Brought her home in a snow storm.

ray66v · Dec 29, 2015

Plowing snow with a 4' bucket, is a little better than nothing.

Especially, with no ballast.

With the backhoe on the back, I can push a 6' plow, through some pretty deep snow.

plowhog · Dec 30, 2015

In my GC1710 owner manual, I saw a reference to a float feature of the bucket but didn't see much in the way of instructions. If you could provide some feedback after using that feature in snow I would really appreciate it!

Fiziksgeek · Dec 30, 2015

plowhog said:
In my GC1710 owner manual, I saw a reference to a float feature of the bucket but didn't see much in the way of instructions. If you could provide some feedback after using that feature in snow I would really appreciate it!

Just push up. Example video

Scut 4 Big Bucks · Dec 30, 2015

Thanks for that video link, Fiziks.

It was quite a challenge with the first significant snowfall of the year and a gravel driveway with no frost in the ground. Getting that bucket tipped just right so I wouldn't dig in too much or leave 2 inches of snow under the bucket took some getting used to.
It almost looks like you are putting the joystick "in gear" to activate the float feature in that video. If I can figure it out this morning, I'll post a you tube video of this feature in action.

ray66v · Dec 30, 2015

I would not use the float position on a gravel driveway, unless you have a significant amount of snow packed down over it.

ovrszd · Dec 30, 2015

I on the other hand would use float and tip the bucket fore/aft to control dig.

Scut 4 Big Bucks · Dec 30, 2015

Here is the video.

I just edited the link to the video, I guess it wasn't working.

MJB62676 · Dec 30, 2015

I'm really hoping the float mode works well with my 60" dozer blade.

ovrszd · Dec 31, 2015

MJB62676 said:
I'm really hoping the float mode works well with my 60" dozer blade.

I use a front blade with shoes on my JD2210. It's always in float when pushing snow.

If the OP pushes a lot of snow he may want to investigate a front hydraulic angle blade for his tractor. Soooooooo much more effective than an FEL bucket.

Scut 4 Big Bucks · Dec 31, 2015

I can get by with just my little snow blower. I'll call the 1715 a bonus!

Because my driveway is gravel, I don't bother removing the snow unless my wife gets stuck, which is usually 4+ inches of snowfall. We drive over small snowfalls and get a good snow pack so I'm not blowing gravel all over the lawn. I hate that sound of a rock blowing through the mower deck.

Last year, I got the snow blower out ONCE! No need to spend any money on something that just won't get much use. That's my two cents, anyhow.