1000ft long, 100ft elevation, twisty, gravel- front or rear mount?

[grumpymama]

Hi folks, my husband and I bought 25 acres in a snowbelt in Nova Scotia, Canada. Our driveway is gravel, a bit of a switchback up the mountain, 1000ft long and climbs about 100-120ft in elevation. I'll be doing all the snow removal, because I work from home and my husband leaves the house at 4 or 5am to go do snow removal for his job haha. We need advice on an approach here. Although he runs plows and blowers for work every winter, his work/campus is relatively flat and all paved. Our situation is so different.

Concerns of a back-mounted blower- I'm worried to drive backwards down a mountain in an area where even a well-marked driveway becomes invisible in a 3 ft snow dump with added drifting- especially as our driveway has 3 corners, 2 of them relatively sharp, one of them is along a ridge where there could most definitely be a rollover-down-the-mountain situation if I back up off the drive, or slide on ice. I'd love to have a blade on the back, to scrape down the surface and reduce compaction and ice where the driveway is steep. I'm also pretty new to tractors in general, having never owned one and only drove them for a few years back when I was in Ag research- and then, just a little 12.5hp kubota.

Concerns of a front-mounted blower- We've got a steep hill and will definitely need to be spreading gravel/sand over the winter, but especially in March and April when our freeze-thaw cycles kick in more and we find ourselves the owners of a luge track. A FEL would be handy to spread traction sand/etc. This would also be helpful to break down the snowbanks at the highwayside, which will get to an easy 6 feet. And budget is a massive concern- we're a family of 5 on one income, and are building a little house at the moment, with unexpected costs climbing on a daily basis. But... we'll be on this land forever. I want to make a good investment, knowing it is an investment. Snow will be a big part of our lives from November- April.

Part of me is considering just parking the car at the bottom of the hill and investing in a snowmobile and pair of snowshoes to get the kids and groceries up the mountain to the house, haha.

Thank you for your thoughts, especially those specific to the steep slope. I've been searching and reading these forums and making notes.

 

[oldnslo]

Hey grumpy mama,
Love that name.. if money is tight rear mounted blowers are much less expensive and also not brand specific like front mount blowers. Rear mount you have two basic options. Least expensive is standard backup to use. A little more expensive is rear pull type blower. Not sure common these are in your area and you have to consider tractor size and snowfall amounts since you have to drive through the snow to get it into the blower.

Best wishes on finding something that works for you.

 

[ning]

I can't help with the snow removal questions, but I'd definitely be prepared with the snowmobile regardless just so there's no scramble for a temporary back-up. Can you keep one in a shed at the main road (is that your land, or can you get permission for a shed)?

 

[duffer]

One way to minimize your risk if you decide on a rear mount blower is to get 4' long marking sticks and mark the sides of your drive before it snows. Many cities use them to mark fire hydrant locations to keep the trucks from hitting them. That way you should be able to keep it on the drive with no problems.

Most blowers have "feet" on them to keep them off the gravel. Set it at 1"-2" high, and leave some snow to compact for traction for the vehicles. This should also minimize the ice buildup, but spreading some sand will help too. Get a load brought up to the house before the first snowfall.

As others have said, keep the snow machine under roof, plugged in if necessary for emergencies. Tractors sometimes don't like to start in Winter. Have a block heater on yours? If not, run a heat lamp on the engine on those nights where it's supposed to get really cold and snowy.

 

[MossRoad]

Welcome to TBN!

You might consider a blower on the rear and a snow blade on FEL arms on the front.

Also, the suggestion about driveway markers was spot on if you have areas that you are concerned about getting off into a ditch.

 

[leonz]

Hi folks, my husband and I bought 25 acres in a snowbelt in Nova Scotia, Canada. Our driveway is gravel, a bit of a switchback up the mountain, 1000ft long and climbs about 100-120ft in elevation. I'll be doing all the snow removal, because I work from home and my husband leaves the house at 4 or 5am to go do snow removal for his job haha. We need advice on an approach here. Although he runs plows and blowers for work every winter, his work/campus is relatively flat and all paved. Our situation is so different.

