Grading Rear blade options

[PA hayseed]

I bought a box blade this summer and keep seeing posts about using it for snow removal but I still don't understand how that works. My driveway is about 600 feet long, wouldn't I have to stop every 15 feet and empty the box? This doesn't seem like it would work to well if you have a narrow driveway with trees on both sides of the driveway and no way to maneuver the tractor around very easily. Am I missing something?

When you use your BB in reverse on dirt what does it do?

I do use my BB going forward on the road by my house, and I do have to stop once in awhile to empty it, but not every 15'. Now, if we had a 1' of snow, possibly every 4-5'..

 

[gonegreen]

I have about 240 feet of concrete driveway. Do you think that the rear blade reversed would clean the snow off good, yet roll up over a couple of high expansion joints?

Concrete driveways are nice in the summer but kind of a pain in the winter if you don't keep the snow off. Black top driveways are a little more forgiving with a little help from the sun. I think the rear blade in reverse would still pack some snow down on a concete driveway, especially if you have expansion joints sticking up and the snow is wet. My experiences with packed down snow on concrete is that it wants to freeze tight and turn to ice.

 

[Camo]

Concrete driveways are nice in the summer but kind of a pain in the winter if you don't keep the snow off. Black top driveways are a little more forgiving with a little help from the sun. I think the rear blade in reverse would still pack some snow down on a concete driveway, especially if you have expansion joints sticking up and the snow is wet. My experiences with packed down snow on concrete is that it wants to freeze tight and turn to ice.

I need a power broom.......That would be sweet. Hmmmm.......

 

[J_J]

Camo,

One of the TBN guy's built this for his blade. Might work for you.

 

[J_J]

I need a power broom.......That would be sweet. Hmmmm.......

You want a power broom, here it is. I am guessing a sweeper and a broom is the same thing, right.

Used Power Tracs

T3405 hydraulic powered

 

[awl51]

Yeah, it is June, but snow will be here soon enough. I plowed my 200+ foot driveway last year with my ATV, and truthfull did not care for the cutting edge catching a certain few expansion joint on my concrete and chipping away at the edges. It had a trip blade but still no good.
.....HELP!!!

Camo - back to the original issue -- have you looked into urethane edges sold for ATV plows? Might ease some of the issue with the plow hitting concrete joints. For me, ATV plowing wins hands-down for fun.

 

[sld]

This has been talked about several times on this forum. People have used rubber, wood, plastic... you name it.

Last winter I used a piece of a composite decking board sandwiched between my cutting edge and the rear blade. The blade was turned around and I plowed the concrete in reverse. It would also work going forward to clean up against the garage door. It worked ok, but wore down faster than I thought. But it did glide over the concrete and sweep it clean.

What I want to use this year is a piece of UHMW polyethylene from Granger. It stands for ultra high molecular weight polyethylene. You can get it in various sizes to sandwich onto the rear blade. For my 5 foot blade, a 1 inch thick by 3 inches tall piece was around 80 bucks. Kinda high, but the stuff is very abrasion resistant and very slick on concrete.

I would hope to get several seasons out of it.

 

[alltoys]

On my rear blade I turn it at an angle so snow roles off to my right side. On the leading edges of the blade I grind them to they are rounded. Now the leading edge will ride over the high spot not impacting it.

 

[Camo]

On my rear blade I turn it at an angle so snow roles off to my right side. On the leading edges of the blade I grind them to they are rounded. Now the leading edge will ride over the high spot not impacting it.

Great idea!! I think that may do the trick.

 

[jnjpream]

Yup, plow at an angle and round the corners a bit. Works great. And a trick for dealing with a bit of uneven ground if you have any is to replace the fixed side link with a length of chain.

Jeff