I'll cast a vote with 44trxfun and Mountain_Man, if you can swing it, get a rear blade for winter clearing aid. However, I don't bother using it on the main drive. I only use the RB out at the end of the drive where the Town plows dirt, gravel, and rocks in a 2-3' bank of snow, blocking my drive. I figure 3-5" stones and all that gravel and dirt would not be nice to the blower.
I would not worry about shear pins. Go for the 47" 2-stage blower. Mine hasn't met a snowfall it couldn't handle. If the snow is too deep, or wet, you just have to go slower. Ofcourse, if it got really bad I'd drop the blower and put the FEL on.
When the gravel drive has not yet frozen, keep the skids set for max hieght (you can actually get away with just a slight lift of the blower if necessary, the universal on the shaft will take it). Although we did not get the snow dumps we usually do, I had no problems with 600'X24' of 3/4" crushed slate drive last winter. This Spring was the first I've not had to rake all the driveway back off my lawn from having snowplows tear it up. Also, just to see what it would do, I used the blower to cleared 3 months of snow (packed down to about 3.5') down my wood road. As long as I let the blower eat what was in front of it, slowly, it never even began to bog down. Sure was pretty to see that snow fly 50' into the woods /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Depending on your tire choice, I would seriously consider rear chains for winter use. I needed them several times last winter when the drive turned to a skating rink!
Hope the 2305 works out well for you!
P.S. (Added a pic, just to get every one in the mood. Summer can't really be nearly over, can it?)
Tom