Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Best Snow Plowing Machine: Tractor, Quad, or Truck?

[Dusty1]

RTV, well that's interesting, you get speed and a bit of comfort with the windshield, and a bobcat, well that would be great if I had one laying around here, but alas I dont have that kind of disposible income

 

[timswi]

RTV, well that's interesting, you get speed and a bit of comfort with the windshield, and a bobcat, well that would be great if I had one laying around here, but alas I dont have that kind of disposible income

I don't either, spent the money anyway...After last weekend, I'm glad I did

 

[Steve C]

Hey guys, so I have been reserching a bit on snow plows, and for argument's sake I would like to see who has tried the different methods? (note, I did not include dedicated snow blowers in this discussion, but feel free to add your input) So far in my reserch I have come up with a few pros/cons.

Tractor

Pros:​

• Lots of torque and weight for traction, can plow through anything, can employ different methods and/or attachments to get the job done, will last a very long time.

Cons:​

• Slow moving (comparitavely to other methods),expensive attachments, and not as common or easy to do jobs outside the home i.e. contracted out.

Truck

Pros:​

• Fast, very mobile, easily contracted out, capable of handling a decent amount of snow

Cons:​

• Large amount of wear/tear on machine (unless sizable or using a dedicated machine), only plows 1 way (no attachments like tractor).

4 wheeler

Pros:​

• Very fast and a whole lot of fun to use, most cost effective, my wife might actually plow

Cons:​

• Not capable of handeling much snow, no different attachments, would not be contracted out.

So what would you get? What do you own now? Do you wish you had somthing else? If you were to pick 1, what would it be? For argument's sake, let's assume you live in a region of moderate snow, already own a mid-sized tractor, standard 4wd truck, and a mid-sized 4x4 quad, and are looking to plow a decent sized driveway regularly, but are not opposed to the idea of plowing snow commmercially. I know there are exceptions to all these rules, and I know there are things I'm leaving out, but please, feel free to broaden my, and everyone else's horizions!

I love my little tractor, 25HP 4wheel drive and 7 foot rear blade, but it is a bit drafty, so my answer is none of the above.

I would love to have this 100 hp snow blower, all that and a heated cab! I think it would be hard to beat.

HAY BINE CONVERTED INTO A SNOW BLOWER. IT HAS AN IN LINE SIX CYLINDER FORD GAS POWERED INDUSTRIAL ENGINE AND HEATED CAB. HYDROSTATIC DRIVE TO THE DUALLY DRIVE WHEELS AND THE 7 FOOT BLOWER IS DRIVEN DIRECTLY WITH A POWER TAKE OFF. ELECTRIC CHUTE CONTROL AT YOUR FINGER TIPS

 

[4bangdan]

well here is my story. i have a 340' driveway and is quite steep. its 16' wide with neighbors home on one side and a steep 8' ledge bank on the other side. i started with a 1/2 ton gmc 4x4 gas v8 truck with a 7.5' fisher plow. worked well except for half way through year i would run out of room to put snow. had to hire a pay loader a couple times a year. i was also burning about 5-8 gallons of gas each storm. many times i had to put on tire chains. also lost ability to plow when we would get over 20" overnite. had to hire pay loader once or twice per year for this. we receive about 100+ inches per year.I gave up and sold the plow truck and put a top of the line plow on my yamaha grizzly 660 4x4 atv. also planned to hire a large farm tractor with snow blower 4 or more times per year to open up every time the atv could not do it anymore. was ok and gas consumption was very minimum. problem was i was always the last to get opened up because i was not under contract. missed work atleast twice a year this way. so i came up with a new idea. i bought a bercomac 13 hp atv snowblower. now i thought i had the snow completly under control. well it worked ok once i put 4 sets of chains on and built a box around the motor. [carb linkage would freeze] the biggest problem was i was welding and rebuilding everything on the blower for more hours per year than the hours i was using it. honest, more. figured out that i just had way to much work for this fragile little toy. even after using the atv plow more than the blower. finally i sold it all in one pile of bad memories. i called 3 contractors over to give me an estimate for snow removal. all said 1000 minimum. more for large machinery needed as necesary. i figure 1400 per year. 1400x10 years is 14000. took 14000 and went to town and bought a new bobcat ct122 with fel and rear blade. i built a cab and instaled a heater and have been smilling ear to ear ever since! i have a used 62" snowblower i use once the ground finaly freezes. total investment is 17000. i burn so little fuel i cant believe it. never put anything in it but shear pins. very happy with this setup. enjoy seeing the snow build up out there. i will never miss work again because of snow. or freeze to the bone on an atv. or go broke pumping gas and ball joints in a plow truck. very happy cut owner here. :thumbsup: