How To Remove Snow From 400 ft Gravel Driveway?

[leonz]

My driveway is about 200 long wrapping around the back of the house down a hill to the basement walkout.

Last winter was the first winter at my new house and I was using an ATV with plow. By the end of winter I had between 6 and 8 inches of ice build up on the driveway. The plow just didn稚 have the weight to dig on any packed snow.

This week I picked up a subcompact with FEL and box blade. I知 hoping this will be a better setup.

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You still have time to have the tires loaded, buy a set of edge tamers and purchase good 4 link V bar snow chains, your going to need chains at your place.

 

[swampy6]

We have over 500 feet of driveway through the woods to our house, we first plowed with a Ford 4WD 250 Super Duty with a V Plow which did the trick. We then added a plow on the UTV which was nice and with chains did a decent job. We also have a snowblower but that's a big job for it but I've done it a few times when the truck was in for repairs and we didn't have the plow for the UTV.

In 2016 we bought a Mahindra 4540 with a plow for the winter, you can push a fresh 24 inches of wet snow any place you want so we got rid of the plow for the truck.

 

[aamyotte]

That痴 a sweet setup. Set the shoes on the blade, push your FEL joystick all the way forward to float the FEL. Then to get more or less cut with the blade just adjust the curl on the FEL.

The box works good up against the buildings etc.

I also drop my rippers and ping them along the ice to create grooves. Works awesome in spring to get back down to driveway surface. Also good to get more traction.

One of the big deciding factors for the box blade is exactly what you mention in using the rippers to roughen the ice for traction. It will be good for after the freezing rain storms we get a few times a winter.

 

[zmountaineer]

My driveway is 700’ gravel on a steep hill. It stays mostly ice the entire winter. I use my power rake to break up the ice pretty much daily after the ground freezes. If there is less than 6 inches of snow that’s all I do is power rake. Gives me the traction that I need and distributes the snow. If there is a lot of snow I’ll plow it first then power rake it. The first winter after building the house all I used was a plow and went for some wild rides down the driveway. Ended up putting cinders down once a week to control the ice. No more now that I have the power rake.

 

[dennyd]

I use a compact 4 wd tractor with a back blade and fel for my 1/8th gravel drive.
Sometimes I back blade with the blade turned around to get a good packing of snow, lots of time it last the whole winter so I can use the blade
turned towards the front. When it piles up I pile it up with the fel.

But this wasn't one of your options, so I'll say my ATV with blade will surprise the heck out of you. Most anything including the pile from the grader at the end of the drive will get done, that's all I used to use. On warm days push the edges back & make room for more. I did just that for years.

 

[CalG]

This is the only suitable equipment for your needs. Jet power!

 

[zzvyb6]

I had NO problems plowing an 800' gravel driveway with an 8' Western truck snow plow on the front. The key is to kepp the blade about 3/4" above the stone using the 'pucks' or skid shoes AND driving on it with a vehicle and letting the stone freeze in position. I also 'prepped' the gravel to plane each side to match the flat plow blade so I did not have a rounded crown.

Before I had the plow, I would use a 2x12" board within the tines of a landscape rake and pulled it behind the tractor. Worked OK but some snow leaked out.

THEN I changed the driveway over to 800' of 11' wide concrete. This year, I'll be using the same plow but now with a 2" rubber scraper sandwiched between the frame and the steel plow blade. The scraper is currently set about 1/2" below the steel blade. Not sure yet what height the pucks will work best at, but I'll find out pretty soon. I slotted the 9 bolt holes holding the rubber in the steel + rubber + steel blade sandwich so I can adjust for wear. A snowplow supply company in town sold me the rubber scraper which they use on roads and solid driveways. They say it lasts several seasons even when used by the plow service companies.

 

[TheMan419]

if you have a tractor I second the recommendation for Edge Tamers. I have 2 of them on my tractor. Rather than setting them right at the corner of the bucket I set them 1/4 to 1/3 of the way in so there is about equal distance between each of them and the end of the bucket.

If they recommend one size for your tractor I would say go the next size up.

I never have any gravel in the yard. I push snow way back into the yard and never damage the grass. Dealing with the snow bank at the end of the driveway is easy peasy lemon squeezy.