Another Newbie About FEL Plows

[LawnSpecialties]

First off, please forgive me. I just found out this forum had a snow removal section and I have to ask the obvious question.

I do snow removal in the central NC area. That means one year we may get 2 or 3 good snows. Then it'll be 3 years before we see another flake. Not to mention we love sleet and freezing rain down here. But I already my 400 bags of ice melt ready and tucked away in the barn.

Last winter was good for us. I went through probably 30,000 lbs. of ice melt until we just couldn't get it anymore. All my plowing was done with my New Holland T2220 and 240TL FEL. The tractor is HST and the front end loader is hydraulic with the four lines: up, down, open, and close. I also dragged a 72" blade and found that dragging the blade was far more productive the majority of the time versus pushing with the FEL.

I never knew until recently they even made front plows to attach to FELs. I'm excited. But the obvious question is which one? The budget is open, although I can't pay multiple thousands of dollars. I'd much rather get a really good, durable blade for a higher price versus saving a few dollars but having to deal with a bunch of hassles from something that just doesn't cut it. Being able to turn the plow from the controls would be great but if that is something that breaks too often, I'd be willing to jump off the seat and pull pins and turn the blade by hand if I have to.

What are your recommendations? I will be plowing nothing but parking lots with short driveways anywhere from .5 - 2 acres plus walkways. I will have a Polaris with front blade as well and lots of ice melt. Typically, we get 2"-6" snows when it comes but we have had as much as a foot on occasion. But that's somewhat rare. Then again, in 2000, we had almost two feet in one night. But that's one of those 100 year storms. When the ice comes, we usually just do lots and lots of ice melt. All the weather folks and the almanac keep telling us its supposed to be a cold, wet winter. Bring it on.

Thanks for any help. I'm quite excited I found this site.

 

[LD1]

How are you fab/mechanic skills?

I dont know much about FEL plows other than they will likely cost you 3k+

IF you are handy, lots of people have converted old truck plows to FEL plows. But used truck plows pricing and availability very widely by region. In my neck of the woods, a good used truck plow is $200-$400. And another few hundred for hoses, relief valve, and other misc. So in my region, if you are handy, for $500 give or take a little, you can be in business.

 

[BAP]

Check out Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer. They have several loader snowplows. Others are meyersproducts.com, Curtis Industries, LLC, www.fisherplows.com. These are all companies that make snowplows for pickups and tractors. If you have a quick coupler for your bucket it makes it much easier to attach a plow. Good Luck

 

[pmsmechanic]

I borrowed this picture from "2014 John Deere 3320"

There are also snow blades available like this. This attachment would really let you push snow.

 

[skyhook]

There are many ways of attaching a plow to "your" loader.
You can go the,, attach the plow frame inside your bucket route, just add a few supports
inside the bucket, easy to remove if you should need the bucket.
You could also go the QA route, you'd have to remove the bucket for this.
In your case, I'd go the "inside the bucket route'.
I also heard Canada is sending all of our snow, your way this year, so get ready.

 

[Ole Orange]

First off, please forgive me. I just found out this forum had a snow removal section and I have to ask the obvious question.

I do snow removal in the central NC area. That means one year we may get 2 or 3 good snows. Then it'll be 3 years before we see another flake. Not to mention we love sleet and freezing rain down here. But I already my 400 bags of ice melt ready and tucked away in the barn.

Last winter was good for us. I went through probably 30,000 lbs. of ice melt until we just couldn't get it anymore. All my plowing was done with my New Holland T2220 and 240TL FEL. The tractor is HST and the front end loader is hydraulic with the four lines: up, down, open, and close. I also dragged a 72" blade and found that dragging the blade was far more productive the majority of the time versus pushing with the FEL.

I never knew until recently they even made front plows to attach to FELs. I'm excited. But the obvious question is which one? The budget is open, although I can't pay multiple thousands of dollars. I'd much rather get a really good, durable blade for a higher price versus saving a few dollars but having to deal with a bunch of hassles from something that just doesn't cut it. Being able to turn the plow from the controls would be great but if that is something that breaks too often, I'd be willing to jump off the seat and pull pins and turn the blade by hand if I have to.

What are your recommendations? I will be plowing nothing but parking lots with short driveways anywhere from .5 - 2 acres plus walkways. I will have a Polaris with front blade as well and lots of ice melt. Typically, we get 2"-6" snows when it comes but we have had as much as a foot on occasion. But that's somewhat rare. Then again, in 2000, we had almost two feet in one night. But that's one of those 100 year storms. When the ice comes, we usually just do lots and lots of ice melt. All the weather folks and the almanac keep telling us its supposed to be a cold, wet winter. Bring it on.

Thanks for any help. I'm quite excited I found this site.

Heres mine Plow cost me $75.00 2 angle brackets $20.00 crossover valve and hoses and quick connects $150.00
and misc. paint its now yellow. about 300 bucks

 

[Ford850]

2 - 3 snows per year, and some years with no snow? An open budget? Here's what I would do (keep in mind I own and love my FEL blade). I would spend the money on a high end, tall, rear blade. Something that you could use for many things, all year long. There are several good threads right now on FEL blades too. Lots of good reading. And before I forget, Welcome!

 

[George2615]

For parking lots I use a snow 7'6" pusher blade. This year I'm going to try an old truck plow I converted to a QA plate. Pusher blade was about $1500. Plow conversion cost about $600-700 since I already had the plow.

 

[LawnSpecialties]

I'm starting to wonder if what Ford850 is saying makes sense but add a twist to it. I will have a Polaris 850 with a plow for sidewalks, tighter spots, and to just help in the parking lots. But what if I kept a blade for the back of the tractor and put a pusher on the front like what George has. Our snows rarely get to over 6"-8" at most. Pushing the snow across the lots with the front or scraping with the back would give me the best of both worlds.

 

[George2615]

I'm starting to wonder if what Ford850 is saying makes sense but add a twist to it. I will have a Polaris 850 with a plow for sidewalks, tighter spots, and to just help in the parking lots. But what if I kept a blade for the back of the tractor and put a pusher on the front like what George has. Our snows rarely get to over 6"-8" at most. Pushing the snow across the lots with the front or scraping with the back would give me the best of both worlds.

$1500. is quite a bit to spend on a pusher for only a few snowfalls per season. I go the cheaper route and look for a used truck plow you could adapt either to your bucket like Ole Orange did or to a QA plate like mine.