well I stink

[putty]

Well, I have to say it - I stink at plowing snow! I have about 100 hours on my tractor and I still can't plow my driveway without ripping up the gravel. My question is for those who have skid shoes on thier rear blades, do they really work?, and how difficult are they to install? I have a L3000 Kubota (33hp) which I am plowing with a 5ft. blade , I would like a larger blade - How big can I go? Thanks

[DarinRay]

Well I know even with a front loader I can do some pretty heafty damage to the driveway and the lawn. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img] If I were you I would try and turn the blade around and more or less push it to one side instead of grabbing it and digging in. I find with my loader bucket is that I put the nose up a little bit higher so I skim the top but still remove the snow. Eventhough you can angle your blade different with your adjusting arms on your 3pt I think it would be easier with just turning the whole blade right around. Just a thought.

Darin

[JohnMiller3]

<font color=blue>...I have a L3000 Kubota (33hp)... I would like a larger blade - How big can I go?...</font color=blue>

I would go to a 7' blade... with skid shoes adjusted properly will "skim/skid" the surface of a smooth area such as blacktop... gravel is tough unless you have a thin snow layer on top to glide over...

It takes some practice and trial and error to get everything together... then one day it "clicks"... [img]/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif[/img]

(come springtime... you get to rake all that gravel back on to the driveway... this gives you perpetual seat time [img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img])

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi,

Someone mentioned that they turn their rear blade backwards and plow frontwards, the opposite of normal, and that it worked for them. I was going to try that and still may, if we get any snow worth plowing here in Pittsburgh, PA.

I have no real experience plowing snow either...just did it twice so far, and there was so little the second time I was really just fooling myself. BUT, one thing I think I noticed, was that the second time I adjusted the rear blade better...

Seems that it makes sense that the pivot of the blade be vertical...I did not have my top link extended out far enough the first time...the blade was angled forward and would not stay level if I pivoted it...anyway, for some reason things seemed to get better as far as digging into the gravel after I adjusted things so the blade pivot point was vertical and the blade tilted less forward. This does not make sense to me, but sure seems like it worked better the second time.

At the expense of making a short post long, I guess I did not have a clue on how to adjust the rear blade. I initially pivoted it and then adjusted the elevation so that the pivoted blade would sit on the ground level. I ignored the fact that if the pivot point was not vertical, and when I rotated the blade, it would go out of level....

After realizing that the pivot point needed to be vertical for the blade to remain level at any position, I put the blade parallel to the rear axle, then adjusted the top link until the pivot point was vertical. And then adjusted the side link [what do you call that?] until the blade was level with the ground.

After doing this, the blade was not tilted as much forward, but it seemed to plow better and to dig in less...I thought it would dig in more...beats me!

Sooooo....maybe this newbee experience might be of some help...I am sure some kind of skid shoes will help more though...good luck and don't give up! It just feels like it's rocket science some times [img]/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

Bill in Pgh, PA

[Spencer]

Putty, I felt the same way you do last year when I got my tractor. I made a post called "<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&amp;Board=implement&amp;Number=10 1941&amp;page=&amp;view=&amp;sb=&amp;o=&amp;vc=1>A dvice Needed Before I Destroy My Driveway </A>" that I think you will find helpful.

[Anonymous Poster]

When I set my rear blade, I level it to the ground and then lift it off the ground 1/2" to 1". Then I set the stop on my position control to that spot. Everytime I lift the blade I can return it to the exact same position. I also have had luck using the back side of the blade either pushing or pulling with it.

[jyoutz]

Forget the skid shoes. Just turn your blade around and plow snow by backblading. Works great, moves snow but not your gravel. I haven't used my skidshoes since I discovered this technique.

[RoyJackson]

Just turn your blade around and plow snow by backblading. Works great, moves snow but not your gravel.

I just plow in reverse (my old blade doesn't rotate 180°). Pushing (or pulling) with the convex side (of the blade) being the working side works great in snow. The blade will tend to ride up over well packed or heavy snow, however. You do want to angle the blade 30° or so.
As far as running your tractor in reverse....just depends on how much you've got to do. Doesn't bother me, but my drive is only about 40 or 50 yards with a good sized parking area.

[MikePA]

The snow that fell on Christmas Day, about 9 inches, fell on ground that was not frozen. So, the gravel area in the paddock area at our barn was not frozen, either [img]/w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif[/img]. Imagine my surprise when I used the FEL to plow snow for the first time on unfrozen ground. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif[/img]

The two methods that worked the best were;
(1) Back dragging the snow into a large pile then using the FEL to pick it up and dump it. This way if I messed up the gravel, I only had one place that needed fixing.

(2) Put the FEL on the ground, in float, with the front edge of the bucket slightly tilted back then slowly push the snow where I wanted it. When the ground was frozen, I could keep the bucket level and move faster. The need to go slow is so you can adjust the bucket when needed before you start grabbing dirt.

[Justaplain]

Try tipping the blade forward so it is dragging and not cutting. bcs