How useful is a snow blade - front or back?

[JackDWaller]

Hello all,

Having overspent by at least 200% in acquiring my JD 2320, mower and FEL, any additions will have to be DIY. I'm handy and have the basic tools including welding skills so I'm excited about getting started. So although a tractor snow blower would be nice I'll be using my walk behind.

However, I'd like to makes some use of the tractor so I'm pondering a blade. A friend with a larger tractor has a FEL and a rear blade and he feels both are useful. In that case the blade would go on the rear using my iMatch and since I have a bad neck it would have to be a pull type. Anyone strongly in favor of a front blade?

Can those of you that have had an interest and followed various posts point me to what you consider the best ideas and are there so definite do's and don'ts. I do not have any extra hydraulics at the moment.

For starters I have a curved grader blade that is about 5/8 thick, 7' wide and 7 1/2 inches tall that I thought I'd use - probably cut down to 6'. I have 1/8 x6" flat steel and other widths that I figured I could weld to make a full blade - how tall, and what curvature? I would beef up the center mount region.

From browsing TBN, I've seen references to the need for a spring loaded mount to absorb shock??

Is it desirable to incorporate some kind of tilt, perhaps spring loaded to 0 degrees?

To allow angling that could be converted to hydraulic I thought I'd design for a rigid arm about the length of a cylinder and arrange for it to be adjustably pinned.

I'll stop there because you get the idea of where I'm going with this and I need ideas and advice before even deciding on the details. There is a lot of collective wisdom here and years of experience that I'm hoping to draw from.

Thanks in advance for any and all pointers.

Jack

 

[RoyJackson]

I used the loader bucket and a 72" rear blade for about 9 years. Rear blades work fine...especially if you can reverse them so you pull the convex side (less gouging of the drive using the convex side).
The only disadvantage is no down pressure on the 3PH so the blade may ride up over hard packed snow. This applies both driving forward or pushing in reverse.
Pushing snow in reverse works good too, but you can damage the lower link arms if you hit an immovable obstruction (stump, for example).
A front blade would be much better, if you have the money, skills and time to fabricate one.

 

[PILOON]

Hi, I built my own and it works great,
Here is the link to my build
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/66045-snow-plow-my-mt180d.html
Might give you some helpful ideas.

 

[cttractor]

Jack,

I have the same tractor as you and plow my driveway using the FEL and a 6' rear blade -- the combination works well. Now, a front blade is faster if the snow is not too heavy, but fails once you're trying to push a lot of heavy wet snow or slush. A snow blower is the fastest of all, but again, only if the snow is not too heavy. When it is, or if it's slush, I've had lots of problems with clogging and find a blower doesn't handle the really heavy stuff very well. The bucket provides a hydraulic shovel to bucket load even slush away and obviously works for dryer snow.

My driveway is paved and over 200 feet long. I usually make several passes with the bucket about an inch or two above the ground and move the majority of the snow off the driveway and onto my lawn that is hopefully frozen. I then use my rear blade angled to scrape down to the asphalt, gather up and move the remaining snow away -- it works well. I intentionally don't have skid shoes on the blade so that it will be able to dig down and scrap the surface clean. If I want to continue plowing onto the grass, I do as Roy said and spin the blade around to use the back, convex side on the grass so it doesn't dig into it.

As explained above, the combination of FEL and rear blade is not the best, but it can handle whatever I receive regardless of moisture content.

 

[radioman]

If i were you, I'd find a old truck plow and cut it down to size and setup to connect to your FEL arms or bucket. manually angle it and you will have a cat meows time with it plowing snow. going forward is soooo much better then rear.

 

[2458n]

Just look to see what the pros use. Front mounted plows. If you are doing just your property and do not have to travel make a pusher box for the bucket of your front loader. The grader blade would be ideal at 7 foot -with a couple of plates on each end to catch the snow. These are used to clean parking lots quickly. Life can get pretty miserable when you run into something solid like a parking block. Springs are nice but not required if you look around before everything is under a foot of snow. You will learn that the spokes of a steering wheel are not a good place to hook your thumbs when plowing unknown areas.

