rubber cutting edges???

[GeoffD]

I started thinking about snow, and thought about edges. I know some of you guys out here use rubber edges. How does a rubber edge work? Does it bite into the snow when scraping? Just something I was wondering about?

I just can't understand how something as bendable as rubber, would dig into snow.

Geoff

[Edited by GeoffDiamond on 11-18-2000 at 05:26 PM]

 

[John Allin]

Our experience is that rubber on a plow won't cut, but on a Pro-Tech the weight of the box itself allows the rubber to cut packed snow, somewhat. It still rides up over ice though. With slushy snow (around 32 degrees air temp) the rubber on the Pro-Techs acts like a squeegie.

We're going to try polyurethane for the first time this season (once they get here) on two trucks to see what happens. Got a parking ramp with a coating on the deck and several stamped concrete areas to plow and don't want to use steel on them. Used rubber a few years ago and all was well, but still didn't cut (not that we wanted to on the parking deck coating).

 

[Lazer]

We have rubber on about 1/2 of our rear plows. They're 1" thick. When properly maintained the scrape better than steel depending on the snow moisture and temperature.

My biggest dislike is that you have to adjust and flip the cutter edge periodically and I'm just not a big fan of the wrench.

 

[Chuck Smith]

I know here, the town stopped using them on the road plows. The reason was they had a "memory" and would stay curled back. This resulted in a thin film left behind, as well as hardpack. This is on plows with caster wheels, not skids.

They now use steel edges with no rubber. When a road plow hits a rasied manhole at 2 am, it is LOUD.

~Chuck