David, I had seen your references to GR before, always wondered what the story was. My father just did a Career Day at Plymouth last week for the green industry. Still a small world.
I think we can blame this sidetrack on apkole. Thanks Andy. :zoom
Anyways, IMHO, the reason B&B's crappy design causes frame problems is because all they do is weld receiver tubes on an OEM trailer hitch (which more than likely voids any warranty and any liability that could go back to the manufacturer) and places all that extra stress on the trailer hitch that was designed for towing trailers, not all the twisting, torqueing, etc that a back plow places on it. In addition, most trailer hitches state no welding or cutting on them as well as not intended for other uses.
There is also that slight issue of when attempting to pick up their back blade that the plow frame moves several inches before the plow even comes off the ground. There aren't any front plows that do that. This is based on my observations of their old style. From what I have been told, they redesigned it for this season because of the problems they were having. I even know of one (so there are probably more) back blade from B&B that was 1 season old, the frame cracked on the truck, and they said tough crap, you're out of luck. Great customer service IMO.
Dilly, not sure if you're familiar with Ebling and Sons back blade design, but they build the trailer hitch around the plow frame. I've stated before that I have not had 1 minute of down time from one of Jim's plows other than some cylinder problems right at the beginning. Those have since been worked out. We have broken a couple by backing into posts or other objects and have had some issues with our 1 550 that is very heavily loaded, but I am blaming that on the weight of the truck. It still has not given us any downtime, just repairs on the plow and frame itself. These cracks have been repaired before the plow actually went down.
Hope this answers your question.
