Snow Snow removal options

[Carl Bert]

I have a Kubota B26 and was wondering what my best option for snow removal would be. I have a 100' blacktop driveway. Not big but I still need to clear the snow. My options, that I know of are: 1) Rear mounted snow blower. 2) Front mounted snow plow. 3) Rear mounted grading blade. 4) Or just use my FEL. I also have a John Deere GX345 which will take a front mounted single stage snow blower.

I guess the cheapest way would be the FEL, but not sure if that would damage the driveway. Any input?

 

[DiezNutz]

I have a Kubota B26 and was wondering what my best option for snow removal would be. I have a 100' blacktop driveway. Not big but I still need to clear the snow. My options, that I know of are: 1) Rear mounted snow blower. 2) Front mounted snow plow. 3) Rear mounted grading blade. 4) Or just use my FEL. I also have a John Deere GX345 which will take a front mounted single stage snow blower.

I guess the cheapest way would be the FEL, but not sure if that would damage the driveway. Any input?

Carl,
I have a 1000' blacktop driveway (about 600' shared with a neighbor), and I use a FEL & rear blade. Rear blower would be nice, maybe Santa will bring me one someday.

With "only" 100', hard to justify the expense of a blower or front angle blade, but of course that's up to you. You could probably get away with FEL only. This past winter when we got 52" in back-to-back storms, the rear blade was pretty much useless (nowhere for the snow to go), and it became a FEL-only situation (scoop & dump).

One tip though, if you're concerned about not scraping/gouging up your blacktop, you might want to look into a UHMW bolt-on cutting edge for the FEL bucket, blade edge, etc.

 

[keyman1808]

Carl, I have a 150 blacktop driveway and used my FEL for 2 years before getting a front mount snow blower. Never damaged my driveway but it is time consuming with the FEL. The snow blower is by far one of the best attchments I bought. With a 15 inch snow storm I went from and hour down to 15 minutes to clear. But your FEL would work just fine.

 

[Carl Bert]

One tip though, if you're concerned about not scraping/gouging up your blacktop, you might want to look into a HDPE bolt-on cutting edge for the FEL bucket, blade edge, etc.

Yeah I have a bolt on cutting edge on it now. I was reading in another thread where a guy replaced the cutting edge with a piece of heavy duty rubber. Sounds good, but where do you get something like that? He used a piece of rubber horse mat. No horses around here, so I guessa rubber horse mat would be a tough find. lol. What do you think?

 

[fredhargis]

My last house had a 260' paved driveway I cleared for years with a small lawn mower (14 HP) and a snow blade. Even with that I would see pieces of black in the snow(small pieces of the pavement surface) I pushed around. I did replace the cutting bar with a piece of hi tech plastic (UHMWP, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene if I recall correctly. This stuff is expensive but I got a piece from work) that did solve the problem, although it wears quite quickly in this service. I eventually replaced that with a walk behind thrower, and put skids on it made from the same material, worked very well.

 

[legbuh]

I've been using my ATV and a blade for my 100'+ driveway for years. Only last year did I run into issues simply because of so much snow. It was just too high even though I try to keep my rows a little wider than the driveway when possible. But sometimes that isn't an option. A couple drives I did were down to one car lanes.. and even that was tight.

I didn't have my BX then so FEL was out of the question. So, the last couple storms I whipped out the old walk behind blower and it actually took about the same time as the blade does (when it's not too high).

So, if I was to get anything, it would be a blower for my BX. And then I may start doing neighbor's driveways more too (last year got too much for just "donations", which most don't even consider).

I thought they would be a front mount blower for the BX.. sounds like it may be rear mounted. That would work good I guess since then you could still use the FEL for smaller things and piling up snow.

 

[BXpanded]

Consider this:

BXpanded Snowplow

 

[DiezNutz]

Yeah I have a bolt on cutting edge on it now. I was reading in another thread where a guy replaced the cutting edge with a piece of heavy duty rubber. Sounds good, but where do you get something like that? He used a piece of rubber horse mat. No horses around here, so I guessa rubber horse mat would be a tough find. lol. What do you think?

Rubber might be inexpensive, but I think you'll be replacing it every so often.

Fred is correct, the stuff I was really thinking of was UHMW, which is an even denser and longer-wearing polyethylene than HDPE (thanks Fred. ).

For a ready-made edge, this product comes to mind:
Specialty Items - Poly Blades | May Wes Manufacturing Hutchinson MN
It is expensive, for my 60" bucket I was quoted about $350 thru my dealer. The extra wrinkle for you might be getting it to line up perfectly with your existing cutting edge bolt holes.

I decided I was going to buy an appropriately-sized strip of UHMW for about $75 and machine it myself, just due to one project or another I haven't gotten to it yet. I also hoped to come up with a way to attach it similar to my toothbar, that didn't require drilling holes in the bucket lip. In the meantime, I've just tried to be careful and gentle... the skid shoes on my rear blade keep it from digging in.

 

[Carl Bert]

I did replace the cutting bar with a piece of hi tech plastic (UHMWP, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene if I recall correctly. This stuff is expensive but I got a piece from work) that did solve the problem, although it wears quite quickly in this service.

When you say it wore out quickly, approx. how long does it last? Did it have to be changed each season? According to DiezNutz it costs about $75 for a 50" length. So lets say $90 for the 60" that I need. If it would last 2 or 3 winters it would be worth it. One year, not so sure.

 

[PHILIP8N]

Are you sure you can't get a two stage snow blower for your JD GX345? I would strongly consider this if the comparison cost makes sense. Snowblowers are very effective unless you have light snows. I have a JD LX188 with single stage snow blower and it does a fine job, especially in smaller areas and heavier snows. For 10 years I moved snow with a Ford 8N, tires chains, and a back blade. Thank goodness those days are over. The back blade is not the most effective tool for moving heavy snow. I maintain about 450' of blacktop driveway. This L3940 and front blade is a very quick and effective. Philip.