jcmseven
Veteran Member
I have an JD 825i Gator and have really enjoyed plowing snow with it over the past two seasons. We had quite a bit of snow year before last and much less last year, so we'll see about this year. I have a 72" PowerTach hydraulic straight blade for the Gator and it can really plow fast and well without chains unless it is really icy. I plow my drive (200+ feet) and a narrow service road that leads out from our house (and two others) to the first public road (it is at least 3/4 mile in length), so I plow a lot of drive and road when we do get snow. Our driveway is very steep and there are some sections of the service road that are as well because the road is essentially an old logging trail on the side of a mountain which has been paved. It is quite narrow in spots, barely a car's width. The problem I encountered year before last is that both at the "landing" part of our drive and also along the service road I ran out of places to put the snow. We had 2-2.5 ft. or higher windrows on either side that took months to melt and made the road barely passable in spots due to width. Since the edge is essentially a sheer drop I did not feel safe to get too close to the edge while plowing. I also have a 2320 John Deere 4wd 24 HP compact tractor that I keep at my parents for mowing but could potentially bring to my place for the winter (I own it--just keep it there for convenience during mowing season). I have a loader, BB, mower but no snow removal equipment and I do not use the machine that often. I have considered putting a 54" front blade on the tractor with a 54" Frontier rear snowblower but I have no experience with this combination and wanted to get some opinion about it. Part of my reason for asking is that I am trying to justify even keeping the 2320 rather than a dedicated mower because I do not use it much for loader work and feel the need to either use it more or sell it (either of which is viable to me). I know it would likely be slower plowing, but it seems a reasonable choice to consider for the reasons noted. I also have looked into just keeping my current setup which has been fine with the exception of that noted; buying a walk behind blower just for our drive and keeping the current setup, upgrading plows for the Gator to a Boss V-Plow though I suspect that choice is as expensive as the blade/blower consideration and may not solve the underlying issue. Cost is not a huge consideration, but I do not want to overspend on something I may use often or rarely during the winter, so I would like to be careful for that reason and that I do not want to spend money if it is not reasonable. I should note we received 10 snows of greater than 5" (one was 20") year before last, but only 2 snows and one of which was 8" last year, so our snowfall has proven variable. Our average at my house (microclimate) is about 5-8 snowfalls per year with an average of 4-8" each time, but occasionally less and occasionally more. Who knows with this year's Arctic Oscillation, though.
John M
John M