 

[JackDWaller]

Thanks everyone, so far some good food for thought. I should have mentioned that I have an attached garage that creates an L shape and that this is a pain when snowblowing since the winds are usually from the northwest causing swirling in the cove.

My thought was that a back blade would be useful pulling snow out of that area. Coming off of that cove formed by the garage and front of the house is a pear shaped circular drive (it's gravel, well levelled and packed but still gravel) with a center area that frequently gets really piled high with snow from the snowblower. Here, at some point I can see myself using the FEL to remove snow. Towards spring everything gets pretty slushy and so again I guess I'd want the FEL.

I also like to clear a path about 400' to my main shed and that's over uneven grass, but it doesn't need to be perfectly cleared.

The problem I have is that I can only guess at how these activities would progress, never having been involved. That explains why I can't seem to get going building anything since I fear regretting what will take a lot of effort. I'm just getting over a couple of really major projects that have taken a number of years and at 62 it's becomming all to easy to just relax and enjoy my Edmonton Oilers hockey

I wouldn't mind a few more comments on a pusher that would sub for my bucket since it's easy to remove (JD 200CX). With my JD2320 I'm assuming that a blade should not be more than 72", less?? Should I even consider using the materials (steel) I mentioned in the first post?

Also I'm really close to commiting to a barrel type concrete ballast but wonder about a rear blade and FEL combination (no ballast). I don't want calcium in the tires. A friend bought cheap glycol antifreeze and filled his wheels with 50/50 - any reason why this isn't a good idea - harm tire rubber??

Jack

 

[bp fick]

I had a front blade, full hydraulic control, on my similar sized Kubota BX. It was simply the finest snow plowing setup I've ever used. Outstanding. The problem was the cost. With the Quick Attach front mount (required) and the blade, the device was almost $1850 bundled into my original purchase.

Financially, it almost as expensive as the FEL. Paying that kind of money for two front attachments was just too much. In preparing to upgrade to a larger tractor, I sold the front blade, separately, just before a major snow storm and got all my money back.

When I upgraded to a B2320 last year, I just used the FEL and $300 rear blade and I did fine. It is nowhere as efficient as a full hydraulic front blade, but the job gets done. I also don't care much for craning my neck around to look at the rear blade. A real pain.

 

[Oliver1655]

Most of the snow blades purchased for pickups are 7' wide. Remember you will have it angled around 20 degrees and will lose close to 6" of with while plowing. Your goal is to plow a wider space than what your tractor needs so you will not pack down the snow with your tires. Snow will push/roll/slide easier than dirt or gravel. I would not narrow your blade to start off. Prop the blade up in front of your tractor at a 20 - 25 degree angle and see how much it sticks out to each side of the tractor's tires. You will want at least 6" on each side.

 

[cttractor]

I should add that, though I use a rear blade, I'm always using it while going forward. As mentioned, craning one's neck to plow backwards is uncomfortable at best (and that's when you're young); it's even less appealing as we get older. When using the rear blade for clean-up, I just angle it in the direction I want the snow to go and drive away glancing back every now and then to assure things still look good.

As someone else mentioned, it's not good to hit anything immovable. In my case, I know my driveway well and it is paved, so there is nothing rigid to hit and the blade pulls down to the asphalt and cleans it nicely.

Having the same tractor as you, the 6 foot blade still exceeds the rear tire width at its greatest angle, and that's with the wheels in the "wide" position.

As 2458N mentioned, the pros use a front blade, and I've plowed my share with trucks that way. So, a front blade is easier, but it's more expensive and it's another thing to make space to store. Also, even with 4WD and the locking rear differential, there were several times last year where I did get stuck. Having the bucket on the front gave me an easy way to push or pull myself out. And switching between the FEL and rear blade is definitely convenient while plowing. So as with most things in life, this is a compromise, but one that has worked well for me.

I hope this helps.