Float Position for Snowblowing

[Langanobob]

Hello,

I just finished installing a snow blower in my MF GC1720. I have a question concerning the hydraulics. Do you guys with tractors that have a loader �loat feature, do you use that for snowblowing?

I have a mile or so to clear, some of it gravel but most of it is a plain old dirt road. I made larger shoes to make sure the blower doesn稚 dig into the road or scoop up gravel.

If I try to keep the blower a few inches above the road using the fixed loader position I wonder if it will force the blower into the ground when the tractor goes over the inevitable whoop-de-doos in the road.

Snowing pretty good right now so I値l be getting some first hand experience running this thing by late afternoon. Looking forward to trying it out.

 

[cdaigle430]

The GC Series does have a float position on the loader remote. For my GC2410 all I have to do is snap it all the way up (the remote lever). I think what float option does is it lets the cylinder fluid go in and out based on the pressure from the attachment.

 

[Fallon]

If you have a plow or bucket on the loader & push into anything, your machine tries to run over the loader. Front comes off the ground & keeps going until you chicken out or the loader bottoms out. Not unique to plowing at all & affects the bucket in most circumstances driving forward in float too. I use float a lot to set the height of the loader/plow/bucket, but pop it out of float when actually moving material.

A bulldozer is made for pushing & has the pivot points low with cylinders up front for maximum blade stability in-line with the force applied. Tractor lpader have the pivot pretty high for lift height, at an angle offset from push force. Also the lift cylinders are pretty far back giving things more leverage on unsupported loader arms. So basically not a well engineered tool for pushing. Unsurprisingly it's called a loader not a pusher. But it works well enough most of the time many if us find it easier to make do with a SSQA plow that pull the loader & put on a frame mounted blade.

 

[finn1]

The float position on my CK4010 works for snowblowing....under some conditions.

If the ground is frozen and there is a thick, compacted snow mat, and the ground is relatively level, blowing in float mode works ok.

Early season blowing on unfrozen ground...no.

My Kioti factory blower, under most early season or undulating ground situations seems to work best by manually controlling the lift.

A truck with a plow does a better, faster job, but is overwhelmed when you run out of room to put the snow.

 

[rdg04578]

Float works fine for me--but early in the year I wouldn't use it too much. I am sure if you have a paved driveway it would work all the time but with gravel early in the season before things freeze hard not so much. With gravel in early season have plenty of shear pins handy

 

[Langanobob]

Thanks for your comments. I now have 2 hours of snowblowing time under my belt so I can expertly answer questions instead of asking them. Ha. Turns out that the snow was heavy “Sierra Cement” and float mode worked very well.

 

[dnw64]

On my GC2300 I use float almost exclusively on my paved drive. There are two small sections I clear on my lawn (to get to bird feeders) and there I try to lift the blower about an inch to prevent tearing up the grass (I don't have skid shoes on at all).

On my old Case 444 I used float most of the time, but would use down pressure a fair amount also, to get the packed snow up. Down pressure seems to have virtually no effect on the GC - the slightest bit and you lose steering. I think the blower is heavy enough that it doesn't need it.

 

[JerryK]

The trick about blowing snow, is to drive over the first snows to build up a frozen base over the drive that the blower can then slide on. If you put a 2" I.D. Schedule 80 steel pipe on the cutting edge, it really helps [ even for a snow blade ]. The pipe is usually split by a plasma cutter at your local machine shop to fit over the cutting edge area width, which is usually about 1/2 to 3/4" wide. Once the lawn gets frozen, this same pipe edge will allow you to push snow on top of grassy surfaces mostly without lawn damage...... If you run into unfrozen ground, the pipe won't keep you from blowing dirt or gravel....