Anyone Bent Their FEL Using a Snow Plow

[Coyote machine]

If it were my problem I'd try to combine the best piece of equipment with each machine. I would likely look at chains first.I like my Aquiline MPC's because they grip well on ice as well as excellent in snow too.
Then I'd look at which plow would do best for the tractor. My opinion is the 96" 2000 would best suit your expressed needs. One foot extra length is only 6" more per side, and if it's too much you can swing it at a lesser angle or back off the bank as needed. With an 84" you would be harder pressed to get the push as far into the bank without risking being stuck or worse.

I think you may have to reconsider your faster is better thinking; instead try to tweak your rides to better handle your specific needs/terrain. You might be able to retrofit your blower to work on the SS, OR use the 2000 on both SS and tractor. You'd have to rig hoses for flat an Parker or whatever your tractor uses to adapt to the two applications. The SS has, I'd imagine, way higher PSI available to run the plow hydraulics, and that can't hurt, especially with the 96" swath available.
You know your drive better than anyone else, so I'd try different combos and see what works best over time. The amount of time you save is money in your pocket from improving what you can get done with less effort/time spent. The right equipment will get you there...

 

[TSO]

Or just get a plow truck

 

[Hilbilly]

Yesterday I went to pick up my grandsons from the school bus and on my way down the driveway I tried to envision using a truck mounted plow, while also watching the speed I was traveling. It appeared to me that even where I was going slow, I was still going faster than I would in the tractor. Maybe a truck mounted plow is part of the solution. My son in law has one and he has plowed my drive a couple of times but someone welded side plates to both ends of the plow so it won't release the snow off the end of the blade. Maybe I can talk him into letting me cut those off and making some removable ones. Then I can try the truck mounted plow before buying one.

I've also been checking out the possibility of converting my rear mount blower to hydraulic so I could mount it on the SS and then I could drive forwards.

Maybe with those 2 systems I can reduce the snow handling time and the strain on the old neck. Time will tell.

Might have to wait until next year to find out about the truck plow though, as I think we may be done with significant snow falls and the driveway is plowed / blown wide enough to handle more snow without having to blow. But I can certainly follow through with the blower conversion.

I was checking out hydraulic blowers and came across one that can be run off the 3PTH or SS. MK Martin makes them and they call it a Binary blower. The mounting system is convertible and I think the motor is hydraulic that can be connected to the PTO driveshaft or run directly from the SS hydraulics. Probably really pricey though. My snowblower is made by them and I think I will call them to see if they have a hydraulic motor that would work with my blower and SS. I can do all the fab work to make the changes.

 

[Coyote machine]

Yesterday I went to pick up my grandsons from the school bus and on my way down the driveway I tried to envision using a truck mounted plow, while also watching the speed I was traveling. It appeared to me that even where I was going slow, I was still going faster than I would in the tractor. Maybe a truck mounted plow is part of the solution. My son in law has one and he has plowed my drive a couple of times but someone welded side plates to both ends of the plow so it won't release the snow off the end of the blade. Maybe I can talk him into letting me cut those off and making some removable ones. Then I can try the truck mounted plow before buying one.

I've also been checking out the possibility of converting my rear mount blower to hydraulic so I could mount it on the SS and then I could drive forwards.

Maybe with those 2 systems I can reduce the snow handling time and the strain on the old neck. Time will tell.

Might have to wait until next year to find out about the truck plow though, as I think we may be done with significant snow falls and the driveway is plowed / blown wide enough to handle more snow without having to blow. But I can certainly follow through with the blower conversion.

I was checking out hydraulic blowers and came across one that can be run off the 3PTH or SS. MK Martin makes them and they call it a Binary blower. The mounting system is convertible and I think the motor is hydraulic that can be connected to the PTO driveshaft or run directly from the SS hydraulics. Probably really pricey though. My snowblower is made by them and I think I will call them to see if they have a hydraulic motor that would work with my blower and SS. I can do all the fab work to make the changes.

The conversion to front mounted blower on your skid-steer sounds like a good start toward tweaking your setup. And a heated cab on a throw away truck also sounds like an improvement over your current nightmare plowing chores.
Is there anyone else who could lend you a plow truck long enough to try the plow on a truck routine, instead of having to cut a wing off the plow you mentioned?

Or consider having a professional local plow guy, with lots of experience, come by your place when you have a big storm to plow. Have him access your situation while you do a drive along with him in the truck/cab. That could give you much better idea of what will work with little to know expense.

