3PH Snowblowers - pros and cons

[5030]

This last snow had me pricing blowers. It didn't take too long with my loader and being in a cab, but a blower would have been even faster. Course if I buy one, we won't get a snow like this for a long time. I'll be looking for one this summer, if I remember.

The best game plan is buy one and park it next to the barn (like I do). It scares old man winter and it don't snow....

 

[Mendonsy]

The best game plan is buy one and park it next to the barn (like I do). It scares old man winter and it don't snow....

Yep!! I agree that works most of the time!!! I always put my blower on the tractor at Halloween and leave it on until Easter. So far this year I haven't used it at all.

 

[jenkinsph]

This year we had more snow in my locale than usual and lots of my customers have been asking about snow clearing services. Most years I only clear about six customers drives plus my own property. The limited snows less than 12 inches don't require more than a rear blade and a mower to clear. But with a larger snow and more sidewalks to clear I am considering a blower. Several of the new driveways are lined with retaining walls and that eliminates plowing snow to the sides. So a blower would be the best tool for these driveways. There are other places where the congestion does not provide an area to blow the snow to. Those areas need to be plowed.

This year the county had a hard time keeping up with the snow clearing as some areas received about three feet in one event. Most areas in this storm averaged about 20 to 24 inches, so quite a bit more than normal. I don't think it is cost effective for me to buy equipment for the largest snow events that occur because it doesn't happen often enough. Most years we have anywhere from 6 to 12 inches as an average event, that I can handle with just rear blades on most jobs.

Everything considered I would rather not have to move the 4520 across town in the snow covered roads for this work. Much easier and safer to move one of the garden tractors with a front mount blower and a rear blade. One of my helpers did suggest that we could move the tractor in to one of the locations before the snow hits to avoid transporting in the snow and that is worth considering. Most of my customers are in a small area and I do have safe places to store the tractor if needed at a few customer houses. No doubt about it the cab tractor would be a lot more comfortable than the open garden tractors to operate.

If there is enough work to do I am considering putting a front mount 54" quick hitch blower on the x749 and continue to use the 60" rear blade on the rear. This will work for most events and is ideal for the sidewalk areas too. In a larger event I could move the 4520 with rear blade and chains to aid in pushing the heavier snows. Between the two machines it would seem I could get most snow events dealt with fast enough.

The thing I found unusual this year was that there was not a snow blower to be found by anyone public or private. Most snow equipment available are front plows on various sized trucks which work well enough for roads and open driveways. Not suitable for walkways and driveways with lots of edging to damage. The result was that a lot of people were snowed in the day after Christmas and the week following with only passenger vehicles. If I had a large blower on the 4520 I could have paid for it in that week alone. Problem is that may not occur again for a few years.

Any suggestions what would you buy and why?

 

[Industrial Toys]

With investments having such lousy returns, you could buy half a dozen in the middle of the summer. When a crazy snowfall hits, sell them at full list prices and maybe that pays for one you keep.

 

[fishhead]

This year we had more snow in my locale than usual and lots of my customers have been asking about snow clearing services. Most years I only clear about six customers drives plus my own property. The limited snows less than 12 inches don't require more than a rear blade and a mower to clear. But with a larger snow and more sidewalks to clear I am considering a blower. Several of the new driveways are lined with retaining walls and that eliminates plowing snow to the sides. So a blower would be the best tool for these driveways. There are other places where the congestion does not provide an area to blow the snow to. Those areas need to be plowed.

This year the county had a hard time keeping up with the snow clearing as some areas received about three feet in one event. Most areas in this storm averaged about 20 to 24 inches, so quite a bit more than normal. I don't think it is cost effective for me to buy equipment for the largest snow events that occur because it doesn't happen often enough. Most years we have anywhere from 6 to 12 inches as an average event, that I can handle with just rear blades on most jobs.

