Anyone try one of those aluminum snow push front blades?

[Franko]

My wife wants me to outfit our RTV900 with a front snow blade. I looked into it a bit and saw many posts here about various steel blades, but she is dead set against a standard blade/winch because 1) she wants something lighter and simpler that even she can use in a pinch and 2)she does not want to gouge up our new 900 foot asphalt driveway. I saw both a DRpower video and one from agricover, which I think is the same unit, that she likes. It is a 14 inch tall aluminum blade, available in a 66 inch width to cover the RTV wheelbase width, that attaches to the front hitch, and pushes the snow when you drive forward and releases automatically and slides when you back up, so no up and down needed. I told her I thought it was too expensive for what it was, and may not clean the snow down to the pavement, which means we will get an icy layer on the inclines after we drive back and forth a few times.

I am ready to deal with the cost, since marriage is about compromise, but will the thing work? I know we all have ideas about this, heck, I am skeptical, too, but I would like to hear from anyone who actually has used one. How well do they clean the snow? Check out the videos on youtube if you want to know what I am talking about.... search youtube on redi plow

Thanks much!

Frank

 

[kevin37b]

I do not understand why people pave 900' driveways and then worry about scratching them . If the paving was done correctly you are not going to (gouge) it . Put a rubber edge on the plow and carry on . You are not going to like a plow you cannot pick up .

 

[Buckgnarly]

If your driveway gets damaged from a plow someone did not do a good job on the install. I've plowed A LOT up here on my asphalt with a 500lb Fisher and it's still good.

If you are really concerned, Fisher now has poly edges, you could probably adapt that to whatever you wind up getting. Problem with a light plow is exactly what you mentioned, it will not scrape well and you wind up with ice on the pavement.

 

[timswi]

I plow asphalt driveways all the time with my Curtis plow that is the OEM Kubota blade...I have a piece of machine belt on the bottom that acts like a squegee and doesn't leave a scratch...Works well on gravel too.

 

[xerman]

I have a RTV 1100 with a Boss plow. I put a strip of rubber horse stall mat on the cutting edge and it works great on both the gravel and the blacktop.
Much as timswi said. Doesn't disturb the gravel very much and doesn't leave a mark on the blacktop.

 

[timswi]

Here's what my setup looks like

 

[unbidden]

Put a poly edge on the blade:

 

[timswi]

Put a poly edge on the blade:

View attachment 298892

That's a far more substantial poly blade than I've tried in the past...Where did you get it and how does it hold up on frozen gravel?

 

[unbidden]

That's a far more substantial poly blade than I've tried in the past...Where did you get it and how does it hold up on frozen gravel?

It's a Kubota blade and poly edge, new this winter season but have done quite a bit of plowing with it thus far. I have a 2600 ft mostly gravel drive and the poly seems to be holding up well. We also plow around several horse paddocks and a few trail pathways. The picture makes the blade look bigger than it is (60").

 

[timswi]

It's a Kubota blade and poly edge, new this winter season but have done quite a bit of plowing with it thus far. I have a 2600 ft mostly gravel drive and the poly seems to be holding up well. We also plow around several horse paddocks and a few trail pathways. The picture makes the blade look bigger than it is (60").

Where did you get the poly edge? Was it a Kubota parts item?