Concerns of a back-mounted blower- I'm worried to drive backwards down a mountain in an area where even a well-marked driveway becomes invisible in a 3 ft snow dump with added drifting- especially as our driveway has 3 corners, 2 of them relatively sharp, one of them is along a ridge where there could most definitely be a rollover-down-the-mountain situation if I back up off the drive, or slide on ice. I'd love to have a blade on the back, to scrape down the surface and reduce compaction and ice where the driveway is steep. I'm also pretty new to tractors in general, having never owned one and only drove them for a few years back when I was in Ag research- and then, just a little 12.5hp kubota.

Concerns of a front-mounted blower- We've got a steep hill and will definitely need to be spreading gravel/sand over the winter, but especially in March and April when our freeze-thaw cycles kick in more and we find ourselves the owners of a luge track. A FEL would be handy to spread traction sand/etc. This would also be helpful to break down the snowbanks at the highwayside, which will get to an easy 6 feet. And budget is a massive concern- we're a family of 5 on one income, and are building a little house at the moment, with unexpected costs climbing on a daily basis. But... we'll be on this land forever. I want to make a good investment, knowing it is an investment. Snow will be a big part of our lives from November- April.

Part of me is considering just parking the car at the bottom of the hill and investing in a snowmobile and pair of snowshoes to get the kids and groceries up the mountain to the house, haha.

Thank you for your thoughts, especially those specific to the steep slope. I've been searching and reading these forums and making notes.

Until you know exactly how much money you can invest in a piece of snow removal equipment you are just going in circles.

Snowmobiles don't love ice and thier skis don't like it either as they will slide around.

Spreading sand is going to require a pendulum spreader and a kerosene fired salamander/space heater to warm the sand up to shovel it in the
hopper of the pendulum spreader.

Option two would be to use a hydraulic driven drop spreader mounted on a tractors front end to spread a great deal of sand but to do that you need
a large tractor.

Option 3 which is the "sane" approach until you have enough money to invest in earth moving to fix the mess you bought into would be to have a funicular
lift installed from the bottom to the top.

www.hillsidelifts.com

Short of importing a track drive Zaugg Snow Beast for this you will have no real options as the small all wheel drive Zaugg or Holder snow blowers will reach $180,000.00+

 

[Creamer]

Easy answer - 4WD, cab, rear mount blower without having to turn around. Capable of handling large snowfall.

 

[Rustyiron]

Really a pickup with a V blade, chains and a sander will do this especially down hill.
The best advice to remember for any snow storm, "Plow WITH the storm" meaning plow (open it up) every 6" or so.
It's not as an intimidating task as you think, and learning this will come with experience. You'll also need to learn about the weather. We'll often leave the snow if there's going to be a period of rain or ice during this particular "event" then clear it. Rain or ice will stick to the surface if plowed.
I'd think about selecting a plow guy for the first year and explain that you'd like to ride along (with a thermos of hot coffee and cookies of course) to observe and ask questions. This will be invaluable to your plowing resume.

 

[MossRoad]

Easy answer - 4WD, cab, rear mount blower without having to turn around. Capable of handling large snowfall.

If we had enough snow to justify that's what I'd own.

 

[LouNY]

Easy answer - 4WD, cab, rear mount blower without having to turn around. Capable of handling large snowfall.

Very nice unit, I would like one also. They are a bit hard to find now days and most are pretty well whipped and abused.
Here is link to a few;
https://www.tractorhouse.com/email/view-page/308417

They will range in price between over $16,000 to almost $90,000 for used ones with many over 4000 hours on them.
Then addin another $12000 for that blower.

Also the OP has hills and ice to work with so add in tire chairs and the good studded chains for those tires will be $1600 to $2400 a pair.
Then a couple of gallons to up to 5 gallons an hour for fuel while working.

But I'd still like one and have been looking for one not all rusted out from being used for snow service.