Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Clearing snow with FEL

[mdelmarcelle]

We're expecting 9 to 12 inches up here in Wisconsin this weekend. It'll be the first time I get to use my new Kubota M7040SUD with FEL to clear snow. I have both the FEL and a rear blade, but I'm a little concerned about using the FEL to clear snow because it doesn't have any sort of give or trip if it encounters an immovable object. Anyone have any advice for using an FEL for snow? Any bad experiences where they damaged the FEL clearing snow? How hard do you have to hit something before you do damage? (how many questions can I post in one messsage?) Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[beenthere]

:welcome:
Don't go fast. Especially in areas where you don't know what is under the snow.
On our first WI snow (last Sat.) I decided to just move it with the FEL. My drive and town road are a good 1/4 mile to plow, and not too many places to catch the bucket.
Made two round trips with snow piling up in front of the bucket. And hardly looked plowed, so I went back to the shed and put the snow plow blade on the front.

Take it easy and you shouldn't have any problem. The FEL's are built strong.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

Try this - tip the lip of the bucket up 1/2" - 1" and put the FEL in Float.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I found the FEL buck worthless for the most part other than pushing and piling snow piles. I switched over to a plow to replace the bucket a few years ago and it moves the snow off to the side via the power angle. I think you will find you can do much more work with your rear grader blade than you ever will with the bucket.

Chris

 

[hawkeye08]

I am on my first winter with the FEL on my L3130. We have had 26" so far and it handled it fine. I went out and took care of it before it dumped more than 10". My driveways are each about 100' so I can run the bucket level in float position, pushing the snow almost to the end of the driveway, then curl and backup, then go forward and dump to the side. When I finish with that, I come from one side and push the little piles at the end over to the side. It takes longer to warm the tractor up properly than to clear one driveway. A few more minutes to clear the other drive and put the tractor away.

We have not had heavy wet snow yet this year, that may be more difficult. So far, I am not needing a front plow (still look at them all the time on CL). I have a rear blade but have not used it for snow yet. I want to hook it up and give it a try, but I have to take it off to fit the tractor in the shop right now so just have not tried it.

Good luck.

 

[Reverend Blair]

We're expecting 9 to 12 inches up here in Wisconsin this weekend. It'll be the first time I get to use my new Kubota M7040SUD with FEL to clear snow. I have both the FEL and a rear blade, but I'm a little concerned about using the FEL to clear snow because it doesn't have any sort of give or trip if it encounters an immovable object. Anyone have any advice for using an FEL for snow? Any bad experiences where they damaged the FEL clearing snow? How hard do you have to hit something before you do damage? (how many questions can I post in one messsage?) Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Use the rear blade to make piles and the FEL to clean them up. it's a little slow and frustrating, but it gives you more tractor time.

 

[Ford tractor]

FEL's are about worthless for snow, except for moving frozen piles when the snow gets too deep. VERY easy to gouge the ground and not even notice how bad it is until spring. VERY easy to scrape up things like the edge of the driveway and that's expensive to fix. If it's all you have -- buy a shovel.

Use the back blade.

 

[Jw5875]

Put the rear blade in reverse and drag the snow on angle to each side (change blade to left / right angle each pass). This way the blade will not be as aggressive to digging in and will most likely "Jump" over obstacles.

jw5875

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

FEL's are about worthless for snow, except for moving frozen piles when the snow gets too deep. VERY easy to gouge the ground and not even notice how bad it is until spring. VERY easy to scrape up things like the edge of the driveway and that's expensive to fix. If it's all you have -- buy a shovel.

Use the back blade.

First of all the OP has a Kubota M7040 - that's a 71 hp tractor. I suspect he is not going to have too much problem with the 9" - 12" he is expecting - now. If the snow gets too deep for his 71 hp and FEL, a back blade is not going to be the solution. The main problem with a blade, front or rear, is that sooner or later the snow piles up and has to be moved back.

Location and snow fall differ for all of us. What may work for me, may not work for others. I clear a total of approx 12,000 sq ft - gravel covered. I have the option of using a front blade, a rear blade or a bucket. For me a snow blower front or rear would be unnecessary.

