700' gravel driveway with 2 acres of lawn in snow country

[mg448]

Craftsman DGT6 54" 27hp Kohler Bagger 46" power lift snowblower cab - farm & garden - by owner - sale
Taking a look at this tomorrow. If it's in good shape I'll get it for the driveway and buy a zero turn before spring. The previous owner paid to have the driveway plowed. He told me that if it was light snow it would drift pretty badly once banks were formed. He would have to go out clear drifts between storms. That decided me against a plow.
Anyone have any input on a 2005 craftsman dgt6000? I know the kohler engine is pretty solid, but I don't know about the rest of the machine. The selling points are: the price, snowblower, soft cab, wheel weights and chains.

 

[airbiscuit]

It has lots of goodies, but at the core it is a2wd garden tractor. I think your instincts were right in the first place with a SCUT (Sub-Compact Utility Tractor). A wife from Long Island will not use a garden tractor after a decent snow storm, and neither will you. It takes a lot of traction to work snow, and even with chains and weight, a 2wd garden tractor is going to have issues.

If it speaks to you, buy it, but I think you will be back to scanning the TractorHouse Ads.

 

[leonz]

most front mount snow blowers in lawn tractors are belt driven JUNK. the only good ones were the side driven wheel horse single and two stage snow blowers as well as the old Cub Cadet lawn tractors with the 12 horsepower horizontal Kohler engines that had the short belt to drive the IHC mowers and their excellent single stage snow blowers.

I would avoid that BX like the plague!! You have no idea what shape that transmission is in. If you want a kubota talk to Art White at Whites Farm Supply and tell him what you have for a little slice of "Heaven" and what you have to do with it.

Your going to spend a lot of time in the seat especially in winter. My fathers neighbor bought a BX2360 from Art with a belly mower, front snowblower and an aftermarket metal all weather cab with windshield wipers and work lights and a Kubota cab heater and defroster piped off the engine cooling system and she was able to work in here shirt sleeves when blowing snow off her monster driveway as the cab was always warm and the windows defrosted. She just took the cab doors off in the summer to mow.

Even an new BX1870 with a hard cab and heater and rear mounted snow blower will serve you well will cost you less money and all you have to do is side sideways in the seat to blow snow without hurting your neck as many of the members do with their small mules.

forget a used tractor a new 1870 with a hard cab, mower and rear mount snow blower will serve you well.

Just remember the front mount Kubota snow blowers will cost you much more money to buy and will need more power and work to own and repair than a Pronovost rear mount snow blower from Art White.

 

[paulfun9]

Craftsman DGT6 54" 27hp Kohler Bagger 46" power lift snowblower cab - farm & garden - by owner - sale
Taking a look at this tomorrow. If it's in good shape I'll get it for the driveway and buy a zero turn before spring. The previous owner paid to have the driveway plowed. He told me that if it was light snow it would drift pretty badly once banks were formed. He would have to go out clear drifts between storms. That decided me against a plow.
Anyone have any input on a 2005 craftsman dgt6000? I know the kohler engine is pretty solid, but I don't know about the rest of the machine. The selling points are: the price, snowblower, soft cab, wheel weights and chains.

That would be Ideal for a couple walkways and a 50ft driveway. 700FT with drifts I would not even entertain the thought!

I live with drifts here and they would be **** if it wasn't for our rear mount snow blowers. I usually use the Kioti with an 84" blower and because of the blower I don't have to keep up with the storm. Just let it fall and when its done open everything up and done. Overall I spend less time then if I used a plow and had to keep going back every few hours to keep up with it. I have also had good laughs when a friend tried to tell me a truck with a plow would be faster because when you hit those drifts going uphill they will stop an F350 or Ram3500 dead in its tracks every time and even when the snow isn't deep they require much more time pushing everything back to make room for the next snow.

I didn't read the hole post but if the driveway is any indication of the rest of the property with 700ft I would be thinking no less than a compact with at least 30 to 35 HP and a blower to cover its tracks. Once down and once back up and your clear quick and easy!

 

[check]

Good advice. I have a 54 inch rear mount snowblower on my BX25, which only has 17.5 PTO horsepower. It blows through anything that will fit in the blower, which is about 2 feet or more high. A 1 foot snowfall would not trouble it in the slightest.

So, I don't agree with those who say you must, must, must have a bigger tractor if you want to blow snow at the amount you are talking about. And I blow about 700 feet of driveway myself.

Very importantly, a rear blower leaves you with a front end loader to clear away the Windrows at the end of your driveway, and or any banks at all that build up.

 

[Egon]

The Craftsman shown may be a good buy but may not be suitable for what you need.

Hard snow drifts and heavy snow falls will probably be overwhelming. Unless your mowing area is smooth it may get hung up a fair bit. The plastic cab might not survive many winters. Belt drives on the attachments can get to be a pain.

