Snow Attachments FEL mounted snow plow in deep, wet, heavy snow?

[bam747]

First, let me define "deep, wet, heavy" snow...

At least 15" deep. Wet and heavy defined as early fall or spring time "Sierra Cement" snow. My location is the front range of Colorado. Just got done with a storm that dropped an official 24" with high winds to make even bigger drifts.

My question is will an angled FEL mounted snow plow (say a Curtis) handle this situation or will the tractor just be pushed sideways by the snow?

As for the tractor, it is a 2WD John Deere 1020 utility ag (one nominal step up in class from a large frame cut and similar to todays 5xxx series). My particular tractor/FEL combo with a rear blade weighs in at 7500 lbs.

I already assume that having MFWD would help emmensly to keep the tractor and FEL mounted snow plow going in the intended direction. But, that would be a minimum $20,000 "option" to replace my current tractor.

 

[schmism]

phew!

doesnt sound like something the avg FEL mounted plow can tackel. (in one pass)

id say a rear mounted bower would be the way to go for that kind of snow...

 

[jimmy1]

I think too a rear blower. 2WD should be fine and there will be no accumulation of banks, depending on how often you have to plow.

 

[PBinWA]

Some Chains would be helpful.

 

[Bedlam]

my experience with the fisher 7 foot mounted in the 5 foot bucket, on Ford 1720 4 WD, would be a real pull to the one side when angled. However, when I keep it raised a few inches it makes a big difference, Expecially when it builds up in fron to fthe plow and wont shed it off to often.Even with an angled blade on the rear with chains and four wheel drive I have plowed, and if its heavy enough it pushes the rear sideways..
I have alkl gravel, and prefere to use the plow, and then once or twice I use the blower to blow the banking away.One advantage, to blowing it, is in the spring, I dont have the snow bankings melting and contributing to my mud..
Hope this helps..
Al

 

[George2615]

I agree with Al that if you keep the blade just off the ground you might have better traction when pushing that much snow with the blade angled. I live in the snow belt of upstate NY and my 4WD tractor only weighs about 4K with the loader and plow up front and snowblower on back. With a lot of snow and the blade angled it will push the tractor over whether I lift the blade or not. On heavy snows I either straight blade, use bucket alone, or use the snowblower on back.
George

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

A plow can only pile the so high when you wind row it. As much snow as you get I think a blower would be the way to go(if you can afford it). Or use the blade to open the drive and then use the FEL to pile and push the snow back so the next snow you have somewhere to put it

 

[bill177]

I have a 7' plow on my Tahoe 4WD. Driveway is paved and steep. I have never been pushed sideways - been using this setup for ten years. Maybe 6000+# make a little difference - that and the wheelbase length.

If we really got dumped on - then it is time for my little GC2300 to go to work with the FEL. Plunge - lift - turn - dump - and again 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 now let's all dance the snow flake stomp!!!

 

[scesnick]

I think that we all have trouble with wet heavy snow. I have to plow 2.5 miles of driveway up over a mountain and I dread the wet snow. The Blower does not do all that well in wet snow, especially as deep as you are talking. 4wd. would make a difference but it is still tough. I usually try to polw downhill as much as possible when the snow is wet and heavy.
i usually break out my case 580 Backhoe when it is wet and deep.

I agree with the chains idea. they will suprise you for sure how much more effective they really can be.

 

[RFB]

I plow this road http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2755/sort/1/size/medium/cat/500/page/2

2.5 miles, with sometimes waist high snow running from powder to ice cream heavy, with this http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2756/sort/1/size/medium/cat/500/page/2

Zero problems with R1's and mfwd

 

[Egon]

When the snow is wet and heavy [ water will run out of the bucket ] I'd suggest just sticking to the bucket for removal.

A rear snowblower will make for good ballast and could be used for dry snow.

 

[horseman1]

Here is what he's taking about: El Paso County in Colorado... These pictures are actually from the last time it did this in October. but this years storm was the about the same. Lotsa seat time on the 2210 and FEL to clean the drive. I put up a snow fence this year, but after it got buried, it looked about like this . 70 degrees this morning though!

 

[radman1]

After seeing those pictures, I would voted for snow blower. With those fences on both sides of your driveway, it would be hard for a FEL with snow plow to push the snow anywhere in deep snow. With the fence, there is no place to push deep snow away. A 'V" shaped plow might work but you could probably only get one pass straight ahead. A 2WD 1020 is not very heavy in the front when the snow plow is on the ground (or raised up slightly) and will probably get pushed away easily.
I don't know if a snow blower would work well on the JD 1020 with gear drive and a reverse that is probably too fast and you would need to clutch it. It would also need a live pto to keep the blower running while clutching. I don't know if a 1020 has a live pto but my guess it does.

 

[RockyMnt1]

Since I am just up the road from you (North of Woodland Park), I can tell you that while plowing after the very same storm, when I angled the rear blade, the rear of the tarctor was pushed sideways. This was with loaded Ag tires. I had to use a combination of FEL (for lifting the snow out of the way) and the rear blade. It was slow going, but it did work. I did use the blade most of the time since it was much faster. I would imagine that a front snow blade would tend to push the front of the tractor even more. Certainly that could be countered somewhat by taking smaller "bites" of snow by adjusting the snow bade hieght.

I can also tell you that while a snow blower would certainly work, you want to be very careful using it on dirt roads/driveways. My old JD 10 HP snow blower is all beat up because of the river rock that would get into the impeller. I even had guide wheels to raise the snow blower 1-2 inches off the surface and still got rocks. In addition, the really wet snow plugged up the snow blower so it was mostly used as a tractor.

We really don't get that much snow that often to justify the snow blower expense, IMO. In the 23 years that I have lived near WP, we probably have had 5-6 really big snow dumps. Of course, that could change with the wild weather lately. Most of the snow from this past storm has already melted.