Front blade for Mule MX: Snow *and* gravel

[houska]

Time to get a snow blade for my Mule MX Pro.

I want the best of both worlds, occasional snow removal (1/4 mile driveway) in winter as primary use, but also ability to smooth out gravel and earth in the summer.
Feasible or dumb idea? If feasible, anything I should watch for (e.g. heavy duty vs poly blade), models/brands to avoid, etc?

I'm well aware I'll still have a Mule, not a bulldozer. And I have a box blade on my tractor for actually scraping the ground. But I often load up a small trailer with 2 tractor buckets of gravel at my property entrance and then dump it on a low spot on my forest road a mile away. Life would be easier if I could use the Mule to sorta spread it out, rather than having to drive the tractor up and then back.

I've got snow chains on the mule already, and winch. Figuring a straight, 72" wide 16" high blade should cover the wheel width (60"+-) even when tilted, but not planning on the super-high 24-26" plows since I figure an MX likely under-power/under-weight for them vs a FX, etc? Agree?

Thanks for advice!

 

[jeff9366]

Gravel is much heavier than snow.

I think the transmission of your Mule will be toast in short order.

Use your tractor for transporting and smoothing gravel.

 

[grsthegreat]

I have a snow blade that came with my Kawasaki mule 4010, and honestly I find it about useless. The only thing we occasionally use it for is to push horse manure with when the ground is too sloppy for the tractor. Pushing gravel....no way.

 

[Zebrafive]

I agree, pushing gravel with your Mule is a bad idea.

 

[houska]

Thanks for the sanity check, guys.

 

[ArlyA]

We've pushed dirt with a smaller machine!! I think you can do gravel but it would be in limited amounts.

 

[houska]

Update, 3 mos after getting our snowblade (i.e. mid-summer, not tested on snow yet).

Pushing anywhere near a full blade of gravel around - ain't happenin'. I can push a 1/2-bladeful of 3/4"-with-fines, and a nearly full bladeful of 3/4"-clear. But it's clearly a struggle, and not something I will do with it again.

On the other hand, back-dragging to smooth off a newly gravel filled pothole, or dirt in a garden bed, is easy. As is shoving to the side a pile of autumn leaves kindly collected by a volunteer into exactly the wrong spot.

Bottom line is it works a charm for the sort of stuff you could do by hand with a rake, but are happy you don't have to. But it ain't a baby bulldozer.