Hate to be negative but many years ago I had a 16 hp. Sears onan twin with blower, mower & rototiller. It was a good sturdy little unit and did well mowing on smooth areas. The blower was barely adaquate and downright frustrating for deep snow. It was replaced by a Kubota B7100 which was like night & day. No blower but the loader worked well. Three thousand hours latter a JD 4200 took its place. Again like night and day.

 

[woolyAcres]

mg448

I don't know exactly where you are in upstate NY so the amount of snow you get could vary from Buffalo/Rochester levels down to just north of NYC. If you're closer to Buffalo you might consider this unit:
Toro Wheelhorse 416H garden tractor - farm & garden - by owner - sale

I know I'm the contrary view here. For my needs and budget a WheelHorse 520 with chains and blower has been fine. Is it a 30 year solution, no. Does it get the job done and fit the budget? yes. Since you're new to the property, something like this would help you get through winter and give you time to figure out just what your needs will be and it could be your mower and with some care, stick around for many years.

I'd absolutely recommend a 25HP cabbed tractor with from mount snow blower and I'd have one myself if I could afford it. All I'm saying is that something less than 25HP can do the job. I'm on the southern edge of the snow belt in NW PA and this unit has been fine through the last 3 years (admittedly not big snow years for around here). As mentioned earlier, I've got a 4WD 24HP tractor w/FEL that I can use if things get out of hand, but I haven't had a need for it and the gas wheel horse fires up every time in the cold.

I bundle up (and get a few face fulls of snow) when I blow the drive. It takes me between 30-40 minutes to do my drive and parking area. The only real issue I have is that the blower will pick up stones unless there is a nice layer of packed snow. If we get a big snow and there's nothing already on the drive, I either plow it (with the wheel horse- yes I've got a plow too) or I have to float the blower so I don't blow the driveway stones into the yard. The shoes on mine aren't very large so it's possible to grab stones. I think blower for 3PT hitch might have bigger/better shoes.

I don't know anything about the Sears unit you posted. As mentioned, the horizontal shaft engines (like my 520 and the 416 in the link) are not lawn tractors. They are garden tractors.

 

[mg448]

A new 25-35 hp scut with a front blower, heated cab, back blade, 60" belly mower and fel would be my first choice. It's not an option. If this Craftsman doesn't pan out, and I'm not going to buy it if it's not in excellent shape, I'll wait until the right deal comes along. If that means I have to clear my driveway with my Ariens 28" deluxe sho walk behind blower this winter so be it. It's not how I would prefer to clear 700' of driveway, but it will get the job done if need be. I'm in the hills outside of Albany. We get significant snow, but not Buffalo or Syracuse snow.
I have a hard cap of $10,000 I'm willing to spend, but I would rather spend much less then that since work is slow right now and we just bought an expensive house and have a young baby at home. If a $2500 lawn tractor will save me a couple hours each snow storm over my walk behind I'll go that route since it will save me some money to spend on a zero turn mower-which is where most of my time will be spent. I was looking more for some info on how those Craftsman mowers would hold up then on what kind of equipment everyone thinks I should use. I know what I should use. I can't afford it right now. I'm just trying to make the best decision I can with the money I have to spend right now.
I really do appreciate all of the advice and I wish I could spend the $$ to get what I want, but I need to get what I can afford.
Thanks,
Mike

p.s. plowing is still not an option because of the banks and drifting.

 

[rustyshakelford]

A new 25-35 hp scut with a front blower, heated cab, back blade, 60" belly mower and fel would be my first choice. It's not an option. If this Craftsman doesn't pan out, and I'm not going to buy it if it's not in excellent shape, I'll wait until the right deal comes along. If that means I have to clear my driveway with my Ariens 28" deluxe sho walk behind blower this winter so be it. It's not how I would prefer to clear 700' of driveway, but it will get the job done if need be. I'm in the hills outside of Albany. We get significant snow, but not Buffalo or Syracuse snow.
I have a hard cap of $10,000 I'm willing to spend, but I would rather spend much less then that since work is slow right now and we just bought an expensive house and have a young baby at home. If a $2500 lawn tractor will save me a couple hours each snow storm over my walk behind I'll go that route since it will save me some money to spend on a zero turn mower-which is where most of my time will be spent. I was looking more for some info on how those Craftsman mowers would hold up then on what kind of equipment everyone thinks I should use. I know what I should use. I can't afford it right now. I'm just trying to make the best decision I can with the money I have to spend right now.
I really do appreciate all of the advice and I wish I could spend the $$ to get what I want, but I need to get what I can afford.
Thanks,
Mike

p.s. plowing is still not an option because of the banks and drifting.

I'm no Dave Ramsey but that 10k could make a bunch of payments at 0% towards something that'll make life much easier. Don't be afraid to finance something like this that'll be around a while

Brett

 

[mg448]

I won't take out a car loan, definitely not going to take out a loan on a tractor. I know it may sound stupid, but I hate to be in debt to anyone. My own stubborn pride speaking.
Mike