Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Snow removal with back blade

[pennwalk]

I think it also depends on your tractor and how much snow you have. I have an 18 hp Yanmar. It weighs something like 1600 lbs. I remember one year we had a little over a foot and it crusted over befor I got out to plow. The tractor ran up on top of the snow. There I was sitting there with all 4 wheels spinning away. I had to dig it out with a shovel. When it is deep or heavy In my case I find it plows better in reverse but it is a pain in the neck.

Chris

 

[bearhawk]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'd drill a series of holes in the lower edge of the blade and attach a length of hard rubber (I've read of folks on TBN using some kind of horse stall matting, if I recall correctly) to the lower edge. )</font>

Now thats an idea, the mats come in 4' x 6' lengths.

I was wondering how I could use my york rake to remove the snow. Now if I just cut an 18" piece of the stall mat and bolt it to the tines. That would make a nice flexible blade to pull snow of my stone driveway.

Jim

 

[Slamfire]

Reguardless of the direction of the blade, when you push snow off a gravel drive, gravel will go too, if the ground isn't frozen. I like to use a limit on how low the blade will go, leaving just an inch or so of snow on the driveway. I put snow tires on the vehicles, and until it turns into black ice we can negociate it pretty well. Our drive ends on a small hill and we have to turn downhill to drive on the road until the salt truck gets to our neighborhood. Fortunately we usually don't get many cold days in a row, and our dirve melts pretty well. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[BadDog]

Use skid shoes on your blade when you are going over gravel - much easier...

 

[ThisldooFarm]

Where do I get skid shoes? Thats a good idea. Also, what about rolling the non-vehicular paths such as the tractor path to the manure pile, 1500 feet? I do have chains which work pretty well on ice.

 

[Solo]

You should be able to get a set from your dealer.

Solo

 

[RoyJackson]

"Where do I get skid shoes? "

You may or may not be able to get skid shoes from your back blade dealer. That will depend if shoes are an option for your blade. I've never seen them as an option, but I've only looked at King Kutter, Land Pride and Bush Hog blades.

My blade is an ancient one I bought off a private owner. if I wanted to add skid shoes, I'd have to fabricate them.

Skid Shoes are just adjustable (up/down) components that can look like inverted mushrooms or small skis. They would be pinned or welded to a vertical member (bar stock or equivalent) that goes through a receptacle (pipe would work) that is attached (welded or bolted) to the outer ends of your blade. The intent is to keep the moldboard of the blade just above the ground.
You can do the same thing by setting your rock shaft (3PH) lever using position control (on my Deere 790, that an adjustable stop). That's what I do and it works quite well.

 

[bam747]

Skid shoes are generally available on medium to heavy duty blades from most manufactures. I've seen them offered on Land Pride and Bush Hog and Rhino and Frontier brands (off the top of my head). These same manufactures also offer side plates and gauge wheels for this class of rear blade.

Side plates give you pseudo box blade capabilities since they hold material in front of the blade rather than letting it spill out the sides of the blade.

The gauge wheels are usually a single or closely space pair of wheels connected off the back of the main body of the blade. They are raised or lowered (mechanically or, preferably, hydraulically) to precisely control the blade's depth of cut across the combined wheel base of the tractor and gauge wheel extension. This type of gauge wheel is extremely useful in leveling work and is similar in concept to how road graders work.

Rear blade with skid shoes.

Rear blade with side plates.

Rear blade with a gauge wheel.