snowblower vs. snowplow

   / snowblower vs. snowplow #1  

rownow

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Assuming they are attached to the front of a Toolcat, what are the relative merits of snowblower and snowplow? I noticed that some owners have both. I have a SB-200 snowblower and it useless with very wet snow. It does not seem to be the right tool for 2" or so of snow.

I have 1000' of sloping well-graded crushed gravel driveway running through field that I like to keep scraped down to the gravel so that the sun melts any remaining snow/ice.

Also have 2 parking areas for 3-4 cars each, double garage and drive up access to storage sheds. I can push heavy wet snow out of the parking areas pretty well with a 60" bucket.

I'm thinking of getting this plow/light 4-way dozer blade, opinions of this specific attachment also welcome. Skid Steer Dozer Blade - Snow Plow I've been pretty happy with products from this company. They are not the toughest or most expensive attachments, but my usage is low hours and light duty so they work pretty well for me.
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #2  
I deal with dry and wet snow at two different locations in several ways. At our north-facing property in Merritt, British Columbia, the snow tends to be wet and often partially melts & re-freezes to create icing problems. With the blower the snow is removed well away from the drive, thus not leaving piles or windrows to continously keep the gravel drive wet. I have a plow as back-up in the event the blower breaks down (never has, though).

In the Colorado Rockies, snow tends to be dry and I primarily plow our mile of south-facing gravel road, but have a blower for the times we get drifting or return from a trip to face several feet of un-plowed snow. I use a rubber edge on the plow.

In both locations I replaced the cutting edge on the blower with a solid round steel bar to minimize scooping up gravel with the snow or catching on exposed rocks.

In any case it is important that the blower hyd fan motor be properly matched to the flow rate of the machine (and in the case of a dual-flow machine, that you actually be in the appropriate flow mode). Many hyd blowers are miss-matched to the machine they are running on. Even though the SB-200 is appropriate to a TC, it can be equipped with several fan motors and your setup may be missmatched. Need to run the engine pretty much wide open when using a blower.

Good Luck & Happy New Year!
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #3  
Heavy wet snow is a problem regardless if pushing or blowing.

The best I could do is push it around a bit, and then scoop it up in the bucket.

For a long driveway, this takes a long time.

Yooper Dave
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #4  
I have a high-flow, TC 5610, blower on the back and homemade meyer snow plow adapted to the front. Plow will handle most snows in 6-8" range. The blower works in the deeper snow or if I have plowed a ridge of snow on the side, the blower takes it away. I wonder if your blower is mismated with motor size. It should perform better. Do you have hi-flow? My rear blower was going into 4-5' drifts this past weekend and did better than I thought it would. We had 13" of snow this past week on top of 10" prior snow. I used the plow on the 10" snow but with the additional snow and high winds, the blower worked great.
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #5  
My Bobcat got a plow , i got it from a guy who was in the business to remove snow, he had lots of sidewalks to do , he cut the plow to 5 ft and just had wings installed , I used this year on my driveway and was perfect for whet snow , it's true i have to make 2 extra passes but who cares , it's easy on the machine and the job is done .
In the picture I have only one wing installed .
 

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   / snowblower vs. snowplow #6  
Razvy,

I wonder if you would be better off with the chains on the rears? When you lift the front with down pressure on the blade, your chains are off the ground.

Just a thought, anyway.
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #7  
I have a 72" SB-200 and I've got the 84" snow blade.

I use both depending on the circumstances I'm having to deal with.

The blower works best in deep, dry snow and leaves a beautifully clean edge. The blade works on most any type of snow and snow depths up to about the top of the blade. I find the blade is typically requires more work to do the same area as the blower because you can only pile snow so high, and so far off the path (and late in the season that can become an issue), and the edges & windrows always roll back into your cleaned path. But it's faster than the blower.

For really deep snow, I've raised the blower off the ground a couple of feet and knocked down deep drifts, and then lowered the blower to the ground and cleaned them up. You can do move deeper snow with the blower but IMO, the blade is more reliable for any type of snow.

