Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Tips for removal snow w/ front loader

[pmsmechanic]

I first started pushing snow with an old John Deere 40 crawler. It was slow but got the job done. Next was a JD 400 garden tractor. I was given a front mount for it and I made a hydraulic angle blade. That worked for a few years and then I bought a bare JD 955. I bought a 430 loader for it and pushed snow with that. I was disappointed as the blade on the 400 with chains could move snow faster as you could angle the blade and not have to clean up what spilled over the sides. My 4410 is no different than the 955 in terms of snow spilling to the sides.

I then purchased ($50) a 3ph snow blower. It was a 6' V style with just a fan in the center. It worked ok but I wasn't real happy. I had trouble pushing the full 6' through any deeper drifts. Like 18" and over. The fan would plug up in wetter snow etc. I finally managed to purchase a JD 59 for the front of my 4410. Now what used to take me 4 hours to clean up with the loader I can do in about an hour.

There you have my experiences. I would have been very tempted to not trade the 445 and keep it just for blowing snow but I also know what it's like to struggle with making the finances all work.

 

[PILOON]

A rear blower will be your best friend.
Pushing with blade or bucket will very soon have you running out of space plus traction becomes a problem.
You have 'lake effect' which matches to some extent our snow events north of Montreal so I know a bit about what you face.
Bite the bullet and get a PTO blower and you'll never regret it.
OK frt mount sounds nice but rear is much more affordable plus there are many more deals to be had.
Rear are generic while front are model specific.
Shop around for used if the budget is tight just be sure that it is a bit wider than your wheels.

If you do go used rest assured that just about all repair and maintenance parts are generic 'off the shelf' at most machine shops or bearing suppliers.

A decent used rear blower might just match the costs of wheel ballast and chains making the outlay of $$ a bit less painful.
I might add that pushing loads of snow can even shred the best of costly chains.

 

[the old grind]

I've never found any tools to be more effective than FEL and Box Blade. Blower is out for me, as there is no room to 'shoot' snow. BB pulls away from buildings (after clearing a shovel-width from doors, etc), squeezes out air, and lets me scoop/dump. There is NO pushing off to the side here, as drifts will accumulate and there's nowhere to push successive 'windrows'.

My d'way is 500' to the 'T', another 50' to the garage. I also clear 6 spaces alongside, and 140' for another neighbor w/road frontage, ... all gravel. 16 winters here so far, snow never deeper than say even with the top of the BB. btw, I'm still correcting 'curbs' that have piled up where truck blades 'formed' them long ago, and crowning must be gentle, lest I find my front wheels also nosing off course when pushing snow.

Edge Tamers (TM) have reduced my snow removal time by all of 25% by making it MUCH easier to set bucket angle w/o gouging gravel. Like with a grapple or Ratchet Rake (TM) they leave one wondering how they ever got along without them. 3rd one in the middle spares scalping the crown.

 

[RjCorazza]

X2 on the edge tamers for front loaders, practically mandatory for gravel driveways. I am a fan of rear blade or blower coupled with a loader. The op specifically asks about clearing snow with a loader, so here is my opinion / experience:
A bucket will work, it will just take significantly longer in anything over a couple inches. Before I got my blower I cleared 2 large snows with a loader, and it took several hours for a 500' driveway. I pushed 45 deg off the driveway, backed up, repeat. Both sides of the driveway. That was for close to 2' of snow.... Lighter snows I would push straight until the bucket was packed full, and dump.

 

[Creamer]

I would be totally frustrated trying to move snow with my loader. Edge tamers would be a big help but most buckets do not float, i.e. you either have down pressure or you are up a bit. With down pressure you do not have front wheel traction. Once it starts getting rough your bucket goes up and down with the wheels and it just gets worse.

I do not have near the snow you do and I run out of places to put it sometimes. I use the backblade almost exclusively for snow removal (the exceptions are tight spots where I have to dig the snow out and can't push it). You will sorely miss the blower and a back blower isn't bad. A little bit of a hassle but you only have to watch it in tight spaces otherwise you just steer and let it run - say along the length of a driveway.

 

[coachgrd]

A large portion of the driveway is gravel. Will I scalp it with the bucket in float?

 

[looch]

A large portion of the driveway is gravel. Will I scalp it with the bucket in float?

Yes. Maybe.

On mine there is a sweet spot that by my estimations is about as thick as a nickel. Too low and you'll scalp, too high and the bucket will ride up. I scalp at least 2 or 3 times per session when I'm only using the loader (very little snow or extremely wet). I'd be all over those edge tamers if I cared enough. As it is, the scalping heals itself well enough for my liking, and when it becomes too unsightly, I just order some more gravel to dress things up.

ETA: Forecast is 86* today. Maybe someone can start a lawn mowing thread next January :laughing:

 

[Creamer]

A large portion of the driveway is gravel. Will I scalp it with the bucket in float?

Yes and no. If you have loose rock yes it will scrape it. If it is hard and solid no. If you have loose rock get edge tamers and then the answer is no unless it is not flat enough to match the scoop.

The trick I use with my floating rear blade is to let some snow build up and pack it down to where I have a hard surface and then let the blade float. It works great until we get warm weather and things go slushy.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I nave a homemade yard scraper with a large roller in the back. I use it to spread a layer of snow over the driveway which the roller packs. Once I have a descent base then the loader or the snowblower don't dig in.

 

[coachgrd]

Yes. Maybe.

On mine there is a sweet spot that by my estimations is about as thick as a nickel. Too low and you'll scalp, too high and the bucket will ride up. I scalp at least 2 or 3 times per session when I'm only using the loader (very little snow or extremely wet). I'd be all over those edge tamers if I cared enough. As it is, the scalping heals itself well enough for my liking, and when it becomes too unsightly, I just order some more gravel to dress things up.

ETA: Forecast is 86* today. Maybe someone can start a lawn mowing thread next January :laughing:

Yeah, we need to put this topic to bed for a while