I just wanted to try it out, I didn't want this 23" snowfall!
The ABS on the loader bucket turned out to be an absolute necessity for doing a cement driveway and sidewalk. If I didn't have it I would have caught every expansion joint and destroyed the cement and the tractor. What a joy to do 200' of 4' wide sidewalk with a 4' bucket!
I have a W.R. Long wear edge, so I could not put on one 4' long piece of ABS due to the design of the wear edge. Instead I had 5 pieces each 7.5" long. I had 2" diameter on originally, as that was what I had laying around. The only problem was that near the end today, the pieces had lost their spring grip and kept falling off when I dumped the bucket.
After I finished, I went out and bought some 3" ABS and a can of "great stuff" spray in expanding foam insulation. That stuff is very sticky. I put on the new 3" pieces and filled the cavity below the wear edge with the expanding foam. My hope is that it acts sufficiently as a glue to hold the ABS on. I can knock them off and scrape off the foam after the winter. I will have to wait until the next snow to test it out.
The polyurethane edge on the rear blade was great. After I was done removing the bulk of the snow, mostly with the loader, the afternoon sun loosened up the thin layer that was left, and I was able to push in reverse with the rear blade and squeegeed most of the driveway right down to clean cement.
After that there were a few ice patches left so I took off the ABS and very slowly and carefully scraped them with the wear edge, I had to stop and lift the bucket at the joints as the edge would catch.
Here are the new 3" pieces foamed on, waiting to go.
