Snow Attachments Help with snow plowing and the FEL

[Travlin1]

Hello everyone

First, I would like to thank everyone here for all the information I have learned so far (much more to learn!) I live in Ohio and have a TC40 with quick detach bucket and an 84 rear blade for snow removal. This year we had quite a bit of snow and the rear blade by itself did not keep up so I started using the front bucket with the rear blade which worked pretty well except that the 6 HD bucket fills too quickly! Since the snow pusher or front plow are both around 3000-4000 around here I came up with an idea to save money. I figured I could get a light materials bucket (8 wide with a higher back then the normal HD bucket). This option only costs 1000$. I understand the limitations of the loader and I would only use it to PUSH snow down my asphalt (gravel going to barn) driveway. I would NOT be using it for lifting anything else. Does anyone see any problems with doing this? I understand this would not be my primary bucket, It would only be used in the winter and as long as I do not exceed my lift limitation (which again, I will be pushing more than lifting) I do not see any problems and have been told by others that this is an economical solution. What do you guys think?? I really appreciate your insight.

 

[Thomas]

First off welcome to TBN Travlin1.
I know of couple gentlemen which has the setup your asking about...they like it.
Another gentleman bolts on foot each side which veers snow into the bucket...does nice job.
Uneven ground dumping bucket of wet snow can be come little light on the high side of tractor.
Extra rear weight does help for traction.
When pushing up against frozen snow banks or try to move go slow...little more stress on loader arms.

Have you consider nice 2nd or 3rd hand plow setup,easy hook up to your bucket.

 

[jimmysisson]

Don't know if your ground is uneven at all but for my area a little slop in the pins and hinges of a snowplow are what keeps the blade on the ground. A bucket is pretty rigid by comparison, keeping roughly in level with the rear tires. With a QA conversion from an old pickup snowplow you'd get a cleaner driveway. Unless yours is flat. Come to think of it, flat is why lots of New Englanders moved to Ohio in the first place.
Jim

 

[Ford850]

I've been using a FEL plow for a couple of years and they are hard to beat. I'm sure you could get by with your light bucket idea, but you should be able to find a plow in the $2000 range. My 7 1/2' plow with hyd angle was barely over 2k including shipping to my dealer. You can also get them without the hyd angle for less money, but I would spend the little extra.
There's a post from someone in PA selling a Curtis FEL blade from a TC45, Over in the NH Pricing forum.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/new-holland-buying-pricing/138721-curtis-snowplow.html

 

[Travlin1]

Thanks for the posts so far guys they have been helpful.

Thomas- My rear blade comes in at over 700lbs and my rear tires are loaded as well.

Jimmysisson-my ground is even and it would be getting most of its work on a blacktop driveway.

Ford850- I am checking on the plow..thanks Money is tight right now as there are so many projects that need to be done on the property so an extra 1000 dollars right now is probably out of my range.

Keep the posts coming ...as always I enjoy learning from the pros...have a great day

 

[JB4310]

Hello everyone

First, I would like to thank everyone here for all the information I have learned so far (much more to learn!) I live in Ohio and have a TC40 with quick detach bucket and an 84 rear blade for snow removal. This year we had quite a bit of snow and the rear blade by itself did not keep up so I started using the front bucket with the rear blade which worked pretty well except that the 6 HD bucket fills too quickly! Since the snow pusher or front plow are both around 3000-4000 around here I came up with an idea to save money. I figured I could get a light materials bucket (8 wide with a higher back then the normal HD bucket). This option only costs 1000$. I understand the limitations of the loader and I would only use it to PUSH snow down my asphalt (gravel going to barn) driveway. I would NOT be using it for lifting anything else. Does anyone see any problems with doing this? I understand this would not be my primary bucket, It would only be used in the winter and as long as I do not exceed my lift limitation (which again, I will be pushing more than lifting) I do not see any problems and have been told by others that this is an economical solution. What do you guys think?? I really appreciate your insight.

I did exactly what your thinking about, I to thought first about a pusher box either buying or making one but instead I got the light materials bucket.

My standard bucket was 61" and the light materials bucket is 73" but is taller and deeper, definitely speeds up snow removal efforts and can be used for other tasks unlike the snow pusher or even front snow plows.

This year I concocted a rear power angle plow from a truck plow, it is great to be able to push snow off to the side instead of having to pick up every flake with the bucket. Pushing snow alone will build piles quickly, that's where the bucket comes in.

If you can get a power angle set up on your rear plow and the larger bucket you'd have a great combo. Try and get the bucket with replaceable cutting edge, mine doesn't have one and it's wearing down, since I started using the rear blade more I'm saving the bucket edge considerably.

Are you saying the light material bucket your looking at is 8 inches wider than your 6' bucket, or is 8' wide itself. If it's 8 ft wide and taller and deeper then that may be a bit much for a your machine, especially if you heaped up a bucket of heavy snow, what's the lift capacity of that loader? I'm able to lift heaping 6' bucket no problem with my 32 hp ~1500lb loader lift capacity JD.

JB.

 

[Travlin1]

JD4310-


I went online and found that wet snow weighs approx 20lbs per cu ft..I went with a 50% increase and used 30lbs per cu ft and then converted that to a 1 cu yd bucket and my math comes up with approx 1020lbs plus the weight of the bucket (400 lbs)..Basically less than 1500lbs...max height at the pin I can lift 1955lbs and forward of pin 1550lbs...again I am NEVER going to be lifting it near that high..more than likely 2-3 feet max just to get it off the berm. What do ya think?

 

[George2615]

You could find an old truck snow plow blade and adapt it to fit your quick attach on your loader arms. I don't have a quick attach / detach but my bucket detaches with 4 pins then I attach an old truck plow blade (see pic). I use this setup through the first half of winter to straight blade plow the snow and have now switched back to the loader bucket for moving piles.
This summer I plan to convert my truck blade into a pusher by adding sides similar to the one in the second pic.
I got the old blade from a friend for about $100 and welded on brackets to where my loader arms attach. It's worked for several years now. There are several companies that sell the quick attach brackets that can be welded onto an old plow blade to make it fit your setup.

 

[Travlin1]

George2615-

That is not a bad idea.... unfortunately if it doesn稚 involve crazy glue or duct tape I am out of options. Some of us just don稚 have those capabilities

 

[Travlin1]

Do you see what I mean... I was just typing and I have no idea where those funny characters came from in my last response....lol