Build Your Own: Starting From a Gehl Blank Mount Plate

Unlock Custom Capabilities for Your Gehl Skid Steer

As an operator, you know that sometimes off-the-shelf attachments just don't cut it. You've got unique challenges, specific materials, or a workflow that demands something a little different. That's where a Gehl blank mount plate comes in. It's the ultimate starting point for fabricating custom skid steer attachments that are perfectly tailored to your needs.

At SmithCustomz, we understand the need for heavy-duty, reliable gear. That's why our American-made Gehl Skid Steer Mount Plates (Raw) and Gehl Skid Steer Mounting Ears (4-Piece Set) are built tough, ready for you to weld your custom vision onto them. Let's dig into some practical projects you can tackle.

Why Start with a Blank Gehl Mount Plate?

A blank mount plate provides the critical connection between your Gehl machine and whatever you're building. It ensures proper fitment, locking mechanism compatibility, and structural integrity. Instead of trying to modify an existing attachment, you're building from the ground up, guaranteeing optimal performance and safety.

Perfect Fit: Designed to precisely match your Gehl's quick-attach system.
Strength: Made from high-grade steel, ready for heavy-duty welding.
Flexibility: Gives you a clean slate to design and build anything.
Cost-Effective: Often more economical than buying a specialized attachment you might only use occasionally.

Practical Projects to Build on Your Gehl Mount Plate

1. Custom Buckets: The Right Tool for the Job

Standard buckets are great, but sometimes you need something specialized. A custom bucket built on a Gehl blank mount plate can give you an edge.

Rock Buckets: Design a bucket with heavy-duty tines and a reinforced bottom for sifting rocks from dirt, leaving behind cleaner material.
Snow Buckets: Build an extra-wide, high-capacity bucket with a straight cutting edge for maximum snow-pushing efficiency. Consider a poly cutting edge to protect sensitive surfaces.
Grapple Buckets: Combine a standard bucket with a hydraulic grapple top for handling brush, demolition debris, or uneven loads. You'll need to run hydraulic lines to your auxiliary ports, but the added versatility is huge.
Light Material Buckets: For handling mulch, wood chips, or other lightweight, high-volume materials, you can fabricate a bucket with significantly increased capacity.

When designing, think about the material's weight, the desired capacity, and the forces it will encounter. Reinforce stress points, especially where the bucket connects to the mount plate.

2. Bale Handlers: Efficient Hay & Silage Management

If you're in agriculture, moving bales efficiently is critical. Custom bale handlers can be built to suit your specific bale type and operation.

Round Bale Spears: Attach heavy-duty spears to the mount plate, ensuring they are positioned correctly to penetrate and secure round bales without tearing. Consider a single center spear for stability or two smaller spears for softer bales.
Square Bale Forks: Fabricate a frame with multiple long, flat forks for handling large square bales. The spacing of the forks is crucial for proper support.
Bale Squeeze/Grapple: For delicate silage bales or wrapped bales, you can build a hydraulic squeeze attachment. This requires more fabrication skill and hydraulic components, but it minimizes damage to the wrapping.

Ensure your chosen spears or forks are rated for the weight of your bales. The connection points to the mount plate must be exceptionally strong to handle the leverage.

3. Push Plates & Pusher Bars: Heavy-Duty Clearing

For land clearing, demolition, or pushing large volumes of material, a custom push plate or pusher bar is invaluable.

Heavy-Duty Push Plate: Fabricate a reinforced steel plate, often with a curved or angled bottom edge, to push dirt, debris, or snow. You can add a replaceable cutting edge (like a bolt-on AR400 wear plate) to extend its life.
Brush Pusher: Design a bar with upright teeth or a cage-like structure specifically for pushing and piling brush and small trees, preventing debris from coming over the top of your machine.
Receiver Hitch Adapter: Weld a standard 2-inch receiver tube to your custom push plate or a dedicated blank mount plate. This allows you to move trailers around your yard with your skid steer, adding incredible utility.

Remember that push plates absorb significant impact. Use thicker steel, reinforce with gussets, and ensure your welds are top-notch.

4. Adapters to Off-Brand Attachments: Expanding Your Fleet's Reach

Have an attachment from a different brand or an older piece of equipment that you'd love to use with your Gehl? A blank mount plate can be the bridge.

Quick-Attach Conversion: If you have an attachment with a different quick-attach system (e.g., a mini skid steer mount or a tractor loader mount), you can cut off its existing mount and weld a Gehl blank mount plate in its place.
Pin-On to Quick-Attach: For older pin-on style attachments, you can fabricate a frame that connects to the attachment's pin points and then weld a Gehl mount plate to that frame. This allows you to use your modern Gehl machine with legacy equipment.

Accuracy is key here. Measure carefully to ensure the attachment sits at the correct angle and height once adapted. For a robust solution, consider our Full Size Skid Steer Mount Plate (Raw, 1/4") as a versatile base for many adapter projects, alongside the specific Gehl plate.

Material Specs & Welding Requirements

Choosing the Right Steel

For most custom skid steer attachments, you'll want to work with quality steel. We use A36 structural steel for our raw mount plates, which is an excellent choice for its strength and weldability.

Thickness: For general fabrication, 1/4" (0.250") thick steel is a good starting point. For high-stress areas or heavy-duty attachments like push plates, consider 3/8" (0.375") or even 1/2" (0.500") thick steel.
Wear Plates: For cutting edges or high-abrasion areas, consider using AR400 (Abrasion Resistant) steel. It's harder to work with but offers superior wear resistance.

Welding Best Practices

When you're building something that will be subject to the forces of a skid steer, your welds need to be flawless.

Cleanliness: Always start with clean metal. Grind off any mill scale, rust, paint, or grease. Contaminants lead to weak, porous welds.
Proper Fit-Up: Gaps in your fit-up will weaken your welds. Cut and grind your pieces to fit together as tightly as possible.
Preheating: For thicker steel (over 1/2") or in cold conditions, preheating the metal can prevent cracking by slowing down the cooling rate of the weld.
Welding Process: MIG (GMAW) is common for its speed and ease of use. Stick (SMAW) or TIG (GTAW) can also be used, depending on your skill and the desired finish. Use appropriate filler metal (e.g., E70S-6 for MIG, E7018 for Stick).
Penetration: Ensure you're getting full penetration into both pieces of metal. A superficial weld is a weak weld.
Multi-Pass Welds: For thicker materials, use multiple weld passes instead of trying to fill a large joint in one go.
Cooling: Allow your welds to cool slowly. Rapid cooling can cause brittleness.
Safety: Always wear proper PPE: welding helmet, gloves, flame-retardant clothing, and safety boots. Work in a well-ventilated area.

Your Vision, Built Strong

Starting with a quality Gehl blank mount plate gives you the freedom to innovate and create attachments that truly meet your operational demands. Whether it's a specialized bucket for a unique digging task or an adapter to maximize your existing equipment, the possibilities are endless.

Remember, building custom attachments requires solid fabrication skills, good planning, and quality materials. Take your time, measure twice, and weld once. Your Gehl machine is a workhorse, and your custom attachments should be too. Get started with an American-made Gehl Skid Steer Mount Plate (Raw) from SmithCustomz and build something truly useful.