3 Point Blade Over Gravel Drive In Winter

[ustobefarmer]

I bought 2 small chisel spike teeth. Welded a piece of angle steel to the middle of them and bolted them to the corners of my box blade. With the curved shape of the teeth they glide over the ground going forward or backward. They leave about 1 inch of snow but I don't have any problems with relocating gravel.

 

[RedDirt]

These have been working great for my bx23. On the shop apron I set the wheels so the blade is 1 1/2" +/- above the ground. If you are leaving too much snow on the driveway set the blade lower. If scalping the drive, set the blade higher.




There is a "how to" on building these wheels here:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/113281-another-gauge-wheel-build-post.html
Scroll down to reply #15

 

[Corm]

I plow a long gravel drive with a back blade on my tractor. I do as others have described, that is push with the convex side of the blade till the ground is frozen. I tried the guage wheels, and the slides like a truck snow plow has, but found they were more of a PITA than any kind of help, so I took them off. If you have a gravel drive, you will move some gravel onto your lawn in the winter, just no way around it.

Here's one thing I do in the spring that I haven't seen anyone mention. Might sound kind of strange, but works well for me - In the spring, when everything starts to melt, I plow my snow banks back into my driveway. If you catch it just right, when the ground is still frozen, you can do this with no damage to your lawn. What you are doing is moving all of your gravel back into the drive. Typically, I can find a day where I can do this in the morning, and by night the snow is mostly all melted so my driveway isn't plugged up for a long period of time. I started doing this a few years ago, and most years I don't need to do any raking at all after everything is melted (I hate to rake..).

Corm

 

[mike194]

That is actually a pretty good idea, sure would save alot of the raking.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Windrowing the gravel laden snow back onto the drive is a good idea if you can time it right. Last year I used my Stihl backpack leaf blower to blow any stone that was off the roadway in the grass. I was supprised at how effective it was. It even blew some stone that was slightly embedded in the grass. One trick though is to get it done before the grass starts to grow. Once the grass is growing it becomes harder to get the stone rooted out of the grass. Try it you will be supprised at how good it works.

Sincerely, Dirt

 

[mtg65]

There is another thread where someone put a piece of electrical conduit over the blade cutting edge. I am thinking of trying that. I didn't of running the blade back wards.

The pipe trick works well but use a thicker walled pipe. My first try, I used a piece that was too thin and it did not hold up well. I swapped it out with one that had a schedule 40 rating and that should hold up a few plowing seasons.