Snow New Blade.... Sound thinking or Justification?

[ron45]

I learned a lot moving the snow that had us snowed in for 3.5 days. I was so impressed with kioti's engineering in this situation. Going out the first day I worried a little about moving snow on a steep switchback with a very long way down and a steep bank on the back up and turn side. It felt like it was designed for this job.

I also noticed I was asking a lot of kioti and every one of it's systems. The bucket seems too small for serious snow removal. I started thinking about a blade. I've seen motor graders work close up and there is nothing better for snow removal. Comparing all the back and forth @2k rps average and long trips sometimes to find a place to safely dump the snow It seemed to me that a good blade [once I learn to use it properly, should add some longevity to my tractor just because of eliminating a large part of the to and fro and all the tight turning. OR am I just blowing smoke to justify my purchase.

The land pride blades are made in Kansas I think, yep Salina just checked. I am not qualified to judge their quality compared to other brands. Does anyone have experience with their machinery? Thank you for your time.

Ron

 

[oldnslo]

Land pride makes good equipment.

Just curious, are talking about a 3PH mount rear blade or something to mount on the FEL? If on the FEL some companiens make snow pushers. These are over sized blades with sides to hold more snow while you driving forward. These allow you to push piles higher since pushing you can lift the snow with these.

 

[Fallon]

Snow is a lot less dense & lighter than dirt, so they make big snow buckets to comensate. A plow is a lot more efficient than a bucket for moving snow though. I love my converted truck plow on my loader.

 

[Piston]

Lot's of us have Landpride equipment, and are mostly very happy with it. I have a few different implements from them, ranging from light duty to heavy duty. I am NOT happy with the light duty landscape rake/blade combo that I have, and I almost never use it. However, that isn't because it's Landpride, it's because I use it for something it wasn't designed for, so it's my fault not theirs

My rear blade is a very heavy duty unit, and I absolutely love it. It does everything I ask of it and I would probably break something on my tractor before breaking something on the blade (which may not necessarily be a good thing). I do use it for snow removal and it's excellent for the smaller amounts of snow we typically get in MA. However, it doesn't compare to a actual snow plow, or a snowblower.
It works well, scrapes as clean as I want it to, and can be offset to get the snow well off the side without me driving off the driveway.

For dedicated use as a snow removal tool, it would not be my first choice, but it does fill the role of many uses and we don't get all that much snow (typically) so it works for me.

My first choice would be a pull behind snowblower if money were no concern, and my second choice would be a dedicated snow blade on the front, or pusher depending on your situation.

My advice, if you do go with a rear blade for snow removal, is to skip over the light duty models and get something with a bit of weight to it. This isn't to say that a lightweight blade won't work (even my lighter weight landscape rake with a flip down grader blade "works", it just doesn't work that well (on anything but light and fluffy 2-3" of snow.)

 

[JMER817]

I have found that a lightweight blade works better in snow for me when plowing a gravel driveway.

 

[LD1]

A light weight and large blade (compared to what you would use for dirt) is WAY better in the snow than a FEL.

A FEL is narrow, and spills snow off both sides once full.It would be alot of back and forth and dumping to clear a long drive, where a 7 or 8' blade on an angle can do it in a down and back pass.

Its alot more efficient to roll the snow off to the side than it is to scoop and dump continuously.

 

[ron45]

Thanks loads Matt, I got six foot blade that weighs 640 lbs. I was concerned about the weight at first but have told by some of the very helpful folks here that my hitch will lift 700lbs if it's no more that 24 inches back from the pins. I am assuming the blade I ordered will mount with in that spec. The seller said I could swap for a lighter blade in the need arises. I hope it doesn't, because that is the first thing I learned about rear blades here. I do have other uses planned for it. I don't have any illusions about making beautiful roads with it. My road is a 1/2 mile of rocky switch backs then something more like dirt the rest of the way. I'm hoping I can peel gravel of the sides of the road and distribute it on the road again and some small ditch digging with the points on either side once I get the hang of using it.

Ron

 

[ron45]

LD1 thanks. You have hit upon my reasoning for getting a blade. Wear and tear and time.

 

[mj007]

I learned a lot moving the snow that had us snowed in for 3.5 days. I was so impressed with kioti's engineering in this situation. Going out the first day I worried a little about moving snow on a steep switchback with a very long way down and a steep bank on the back up and turn side. It felt like it was designed for this job.

I also noticed I was asking a lot of kioti and every one of it's systems. The bucket seems too small for serious snow removal. I started thinking about a blade. I've seen motor graders work close up and there is nothing better for snow removal. Comparing all the back and forth @2k rps average and long trips sometimes to find a place to safely dump the snow It seemed to me that a good blade [once I learn to use it properly, should add some longevity to my tractor just because of eliminating a large part of the to and fro and all the tight turning. OR am I just blowing smoke to justify my purchase.

The land pride blades are made in Kansas I think, yep Salina just checked. I am not qualified to judge their quality compared to other brands. Does anyone have experience with their machinery? Thank you for your time.

Ron

I've got a 5' Land Pride blade that has been used for grading and snow removal and it seems to be good enough for how I use it but for snow a CK 20 will handle a 7' or maybe more depending on the snow (Ours, and probably yours, is pretty dry this time of year and doesn't take much to move it) I also have an old Howse 7' blade that works good for snow plowing. Whatever you get will work best on gravel or dirt driveways with a piece of 2 1/2 pipe slit and fastened to the cutting edge; removable 'wings' one the ends of the blade and/or bucket REALLY helps moving snow ('sugar' snow is nearly impossible to plow without them). I think that your buying a blade for snow plowing is completely justified - Go for it!

 

[mj007]

I have found that a lightweight blade works better in snow for me when plowing a gravel driveway.

Yep - before I put a pipe over the cutting edge I ran with the blade turned around and used the backside for snow on gravel. My old Howse 7' isn't all that heavy (I'd guess about 400-450 lbs.) so sometimes I would add one or two Case VA rear wheel weights (90 lbs. each) to the blade, which helped considerably. I am certain that a front blade would be needed for deeper/drifted snow, as it is though, the FEL will do the initial break-through and allow the rear blade to work. I know that if I had the kind of snowfall that some of you guys get it would be a wholly-different kind of deal!