Modification to reduce gravel ingestion on SnowBlower

[alexinPA]

It's much easier and cheaper to cut 4 inch steel pipe and put it on loader edge. I've been using it for 10+ years

 

[alexinPA]

These are adjustable so the edge can be set to any height. By the time winter is going full bore, the wheels are adjusted so they are just dangling, and the skids keep the edge very close to the ground.

I went easy way and mounted wheels in blower skids holes. Not adjustable but working fine

 

[ray66v]

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.

 

[seville009]

I’ve never used a pull type 3pt blower, but if you lengthen the top link, that should raise up the front of the blower a bit. That should help somewhat with it digging in.

 

[ruffdog]

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.

I too pack snow on my gravel drive (hopefully) before major storms hit. I want about 6-12" worth packed down to 1-2" for a good base before I drag a blade or blower on it. I absolutely hate picking gravel out of my grass so I try not to carefully prevent it.

 

[mrmikey]

Thinking about making some wider, longer shoes that won't be so prone to digging into the ground, to raise the cutting edge out of the gravel. Has anyone found this to be effective?

I did that with mine and made a world of difference. The originals were maybe 1" wide and 5" long at the best. The ones I made are 2" wide and 6-7"" long, they helped steering it too as they didn't dig in. I keep the edge 3/4" up.
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.

 

[sd455dan]

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.

I think it depends on how long of Good freeze the area you live in provides.
I switched to an inverted blower and like posted above until you get a built up surface of snow that locks the gravel down it is not a good method. We just had a big enough snow that it had to be removed and definitely picked up some gravel, but not to bad. Unfortunately lots of rain in the next week or two which will just start the clock over again.

I was able to confirm that the blower did save me time over using the FEL and plowing in reverse with a box blade, and actually put in some extra trails with the blower and still finished about a 1/3 quicker than the old method.

For the Op yes if your blowers shoes are digging in a lot making larger ones should help Had to even do that with a power angle plow on one of my trucks in the past. Some more sliding surface area should reduce the lb per sq inch.

 

[hube2]

I had a set of wider and longer shoes custom made from here HOME | ARMORskids®

They might have a set that fits your blower, might not.

Yes, they make a big difference. I put the original shoes back on when and if I get a hard base. Last year that did not happen, got sloppy melting all winter.

 

[pmsmechanic]

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

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.

 

[civilian]

These are adjustable so the edge can be set to any height. By the time winter is going full bore, the wheels are adjusted so they are just dangling, and the skids keep the edge very close to the ground.

I do this with the "wheels" being trailer tongue jacks mounted to the backside of the blower housing. This is on a front blower on a Kubota BX2230. Jon