Z-Michigan
Veteran Member
In a week or so I'm moving to a house with a 200' driveway in Michigan's Keweenaw peninsula. The area averages 240 inches of snow per year. Yes, really. Most of that is fluffy powder and the actual accumulation on the ground is generally not more than 36" or so.
I don't have a tractor yet but I think I'm buying a Kioti CK3510H (HST), which has 28 pto hp and a decent sized loader. I have several years of snow experience downstate with slightly larger tractors (Kioti DK40SE and previously a Deere 5105) using a rear blade and the loader bucket. That was in an area that got only 50-75" of snow per year. I found the rear blade to be fine with the typical 2-4" quantity of heavy wet snow, but with larger quantities of dry snow it was much less effective, and often the banks would be blown back across the driveway within hours. So in a harsh winter I used the loader most of the time, both for lifting snow and just pushing it. This worked OK. A handicap was that my driveway was 12" higher than the surrounding land so I couldn't push far off the driveway without risking getting stuck, and I only had the loader bucket so I couldn't push snow to the side while driving forward.
Back to the current question. Most people in my area use snow blowers and that is certainly an option. I don't want to spend the cost of a front mounted blower so I'm looking at a Woods SB64s on the PTO. Driving backwards doesn't bother me. However, I'm wondering if I would be happier with either a front angle blade on the loader, or a snow pusher on the loader. My driveway has been cleared with a pickup and plow all winter and there is room to stack the snow. This has actually been a near-record snow winter in the area and the driveway hasn't seen a blower once, just a plow most of the time, and a front-end loader on a backhoe two times when the piles needed to be pushed farther back.
Cost is a minor factor, maintenance and reliability is a bigger factor. I have no experience with blowers and reading the sticky thread it sounds like they throw stuff that can be dangerous, and sometimes jam, which is dangerous if you don't clear it safely. Pushing snow at the front seems more reliable and less dangerous, but obviously also means creating snow piles. Since I will live at this property I can clear snow any time it reaches 12" (or less, even) so I shouldn't have to deal with the huge snow dumps that western NY sees, but I will be clearing snow 4-7 days a week through the winter. It sounds like blowers need to be cleaned after each use, while a blade can pretty much just sit there.
I kind of want to go the front plow/pusher route, but not if it's going to be ineffective or otherwise something I'll regret. What kind of guidance can you give me?
I don't have a tractor yet but I think I'm buying a Kioti CK3510H (HST), which has 28 pto hp and a decent sized loader. I have several years of snow experience downstate with slightly larger tractors (Kioti DK40SE and previously a Deere 5105) using a rear blade and the loader bucket. That was in an area that got only 50-75" of snow per year. I found the rear blade to be fine with the typical 2-4" quantity of heavy wet snow, but with larger quantities of dry snow it was much less effective, and often the banks would be blown back across the driveway within hours. So in a harsh winter I used the loader most of the time, both for lifting snow and just pushing it. This worked OK. A handicap was that my driveway was 12" higher than the surrounding land so I couldn't push far off the driveway without risking getting stuck, and I only had the loader bucket so I couldn't push snow to the side while driving forward.
Back to the current question. Most people in my area use snow blowers and that is certainly an option. I don't want to spend the cost of a front mounted blower so I'm looking at a Woods SB64s on the PTO. Driving backwards doesn't bother me. However, I'm wondering if I would be happier with either a front angle blade on the loader, or a snow pusher on the loader. My driveway has been cleared with a pickup and plow all winter and there is room to stack the snow. This has actually been a near-record snow winter in the area and the driveway hasn't seen a blower once, just a plow most of the time, and a front-end loader on a backhoe two times when the piles needed to be pushed farther back.
Cost is a minor factor, maintenance and reliability is a bigger factor. I have no experience with blowers and reading the sticky thread it sounds like they throw stuff that can be dangerous, and sometimes jam, which is dangerous if you don't clear it safely. Pushing snow at the front seems more reliable and less dangerous, but obviously also means creating snow piles. Since I will live at this property I can clear snow any time it reaches 12" (or less, even) so I shouldn't have to deal with the huge snow dumps that western NY sees, but I will be clearing snow 4-7 days a week through the winter. It sounds like blowers need to be cleaned after each use, while a blade can pretty much just sit there.
I kind of want to go the front plow/pusher route, but not if it's going to be ineffective or otherwise something I'll regret. What kind of guidance can you give me?
