Grading Front blade or rear blade for your compact/snow

[Jrrcorp]

I've said it again and again... a FEL on the front and a blower on the rear is a great combination. I live in the snow belt southeast of Buffalo NY. When the City gets 4" of snow, we get 14" of snow. I have a 6' FEL bucket and a 5' snow blower. Even when we get 2' + of snow, I walk through it with my JD 4410 without any undue stress on my machine. We get over 150" of snow almost every year. I don't understand why you all lament over rear blade VS. front blade. If you have a FEL, with rear ballist it alone works fine. What are you looking for? If you are plowing more than 500' in a straight run, maybe you should be looking at a plow truck not a CUT! CUT's have ther're limitaion's. And many of you just don't get it! Some want them to be log skidder's, bull dozers, excavators, etc. they are ond size up from lawn mowers not construction vehicles! So stop expecting the performance of a commercial vehicle (costing twice as much) from your CUT! And if you live in snow country, a blower and a FEL work just fine in combination with each other. If you only get 2"-6" at a time, a blade, (front or rear) may work fine. Over that amount of snow, a blower and FEL will out work any other combo. Trust me, I know form many years of experience including the famous blizzard of '77.

 

[bigpete]

Front blade versus rear blade for snow removal?

Front blade wins, hands down. FEL works fine, but it is considerably slower for snow under 18".

 

[beenthere]

All of the comments are good, however all just refer to "snow". I've learned that there is new snow, old snow, packed drifted snow, wet snow, dry snow, melted refrozen snow, corn snow and the variations of near all of the above.

Different snow type will make for specific situations that have an effect on the outcome of your decision. I'd guess the best answer comes down to your interest in how you spend your time and how you enjoy 'playing' in the snow with your equipment. And I find some of the enjoyment is re-designing and re-tooling the 'toys'. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[ruglad03835]

It's a no brainer for me. I got a 7' blade for free. All I have to do is weld a frame for it and hook it on...Lets see Blade $0
Steel $50.00. Fasse Diverter valve $330.00. Quick Tach parts $30.00. What's a new blade from Deere or Curtis going to cost?

 

[beenthere]

Front or rear blade for free? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Hope you get some pics and post them.

 

[cmhyland]

I have done snow removal with tractors for going on twenty years.

More than some, not as much as many of you...

I have done it with a front frame mounted plow, a plow mounted in the bucket,
and just using the loader.

Any attachment on the back of the machine can only be of secondary use
such as blowing a snowbank back.

For speed and maneuverablity nothing touches a four way plow
mounted to the frame of the machine. The swing of a plow on the end of the
loader arms is too large. The swing of a plow clamped into the bucket is even worse.

Using the loader is just slow, but it works.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Shawk]

Thanks for the many replies... We've had a couple small snowfalls since my original post. So I've had a chance to get a little taste of how the FEL will do. The FEL works well however my old JD425/54" blade clearly would have been quicker. Soooo, I'm now also contemplating a front blower for my tractor. I've never wanted to spend the $$$$ on a blower but I'm beginning to think that I might just have to bite the bullet and get one. My work requires me in the office from 8am-10pm at a minimum during the Jan-Aril months... so that last thing I have is time to move snow. We've been fortunate enough to have very little snow over the last several winters so I've never run out of room to push snow (close a couple times). John Deere is telling me it takes at least 2 weeks to get a front blade or snowblower... so I'm going to attempt to come to a decision this weekend and place an order Monday morning.

Thanks again! Any other thoughts... Please feel free to share them with me.

 

[JDFANATIC]

IMHO, there's nothing like a blower, well, unless you consider a blower with a cab! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Shawk]

It's bad enough that it looks as though I'm going from an $1100 attachment to almost $3000... NOW, you're tempting me to get a cab too.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif STOP!

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

A cab sure would be nice though.... a heated one would be really nice...

 

[Gunfighter]

Tell me more about this Fasse Diverter valve. I have a JD 790 with loader
mounted Curtis blade and would definitely like to change angles from the seat...
Checked with J.D Dealer, he said there was nothing offered other then the two
outlet joy stick that came with the tractor... He said their is no room to put
anything else...

You have to do a butcher job on the tractor or is it a neat fit???

Richard
West Michigan...