Rear blade for snow removal

[leningrad]

I have a l3901 and am using it to clear my 1000 ft driveway with the bucket currently, not ideal! I am looking to get a rear blade but am conflicted on a 6ft or 7ft? What would you chose for size with my tractor in mind?

 

[Stan B]

I have a similar size tractor and use a 6ft rear blade for my 360ft driveway. I set it at an angle and one trip down and back gets it done. 7ft might be better though as 6ft angled just barely covers the width of the tractor, but I prefer the 6ft as it is the same width as my snow pusher, so when using both to clear in front of buildings (pusher for volume, rear blade for getting close to doors), they compliment each other.

 

[EverythingAttachments]

Most would choose 84". Here is the best compact tractor blade with simple tilt, angle and offset functions. Completely USA Made with a USA Made cutting edge!
EA 6 Way Deluxe Scrape Blade

Pics from fellow TBNer, MAD777..

And a few from the factory..

 

[Boondox]

Wider is better as it will still cover the width of the tractor when angled. The big caveat is that early and late in the winter when the snow is wet and heavy it will tend to drag the tractor a bit. Ballast in the bucket will mitigate that somewhat. Another factor to consider is whether or not you have room to pile the snow alongside your driveway. I'm in Craftsbury VT and after years of using a blade I finally gave up and bought a snowblower. This time of year it's not any faster than using the rear blade, but since it throws it 30 feet to the side I no longer have to spend half days in February thru April pushing huge snowbanks back to make room for my car.

 

[MAD777]

Those top two pictures EA posted above are my 84" on my Kioti CK2610HST, which I believe is roughly equivalent to the size of your tractor.
It was definitely the right choice in size. And I must say that I'm super impressed with the design and build quality of the blade. There's no end to its versatility.
I use it backwards when my 450' gravel driveway is soft and frontwards when it's frozen. The offset and angle really pushes the snow well to the side of my driving path.
And it's so easy to change the setup of offset, angle or tilt. The steepest part of my driveway is 19% slope, so I plow downhill only so as not to overwork my 25 HP tractor. That means I have to flip everything over to the other side between runs.
Bottom line, I would not even consider another rear blade than this 84" Deluxe 6-way from EA.
P. S. My tires are filled with beet juice and I have very aggressive Euro chains.

 

[nybirdman]

The seven footer for sure;way better than just a bucket.Good all around tool for summer drive way maintenance also.I have two, a light duty for our smaller tractor(6' and free) and a Landpride medium duty 7' for the bigger tractor.You want one you can turn the blade around for dragging on soft ground;advise NOT to push with it.
I have a 8' converted truck plow on the FEL;you may want to consider one of those in the future.

 

[CobyRupert]

I know your question was 6' vs 7', but do you have any rear hydraulic SCV ports?
Rear blades usually have 2 or 3 adjustments: Angle, tilt, and offset.

Angle: Being able to hydraulically change the angle to plow snow left or right without getting off the tractor every time is the most useful.
Tilt: I originally though having a 2nd cylinder for tilt would be 2nd most useful. It is in dirt, when trying to crown, or pitch a surface; or when cleaning out or establishing a ditch, etc... I find that when plowing snow, it's more useful to have the tilt free floating so that all of blade stays in contact with ground even when the tractor tilts ahead of ground the blade is on. This depends on how flat your driveway is. On a manual adjusting blade, one can just pull the pin to let the tilt action float.
Offset: Knowing what I know now for plowing snow, I would of made this action hydraulic so I can get blade up next to buildings without worrying about putting the bucket through a wall.

 

[leningrad]

Thanks everyone for the insight! My driveway is twisty and hilly and not very level and has some ditches on the sides as well as being gravel/ dirt. It is quite narrow maybe 10-12 ft. I wanted to get some more opinions as my dealer was saying the 7ft was too big and the 3901 would struggle with it. Seems most here would go 84”...

 

[leningrad]

I know your question was 6' vs 7', but do you have any rear hydraulic SCV ports?
Rear blades usually have 2 or 3 adjustments: Angle, tilt, and offset.

Angle: Being able to hydraulically change the angle to plow snow left or right without getting off the tractor every time is the most useful.
Tilt: I originally though having a 2nd cylinder for tilt would be 2nd most useful. It is in dirt, when trying to crown, or pitch a surface; or when cleaning out or establishing a ditch, etc... I find that when plowing snow, it's more useful to have the tilt free floating so that all of blade stays in contact with ground even when the tractor tilts ahead of ground the blade is on. This depends on how flat your driveway is. On a manual adjusting blade, one can just pull the pin to let the tilt action float.
Offset: Knowing what I know now for plowing snow, I would of made this action hydraulic so I can get blade up next to buildings without worrying about putting the bucket through a wall.

I would love to have some rear remotes in the future but for now unfortunately they aren’t an option. They would be extremely helpful when grading the drive even with the box blade I use now as I am frequently getting off the tractor to adjust.

 

[fried1765]

I have a l3901 and am using it to clear my 1000 ft driveway with the bucket currently, not ideal! I am looking to get a rear blade but am conflicted on a 6ft or 7ft? What would you chose for size with my tractor in mind?

The EA 6 WAY Deluxe Scrape Blade is without question THE BEST (manual adjust) rear blade on the market.
BEST BUILT & EASIEST TO ADJUST !