Best implement for snow removal

[El Wood]

Within the next few months, I'll be moving out to our new place and taking over 450 feet of flat gravel driveway. I currently own a JD 3320 that I'm sure is up to the task. I'm trying to decide now which snow implement would be best.

I talk to my dealer and he basically gave me three options...

The first is a front mount snow blower. I cringed when he told me the price was about $5500. I could go with a rear blower for less...

The second option is a front blade at about $2000.

The third option is a back blade at about $500 or so.

The thing I hate about a blower or front blade is that it seems their only good for moving snow. I'm thinking I could use a rear blade for other things as well.

What do you use and/or recommend?

Thanks!

 

[Shmudda]

Shovel and a strong back!

Craig

 

[bigtiller]

Front blower AND a rear blade. The only way it could get better is with a warm cab.

 

[grsthegreat]

Within the next few months, I'll be moving out to our new place and taking over 450 feet of flat gravel driveway. I currently own a JD 3320 that I'm sure is up to the task. I'm trying to decide now which snow implement would be best. I talk to my dealer and he basically gave me three options... The first is a front mount snow blower. I cringed when he told me the price was about $5500. I could go with a rear blower for less... The second option is a front blade at about $2000. The third option is a back blade at about $500 or so. The thing I hate about a blower or front blade is that it seems their only good for moving snow. I'm thinking I could use a rear blade for other things as well. What do you use and/or recommend? Thanks!

450 feet of flat driveway isnt too bad to handle with a rear blade as long as the accumulations arn't generally too much. you have any idea what your average snowfall are? I gave up on rear blade cause i had too much snowfall. went with a rear mount on my old JD870 and used it for 14 years. worked great, but very hard on my neck. i have about 1500 feet of driveway to deal with plus removal of shedding snow on my buildings. My new loader mount blower works great, but i also needed a plow for the early and or wet snow conditions that the blower doesnt work on. My blower was ridiculously expensive, but my health was more important.

 

[Will_C]

Like many other things, the most expensive item the dealer told you about is the best! It is just a matter of what you want to spend. I plowed for years with a blade on a garden tractor. It was what I had, so I made it work.

Now I use a FEL and a back blade. I won't spend the money for a front blade-the FEL was not much more $$ and it is usable for so many other tasks. The back blade is another implement that has other uses besides plowing snow. I have thought about a 3pt hitch blower, not as nice as a front mount but it would fit on any tractor I will have for the rest of my life!!

Will

 

[BuzzardA91]

I just went through the same thing. I wanted ONE thing for snow removal and I decide on the FEL mounted plow. I got it used on craigslist with the hydraulics and lines to run it 6 way. For me I have a 300' driveway and half is stone. The blower is expensive and I don't think works great for those pesky 4-6" slushy storms. Plus they take way longer to put bucket back on if needed for digging cars or neighbors out. Also I don't want any more moving parts to deal with during a major storm like we had last couple years. The rear blade seems popular up to 8" snow otherwise you have to push it in reverse. In my case I would have to take backhoe off and I would probably then need weights and chains which would negate the savings for me. Also I have box blade so I wouldn't get additional use out of a rear blade.

 

[Dingeryote]

450' isn't that long of a drive to deal with using a back blade, and a loader, as long as you get ahead and stay ahead of the slop coming down, and don't have much of an incline to fight. Things can get sporty when pushing heavy wet slop uphill, with a light tractor and no chains. Sometimes you just have to only make downhill passes and deal with it.

It can be a pain in the neck towards the end of the job, on our 1,400' drive and between the barns, though.
If it's a day long, heavy lake effect dump, I get to cussing a bit and start looking for the Advil, or borrow the cousins tractor with the rear blower.

The rear mounted blowers are awesome, though.
If you're near Bangor, Alf Woods is closing up and selling off inventory at cost, and there is a Woods 60" rear blower left in the yard.
Might save you a bit if you go that route.

 

[grm61]

I just ordered a backblade 7 footer Everything Attachments 7ft 6 Way Value Scrape Blade for Compact Tractors with 25-50 HP they have these in 5 and 6 footers as well. Watch the video, these are a pretty nice blade, plenty good for snow and gravel.

If it was that deep, I don't see why you couldn't run with the front bucket just off the ground and the rear blade down, this will be my first winter with the tractor, so I'm just bench plowing,
I'm planning on doing most of it going forward, we will see.

I want a grapple bucket come spring time, so I opted to skip the FEL plow for now do to cost.

I think between the bucket and rear blade I will do fine, I'm going to chain the rear tires, and they are loaded, it should root pretty good.:thumbsup:

 

[DKCDKC]

I use a FEL and back blade on a small 3038e JD for my mile long, hilly, curvy, gravel lane. It ain't fun sometimes, but it works. If you don't let the snow get ahead of you you can handle most anything... Except heavy sleet/ice. I have filled rear tires for weight and shoot to plow every time 6 inches has fallen. So far it has worked.

In the mountains of Virginia we usually have two or three 6+ inch snowfalls each winter, and a few lighter ones. A few times over the past five years we've been nailed with some 2 footers. Honestly, I look at overall costs. What I have works for almost all the snows we get. If we are hit by a monster we can't handle, I can have a contractor rough-plow the drive for $400. Doing that every couple years is still a lot cheaper than plunking down thousands for a blower.

Now when I win the lottery....

