FEL "Float"

[wannabefarmer]

FEL \"Float\"

Hello all! I am not a NH owner, yet. I am trying to save up for a decent down-payment hopefully for a spring purchase.
I live in PA and got hammered today with the snow & while I was HAND SHOVELING snow, I kept thinking about how much easier it would be with an FEL. I was wondering however, do the FEL's "Float" along the ground or do they stay at the set height. I would think that if the FEL "Floated" it would be easier to use for snow removal.

Thanks for any clarification on this!

Jeremy

 

[OverlyRun]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

Sure mine floats....but it tends to ride up on top of the snow, or dig down. Takes some practice to get it to scoop evenly along....at least on the gravel road. Might be easier on tarmac...and without the toothbar. But one bucket full equals many, many hand shovels-full, so I hope for your back's sake, you are able to get your tractor soon. I can't imagine tackling by hand anything I've done with the tractor in the past 48 hours.

Chas

 

[thcri]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

Wannabe,

I use my TC29D with a FEL for snow. I am on concrete so yes I just tip my bucket down some and put it on float. It floats just great.

Most people here will tell you a blade is faster but when you get in deeper snow your done. I like my bucket and it is great for moving banks that have been sitting for a while.

One thing against the bucket, is if you have gravel or grass. It will not work that great unless your pretty good and the loader controls.

Murph

 

[RoyJackson]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

Most people here will tell you a blade is faster but when you get in deeper snow your done

Most of my work was a combination of FEL and back blade.
In Monday's storm, I used the FEL more then the blade. It's slower, but my 670 just didn't have the traction to push all that weight. Also, I had to make bigger and bigger piles of the stuff (some are close to 6' high).

As far as using float...you'll find using a combination of float and powered shoveling works the best. The bucket does tend to ride over the snow with float engaged, but does work best when you're close to the gravel (or asphalt) especially with the bucket slightly curled up. On gravel, it doesn't dig in if your bucket is slightly curled.
Using the bucket to back drag the snow works very well when you use float. I did a heck of a lot of this when near the vehicles or house.

Boy, I'll wager I spent more continuous hours on my little green machine then I ever had. Spent enough time on it that I was still "moving" when I laid down (like spending the day on a small boat).

 

[Steelfan]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

Hi Everyone,

My TC21's bucket wasn't heavy enough to use the Float feature in this storm. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif The bucket raised or dug in depending on if I was going forward or backward. In snows up to about 6", I used the float with great success. I would imagine if you have a heavier FEL bucket, that it would work easier in deeper snow. I use the float position quite a bit in snow or when leveling ground. I hope that helped some.

Kent

 

[markie61]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

I have the bigger bucket on the 16LA and it did OK, but did better if I filled it with snow first - it added weight.
When I was "plowing" with the FEL, I just kept it full on each pass and floated it. I didnt dump the bucket until I was building piles.

 

[Steelfan]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

Boy, I never gave that a thought. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thanks for the suggestion, it should help a lot.

Kent

 

[markie61]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

Trust me - I've had my tractor for only 6 weeks now. The only reason I have this tip to share is because I found it somewhere else on this site /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif!

 

[thcri]

Re: FEL \"Float\"

I use my FEL with the float with no trouble at all. Even in deep snow it worked great. This probably only works good on concrete or black top but if you tip your bucket forward just a bit, it will float really good. Again if you have gravel it may start to dig in.

Murph