Someone educate me - why would you plow snow with a rear blade?

[D7E]

Aruond here a rear blade does'nt work even my 90 hp FWA just spins and hops and it may only be 1ft deep , Pushing with a loader does'nt work that good either Once the banks on the side get 4-5 feet deep it blows in too fast and banks catch the snow , Blower is always best it throws it a long way and gets rid of it .

 

[acohen100]

If you get a lot of snow the $350 manual blade sounds like a great deal. Does that include all necessary mounting hardware, or is there a separate $500-1000 for a required mounting plate? What model Kubota is that for?

It says that it requires the quick hitch subframe kit and front loader valve...whatever that means. It's for the BX series.

 

[RoyJackson]

Aruond here a rear blade does'nt work even my 90 hp FWA just spins and hops and it may only be 1ft deep , Pushing with a loader does'nt work that good either Once the banks on the side get 4-5 feet deep it blows in too fast and banks catch the snow , Blower is always best it throws it a long way and gets rid of it .

That's pretty interesting. I'm surprised your tractor and rear blade won't handle a foot of snow. Even my little 790 and blade can do that, but it sure isn't optimal!
I normally start when the snow is between 6"-8". It's a lot easier at that depth (depending on the type of snow...light, fluffy stuff or wet heavy stuff).

Of course, we don't get the volume of snow you folks in the Great White North do.

 

[ChuckinNH]

One thing not mentioned yet is that the "float" position on a front mounted blade really doesn't float much until the ground is frozen pretty hard. Some with a front mounted blade have reported that the blade tends to dig in on softer soil, gravel drives, and such even with the skid shoes down. The best fix I've heard is putting something less agressive over the cutting edge, like a section of pipe. I've never used either, so I'm unqualified to speak, but I did make a few divots in my yard trying to use the "float" position on my fel so can see how this would happen.

 

[Soundguy]

That's pretty much the way it goes though... before i had a loader.. I only had a boom pole and a dirt scoop... I did alot of looking over my shoulder driving in reverse.. etc..

Soundguy

When the only tool you have is a hammer.. all your problems start looking like nails.

That is rich. Soundguy, that's the quote of the day.

 

[KubotaSteve]

Before I got my Kubota B-7800, we used my old man's Massey Fergusons (TO20 first then MF135) with a rear blade on just about everything. We got quite a bit of work done, whether it was moving snow, cutting a ditch or leveling dirt; it just took a little longer. I was in school and couldn't afford any attachments and the old man wasn't going to tie up anymore money since he only had an acre and the tractor was mainly for helping me on my lot. Since I got the B-7800, the old Massey just sets around until snow season.

Also we only get one 8"-12" snow per year and hear lately, we haven't even got that. Most of the other snows are 6" or less and can be easily plowed with the rear blade. Just doesn't make sense investing any more money in something that happens so rare. When it does happen, you just plow a couple of times during the snow or get out the old walk behind snowblower.

 

[srjones]

Last winter, we had 6-8" of snow, which is quite a lot around here, and I used (don't laugh now) a 72" landscape rake to break up the hard packed snow and sorta move it off to the side. While the results were by no means impressive, when the snow started melting, I could tell where I had done the work, since that part melted first.

This year I was able to get a 60" rear blade, so we'll see happens. However, it will probably be another 2-3 years before that happens again.

-srj

 

[Egon]

Roy; it's not the amount of snow but the depth of the drift that counts. The drifted snow can be very hard and solid and does not like to be moved. As the winter progresses and the side banks get higher the drifted snow gets deeper every time it blows.

 

[Farwell]

From my reading it seems as if this is the preferred method of snow plowing but it just doesn't make sense to me. If you had anything more than a few inches of snow then you are trying to drive over it while pulling a blade behind you? Seems to me that this would be the worst of both worlds - you would be driving on top of snow with poor traction while trying to pull a blade behind you over snow you just packed down with the tractor. What am I missing?

Because I have one. I also have a walk behind snow blower and use it when the snow is dry. Wet snow does not move through a snow blower to well so I fire up my John Deere with the rear blade and go to work. I put my chains on around the time of the first snow so its ready to go.

 

[RoyJackson]

Roy; it's not the amount of snow but the depth of the drift that counts. The drifted snow can be very hard and solid and does not like to be moved. As the winter progresses and the side banks get higher the drifted snow gets deeper every time it blows.

Yeah, I can definitely understand what you're talking about, Egon!
One winter (years ago before I bought a tractor), we had one of our rare deep snows (> 12") here. I did a pretty poor job of clean up, then it froze...and it was an extremely cold winter for PA.
I couldn't get in my garage until early Spring!

No doubt you folks up North see that a lot more often then we Southerners!