I have used the lower speed (fan), higher torque 9.6 motor package on my SD-200 and and now I'm testing the higher speed (fan), lower torque 8.0 hyd. motor package. I'm liking the distance the the snow is thrown better with the 8.0 pkg. Neither one works well with heavy wet snow. Has more to do with the horizontal auger design than the motor pkgs.

The biggest issues I've dealt with for both the blower and the blade on my 5600 is the fact that I move snow primarily on steeply dipping and curving driveways that undulate and curve around alot and you can't effectively "float" the blade or the blower under these conditions so I am always loading or unloading the front suspension and boom (fixed).

They both have pros and cons, I'm glad I have both. If I could only have one I'd chose the snow blade because of it's versatility.

DEWFPO
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #8  
GPintheMitten
You have a point , i was going to do it initially but they was easy to install in the front, I was going to change it to the rear but so far the front works just fine , I usually plow downhill .
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #9  
Assuming they are attached to the front of a Toolcat, what are the relative merits of snowblower and snowplow? I noticed that some owners have both. I have a SB-200 snowblower and it useless with very wet snow. It does not seem to be the right tool for 2" or so of snow.

I have 1000' of sloping well-graded crushed gravel driveway running through field that I like to keep scraped down to the gravel so that the sun melts any remaining snow/ice.

Also have 2 parking areas for 3-4 cars each, double garage and drive up access to storage sheds. I can push heavy wet snow out of the parking areas pretty well with a 60" bucket.

I'm thinking of getting this plow/light 4-way dozer blade, opinions of this specific attachment also welcome. Skid Steer Dozer Blade - Snow Plow I've been pretty happy with products from this company. They are not the toughest or most expensive attachments, but my usage is low hours and light duty so they work pretty well for me.


i have a blower, snow bucket, and broom. i also have a 3500 dump truck with a plow (used to be the primary snow removal until i got the tc). if you have less than 5 inches of snow the broom works great - i go 4-5mph and it leaves a very clean driveway. our asphalt is clean much of the winter as the sun melts it clean after the broom. downside is it is not good on gravel until frozen. blower is not great on the gravel either. a plow is better before the ground is really frozen. i actually have the 240 blower (the dealer ordered the bigger one which was a mistake). i run it on low flow and it does a good job but does not throw a long distance. it really depends on how deep the snow is before you get to it. we recently got a foot and the blower was best. under 5 and broom fastest by far and cleanest by far. plow is fastest on straight sections but then you have to drive over non driveway areas which leaves gravel in the lawn and you might rut up your areas around the driveway. in the turnabout and around all my garage doors the tc with a bucket is best. no prefect tool for all conditions. you really have to find the one that works the best most often for your type of snow and depth. for me i use the broom 5x for every time i use the blower as we usually get less than 5 inches and if we get 8 and i can get to it 2x i can skip the blower which is slower. now if you have a lot of snow and get berms then the broom is no good as you cant sweep over the berms. then the blower is needed. the bucket is best to back drag around buildings.

btw - i have a 1600ft long driveway and 8 garage doors around house and large horse barn.

my 2 cents.
 
   / snowblower vs. snowplow #10  
Assuming they are attached to the front of a Toolcat, what are the relative merits of snowblower and snowplow? I noticed that some owners have both. I have a SB-200 snowblower and it useless with very wet snow. It does not seem to be the right tool for 2" or so of snow.

I have 1000' of sloping well-graded crushed gravel driveway running through field that I like to keep scraped down to the gravel so that the sun melts any remaining snow/ice.

Also have 2 parking areas for 3-4 cars each, double garage and drive up access to storage sheds. I can push heavy wet snow out of the parking areas pretty well with a 60" bucket.

I'm thinking of getting this plow/light 4-way dozer blade, opinions of this specific attachment also welcome. Skid Steer Dozer Blade - Snow Plow I've been pretty happy with products from this company. They are not the toughest or most expensive attachments, but my usage is low hours and light duty so they work pretty well for me.

I've been snow blowing with a 7' blower for the past 10 years and would never go back to a plow. No snow banks, clear the drive just once no matter how much snow and I need just a fraction of the power needed to plow. Snow plowing is hard on a truck or tractor. The took the front hubs out of a new F150 twice the first year I had it, plowing just my driveway.
 
 
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