Snow Will Snow blower on gravel road?

[nhman]

I have a quarter mile gravel road. Have cleared it with rear blade and front loader. Wondering if a rear snow blower will work. I heard that they do not do well on gravel roads because they pick up the gravel and ruing the blower? And experience?

thanks

john

 

[MikeInEburg]

They work fine when used with shoes that keep the machine an inch or two above the actual roadway surface.
Mike

 

[WayneB]

I have around 1,000 feet that I do and from time to time I will pick up a large rock and have to repalce a pin, but it is rare.

 

[Piperflyer]

Wayne's right.... keep some sheer pins handy just in case you need them

 

[rbargeron]

I've had tractor-mounted snowblowers for more than 20 years. I clear 8 places, 5 with gravel roads/drives. At the beginning of each season there are always a few loose rocks that find their way to the surface. The vast majority just go through the blower with the snow. Now and then something causes a shear bolt to break - maybe happens once or twice in a season - sometimes not at all. Up here the ground freezes which helps a lot. If your Virginia road stays loose, skid shoes will help as will a pipe on the plow edge.

It is true that heavy duty blowers are made stronger and handle rocks better, but they are hard to justify for locations that don't get big annual snowfall. On lighter units, changing out shear bolts is simple and quick.

 

[20 20]

It'll work like the others have said, use the skids and adjust them high. One other note, make sure you aim the shute in a SAFE direction. I have seen many windows slammed with flying rocks.

 

[PILOON]

I also blow 3 long gravel drives.
My solution is to make my skid shoes wider by welding a sole on.
Found that for my 60" Bervac 1.5" X 10" was just right and rarely heave stones.
Frozen fallen branches become my worst enemy but shear bolts take care of that.

 

[Tig]

I chose my blower because it had the biggest skid shoes I could find. Even then, I find it works better (less rock) if I hold the blower off the ground early in the season. Once I build up a layer of hard packed snow I drop the blower down on the shoes.
During a thaw I might also hold the blower off the ground if required to keep from breaking up my base.

 

[StrangeRanger]

Skid shoes are your best friends.

I do our 2,200' gravel driveway and didn't have the shoes the first year b/c I couldn't find them in stock anywhere. That was a nightmare and I got to the point where I could change shear bolts in my sleep.

But once I got my hands on some skids breaking bolts was a rare occurrence. Usually caused by my "stoopidity" of hitting something. To this day I wonder why the **** they'd leave your new phone book in a plastic bag out in a snow storm. That was like my own little confetti parade.

Once you get a layer of snow down you can reduce the height of the shoes or remove them.

The only draw back w/ that layer of snow is when you have a thaw and then it freezes again. You end up w/ a very nice 2" skating layer. Chains are optional
j

 

[Hannibalbill]

My blower had two holes on the reinforcing triangles that are on either side of the shoes. I have a gravel driveway with lots of loose stones, so as extra insurance, I bolted a 2X4 (about 26 inches) between the two shoes and nearly the same height as the shoes. It works great because it tends to ride over the loose stones. Bought tractor and blower used, so I don't know if the bolt holes just happened to be there.