 

[Hilbilly]

Coyote,

I like the idea of getting someone to plow the driveway with me riding along. There is a guy I know that lives about 30 minutes from us and has a trucking company with a bunch of plow trucks. I think I'll talk to him and see what he thinks. It's too late now to see if the truck plow would throw the snow, since the banks are currently vertical and about 30" high. I think the key is to keep the banks as far back and as low as possible for as long as possible. That would reduce or eliminate the need for blowing. Still worth getting him to come here though as he has a lot more experience plowing than I do. He does all the winter road maintenance for the little town near us. Plus he does a lot of private driveways and parking lots too. My situation is more like the road work since it is long and requires throwing, not pushing. He has big equipment, like highways trucks and probably 4 or 5 pick ups with plows and some have sanders in the box.

Thanks for the idea.

 

[zimcocomp]

I mounted an old Myers plow in place of the bucket by building an adapter plate for attachment. This allows full operation. Angle down to scrape my gravel road (1/3 mile) or angle up to put the blade back on it's feet to avoid scraping up the rocks in the road. I find it helps to pack down the first snowfalls to put a small barrier between the gravel and the plow blade. I have mine on old Kubota tractor and it works very well. If I hit something the blade will trip back without doing any damage. You can pile the snow quite high since it can be lifted as high as the bucket could be. With my defective neck I couldn't use a rear mounted blower but I have been thinking about rigging up one in the front. I have a gravel road that has fairly high dirt banks along the sides so pushing the snow banks can only go so far. The blower would blow it up and over the sides quite well.
I have been plowing snow with this rig for more than twenty years and once I broke a weld (I'm not a good welder) on the adapter that I made.

I 'm looking for ideas to mount a blower in the front now.

 

[Coyote machine]

Coyote,

I like the idea of getting someone to plow the driveway with me riding along. There is a guy I know that lives about 30 minutes from us and has a trucking company with a bunch of plow trucks. I think I'll talk to him and see what he thinks. It's too late now to see if the truck plow would throw the snow, since the banks are currently vertical and about 30" high. I think the key is to keep the banks as far back and as low as possible for as long as possible. That would reduce or eliminate the need for blowing. Still worth getting him to come here though as he has a lot more experience plowing than I do. He does all the winter road maintenance for the little town near us. Plus he does a lot of private driveways and parking lots too. My situation is more like the road work since it is long and requires throwing, not pushing. He has big equipment, like highways trucks and probably 4 or 5 pick ups with plows and some have sanders in the box.

Thanks for the idea.

No problem, you're welcome. I thought of it because when I'm away I have to have my drives plowed. The guys who do it are using V plows so their approach is totally different from my method. So you might learn something from the local guy that didn't occur to you because you're so close to the situation. Good luck, post back results.

 

[Hilbilly]

New problem. Yesterday I was moving snow away from buildings, so when the melt comes I don't get all that water getting into my building drains and septic system. There some huge piles on either side of the buildings with metal roofs and I decided to use the blower instead of shuttling back and forth with the SS and the snow bucket. That worked awesome and was way faster, plus it looks cool to watch all the snow being blown. On one of my passes I caught the edge of a gravel pile and soon afterwards, noticed a strange sound (even with my ear plugs in). I stop top investigate and find one of the bearings has been damaged and the idler gear bearing is trashed. Into the shop it goes and today I get to take it all apart to get bearing numbers and figure out what I'm going to do about the idler assembly. Looks like I'll be making a trip in to the big city next week to get parts.

Coyote,
Your right again. There may a very simple solution that hasn't occurred to me. Also I realized there is a section of drive where the snow has been piled against a lower bank and that might be a good test section for the truck mounted plow.

Zimcocomp,

Since you have fab skills, you could get a hydraulic blower. Mount it on your loader and fab a hydraulic drive system to run off your pto, using a pto pump and reservoir. I thought about doing that a long time ago and bought a pto pump with a small reservoir, at an auction. I still need to convert my mechanical rear blower to hydraulic though and fab a system to mount it all.

 

[Hilbilly]

My blower must be very old. I pulled the idler sprocket off and there is a stamp on it that says "Made in the USA".

 

[crazyal]

Back when I plowed I found that while it was nice to get some speed up and get the snow to fly over the edge and down the hill it was easier to just accept that every so often I just had to use my FEL to push the snow over the edge to keep the banks down. My '77 International truck has a 10' blade and weighs over 10klbs so it can move some snow but sooner or later the banks would start closing in no matter what I did. Now I have a front mounted blower and while slower it only takes one pass down then back up and I'm done and the snow is gone forever.