Advice Needed Before I Destroy My Driveway

[Spencer]

I am new to the compact tractor scene. I bought a new New Holland TC33D at the end of December. I am using a Bush Hog 6 Foot 35-06 rear blade for snow removal. Unfortunately I am removing a lot of dirt along with the snow when I use the rear blade for snow removal. This blade does not have shoes on it nor does it have provisions for accepting them. What can I do to minimize the damage to my driveway while I am removing the snow? Should I have the blade tilted forward or back? I have it straight up and down right now. Any advice?

Thanks, Spence

 

[HR_Mutt]

Spencer
Until the ground freezes I've had the best results by shortening the top link so that the blade tilts forward, making it less aggressive. Also, are you pulling it forwards rather than pushing in reverse? You might want to also try taking some of the weight off with your 3ph lift.
regards
Mutt

 

[Thomas]

Like HR Mutt wrote..once your driveway frozen..
Can you set hyd so your blade about half inch or so from the ground than travel so.
There been many thread about adding skid shoes to rear blade,and there will worth the dollars.

 

[Boondox]

Spence -- I have a gravel driveway, and found that by either plowing in reverse or reversing the blade and driving forward (with the convex edge of the blade leading) I disturb nary a stone. As previously mentioned, it's all academic once the ground is frozen solid.

Pete in Brrrmont

 

[gordon]

About skid shoes,,Does your blade have a bolt on cutting edge at the bottom of the blade? I'm guessing it does. The way skid shoes mount to a rear blade is by removing two of the bolts that hold on the cutting edge and the skid shoe mount bolts on to the edge that way. At least thats the way it works for my landpride blade. I've got the skid shoes and they work ok unless the gravel is real deep and loose. As it's already been said use the blade backwards or drive in reverse. Or you could go all out. Buy a gauge wheel and that way you could use it in the summer as well. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Gordon

 

[HR_Mutt]

Spencer
I forgot to mention turning the blade around! Good thing the others are more awake than I was. Good Luck/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Mutt

 

[frank_f15]

i can only reconfirm what the others have said.less aggressive on the blade angle, up a little with the 3 pt.do u have position control?

 

[RPM]

Just plowed my neighbors gravel drive with my rear blade - found the best way to do it was driving forward with the convex side of the blade forward too. I also have skid shoes. Once I did this it went very quickly and easily - only 4" of snow though! Really just an excuse for more tractor time /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[duanet]

Spencer,
With my vast experience (we had four inches to plow twice this winter) I found that reversing the blade and pushing or pulling with the convex side worked best for me, as most of the others have suggested.

One other thing, since my driveways are cut out of hills and on edges of banks, I "floated" the tilt on my back blade by removing the locking pin. This allows the tractor and blade to be on different horizontal planes. I realize that many back blades do not have the tilt feature, but if your driveways are not all level and you have tilt, it's worth a try and works real good for me.

Duane

 

[Spencer]

Thanks Everybody,
I will shorten up the toplink so that the blade tips forward. I have been plowing moving forward with the blade facing forward as well. If the toplink doesn't help enough then I will try turning the blade around or going in reverse. I do have an adjustable stop on my 3 point lever. The problem using that is that there are a lot of dips in the driveway so when my front end goes down into a dip the rear blade is lifted off the ground and when I come out of the dip the rear blade digs in too deep. The first few snows we got here everything was fine because the ground was pretty hard. Since then we have had a thaw and thats when things got more difficult.

What positions do you all use for your FEL? My New Holland has a float feature but if I angle the bucket level or slightly up it doesn't clear well and if I angle it slightly down it digs in even though it is in the float position.

Thanks, Spence