JimMorrissey
Veteran Member
Mike,
Not every snow in Vermont is over 8 inches. Some years we gets tons of snow, others we don't. We gets lots of snows 8" or less. I've quite familiar with the 3-5" snows. My recommendation for a blower is based on his stated conditions. It is NOT a blanket comment for anybody that deals with snow in the winter.
A loader is effect if you're talking about a standard, say 50-100' driveway and it's paved. Yes, it will do the job for light snowfall areas and is "cost effect" in many southern areas; I agree with you there. However, he's talking about maintaining over 800' of gravel driveway! A loader IMO is not the solution here. I've done over 1000 feet with a BX for two winters and can tell you it's going to take far longer, he will be frustrated and the results in the spring will be noticeable.....lots of gravel will be on the edges of his drive. With non-frozen ground or lightly frozen the cutting edge of a loader digs into soft wet gravel and the road edges easily making a big mess over 800 feet. So if he can't scrape, then the snow can build up, then it gets compacted from cars and tractors driving over it over time. The compacted snow then turns to ice when weather warms and cools at night.
It appeared to me that he's looking for help on what the best options are, not what's the least expensive. Again, a loader is not what I would recommend for an 800' driveway, but that's just my opinion.
Not every snow in Vermont is over 8 inches. Some years we gets tons of snow, others we don't. We gets lots of snows 8" or less. I've quite familiar with the 3-5" snows. My recommendation for a blower is based on his stated conditions. It is NOT a blanket comment for anybody that deals with snow in the winter.
A loader is effect if you're talking about a standard, say 50-100' driveway and it's paved. Yes, it will do the job for light snowfall areas and is "cost effect" in many southern areas; I agree with you there. However, he's talking about maintaining over 800' of gravel driveway! A loader IMO is not the solution here. I've done over 1000 feet with a BX for two winters and can tell you it's going to take far longer, he will be frustrated and the results in the spring will be noticeable.....lots of gravel will be on the edges of his drive. With non-frozen ground or lightly frozen the cutting edge of a loader digs into soft wet gravel and the road edges easily making a big mess over 800 feet. So if he can't scrape, then the snow can build up, then it gets compacted from cars and tractors driving over it over time. The compacted snow then turns to ice when weather warms and cools at night.
It appeared to me that he's looking for help on what the best options are, not what's the least expensive. Again, a loader is not what I would recommend for an 800' driveway, but that's just my opinion.
