Challenging Driveway, going to buy a tractor

[vjcoppola]

My driveway is only about 200 yards long. We have a lot of snow and a lot of wind here. Two to four foot snowfalls are not uncommon. I've tried 4wd trucks, tractor with front v plow, back blade, front blade during the first 3 years I lived here. Any kind of plow resulted in very deep banks. One year they got too deep for plowing and I had to use the FEL for the rest of the year and the banks reached nearly 12' high before thawing.

Then bought a 72" rear blower, blowing backwards and ran it on a 2wd Ford 2000 w/chains. No more banks but blowing snow on cold windy days just isn't fun anymore. Three years ago I purchased a 50HP, 4wd Mahindra with heated cab. I'm still running the old blower, blowing backwards but it really is fun again. Even though I have to look back most of the time the soft seat and warm cab makes it a pleasure. Only wish I had a rear windshield wiper. A front mounted blower would be nicer but my tractor isn't set up for it.

They may work in some places but I don't see how a rear mount, forward driving blower would work in deep snow. I have to park so I'm backing out of the barn and blowing because I couldn't drive through the drifts without blowing first. So, my opinion is front mounted going forward or rear mounted driving backwards if you have much snow.

 

[crazyal]

A couple things not mentioned. With a front mount blower you can actually put down force on the blower (at least you can with my Kubota). That makes a difference when trying to get any crusty snow up. With that steep of a drive you will need tire chains. A little sliding with an ATV is fun, a little sliding with 4000 lbs of tractor, not so much. Plus sooner or later you're driveway will get ice on it and without chains you are not going to get back up it.

If money is an issue then you can go with a loader with a quick attach system. You can get a blade that will allow you to push the banks back. That's sort of what I did before I got a tractor. My plow truck worked fine but the banks would get too big by middle of the season. I would use my dozer to push the snow back into the woods. With the tractor and front mount blower I don't get banks.

 

[lubepimp]

I'm 99% decided on getting the rear-mount, 75" Meteor, along with a front blade. I may add a cab if some sorts down the road, but for now I still actually like being out in the cold and snow.

For every winter that I've been at this house, except for this past one, ice has never been an issue. Our driveway is actually angled nicely so it gets sun all day, so long as I get out before anybody drives on it (or shortly thereafter) everything gets cleared enough to let the sun or retained heat in the asphalt keep the ice off. This last winter was the first where I salted....and man, I used a lot of it! And Chains + asphalt don;t go together, but I do think I will groove my R4's before the winter, from the comments on this forum it sounds like it is a great solution.