I remember seeing an announcement, and flyer, come in the mail for this. Based on what I can see from the photos, I have a couple of questions. It appears to me that the cutting edges are almost vertical. IMO this is good for scraping but it also places more forces on the trip mechanism (I know you addressed this in a previous post). When I look at that and the fact that the black plates (not even sure what purpose they serve) protrude out in front of the cutting edges, and what appears to be pretty flat push box (the upper part of the mold board), I would have concerns about how well the snow "rolls" in the box. IMO if the snow does not roll in the box it will probably reduce the amount of snow that can be pushed, in one pass, before the pushing machine runs out of traction. I request your comments on these concerns. I would also like to see the entire back of the pusher, including the mounting system/s.
Hey thanks for the post. The cutting edges have a certain angle relative to the ground in order to give some attack. In fact, this part of the Optimus system is based on the steel trip edge mechanism in our regular pushers, which have been performing great for many years. You are right that the snow roll effect is important. The radius of the moldboard on this pusher allows snow to roll up and fill the cavity. I will try to post a short video later today or tomorrow that shows this working.
That's great Matt. Thanks. I also am looking forward to pictures of the back of the pusher. Lastly, what purpose/function do the black plates (above each trip section) perform?
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Jason C
'96 Dodge 2500 CTD (12K# snow plowing beast) w/ Western 8.5' MVP
'00 Ford F350 PSD w/Western 8' straight
'06 Bobcat A300 w/ 100" snow bucket & 8' straight blade
'97 Cat 416C
'06 KTM 525 EXC (doesn't seem to push snow very efficiently but will keep trying)
'04 544J
Dirt related iron
Here is another short video folks, showing a bit more clearly how the snow rolls up the moldboard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ILCj...&feature=g-upl
I apologize in advance for the music...
As to the purpose of the plates above the cutting edge, they prevent snow escaping the box when the blades are at their lowest position. As you can hopefully see in the video, this does not effect the capacity of the moldboard to let snow roll up and fill the box.
PhilFromErie, Hi! Thanks for the question. Did you have a specific size in mind? It comes in loader, small loader, back hoe and skidsteer sizes. (The back hoe and skidsteer models are the same height.) Widths from 6' to 24'.
I got a price today from my local dealer in Indiana on a brand new Avalanche Optimus.. For a 10 foot skid loader mounts, floating trip edge, floating shoes and floating hitch is $6,100. I push a large mall parking lot and the main grounds keeper at the mall is very picky. He wants the lot clean of any snow and I feel like this unit will defiantly boost productivity eliminating multiple passes to fully clean uneven areas around drainage outlets and such.
It's hard to pull the trigger on a unit that is twice the amount as my other avalanche boxes I've bought the last few years.
$6,100 for a skid is pretty high. A loader model would probably be around 12k or more, just a guess.
Hey Phil,
You're a little high in your estimate there. The MSRP on a 12' loader model (with floating hydraulic coupler plates) is $8700.00.
I think our pricing this year is set somewhat below the comparable pushers out there. Having said that, we believe the real advantage with the Optimus is in the build strength.
Please keep the questions and comments coming guys.
When I went to pick up my new avalanche my dealer had a 12 foot loader Optimus box sitting there. Price wise it was $700 dollars more than the skid steer model I was looking at. For what it is the Optimus is a very nice box that is still competitively priced. It's hard to justify the increase from a 400 series with steel trip seeing as its $3,000 higher though.
Guess I was way off. Seems like a pretty competitive price for what it is. It really looks like, form the pictures at least like it would be a more stout machine than the other sectional pushers.
Hey Grassman,
Thanks for the question. The big difference between the Optimus and any other traditional type box plow is that the steel blades float independently which allows the whole cutting edge to adjust to the ups and downs of the pavement. A standard steel trip edge plow will allow the blades to ride back over an obstacle but they won't adjust up and down to contour to the plowing surface in the same way that the Optimus does.
There are some fine box plows out there for sure but nothing quite like the Optimus when it comes to performance and build strength.
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