snowblowers with gravel driveways - your setup?

[sierradmax]

I've seen a couple tricks for grader blade snow removal with welded pipe or skid shoes, but is there a trick with 3ph snowblowers? Does the pitch (top link), factory skids or should I fabricate some pneumatic wheels?

 

[leonz]

All depends on your specific situation,
some of the folks do not use their
snow casters until the snow base is fozen.

Some of the members install pnuematic or
steel wheels on the back wall of their snow caster.

Some of the members simply tighten the top link
to raise the cutting edge and leave some loose
snow and slush to avoid stones and loose debris
and wait until the snow pack is frozen to level it.


Adding wheeles to the snow caster behind the cross
auger will keep the snow caster from digging in the
soft ground. If you have skids and they are not
adjusted to avoid having the crap enter the impeller your
doomed to begin with. I have cruddy old bad asphault drive way
and I leave my skids fully lowered on my front mount because it is broken
up/uneven and I also clear paths to the wood piles and coal storage.

There are lots of threads,posts and pictures for you to look at to get ideas.

 

[Tig]

I use the top link to tip the blower back, set the shoes down and even then I do not drop the blower to the ground. I hover, leaving 4 to six inches to build a base. Once I have a frozen base, I drop the blower down and skim the hard pack. I used to rely more on the shoes, but they do kick up stones and even sink in mud on a bad winter. It's just much simpler to hover.
Much of my lane sees snowmobile traffic, so it gets packed nicely if the weather stays cold.

 

[JerryK]

I drive on it until I get an inch or two of hard pack.... I also have a John Deere 420 [ 20hp hst ] with a 54" front blade with plywood wings and a pipe on the cutting edge that I use as a snow pusher. I use that for little snowfalls and untill I get the base. Then in the spring.. I use the 420 and my FEL on my Mahindra to clean up the hard pack when it turns to slush.. I also have 4" angle skids on the end of my big blower and two 10" by 12" 1/2" plate skids welded underneath. Mostly just play it by ear... every winter is different...

 

[flyingcow]

Roll the top link back. As winter rolls on, lower back down. For me, the trick is to build a base, but not too thick. In warm spells, don't like the slush. But i live in an area of the country that we usually get good solid frozen ground before the snow hits too hard.

Also, i have a 90 inch Lucknow.

 

[MIKE R]

Roll the top link back. As winter rolls on, lower back down. For me, the trick is to build a base, but not too thick. In warm spells, don't like the slush. But i live in an area of the country that we usually get good solid frozen ground before the snow hits too hard.

Also, i have a 90 inch Lucknow.

I use the same stratagy. A snowblower isn't made to move gravel. Only snow. If the base does get slushy I put the grader blade in and remove the layer of slush from the still hard base.