Everything considered I would rather not have to move the 4520 across town in the snow covered roads for this work. Much easier and safer to move one of the garden tractors with a front mount blower and a rear blade. One of my helpers did suggest that we could move the tractor in to one of the locations before the snow hits to avoid transporting in the snow and that is worth considering. Most of my customers are in a small area and I do have safe places to store the tractor if needed at a few customer houses. No doubt about it the cab tractor would be a lot more comfortable than the open garden tractors to operate.

If there is enough work to do I am considering putting a front mount 54" quick hitch blower on the x749 and continue to use the 60" rear blade on the rear. This will work for most events and is ideal for the sidewalk areas too. In a larger event I could move the 4520 with rear blade and chains to aid in pushing the heavier snows. Between the two machines it would seem I could get most snow events dealt with fast enough.

The thing I found unusual this year was that there was not a snow blower to be found by anyone public or private. Most snow equipment available are front plows on various sized trucks which work well enough for roads and open driveways. Not suitable for walkways and driveways with lots of edging to damage. The result was that a lot of people were snowed in the day after Christmas and the week following with only passenger vehicles. If I had a large blower on the 4520 I could have paid for it in that week alone. Problem is that may not occur again for a few years.

Any suggestions what would you buy and why?

Well you could do a blower on the 4520 and use that as the main clearing weapon instead of a blade, that would help on the drives with retaining walls, are they paved?

AS an example as i indicated above, i used to blade the small and blow the big, now i just blow big or small, actually turns out to be quicker and produces a nicer result. That is what many the contractors in canada do using rear pulls. Today i blew only 2 inches and it was super quick and i was done. For some reason i would not have done that with the previous front blower.

Regardless of what you get remember the cad to usd rate is quite favorable and consider getting something from north of the 49th. Many of the top snow removal equipment companies are canadian and there is no duty on canadian products. I saved a lot by buying in Ca and then importing myself. I am guessing you might be in the northern rockies or inland northwest because of the comments on snowfall and storms?

 

[jenkinsph]

I could use a pull type rear blower on most of the drives. I would still need to blade some areas because they are too congested and no where to blow the snow. Have to stack the snow between parking places at a large condo development. The private homes on larger lots would work well with a blower though. During the last large event I had thought that I might be better off catching all the private drives with the 4520 and pull type blower and let the truck guys labor and fight over everything else. But my employees still need to work and get a paycheck. That condo facility provides year round work.

Most of my work is in Alto, NM and the elevation varies from 7500 to 8000 ft. While we are about 125 mile from the Mexico border we still get some heavy snow at this altitude.

 

[fishhead]

I could use a pull type rear blower on most of the drives. I would still need to blade some areas because they are too congested and no where to blow the snow. Have to stack the snow between parking places at a large condo development. The private homes on larger lots would work well with a blower though. During the last large event I had thought that I might be better off catching all the private drives with the 4520 and pull type blower and let the truck guys labor and fight over everything else. But my employees still need to work and get a paycheck. That condo facility provides year round work.

Most of my work is in Alto, NM and the elevation varies from 7500 to 8000 ft. While we are about 125 mile from the Mexico border we still get some heavy snow at this altitude.

well canada is a tiny bit farther than i had guessed then.
You may on small storms be able to use the blower as a drag box (i.e. lower it move forward then engage the pto when you can blow, won't hold a ton of snow but it can help near a car etc. I also use this method when there is not enough slushy snow to keep from plugging the chute. I do try to only engage and dis-engage the pto at lower rpms but i know that the commercial guys are just turning them on and off. Also the better blowers have taller spouts and seem to offer better control of snow placement. that should help some.

Looks like a nice area

 

[rd_macgregor]

I think one advantage of a plow over a blower, at least on gravel drives, is that the berm of gravel left by the plow will be easier to scrape back into the drive in the spring than will the berm of gravel blown out into the middle of the lawn by the blower. This is another good reason not to start blowing until you've beaten down a couple of early snows into a hard-packed base.

 

[paulfun9]

I actually move more stone with the plow than I do with the blower.

 

[Farmer495]

My snow blower PTO shaft grenaded halfway through doing driveways last storm. Had to use FEL bucket to finish. Now there is gravel on lawns where there was none before...