any other blade I've used. Pictures are always good!
Yes, please post pics. I'd like to see it.
Hope to have some pics up next week ! ..... supposed to get another dump during this upcoming week AND if I can figure out how to reduce the downloading size all over again .....
I have a SS8610 and a SS8611. I would recommend you fish plate the A frame just behind the pin. Both of my plows run on S330 Bobcats and both ripped in half at that point.
You will love the 8611 on the skid I have loved mine and has been in my fleet since 08 only problems we have had where self inflicted.
Are you refering to where the pin boss is welded to the A-frame ? ....... We had a few issues getting some missing parts not in the sealed crate..... My dealer was impelled to go thru the Canadian distributor .... they were a bunch of lying bags of crap ..... seems that the ditributor is in KA-KA .... I was able to contact DD directly thru a link from a poster on the LTS forum .... He WAS amazing how quickly he resolved the issue at hand (THANK-YOU Again JOHN M.) ...... the only PITA after was UPS:thumbdown and the BS they are so GOOD at dishing out (excuses) ...took way too long to get the parts here ..... when I was tracking the crate it first sat just outside of Chicago for 2 1/2 days then it took a week to get to Seattle, then sat there for 4 days ....***.... now thats service ...LOL If I would of had them a week earlier I would have made the last snow event ..... so I have been taking my own time assembling the Plow .... I did a few Mods which I seen would be a future problem ..... the four hoses that are fed thru the push box twist sharply into the A-frame :badideaand would have been a cluster of hoses that are too long ...hmmmm ... so I installed some bulk head ftgs on both sides .... with four slightly shorter hoses neatly routed and no kinking or chaffing .... I also added grease nipples to the pin boss and hyd angle cyl ends .... I'm going to watch how the pressure is at the A-frame tip ... it seemed to me as well that it could be a problem area as you say ..... Where did you put the fish plates ?? ...top and bottom or around the boss (like a wrap) ...... I had to do the same mod on my BC factory blade too, cause it tore off, and that is a smaller weighted blade too .... Just building the compatible wire harness as we speak ... found a great source for the 14 pin Deutsch connectors ....(give you a free plug Rob) ... "Skid Steer Solutions" ..... they now stock these at a very reasonable price:thumbsup ......Cheers for now:drinkup
We fish plated the side of the a frame right behind the pin. If you are looking from the top down the last bolt on the cover where the A frame has a slight bend is where it ripps in half. The metal on the A-frame is just two light of a guage. Also on the 8611 you may want to make sure the glands on the cylinders are clearing the plow assembly. Both cyclinder glands have been hitting the plow when it is angled either way and actully hit hard enough on one to distort the gland on the cylinder and blow out the seal. Actully just happened to me the other day and now I either have to buy a new cylinder or have another Gland machined. The 8610 has no problem with the glands clearing as the cylinders are slightly smaller diameter.
That would have been the last place on the A-frame that I would have thought was weak ..... I def would have thought you ment around the main pin boss, but having heard you say that, I am wondering if you have a different A-frame ? ....how old is your 8611 ?...... The clearance problem you talk of ? .... mine has a ton of clearance, unless you have excess play in the push box that is allowing the frame to walk down on top of the gland .....and I suppose that the cyls are mounted in the outside holes at the skid mounting plate too .... hmmm .... gonna have to watch how it works .... I did not use any of the slip in pins w/cotter pins either .... I went and bought a bunch of long shouldered Gr8 3/4" bolts hard washers to shim it up and nylocks .... I never liked the idea of loose pins on any of my blades ..... the BC blade broke at the trip pins, I replaced them with 1" Gr8 bolts w/nylocks, been good ever since .... Thanx for the tips ! ......
The 8611 is a model from 2004. That plow was purchased in 2005 and only used a handful of times until this winter. I will try and take a picture or two.