snow removal

   / snow removal #1  

gforce15

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Jan 6, 2012
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just tring to get some info on what the best tractor with cab and a loader would be for snow removal. im a landscape contractor in st louis and looking at buying a tractor around 100hp to push snow with with a 12ft box. can anyone help me get in the right direction of what size tractor i would need or any experiances you may have any help would be appreciated
 
   / snow removal #2  
just tring to get some info on what the best tractor with cab and a loader would be for snow removal. im a landscape contractor in st louis and looking at buying a tractor around 100hp to push snow with with a 12ft box. can anyone help me get in the right direction of what size tractor i would need or any experiences you may have any help would be appreciated




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Greetings,

I can honestly tell you that a 12 foot box and an agricultural tractor will not be a good mix simply due to snow weights being 21 pounds per cubic foot being compounded and compressed as it is pushed along to point X.

Thye weight of the snow pack wil increase with melt and refreeze times adding to the snow load and affecting traction to the point you would have to spill off and dump and continue pushing and repeating the push, dump, push, dump, push, dump etc. etc.



A one hundred horsepower agricultural row crop tractor will not have enough
tractive effort simply because it is typically 2 wheel drive or mechanical 4 wheel drive.


You would need a 4 wheel drive plow tractor with dual identical sized tires front and rear in order to accomplish what you want to do WITH ballasted tires front and rear to maintain traction and adhesion.


You need traction and adhesion and the 12 foot box requires a very high
horsepower per foot of width for the reasons I have previously mentioned.



The Kubota M8540 Narrow orchard utility tractor has been in the field for several years and has been well recieved. It comes with either a tracked undercarriage or rubber tires.

The cabin on the M8540 Narrow is set up with a very high rate of cabin air filtration for agricultural spraying and has a positive pressurised system pushing clean fresh air through the cabin for the operator reducing fatigue from exhaust fumes.


The M8540 is a very low profile utility tractor with a low operating height with the tracks and tires.

The M8540 can be equiped with a front end loader if desired.
The M8540 has travel speed of 13 miles per hour with tracks.
The M8540 has a very large glass area and can be equiped with high wattage work lights front and rear.



1. The issue is traction and adhesion with any snow removal implement and
carrier for the implement.

2. witha snow caster you eliminate any need for a pusher plow but I do not know what you are contracting to do but a rear mounted snow caster is a blessing as it disposes of the snow fall the first time.


You cannot have traction without adhesion EVER!!!!!

With the tracks you want ballast on the rear in a weight box if you have a snow plow or loader and you will have a huge amount of useable tractive effort from the treads. ( I am unsure if you can order the Bridgestone Blizzard snow tracks as standard equipment but they are the best ones on the market I think.

The M8540 is equiped with ag tires R1's in the front when tracks are specified for the M8540 Narrow low profile Utility Tractor.

With R4 rubber tire option on the M8540 you want/need liquid ballast in the tires and 2 link snow chains front and rear.

There are several good types of traction chains available for snow service and you wil have to examine your actual needs if you deal with ice plagued ground.

pewag - Home

Tire Chains by TireChains.com

chainsrus.com


I am not trying to reach into your wallet but for the money you would be better off purchasing a small Volvo L70 or L90 loader and loading all 4 tires with liquid ballast and an 8 foot pusher for what you want to do-it will be faster and more nimble with excellent glass area in the cab- The air filtration sucks literally and the cab is not pressurised.
 
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   / snow removal #3  
What I see parked in shopping malls for snow pushing around the Montreal area often is old 6 wheel trucks with 10-12 ft blades equipped with 3 foot side 'ears' that are well braced back to center of the blade.
These old trucks are not even plated as they dedicate one per mall as leave it there.
No dump boxes but instead they pour/cast concrete blocks directly onto the frame for traction weight. On some truck frames I guess there could easily be 2-3 yards of concrete weight. (like 6 ft wide X 6-8 ft long and perhaps 12-16" thick).
Looked to me that they were even only rear drive.
In fact I suspect most of those dedicated snow pushers could not pass road inspection nor do they need to.
Our bigger contractors will dedicate one truck per mall plus perhaps a loader that roams from mall to mall to build up the piles off to a remote corner of the mall.
Once or twice a winter, between snow events, they cart away the accumulated piles when they become excessively large.
Snow is big business around here. High school parking is a $45,000. contract!
Roads go for $3000.+ per km. and in our small city a buddy gets $250,000 for his share of snow contracts.
 
   / snow removal #4  
I agree with Piloon. Go with dedicated snow equipment. Front end loaders can't be beat along with a road patrol or two for cutting hard pack. For your 12' box a nice old Cat 988 will move a lot of snow. You can keep an old loader together between snows.
 
   / snow removal #5  
A 6000 series john deere well balasted should be fine. You will have to plow with the storm . seen it done all the time. loenz sounds like an engineer.
 
   / snow removal #6  
You can get a high HP for frame size 5000 series or a low HP 6000 in the 100 HP range. Pulling a 12' box blade I'd say you want a 6000 no question.:thumbsup:
 
 
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