Rear blade for snow on gravel, pipe or rubber mat?

[hoffmtc]

This will be our 2nd winter at our new place, I have about 100yd gravel driveway. I have a 6' box blade that I pushed snow backwards, that worked 'good enough' after trial/error with getting the right angle so as not to scrape a bunch of gravel. Obviously no angle to divert snow to the side with the box blade.

I recently found a great deal on a rear blade with offset and angle adjustments. I got it wide enough to cover my tire tracks when angled too. Now my question is about modifying it so that it doesn't scrape gravel with the snow. I've see two popular methods of putting a slit pipe over the cutting edge of the blade, and also sandwiching thick horse stall mat with some material protruding below the blade to act as a wiper or squegee.

I'm wondering if the horse stall mat would be more for concrete/asphalt use? Would the best method for me be to use the pipe on the blade? I'm thinking metal pipe instead of the PVC or ABS due to cold and brittle of the plastic.

Anybody use the horse mat method on gravel? ...I'd like to use the best method for my application the first attempt, so that's why I'm looking for input.

 

[TerryR]

I don't put anything on mine. If the ground is frozen before it snows, just let it float and it takes of very little gravel. If not, hold it up a bit off the gravel and leave a tad of snow on the drive.

 

[hoffmtc]

This is a new construction house/driveway as of last November, so there wasn't a lot of pack-down before winter. After this spring of hours of raking and collecting gravel out of the grass, I'm not doing that again!

 

[herm0016]

I use 4 in pvc at each end and one in the middle. seems to work pretty well. I am going to try a steel pipe with tabs welded on to bolt onto the edge though. The pvc lasts about a season, I have only cracked one of them in the cold.

 

[nybirdman]

Before it's frozen;just turn the blade around and pull forward.

 

[Midniteoyl]

The simple way is to adjust it so it's ~1.5" off the ground (using a piece of 2x4 as a gauge) and leave a bit of snow on the drive. You really don't want to have anything actually scraping on the gravel.

Or you could get gauge wheels to attach to the blade.

 

[herm0016]

Before it's frozen;just turn the blade around and pull forward.

some places, the ground freezes and refreezes and it snows 30 inches and is 60 degrees the next day. we end up with lots of snow on top of wet ground in Colorado.

 

[LD48750]

This will be our 2nd winter at our new place, I have about 100yd gravel driveway. I have a 6' box blade that I pushed snow backwards, that worked 'good enough' after trial/error with getting the right angle so as not to scrape a bunch of gravel. Obviously no angle to divert snow to the side with the box blade.

I recently found a great deal on a rear blade with offset and angle adjustments. I got it wide enough to cover my tire tracks when angled too. Now my question is about modifying it so that it doesn't scrape gravel with the snow. I've see two popular methods of putting a slit pipe over the cutting edge of the blade, and also sandwiching thick horse stall mat with some material protruding below the blade to act as a wiper or squegee.

I'm wondering if the horse stall mat would be more for concrete/asphalt use? Would the best method for me be to use the pipe on the blade? I'm thinking metal pipe instead of the PVC or ABS due to cold and brittle of the plastic.

Anybody use the horse mat method on gravel? ...I'd like to use the best method for my application the first attempt, so that's why I'm looking for input.

I tried pipe, it worked....sort of.
Hard to get it cut straight & keep it mounted.

Found out just a piece of angle iron works better & is SOOOO MUCH easier to attach.

5' ATV plow on front of tractor I just bolted through the cutting edge to attach a piece of cheap bed frame.
Worked good enough that I could plow paths through the grass without tearing up anything.

7.5' truck plow... replaced cutting edge with 3" angle iron.
Sure is better then pipe.

 

[TerryR]

After this spring of hours of raking and collecting gravel out of the grass, I'm not doing that again!

Gravel naturally gets thrown out of the driveway by traffic, as well as by plowing snow. If you can't stand that your only choice is to pave it.

 

[hoffmtc]

Thanks for the input, I like the angle iron idea as well. I realize there will always be some gravel that gets into the grass, but with fresh driveway that was not packed at all, I had piles of it in the grass this spring. A lot of that was due to me not having the angle on the box blade right after the first big snowfall.

I know I can keep the blade up 1.5" or so, but I'd rather have the blade "ride over" the gravel best I can. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[dodge man]

I have some sort of yellow synthetic edge on mine but it’s asphalt and I don’t think it would work that well on gravel.

 

[trueg50]

~125yrd driveway here, I just flip the blade around for the first snow so it packs a base-layer. With a better base layer I can then flip the blade around for the rest of the season.

 

[PILOON]

I've seen some small clamp on skis or skids that seem to work quite well.

They are called "EDGE TAMERS"

In fact I made similar devices for my snow blower, well actually added oversize bottoms to existing skids.

 

[s219]

Tried both and feel the pipe was much better. That's what I stayed with. I use a galvanized pipe, about 1.25" OD.

 

[nyone]

The best practice for plowing a gravel driveway is to never let the plow touch the gravel...ever. get a nice snow pack on it then plow to the surface. If you ever need to let the plow touch the gravel plow it to a place that's not in your lawn and you can leave it until spring. Doing these few things really cut back on my spring time gravel raking. I now have a snow blower but just hope that I'm not now raking the stone from 40ft away.

 

[Dwellonroof]

Tried both and feel the pipe was much better. That's what I stayed with. I use a galvanized pipe, about 1.25" OD.

How did you attach the pipe? any pictures?

 

[LouNY]

As has been mentioned I run my blade backwards while pulling when the driveway is not frozen,
once it's frozen I turn it around and pull forward.

Pulling a blade forward on frozen ground

Pulling a blade backwards on non frozen ground

 

[TerryR]

The best practice for plowing a gravel driveway is to never let the plow touch the gravel...ever. get a nice snow pack on it then plow to the surface.

An interesting theory, but not workable on most driveways around here. Especially the section of mine with 14% slope that faces north. After a couple of passes with a vehicle it becomes a sheet of ice that provides a very quick trip to the bottom of the hill, and you can't scrape it off until it melts in its own sweet time.

 

[Midniteoyl]

An interesting theory, but not workable on most driveways around here. Especially the section of mine with 14% slope that faces north. After a couple of passes with a vehicle it becomes a sheet of ice that provides a very quick trip to the bottom of the hill, and you can't scrape it off until it melts in its own sweet time.

Whats the avg snow in Boone?

 

[jyoutz]

Gravel naturally gets thrown out of the driveway by traffic, as well as by plowing snow. If you can't stand that your only choice is to pave it.

That’s not the only choice. I turn my blade around backwards and it pushes snow without moving gravel.