Best way to plow snow?

   / Best way to plow snow? #1  

Pilot

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2004
Messages
1,208
Location
Oregon
Tractor
JD 770, Yanmar 180D, JD 420 (not running), had a Kubota B6200
I have a 1,200 ft. driveway and we had 18" of snow. Usually we get maybe 4 or 5 inches of snow at a time in a bad winter and that only once or twice a year, at worst. About half the time I don't need to plow snow at all. But this year, 18" on the ground and more on the way.

I have a JD770 with a bucket and a blade. The blade is 6 ft. long, angled at the top and bottom. If I try to plow snow with the blade angles forward so if I am plowing to the left if would look like this: ) it tries to dig in and turn up my gravel driveway. If I rotate it so the angles face backward ( the blade tends to ride on top of the snow and only about half goes off to the side. With it riding on top of the snow, it compacts what it doesn't push off to the side.

I have plowed my driveway several times now to keep ahead of the snow, but compacted snow is building up. The system works fairly well in most years.

What's the best way to plow? Do I need a different implement? I hate to spend $$ for an implement I'll only really need about every 10-15 years.
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #2  
Is this a rear blade? Is the ground frozen?
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #3  
SHorten your top link. This will reduce the bite. Increase your speed so the snow rolls of the blade. THe blade will also float a little better with some speed.
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #4  
This was posted by "AKFISH" haven't tried this but sounds like it would work very well for heavy snow fall:

"Moving snow is a matter of "adjustment" for me, generally. Deep snow or heavy wet snow - I won't even use the FEL on the first run down the road. Drop it down just off the top of the snow and lower the rear blade into the snow, but maybe hold it up 4-5 inches off the road surface.

That way, the blade doesn't load up with snow pukin' over the top and stackin' up into a big ball all the way into the 3pt arms on the tractor.

Might have to take 3-4 swipes to clear all the snow down to the road surface. Usually, by the 2nd pass I can use the front bucket without having the front end want to crawl off into the ditch.."


 
   / Best way to plow snow?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Yes, a rear blade. Ground has been frozen some days, probably not frozen any longer.

I'll try extending the top link some more.
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #6  
Same problem here, lots of snow and new to me. I've had good success with the set-up you have. I first used the rear blade with convex side toward tractor to knock down the snow and then used it concave side forward with it just barely above my gravel drive. I did find going at a reasonable rate of speed helped (though steering can be an issue). I also use the blade to push the snow going backwards on the tractor. In some spots I just drop the blade to the ground and dig up the drive while removing the snow- the drive will need some work come spring, but hopefully this won't happen every year. Some folks bolt a plastic sheet to the cutting edge of the blade or cover the edge with a piece of pipe to keep the blade from digging in (if you search there are pics of these set ups on plows, blades and FEL).
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #7  
Anyone know if my box blade will work better than FEL. We got about 2' of snow this year, last time we had anything to worry about was '96 so I'm not going to buy any new toys for this....
Tractor and snow is up on Denman, We will be going up once roads are open. I will have about 600' of trail to get the tractor through to get to where I want to start clearing snow... I'm hoping for a good rain or melt so I don't have to do anything.
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #8  
I have a tractor with a loader and a back blade. Each is 5' wide. I found it much easier to plow my gravel drive using only the loader bucket. For me, its much faster and easier than using the back blade. I also recently sold my 3pt snow blower for the same speed reason as well as not having to replace shear bolts anymore caused by a piece of loose gravel. Besides, the back blade does not do too well when the snowfall we get is higher than the blade. I did make an 800 lb. rear weight for my 3pt. for added traction. That helps a lot going straight but does not help trying to turn with the bucket in float mode. In order to turn with a bucket load of snow I have to lift the bucket a hair to put weight on the front end.
Its been cold here for several weeks but my ground isn't solidly frozen yet either. If the ground isn't frozen, your going to tear up some gravel. I usually leave an inch of snow on the gravel to drive on.
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #9  
I used a six foot rear blade along with my loader to good effect for two winters.

Last winter we got way too much snow (six feet or so by January) so I broke down and bought a rear PTO snow blower.

I love my blower but I miss the nice clean job the rear blade did.
 
   / Best way to plow snow? #10  
Well I had fun over the weekend trying to clear the remnants of 2' of snow on my driveway approaches. The main problem areas was the first 20' from the edge of the road. Since these are grade entries not level ones I had a hard time finding the gravel. Made a nice mess but got it so I could get in and out. I'm glad we don't get this much snow more than once every 12 years or so. I would have to spend a lot more seat time gettting good at this!
 
 
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