Good Beginner Project - Build Up Your Snow Plow Shoes

Fallon · Oct 16, 2017

oosik said:
Those "new" shoes look like they will be very useful. My biggest problem here is just waiting to plow snow until the gravel driveway freezes up hard. I get anxious and then some gravel will end up on the sides of the driveway. Falling snow makes me excited.

Moot point here in Colorado. Last Sunday had a high of 77. Sunday night & Monday had a high of 24 & we got 5" of snow. 65 the next day & mid 70s the rest of the week. Welcome to Colorado. Got 4-5" of snow on the deck, but the driveway never turned white because of all the latent heat. That type of crap happens all winter long around here so you can never trust the ground to be frozen when you need to plow.

Gordon Gould · Oct 20, 2017

crazyal said:
How well do the shoes keep the blade from digging in.

If the surface is not frozen it depends on it's consistency. If the gravel is firm the shoes float the blade well. ( I can adjust the shoe height too ) The problem is during the spring mud season when the road bed is still frozen below the surface so there is no drainage but the top 2 inches or so are a soft muddy slurry. Then the shoes just dig into the mud.

On a rough road I start the plow season with the shoes low to hold the edge up so it will ride over the rocks and leave a thin layer of snow on the road. As the thin layers of snow get packed the road becomes flat and smooth and I raise the shoes to let the edge run on or just above the packed surface.

gg

dragoneggs · Oct 25, 2017

Fallon said:
Moot point here in Colorado. Last Sunday had a high of 77. Sunday night & Monday had a high of 24 & we got 5" of snow. 65 the next day & mid 70s the rest of the week. Welcome to Colorado. Got 4-5" of snow on the deck, but the driveway never turned white because of all the latent heat. That type of crap happens all winter long around here so you can never trust the ground to be frozen when you need to plow.

Got to love Colorado weather... I learned long ago that to bring shorts and warm coat on the same two day business trip.

Fallon · Oct 25, 2017

dragoneggs said:
Got to love Colorado weather... I learned long ago that to bring shorts and warm coat on the same two day business trip.

High of 80 today... 1" of snow forecast for tomorrow...

Gordon Gould · Nov 13, 2018

crazyal said:
How well do the shoes keep the blade from digging in. .

I thought today would be a good day to dredge up this year old thread so you could see why I use plow shoes. We got 10" of heavy wet snow. It stopped snowing shortly after noon time. This is the first time I plowed this season. Our gravel road is not frozen and we have had a lot of rain lately. The plow shoes saved me from tearing things up and making a mess. Turned up some leaves here and there is all. One ton Ram 3500 with a 9' Fisher.