How useful is a snow blade - front or back?

[aczlan]

Usefullness of snow blades is pretty dependant on the size of the machine they are attached to.:thumbsup:

I would have to disagree with you there. The 60" power angle front blade on the BX2660 with a cab is more useful and will push more snow in less time than the 72" manual angle backblade on the open station L3830.

Aaron Z

 

[Egon]

Put the back blade on a bigger machine.:thumbsup:

 

[bstrom]

How about both? It's fast and gives me a lot of options for pulling or pushing and with the quick attach I can swap out the homemade front blade for a bucket to pile up snow. I use chains front and rear after things ice up - I go easy and no problems so far.:thumbsup:

 

[Redneck in training]

My near future project is to use a landscape rake such as this one:
http://orders.leinbachs.com/cart/ma...cts_id=28&zenid=mava9sl4ihkmercbmiq50sdi16and and attach to it a piece of conveyor belt about 7 ft long and 24-30" wide. Since the belt will be bent to the curvature of the tines it will be stiff enough to be wider than the rake itself. Beside snow clean up I will also use it to scrape mud from our concrete in front of the garage or the shop.

 

[JackDWaller]

Thanks guys, more ideas. I especially like the pics that I can copy features off.

What would be the maximum/minimum useful height of a 6 or 7 foot blade for my JD 2320(24 HP) - any difference pull or push?

Jack

 

[cttractor]

Thanks guys, more ideas. I especially like the pics that I can copy features off.

What would be the maximum/minimum useful height of a 6 or 7 foot blade for my JD 2320(24 HP) - any difference pull or push?

Jack

My 6 foot blade is 14 inches high.

3 Point Hitches can't take as much force pushing as they can pulling. A 3PH snow blower doesn't really have that much force on it when it's pushing because the snow doesn't have a chance to build up. But it does with a rear blade, so it's better to pull a rear blade than push it.

 

[RoyJackson]

My 6 foot blade is 14 inches high.

3 Point Hitches can't take as much force pushing as they can pulling. A 3PH snow blower doesn't really have that much force on it when it's pushing because the snow doesn't have a chance to build up. But it does with a rear blade, so it's better to pull a rear blade than push it.

VERY TRUE!!! There have been a couple TBNers who broke lower link arms pushing with the rear blade.

 

[aczlan]

VERY TRUE!!! There have been a couple TBNers who broke lower link arms pushing with the rear blade.

Remember, a truck type plow blade has a trip mechanism to prevent a rouge stump, manhole cover, etc from taking the truck from 20mph to 0mph in 2"
A backblade or a loader bucket have no such mechanisms, so you need to watch where you are going and know what is under the snow or you could break things in a hurry.

Aaron Z

 

[JackDWaller]

I'm still pondering the blade issue and a strange idea hit me as I was viewing the JD 200CX loader (prompted by PILOON's reference to a blade tied back to the rear axle via long arms). I guess you'd call this a bulldozer format.

The 200CX loader has a tube (maybe 2 1/2" D) that provides cross bracing. The open ends are a potential lifting point for stubs that could be inserted into these tubes (the height function for a blade). The main mounts of the loader that tie to the frame are a potential hinge point for straight arms running on the outside of the front wheels of the tractor to a blade (bucket would be removed). These straight arms that tie to the blade could be extendable to allow some angle adjustment of the blade, provided the blade/arm mounts swivel and the blade is lifted via a center pivot point. Furthermore, the unused bucket mount points could possibly be configured via some mechanical contraption to provide another function - perhaps tilt to the blade?? Should be possible to make this easily removable.

Two objectives are behind this idea - getting the blade forces off the loader proper and onto the frame and bringing the blade closer to the front of the tractor. Am I overlooking some impossible challenges here or is there potential ?!

 

[LBrown59]

The BX2660 is the best machine unless you need to push banks, it doesn't have quite enough weight to push back hard banks of snow.

Here is my BX1500 with the same blade.
Not only will it move snow quite well it is also great for pushing dirt gravel sand etc .
Try that with your snow blower.