Another Newbie looking for advice

[MarkV]

Hi Jim, welcome to the forum. Looks to me like you are headed in the right direction for what you need. I have done a lot of dirt moving with a 21hp tractor so I know it can be done. It can take some time with a small tractor but time never seem to be a problem when someone has a new tractor.

The question I have for those of you that live in snow country is can a small CUT or SubCUT do the job with a front snow blade? Jim has a 1/3 mile road and his personal drives to clear. Do the small tractors have enough weight to push snow for that long of run? No snow to speak of here in Georgia so I don’t have any experience with plowing snow.

MarkV

 

[jbrumberg]

MarkV:

It was my impression that Jim's 1/3 mile road was being "maintained" by a private contractor (for better or worse ). I do not think a SCUT and/or a CUT is the best piece of equipment to move that much snow. I would think a V-8 4WD pickup and a good plow would do the job more effectively. For Jim's 2 driveways totaling around 250' a SCUT and/or a CUT in the low to mid 20 HP range would have no difficulties if he plowed every 8" of snowfall (or less) with a front blade or a FEL. I used to plow a similar length of driveway with my old Ford 1100 4WD/MFWD (13/11+ HP) that was equipt with a 5' dual hydraulic front blade. I never had real problems if I plowed every 6" - 8" of snowfall. Unfortunately I sometimes got lazy and waited out the storms that could total +20". I had to get "creative" plowing in those conditions, but I managed. It also comes down to seat time- bigger is quicker. I can move the same amount of snow with my new tractor (29/23+ HP) with a FEL in half the time as my old Ford. Jay

 

[MarkV]

MarkV:

It was my impression that Jim's 1/3 mile road was being "maintained" by a private contractor (for better or worse ). I do not think a SCUT and/or a CUT is the best piece of equipment to move that much snow. I would think a V-8 4WD pickup and a good plow would do the job more effectively. For Jim's 2 driveways totaling around 250' a SCUT and/or a CUT in the low to mid 20 HP range would have no difficulties if he plowed every 8" of snowfall (or less) with a front blade or a FEL. I used to plow a similar length of driveway with my old Ford 1100 4WD/MFWD (13/11+ HP) that was equipt with a 5' dual hydraulic front blade. I never had real problems if I plowed every 6" - 8" of snowfall. Unfortunately I sometimes got lazy and waited out the storms that could total +20". I had to get "creative" plowing in those conditions, but I managed. It also comes down to seat time- bigger is quicker. I can move the same amount of snow with my new tractor (29/23+ HP) with a FEL in half the time as my old Ford. Jay

Thanks, I was kind of wondering how well a small CUT with a front blade did in snow. All I remember about moving snow as a kid was that it can be heavy.

Rereading Jim's first post it does sound like someone is maintaining the road now, although he did mention, "I was also thinking of using the tractor to clear our road of snow". That is what made me bring up the question of pushing snow on that long of run with a small CUT.

MarkV

 

[jbrumberg]

Light grading of a 1/3 mile gravel road with a SCUT or CUT is managable and could be a lot of fun ! Jay

 

[IXLR8]

Thanks for the replies,
I was thinking of using the tractor for snow removal on the 1/3 mile dirt road. The contractor we use now only grades occasionally, doing a poor job, and provides the gravel for the road, he does not do the plowing/snow removal. The guy who presently plows, with a V8 truck, occasionally gets stuck in the snow drifts and we need to sweet talk the neighbor with a 40+hp JD to come dig/pull him out! This is some of the reason I was thinking about getting a blower to clear the snow from the road, rather than trying to push that much out of the way with a plow.

Jim