Best Snowblower?

[5030]

My Lucknow has digested lots of stuff besides snow and lived to tell about it. Digested fence posts, bricks, cinder blocks, mailboxes and other stuff before. Probably digested a few vermin too..... She has some battle scars but she keeps on ticking or should I say blowing, just fine. I can always tell when she eats something in the snow because she jumps a bit.... That Lucknow is a tank. Was worth every penny just like my retired county plow. Paid a grand for it. Put on a new scraper bar, greased it and off I went. Last year I didn't use either, no snow to amount to beans and this year is shaping up about the same. I won't touch the snow unless it's 5" deep and blowing. It's the blowing out here that does us in. All farm ground and flat so the blow snow piles up on the edges of the roads and makes them impassable.

So far maybe 4" since fall. Plow is on blocks in the barn and so is the blower. Don't need either. Both are serviced and ready, just in case however. Takes me about a half hour to hitch them up and go out drift busting. 4 hydraulic couplers and the SSQA hitch on the FEL and I'm a snow beast. Turn on the am-fm to my favorite country station, adjust the climate control and rock on.

 

[5030]

This has been my snow removal journey.

I have a sidewalk, 300' driveway, 1/2 mile private road, neighbors to help. Typical snowfall 4-8" Some 10-15" Occasional 15-20". Here is what I have used over the years.

• 2 cycle paddle snowblower - sidewalk light fluffy snow
• 8hp 2 stage snowblower - sidewalk 6"+ snow
• ATV w/5' blade - Driveway up to 8"snow
• 4x4 Plow Truck - Driveway/Private Road - any amount of snow
• Rear Blade - Driveway/Private Road up to 8" snow
• Rear facing Snowblower - Driveway/Private Road - 6"+ snow
• Rear Pull Snowblower - Driveway/Private Road Up to 24" snow

Those bolded are what I still have

• 2 cycle paddle snowblower - Light and easy
• 8hp 2 stage snowblower - Didn't get used enough
• ATV w/5' blade - Quick way to move snow
• 4x4 Plow Truck - nothing faster but Disintegrated from lack of use
• Rear Blade - Not great at rolling snow well off to the side
• Rear facing Snowblower - Removes any amount of snow, but comes with a stiff neck
• Rear Pull Snowblower - Fast and efficient - why didn't I do this sooner

No one tool is perfect. Your list might look different.

...and if you used the tractor in your signature picture, you froze your butt off too. Snow and Open Station tractors don't mix well.

 

[airbiscuit]

...and if you used the tractor in your signature picture, you froze your butt off too. Snow and Open Station tractors don't mix well.

Surprisingly, I really don't mind the open station. That's probably because I've never owned a tractor with a cab I was out plowing on Christmas Eve day, and it was cold. I didn't wear my insulated pants - just jeans and I would have been fine if I just did my own snow removal. I also did five of my neighbors, and that was 1 too many. My legs were cold! That was operator error (or stubbornness) for not dressing warmer.

Back to the creature comforts of a cabbed tractor. My friends and I were invincible teens in the 60's, and loved snowmobiling. The machines were unreliable and there were no real trails - all lakes and through the woods and dead reckoning.

My uncle said,

"Why don't you just pull yourselves on skis behind the exhaust pipe of your most unreliable car? You'll be cold, smell like exhaust, and break down somewhere inconvenient. It will be just like snowmobiling!"

 

[airbiscuit]

Also in our teens, we liked hunting ducks. We were bragging to the local gas station owner (and an excellent hunter) about how we we were practicing with clay pigeons and were getting pretty good at it - the ducks didn't have a chance.

He asked us how we did it. We said, we would shoulder the gun, yell pull, and our friend would launch a clay pigeon out in front of us.

