Modification to reduce gravel ingestion on SnowBlower

[ray66v]

I don't agree with this. What takes me 4 hours to clean up with the fel I can do in about an hour with the snow blower. And the snow is gone. Like I don't have to push it any where.

I usually like to pack down about 3-4" before I use the blower. If it get's icy in spring I just run my diamond tooth harrows in reverse and it chews up the ice enough that there is good traction.

I can definitely plow my driveway a faster than I can blow it. But, it certainly depends on what equipment you have, and how much snow you get.

If I had a paved driveway and was inclined to use a blower, I would definitely want an enclosed cab. And, that's not practical for me with the amount of snow we have been getting this decade. I wouldn't be able to justify the cost.

The disc harrow sounds like a neat trick. I spread some sand in critical areas, if it gets icy.

 

[Everhard]

To me a hydraulic top link is the answer. You can in seconds adjust the pitch of the blower so the cutting edge rides up and won't dig into the gravel. Then as winter progresses you can adjust it back down.
This is also great if you don't have a perfectly flat driveway, places where there's a drop off or rise up you can adjust on the fly so you don't dig in or pass over. Also handy if you blow trails which aren't generally perfectly flat. Well my trails aren't!
And lastly hydraulic top links are great for most other implements as well. (most...)

E.

 

[nyone]

As for packing it down, I tried that one year and it worked great except come spring and it turned to ice which made stopping before going over my retaining wall ...interesting to say the least. Couldn't get up it with my 2WD Ranger and making a run at it wasn't too good neither as I'm on a blind corner to the left and a not good line of site to the right.

Every driveway is different how ever if you have a steel hill and a gravel driveway I think you should be useing a plow. Or put sand out in the spring.

Some springs my flat driveway turns really sloppy. If I'm expecting this I go out and scrap the slush off on sunny days yet leave it on the driveway. Even breaking up a shovel width channel so things can drain through the oce/snow help the sun get to the gravel and melt things quicker.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I can definitely plow my driveway a faster than I can blow it. But, it certainly depends on what equipment you have, and how much snow you get.

If I had a paved driveway and was inclined to use a blower, I would definitely want an enclosed cab. And, that's not practical for me with the amount of snow we have been getting this decade. I wouldn't be able to justify the cost.

The disc harrow sounds like a neat trick. I spread some sand in critical areas, if it gets icy.

I Agree that a plow is faster than a snow blower. I used to have a plow but it went with the tractor when I sold it. No regrets on that.

But now I have an fel and a snow blower and the blower is definitely faster than the fel.

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This is what I use on ice and it works great. Just go in reverse and the teeth shave the ice and you end up with ice that isn't slippery.

 

[KennK]

+1 for accumulating a layer of packed snow before attempting to snowblow.

I'm in northern Wisconsin, and so far this year we've had about 5 inches of snow, but we've had a combination of melt loss and too cold to pack down the snow, so we're waiting for the right snow depth and temperature to try packing it down. At that point we'll drive a truck or SUV up & down over and over until we get the full width and length packed.

Also, I have the skid heights set a bit high to avoid scrapping into the hard pack. I so worry about increasing accumulation of pack depth, but so far so good.

I have R2 tires, and have studded chains on the back wheels.

When the big melt comes in the spring the pack melts away. The back part of my driveway is fine gravel, and until the ground thaws enough, the top layer can be mushy - too soft to drive on.

From the street to the garage we have to larger gravel so that we can drive on it through the spring melt. Unfortunately the last load of gravel spread was not all limestone and didn't have enough fines to pack nicely. Ugh. Next time I'll specify limestone with fines.

 

[bdhsfz6]

The only good way to keep from moving gravel, is like jfsawatzky said, pack down some snow.

I plow 325' of gravel driveway, and move less than a 5 gallon bucket of gravel all season.

A snow blower is definitely the wrong tool for clearing snow on gravel.

This works well on fairly level surfaces. My 1.25 mile private road is too steep. I have to expose the gravel to get traction or spread a lot of anti skid. The dark color also helps the sun melt off snow & ice.

Not an issue for me since all my vehicles are 4WD but it's a problem for visitors & delivery vehicles.

 

[hube2]

This works well on fairly level surfaces. My 1.25 mile private road is too steep. I have to expose the gravel to get traction ....

This is why I can't pack down snow. A little is fine, but too deep and it eventually turns into a sheet of ice that makes it impossible to drive up the hill.

I have to hope for temperatures that freeze the ground and keep it frozen. Once the ground freezes I have no problem.

Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to be blowing a lot of stone this year as the temps are foretasted to hover right around freezing all winter and even my extra wide, extra long skids are digging in. 20f today but it will be 50f on sunday, and more wet snow next week. It's going to be a fun winter this year.

 

[ray66v]

This is why I can't pack down snow. A little is fine, but too deep and it eventually turns into a sheet of ice that makes it impossible to drive up the hill.

This is why I live where it's flat.

 

[ruffdog]

This is why I live where it's flat.

....and a good supply of sand for the areas that are not flat.

 

[hube2]

This is why I live where it's flat.

When my FIL was going to give me the land to build on he gave me a choice of 2 lots. One that was uphill from the road and one that was down. Having experienced a driveway that went up to the road and being unable to leave do to ice I chose the one that goes down to the road. I can always get out, even through quite a bit of snow, which can be more important than getting back in.