 

[94BULLITT]

For years I have used and still use a rear blade. I also have a blade for the loader. I would start out with a 6' rear blade. You can use it year round. I have cleared some deep snows with a rear blade. A $500 rear blade is not going to be enough to hold your tractor. You can look for a plow off a truck and convert it to work on your FEL if you don't like the rear blade. The bad thing about a snow blower is it will only fit that tractor. If you decide in a few years you want another tractor it probably won't work unless you modify it.

 

[chickenman]

i do more than that with a fel bucket

 

[clayhardock]

How much snow do you get and how often?

If you need to clear the road more than 2-3 times a week then having something of the front is really going to save your back/neck. A front blade could be mounted on the FEL bucket attachment and be fairly inexpensive and be good for upto 8-10" of snow depending on how wet it is. A rear blade will work the same but be really cheap purchase. You can clear deeper snow with a plow but it gets much more difficult. Dealer may try to sell you a plow that doesn't use the FEL mount but instead uses a bracket kit that goes on the front of your tractor that it mounts to. They are usually more expensive.

A snow blower isn't really effective(as compared to a plow) until you get 6"+ of snow. A rear snow blower is a good option if you only get a few deep storms a year or have a problem area or two that drift in. Snow blowing is much slower than plowing. A rear blower, used, can be as cheap as $500 and is good insurance for those occasional storms. If you get lots of heavy snow then a front mount blower is a good idea.

My plan is to use a rear blade and rear snow blower. We all drive 4wds to the road doesn't need plowing everytime it snows and the Chinooks melt it off in a week or so anyway so we don't get big accumulations building up. The snow blower will take care of the 3-4 big dumps we get a year.

 

[Arc weld]

450' is nothing for a rear blade. If you get large snowfalls put some chains on the tractor or get a blade that swivels 360 deg. so you can push backwards as well.

 

[crazyal]

I got a front blower because when I remove it I want it gone. I have a plow truck and usually by mid Feb the banks start getting big. With the blower it's gone deep into the woods. For 450ft I would think about a 3 pt blower for about 1/3 the cost of a front. But it really does depend on how much snow you get and how much snow you get during a major dumping.

 

[PHPaul]

'nuff sed. :thumbsup:

 

[homedad]

It really depends on where you live in Michigan. Michigan has areas that average 100's of inches and some that average 40 some inches. I'm in Howell and 10" snowfalls are getting pretty rare. I've used a back blade and FEL and found it to be fine unless there is ice underneath. My drive is just a bit longer and the best thing I ever did was take the money I would have spent on a nice front mounted blower and have an asphalt drive installed. I love how much easier it is to plow, especially when the sun hits it. No more mud. No more gravel in the grass. No more dust blowing into the house, and the kids love it for wheeled toys and basketball.

 

[Docwho]

I use a rear scrapper blade while moving forward. I try to move snow as far off of the road as I can. If I start to run out of space to put the snow. Then I mount the 3 point snow blower and blow the frozen chunky mess further back. I have never had a problem braking up and blowing this further back. I also like to get ready of the snow build up before a large thaw. This allows water to drain away from the road.

 

[super55]

As homedad said it really depends on where you are in Mi and how much snowfall you get. Your needs for eastern Mi are going to be vastly different than someone one the west side in the snowbelt region.

I live in NW LP and 180+ inches of snowfall a year is fairly common. My driveway is 300' long and the only thing I will ever use is 3pt blower and my front end loader. I have my driveway plowed when I'm not home and I'm not a big fan of plows. They build banks on the side of the drive up to 3' tall and if there is a wind parts of the drive will plug up with 3' of snow. With the blower no banks which since the drive is crowned usually put no more than a foot in the drive. I use the loader almost as much as the blower to push the banks back around my mailbox.

Front mount blowers are nice but I would only consider one if you didn't have a loader on the tractor. If you get some significant snow sooner or later you are going to wish you had the loader on instead of the blower. In my case I just prefer to have both all the time.

 

[RoyJackson]

Although a lot of guys don't care for using the bucket, I do...works quite well too!
So, I'd suggest using the bucket for the first year and see how things go.

I used a rear blade for several years (150' drive). They do OK, but I had no other use for the blade so I sold it. If you have other tasks for a blade, it might be worth picking one up.
How one uses that rear blade is important. Those lower arms aren't built for pushing and there are no trip springs on a rear blade. Using the concave side of a blade can dig into your drive, so make sure any blade you buy can rotate 180 degrees. I'd also consider adding skid shoes, especially if you want to use the concave side.
The first year or two I used my rear blade, I did push with it. After that, I drove over the snow rather then push. With judicious use of the rockshaft lever, I could minimize any damage or digging in by the blade.

Now, as far as your dealer's suggestions, my choice would be the FEL mounted front blade. Adding $2K to the price of the tractor isn't too bad.

As others wrote, front snow blowers are very expensive and are limited to one tractor model (note, the 59" front blower Deere sells can be used on various Deeres...it's different brackets used between models....so, you can use a front mounted blower on different Deeres....but if you buy another brand tractor, it won't work).

BTW, this year I'll be using a UTV mounted plow and let the tractor take a break...

 

[super55]

The other thing I forgot to add is that if you end up using a blade on gravel plan on raking or buying a sweeper to get it all back on the drive in the spring. You really have to take it slow and be meticulous to not grab the gravel without shoes or a pipe on the blade. With my snowblower I just adjust the top link so it doesn't scrape the first few snows to build a hard base and then I will expand the top link so the blower will bite down and scape more.