Overall, for my application an FEL bucket works best.

 

[dex3361]

In my area we do not get a huge amount of snow. We may get a 12 " snow 1 time maybe 2 times a winter. I use the back blade to plow the snow off to the side and the FEL to move the snow out of the drive ways. I tilt the bucket back just a bit. The other thing I will probably do is add a piece of PE pipe over the cutting edge of the FEL to keep it from gouging the ground. Our average snowfall in this part of WV is 36" for the season with the most we have ever had for a winter is 130" (rough winter). So as stated earlier it depends on where you are.

 

[whistlepig]

After you use a FEL for a while you'll get pretty good with it. I did. As far as a FEL verses a rear blade I'll take the FEL every time. Turning around watching a rear blade verses working the snow in front of me makes the FEL much easier. If I had to make a choice between a front blade and a FEL I would chose the FEL. The FEL can do all the things a blade can do in snow but a blade can't do all the things a FEL can do in snow.

 

[gavinol]

My Kubota L-185 with front end loader and rear scraper blade is doing a wonderful job moving the heavy snow. Scooping the snow forward and dumping the snow in high piles in the forward direction and plowing the snow in reverse gives me a huge advantage.

 

[merrickvilleguy]

we don't have a rear blade here ... but do have a box blade ... so we use that to pile snow and use the fel to move it to where we want it ... works fine for us ?

 

[MF 1532]

I am also a new participant to the snow removal . I have watched this subject on here for months , and there are a lot of different views ..... I guess we will have to be patient , wait for a snow and try them all , good excuse for seat time . My parking lot at my store is gravel . I thought about using the cylinder depth spacers on fel . We used to use them on some models of discs to set depth , it might help keep bucket out of rock or dirt ... Good Luck .

 

[Thomas]

"Try this - tip the lip of the bucket up 1/2" - 1" and put the FEL in Float."

I agree also use the rear blade...post pics snow removeal if you can...fingers cross for wamer temps on clearing.

 

[TripleR]

We don't get much snow, but when we do the FEL is the primary choice. Of course if we got a lot of snow we would probably buy snow blowers, but we don't.

Anyway a FEL is not useless in dealing with snow.

YouTube - How to Clear Snow with your Kubota Front End Loader

YouTube - Snow removal, tractor style

 

[CompactTractorFan]

This will be an interesting thread because this will be the first year of clearing snow with the tractor using the FEL.

 

[RoyJackson]

After you use a FEL for a while you'll get pretty good with it...

Yep, FEL/bucket works fine, but rather then trying just to push the snow, dump it (off the plowing area) now and then. The bucket works good for back dragging from buildings (such as a garage door) too.
Using the FEL/bucket may not be the fastest method, or the prefered method if your drive way is more then a few hundred feet, but it does work quite well once you get some experience.
And, of course, a FEL/bucket is what you have. You may decide on another type of snow removal equipment after your first season. Like Whistlepig, I used to use a rear blade...I just prefer using the bucket now (my drive is 150' long (or a bit more), so I'm not looking at a major event.

Downside is you will be putting some gravel (assuming a gravel drive) on your lawn. That's my annual spring clean up chore.

 

[TripleR]

This will be an interesting thread because this will be the first year of clearing snow with the tractor using the FEL.

You shouldn't have any trouble.

 

[Mousefield]

Yep, FEL/bucket works fine, but rather then trying just to push the snow, dump it (off the plowing area) now and then. The bucket works good for back dragging from buildings (such as a garage door) too.
Using the FEL/bucket may not be the fastest method, or the prefered method if your drive way is more then a few hundred feet, but it does work quite well once you get some experience.

Downside is you will be putting some gravel (assuming a gravel drive) on your lawn. That's my annual spring clean up chore.

That's pretty much what I do. Push it with the FEL and once in a while dump it off the road. This year, our first snow fall was 6 inches, I had the box blade on instead of the backhoe so tried using the box blade to scrape while pushing with the FEL. Once the box blade got full I would lift it and the snow would fall out, sometimes with a bit of help. Got the road a little smoother. :thumbsup: