birdo
New member
Careful if that ground isn't frozen nice n hard.
Help!! Need snow clearing advice from Northern friends
- Thread starter tractorshopper
- Start date
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tractorshopper
Veteran Member
Ground is not frozen a lot. I like idea of wood plow but have no scraps laying around. I scraped my concrete pad with box scrape to get tractor out of garage. It worked great but when I started down the drive I either dug into gravel too much or floated up and over with the loader. I'll wait until more piles up and try again later. It turned over to sleet while I was working it and just started making a mess. I'll try to curl bucket up a little and float forward again. I have a tooth bar so that is making it harder to find right balance of angle and grab. Red filled but I slide some when trying to push with too much down pressure if not floating. Inexperience sucks. Lost Internet too so typing on phone now . Can't see much of what I'm typing. Excuse miatakes.
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tractorshopper
Veteran Member
R4 tires. Stupid Autocorrect.
Coyote machine
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- May 4, 2009
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- Southern VT
- Tractor
- 22 SANY SY 50U, '10 Kioti DK 40se/hst KL-401 FEL, loaded tires, KB-2485 bhoe, Tuffline TB160 BB, Woods QA forks, MIE Hydraulic bhoe thumb & ripper tooth, Igland 4001 winch, & GR-20 Log Grapple. Woods BBX72" Brush Mower. Diamondplate aluminum canopy
Since you don't plow regularly try low range or a low gear to see how it goes. You'll have more control, though you won't go as fast. You can always change to a higher gear as you hit the flats or plow some going uphill. You might want to drive some stakes along the edge of the road where the tractor is most likely to get stuck to keep yourself and tractor out of the ditch. This job is best done with seatbelt on and ROPS up on the off chance you layover in the ditch. Hopefully not, of course, but snow can be slick as snot, and without chains things can go from bad to worse real fast.
A plow has the advantage of keeping the wheels out of the ditch more then a FEL due to the plow being able to extend and angle away from the FEL frame/wheels while pushing snow. So be careful to not get your tires near the edge of the road/ditch.
Remember your objective is to clear most of the road, it's not like mowing a golf course in summer! Close is better then nothing and you can always go back and do some cleanup later. Keep the BB on for balast especially if your rears aren't loaded.
A plow has the advantage of keeping the wheels out of the ditch more then a FEL due to the plow being able to extend and angle away from the FEL frame/wheels while pushing snow. So be careful to not get your tires near the edge of the road/ditch.
Remember your objective is to clear most of the road, it's not like mowing a golf course in summer! Close is better then nothing and you can always go back and do some cleanup later. Keep the BB on for balast especially if your rears aren't loaded.
MossRoad
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- Aug 31, 2001
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- South Bend, Indiana (near)
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- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Hahaha Good one. Hang in there.
Looking4new
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- Apr 8, 2012
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- Northern Ontario, Canada
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- 2012 Kioti CK27HST w/cab
Stuff it in 4 wheel drive and leave it there, as long as you are on snow.
HillStreet
Veteran Member
Use the bucket. If the gravel is not frozen, experiment with floating the FEL. If it digs, then just take it off float and keep the bucket edge just above the gravel surface (this method aids your steering ability in the heavy snow you're going to get). As others have mentioned, low range 4 x 4 and smooth steady speed is best. Beware sagging/downed power lines.
If you drop off the edge and get stuck, raise your bucket high enough to rotate the bucket all the way to the rear. Put enough down pressure on the bucket to get a grip on the ground and rotate the bucket toward the front. It will push you backwards. Do this as many times as necessary to get unstuck. I have used this same technique with my backhoe to pull me out of any stuck problem.
DB Pilot
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- SW, New York
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- Case Farmall 65A, L3800 Kubota, BX2200 Kubota
TractorShopper,
I have both Kubota tractors set up the same way. Front end bucket and rear scraper blade. You have to use various methods of pushing, scooping or scraping snow depending on the ground conditions and snow depth. You are for sure going to have soft ground like we have at the start and end of our winters. The back blade is my #1 implement. But it has to be set up correctly. Concave or digging side of the blade forward towards tractor. Set the toplink so that the bottom of the blade is just slightly forward of perpendicular to the ground. Angle the blade the way you want the snow to be PUSHED off the road. You will be backing a lot. Think of it as using the back of your hand to push snow off a surface. This keeps your tires on smooth snow free ground as you go. If you slide over an icy spot just pull forward a little then lift blade and take another pass at the flat spot you just made.
You should get a nice smooth surface with no chatter of the backblade. If you don't dig up gravel you will be pleased with the road surface when things dry out. Lastly tractors were made for pulling so don't ram into anything if you get a hard chunk of ice, that is what the bucket is for and piling of course. This is about 25% of what you need to know for snow removal!
My neighbors have said they are impressed with the speed and results I get with my tractors but, I am always looking for ways to improve things. Good luck! :thumbsup:
I have both Kubota tractors set up the same way. Front end bucket and rear scraper blade. You have to use various methods of pushing, scooping or scraping snow depending on the ground conditions and snow depth. You are for sure going to have soft ground like we have at the start and end of our winters. The back blade is my #1 implement. But it has to be set up correctly. Concave or digging side of the blade forward towards tractor. Set the toplink so that the bottom of the blade is just slightly forward of perpendicular to the ground. Angle the blade the way you want the snow to be PUSHED off the road. You will be backing a lot. Think of it as using the back of your hand to push snow off a surface. This keeps your tires on smooth snow free ground as you go. If you slide over an icy spot just pull forward a little then lift blade and take another pass at the flat spot you just made.
You should get a nice smooth surface with no chatter of the backblade. If you don't dig up gravel you will be pleased with the road surface when things dry out. Lastly tractors were made for pulling so don't ram into anything if you get a hard chunk of ice, that is what the bucket is for and piling of course. This is about 25% of what you need to know for snow removal!
My neighbors have said they are impressed with the speed and results I get with my tractors but, I am always looking for ways to improve things. Good luck! :thumbsup:
