How do I keep gravel out of my yard when plowing snow??

[adirondackmtnman]

Nope--just get a powerful leaf blower and you can blow back almost all the small gravel come early Spring. Mow the grass edges real short before snow flies and it's easier. Oh, nothing works to keep gravel where it belongs except a snowblower.

I doubt a leaf blower will help me much, I don't blade mine, its all done with the loader, so it's in piles, and its packy, 1-1/2" minus material

Sent from my LGL35G using TractorByNet

 

[NS Gearhead]

I do a couple things to keep from graveling my lawn; first if I can at all help it I leave the first couple of snowfalls. 4" or less can be left with no risk of the cars getting stuck. I just shovel where we park and walk. That helps make a base. Then when I do plow, I lower the shoes all the way down. I take them off once I'm sure I won't brake through the base. Lastly, I don't pile snow on the grass where I can help it... and when I do I keep the pile close to the driveway to save raking in the spring.

Hope this helps!

 

[bubbacuse77]

I pushed so much gravel onto my lawn last winter I had to buy a power broom, LOL. Try one or rent one, they work great!

This year I am going to try to minimize the damage by doing a better job marking where the edges of the driveway are and stay between the lines. Also, I will have a 2 inch steel pipe on the bottom of my front blade's cutting edge, I added that last last winter when the storms got really sloppy. On my new rear blade I'm going to try a rubber edge cut from a Tractor Supply horse stall mat.

I've tried the rubber edge from horse mat trick. Didn't work for me. The rubber is to soft and folds over. I also bought a power broom and have had limited success because we have limestone gravel an it basically cements together. This year I have had it and am planning on hitting the bullet on paving

 

[94BULLITT]

I think Skid shoes would help a lot.

After the snow starts melting I pull it back into the driveway to try to get the gravel back in the driveway.

 

[Fred Barbour]

If I buy skid shoes for my blade will that fix my problem? Winter is just around the corner and I know I will be plowing my driveway unfortunately it is gravel and come spring I will spend hours trying to pick all the gravel out of my yard, I try not and drop the blade all the way down but my drive is not perfectly smooth so I have problems. Any ideas?

I gave up using my angle snow blade years ago and now only use my box blade. I now haul the snow completely out of the yard and pile it in the ditch on the side of the road.

I also have a gravel driveway and to eliminate dragging out gravel with the front cutter I lengthen the top link so the front cutter is off the ground, the rear cutter therefore packs the snow. I do this for the first few plows or until the ground is frozen solid. Now that you have packed a sufficient amount of snow and the ground is completely frozen I gradually shorten the top link and shave the snow down just shy of the gravel.

This way takes a bit longer than using the snow blade but I now never have gravel on my grass. My driveway is about 250 feet long.

Fred

 

[chim]

On the tractor we use at work we use a piece of truck tire. It was cut from the tread to make a long straight piece a tad longer than the width of the scraper blade and about 6" wide. To hold it in place it is sandwiched between the replaceable edge and the moldboard. It has holes where the (longer than original) bolts pass through. It is very rugged, and not only helps in stoned areas but also doesn't get snagged on the rough blacktop patches as it did without the rubber.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Pave or chipseal the driveway!

 

[rmorey]

We just gravelled everything! Now I cant tell when I get gravel on the lawn! :thumbsup:

 

[TerryR]

We never put in any lawn. Not only does it solve the gravel in the lawn issue, but also the mowing issue.

I can get most of it back from the ditch bank with the angle blade in the spring.

Terry

 

[Ford850]

I do a couple things to keep from graveling my lawn; first if I can at all help it I leave the first couple of snowfalls. 4" or less can be left with no risk of the cars getting stuck. I just shovel where we park and walk. That helps make a base. Then when I do plow, I lower the shoes all the way down. I take them off once I'm sure I won't brake through the base. Lastly, I don't pile snow on the grass where I can help it... and when I do I keep the pile close to the driveway to save raking in the spring.

Hope this helps!

I follow these steps almost exactly. When I do plow, I leave an inch or 2 of snow on the drive and allow that to pack down. That either melts, or it freezes and seals in the gravel for the next time. I also follow 94BULLITT's suggestion of pulling the snow (with gravel) back from the grass and onto the drive to melt. When the snow piles in the grass start to melt, you can see those with a lot of gravel and focus on moving that snow/gravel mix back to the drive to melt.
The other thing I've done is improve the shoes on the blade. I had large 10" disks made from plate steel that float on the mushy gravel when needed. The original shoes sink deep into the gravel when it's soft during the freeze/thaw cycles. The guy that made my shoes used a hydraulic press and a short piece of 8 or 10" pipe for a die. He pressed the center of the plate down into the pipe an inch or 2. They aren't pretty but they do a great job.