Not enough tractor or bad strategy?

[Grandad4]

That is quite a lane for a small tractor, and Nebraska is known to get some serious winter weather. A snowblower and/or some larger equipment may be in your future, but there are also some observations to be made. Here's some thoughts from a guy who no longer lives in snow country but grew up and plowed snow up north.

Just looking at your pictures (great looking place, by the way), you made your initial windrows on the upwind side just before the wind started and that set up the opportunity for drifting. Having seen where it drifts, try to remove snow the next time so your windrows and piles are on the prevailing downwind side and as far from the lane as possible. That may involve a lot of jockeying around with a small tractor and a blade. A snowblower is somewhat better because it can throw the snow away from your lane and you can aim it downwind and well out of the way. A 4x4 plow truck would be much quicker, but no matter what kind of equipment you have, leaving snow piles upwind of the road is an invitation for drifting. Snowfencing upwind of the places prone to drifting would also help.

 

[jake98]

With that driveway and in that location, I would think a front blower and chains ought to do it. NE can have way more snow that that tho, right?

 

[bp fick]

Spent my college years in Nebraska. My wife and I made our first home there. Those of us who live in snow belts from Michigan to Maine understand snow, but unless you've lived on the northern Great Plains, it is honestly, really hard to imagine what drifting is. 4 foot drifts can form in an hour. Snow can only be a foot, but the drifting can do you in.

Coupled with a sky so big it seems endless. 50 mph winds are a calm day. In over 4 years in Nebraska, I cannot honestly recall a calm day.

1/4 mile drive? Major snow fencing next year, right?

Still, I too see a better solution to your plowing in the future. It won't likely include your present subcut; snow blower or no snow blower. FWIW

 

[oliver1555]

Gio,

I was born, raised, and spent most of my life in Wyoming. When you talk about wind and snow in Nebraska, I know what you're dealing with.

The bad part of plowing in windy country is that you sometimes make things worse. I've seen plowed roads with drifts several feet deep plugging them, while much of the surrounding prairie is blown fairly clear. Each time you plow, it creates a place to catch more snow and the drifts just get deeper.

My advice to keep the plowing to a bare minimum. From your pictures, it looks like you could pick a winter road around the worst spots. You may have places, such as an autogate or along a fence, that will fill up and need to be plowed out, but driving around bad places will help to get you in and out.

Many years ago, I worked for a county road department. Some ranches were fifty or more miles off the paved road and didn't see much outside traffic. During bad weather, we rarely plowed an entire route. We took care of the really bad spots and left the rest alone. The ranchers preferred it that way.

Good luck!

 

[ray66v]

I have basically the same tractor, with a front 6' plow blade mounted on the FEL arms, no chains, turf tires, 320' of gravel drive, that occasionally gets massive drifts, and I have no problem plowing it. It is however, pretty much flat land.

It defiantly looks like you could have really benefited from some properly installed, and placed, snow fence.

In my opinion, a snow blower without a cab, is not, a good way to go.

 

[aczlan]

Three ideas:
1. Keep the blade:
a. Turn your blade around, angle it as much as possible and back into the drifts at an angle so as to push less snow at a time.
b. As others have said, push it downwind so that it doesn't drift back into the driveway
c. Cut a wider path so that the snow has a place to drift a little before it plugs your road
2. Get a snowblower. I would go with one that is at least 6" wider than your wheel width.
3. Bribe the neighbor (at least this winter) and keep an eye out for a 3 point snowblower cheap on Craigslist.

In the long run, I think that you will need a snowblower if you want to keep your driveway clear yourself.
If you get a snowblower, look into getting a cab. That will make your snow clearing experience much more enjoyable (even if it is just a golf cart canopy on a PCV frame)

Aaron Z

 

[Gio]

THANKS EVERYONE. And thanks for the nice comments about the house. If you are ever in Murdock, NE stop by (not in the winter unless you bring your tractor:laughing

Seems like we learn something new everyday since we moved to the country. We were cleaning out one of the outbuildings in the summer when we first moved in and we found rolls and rolls of old wooden snow fence. I shrugged it off and said "they must have hard winters back then". Well "they" now "us" still have hard winters it seems. Next year we will be putting up fencing as soon as the corn comes down.

This is what the place looks like minus the snow. Thank you again for all the advice.

Gio

 

[raasd]

Unlike what some people have said I think it can be done with the equipment you have. It just might take longer. We used to move snow with nothing but a loader in our RV park. Start by pushing with the loader down and level, continue to push until you see a good amount of snow coming over the top of the bucket. Then turn to the downwind side(The south or east around here) you may need to lift the bucket slightly, when you have pushed a couple of feet off the roadway lift and dump the bucket, then backup and repeat all the way to the end of your driveway. Then on the way back down use the rear blade(you might need a little bit wider blade) to pull off the bank of upwind side of the road widening the opening. Make more passes moving the spoils all the way to the downwind side, and widening the drive as you desire.

I have done this alot before we got the plow truck. I know what you mean about the drifts too, we got one 8" snowfall and have plowed 3 days in a row. Finally have everything pretty well crusted over and staying put but it looks like more snow on the way. It is piling up pretty quick.

 

[SandburRanch]

A beautiful place to live on the prairie.

If possible a half dozen rows of corn remaining on each side of the drive on that hill side set back a few feet like snow fence would save you a bunch of work and you could probably keep the equipment you have. Even better would be two rows of asparagus on each side where the 4 ft. tall ferns remain until spring. They would be there each year for a long long time.

 

[Kal130]

So which way do you prefer to plow with the snowblower? Going forward? Or backing up?

If you don't mind backing up to plow, the blower can attach to your 3 pt hitch and run off your pto. No modifications needed for your tractor.

If you want to plow going forward, you need to get a skid steer quick attach adapter for your FEL and a hydraulic power pack hanging on your 3pt hitch and run off the pto. Looks expensive to me.

If you want to get a blade for your FEL so you can plow going forward, then you'll need the skid steer QA setup for the blade and for your FEL bucket so you can swap them on the FEL arms. The QA setup on my Mahindra 5525 tractor with the ML250 FEL (6ft bucket) cost about $1K installed.

Good luck.

If you want to snow blow forward you need to get a Massey ferguson 2360 snow blower. It will run off your mid mount pto and from what I have seen on YouTube, it will really fling the snow. They offered me a free one with my tractor, but I turned it down . I just don't get enough snow to justify it over the $1,000 discount One new will cost you about $3,000. I think it might be worth it with that drive. Massey doesn't offer the QA bucket setup for that loader. Tried to have one put on mine, but it got complicated. A rear PTO driven unit sounds like the cheapest way, let me know if you go that route. I would be interested in knowing what that setup would cost.

You can also get a MF 2340 blade for the front of your tractor with hydraulic angling and lift. That setup will cost you about $1600. Tried together my dealer to trade me one for a Snowblower, but he really didn't want to, probably would have if I pushed the subject though.

I think if I was you. I would pull out my welder and fab up my own version of a county plow for that road. Think if you made it light enough you might be able to use it on that tractor. Connect with your inner B. A. Baracus!