Yes in looking at the speed chart and with my conversion factor of 1.12 a1 will be 1.35 mph in reverse, and that's at 2200rpm which I very seldom run the engine that fast when snow blowing. Generally only about 1600rpm and with my 16spd ts115 I'm 90% of the time in 9th gear reverse with a ground speed of somewhere around 3mph . Usually the snow depth is 3-6" range when clients want it done. One feature my ts115 had with the power shift is I could use different fwd and reverse gears selected that it would auto go to each just by throwing the shuttle fwd or reverse, 9th gear reverse and 11th forward were my mainstay. This was extremely handy when pulling forward to line up for another swipe. With this jd looks like I'll be in the b range for most snow blowing , probably b4 forward and b1 or b2 reverse. Only time I ever use the bottom 4 gears is if I run into 2-3' deep snow. Is that side exhaust working out for you , not raising too much dust when your cleaning the barns?