Traction GC2410 FEL Snow Moving Experience

[Don87]

Pics are in............I had fun.

I had planned on using the snowblower(it would have been a lot faster), but it's so windy here that I decided against it.

I live on a fairly decent grade, and I'm using turfs with 2 link ladder chains.

Picture number 2 was taken from where i stopped plowing...........you can see the roof of my barn behind me.

 

[Paystar]

Thanks for the pics Don. Next time you have the blower on could you take some of it all set up? Did you get the power chute deflector?

Nice machine :thumbsup:

 

[Don87]

Thanks for the pics Don. Next time you have the blower on could you take some of it all set up? Did you get the power chute deflector? Nice machine :thumbsup:

Thank you and Your welcome.

Negative, I got everything manual.............I'm planning on using the advice given here at TBN, and fabricating my own.

As far as the deflector, one could use a small standard hydraulic cylinder and just plumb it into the valve that's already on the machine.(the blower only requires 1 circuit for raise and lower)

To turn the chute, several on here have had success with 'electric window motors' from cars.

P.S. And next time the blower is on, I'll take 'working' pics.

 

[MF RED in MT]

Just wanted to chime in with my experience on removing snow with the FEL on the GC2410. First of all, it took a lot longer than I expected, but, I got to excercise the tractor. The main reason it took longer was mostly due to experience-it was my first time.

I left the BH on for traction, but, noticed that I came heart stoppingly close to my house, mailbox and Jeep on several occasions, once again mostly due to experience. The tractor is so long with the FEL and BH on it The other thing is it's hard to control the angle of the FEL to be constantly on the ground.

So far, the FEL has proven to be a worthy adversary to the 16" of snow we got a couple days ago but I need more experience. I do see a snow thrower and a cab in the future

+2 on the cab and snowblower, but do not forget the heater, . Last year I used the BH for balast wieght, but also backed into the corner of my garage, minor trim damage, . This year I dropped off the BH and made a wieght box, about 500 pounds, and I have a thread in "build it yourself" about it. Good luck with your backing up, :thumbsup:. KC

 

[rjmack]

this works good for what i need.

 

[TractorEnvy]

this works good for what i need.

Would you mind sharing the brand of rear blade in this picture. Thx!

 

[rjmack]

Would you mind sharing the brand of rear blade in this picture. Thx!

not sure, I think it was chinese made... it was also cheap. I had to make some improvements to it to keep it from falling apart. paid about $500.00 new iirc.

must keep in mind this blade is about all this tractor will pull, and I'm just lucky that we never really get more than 6" or so of snow at any given time. I definitely wouldn't recomend this option for areas w' heavy snow fall. would go bigger tractor or truck plow or something like that.

this blade on this tractor is really best suited for relatively light snow loads and in tight spots where it really shines.

 

[gladehound]

I'm not running a GC or BX or anything similar, but I do use something that I think will be helpful to some that are running their GC or BX buckets on gravel driveways. Someone else mentioned putting a PCV pipe on the bucket edge and that does work well. However, for me, they would break frequently. Then I found something called the "edge Tamer". I've been used 2 edge tamers on a 6 foot bucket last year and wanted a little more floatation on soft gravel so I went to 3 edge tames this year. They are great, clamp on your bucket in seconds. I've run them hard into rocks with at 7,000 pound tractor and they survived (one bent a little). For anyone using a bucket on gravel, these things are just great. Highly recommend. They probably even let you push more snow because they slide so easy. Again, not using a BX size tractor but I made some 200 foot pushes through 30+ inches of snow with these.

I have three on the bucket in the attached picture.



One other comment, for those using a backhoe for counterweight and pushing with the FEL. You may notice that with the FEL in "float" the front end for the tractor comes off the ground rather easily when you try to push. This happens with too much weight, too far behind the rear axle. If you are noticing this, you may actually have better results with the BH off and it will certainly help maneuverability.