He gave us a knowing look and said that is good, but not like real duck hunting. He said what you need to do is:

Wake up at 3:00 AM
At 5:00 AM sit on a hard bench with your feet in freezing water
At 6:30 AM admit that you are cold, tired and bored
At 6:33 AM two of your friends leave the blind to take a whiz
At 6:35 AM you break out a now frozen sandwich and a scalding hot cup of coffee
At 6:36 AM, as the first rays of the sun are burning directly into the back of your retinas, have a friend stand from behind a bush and launch a clay pigeon right at you
You drop the sandwich in the water, drop the cup of scalding hot coffee on your lap, grab your gun, fumble for the safety, and try to get a shot off at the target coming straight at you

Then our mentor adjusted his hat, and said - "That, is how you practice for Duck Hunting, boys."

We had been bested. I won't tell you if I hit the target, or what happened during all the commotion to my two friends who were taking a whiz out in the woods.

 

[5030]

Surprisingly, I really don't mind the open station. That's probably because I've never owned a tractor with a cab I was out plowing on Christmas Eve day, and it was cold. I didn't wear my insulated pants - just jeans and I would have been fine if I just did my own snow removal. I also did five of my neighbors, and that was 1 too many. My legs were cold! That was operator error (or stubbornness) for not dressing warmer.

Back to the creature comforts of a cabbed tractor. My friends and I were invincible teens in the 60's, and loved snowmobiling. The machines were unreliable and there were no real trails - all lakes and through the woods and dead reckoning.

My uncle said,

"Why don't you just pull yourselves on skis behind the exhaust pipe of your most unreliable car? You'll be cold, smell like exhaust, and break down somewhere inconvenient. It will be just like snowmobiling!"

Been there,. did that too and candidly, don't miss it at all.

 

[Watson73]

Why would anyone want a pull type blower? I owned one and found it to be worthless when the snow was deeper. You drive over the snow if your able, pack the snow, then try to blow it. Using more power than needed, riding up over the snow and leaving inches that need to be blown again. And if the snow is deep you might not get through it. A worthless piece of equipment imo

 

[TractorTYMe]

Why would anyone want a pull type blower? I owned one and found it to be worthless when the snow was deeper. You drive over the snow if your able, pack the snow, then try to blow it. Using more power than needed, riding up over the snow and leaving inches that need to be blown again. And if the snow is deep you might not get through it. A worthless piece of equipment imo

You're using it wrong then. You can't be lazy, you've gotta stay on top of removing snow. It's not for breaking new ground or if you deal with drifts. Each piece of equipment has it's place.

Here i am using the piss out of mine.

 

[zzvyb6]

I've tried them all. Plow works pretty well for huge amounts of snow but I needed to add a 3rd function valve. Snow blower WAY TOO SLOW. Now I'm using a JD commercial rotary broom. No turning back. Running off my front mount lawn mower. Chips off any ice buildup, too. Slush & powder accumulations: no different response. It's GONE.

 

[CH4Ohio]

Why would anyone want a pull type blower? I owned one and found it to be worthless when the snow was deeper. You drive over the snow if your able, pack the snow, then try to blow it. Using more power than needed, riding up over the snow and leaving inches that need to be blown again. And if the snow is deep you might not get through it. A worthless piece of equipment imo

Agree. I use a Meyer snowplow on the FEL for most snow removal. When it's too deep or heavy to handle, I have a 7' blower on the rear. I get almost sideways in the seat and use my left foot on the hydro-pedal. I can watch what's going on out back and front both, and still sip my coffee. Just have to get yourself comfortable and situated and go for it. We get drifts that you can't drive though. I used to dig through them with the FEL bucket but with a heavy snow, this took a long time. Much easier to plow and blow as appropriate. A pull type blower wouldn't really work for me either.

And I have no desire to "stay on top of it" during the snowstorm so my equipment can handle it. I want to plow/blow snow when it makes sense for me and a front plow and rear-facing blower can handle anything.

 

[leonz]

I keep waiting for mk martin to use the original smaller single stage snow thrower rotor design
that Reist Industries sold them as their larger snow blower rotors are a terrible mismatch for
the design width for these attachments and they need a speed increaser.