Modification to reduce gravel ingestion on SnowBlower

[okanoganjim]

I have searched for this but not finding the definitive answer. I have a new snowblower that I have now had the opportunity to use. Most of my clearing is on Gravel cover surfaces. My blower, a John Deere Frontier SB1174P, has some narrow adjustable skid shoes. It's early in the season and the shoes tend to dig into the road and not provide the clearance I am looking for. Thinking about making some wider, longer shoes that won't be so prone to digging into the ground, to raise the cutting edge out of the gravel. Has anyone found this to be effective? I have also seen where people put a piece of pipe or conduit on the cutting edge of the blower in the hope to reduce the gravel intake. How has this worked for folks ?

Thanks for taking the time to answer.

JIm

 

[jfsawatzky]

After the first one or two permanent snowfalls that don’t melt, I create a base of compacted snow by driving over it without clearing it, then have no issues with throwing gravel.

 

[RjCorazza]

I don't do gravel, but I have seen numerous fab jobs here on TBN for snowblowers on gravel. Anywhere from larger skid shoes to adjustable wheels (pretty cool).
I adapted extra large skid shoes on my blower because the OEM ones were WAY to small. The shoes I used were for a much larger blower, and I just bolted them onto the outside of the housing.

Most folks either get a frozen base as mentioned above, or tilt the blower back a few degrees with the top link (assuming 3 point blower).

 

[pmsmechanic]

I have a home made box blade with an 8" roller on the rear of it. After an 4" or so snowfall I move the snow around and pack it down with the box blade. When the next snowfall comes I have a nice hard base and mostly don't need to worry about the gravel.

I also made 4, 4" x 8" skids similar to above to keep the snow blower above the gravel if I do have a patch. They also help. The ones pictured above look a little narrow to be effective. My experience is that all they do is rub a trench into the gravel with very little actual flotation.

 

[Cycledude]

First year I had rear 3 point blower I never sheared a pin, second year sheared 2 but the third year I bought a very heavy duty 9 foot rear blade and mostly used that. It was a pretty unusual year with lots of freezing and thawing, only used the blower twice and sheared pins both times because of gravel getting in the blower. I definitely would like to have better shoes for the blower but not really sure how to build them. I will be watching this thread carefully hoping for some better ideas.
I do have Edge Tamers for the front loader and am pretty amazed at how well they work.

 

[07wingnut]

These are adjustable so the edge can be set to any height. By the time winter is going full bore, the wheels are adjusted so they are just dangling, and the skids keep the edge very close to the ground.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Until our ground freezes up hard, I do have issues with picking up gravel. Once our ground freezes, it stays frozen like concrete for the rest of the season. I have a gravel driveway to clear, as well as the approach to my equipment shed, which is just grass to clear.

This year I have Edge Tamers on my cutting edge of my snow blower. I used 3 of the 4" bolt on style Edge Tamers, bolted on center and each end of my cutting edge. I have used Edge Tamer's, the "clamp on" style, on my FEL bucket cutting edge for years now. They work great.

We will see how the bolt on ones work on the 3pt snow blower this year. I may or may not take them off later in the season, once the ground is hard. After we get a layer of frozen snow on the ground, it solidifies like concrete and the Edge Tamer's on my bucket aren't needed again until spring.

If your blower has a replaceable cutting edge, you can attach these bolt on Edge Tamer's to the cutting edge on your blower:

Edge Tamer - Move Snow With Your Tractor Loader Bucket

 

[nyone]

The key to not moving a bunch of gravel when removing snow is to never see the gravel until spring.
Theres been some winters with snow that I never even removed the snow. Let it pack down.

 

[ruffdog]

This company sells larger custom skids for blowers:

HOME | ARMORskids®

 

[alexinPA]

Until our ground freezes up hard, I do have issues with picking up gravel. Once our ground freezes, it stays frozen like concrete for the rest of the season. I have a gravel driveway to clear, as well as the approach to my equipment shed, which is just grass to clear.

This year I have Edge Tamers on my cutting edge of my snow blower. I used 3 of the 4" bolt on style Edge Tamers, bolted on center and each end of my cutting edge. I have used Edge Tamer's, the "clamp on" style, on my FEL bucket cutting edge for years now. They work great.

We will see how the bolt on ones work on the 3pt snow blower this year. I may or may not take them off later in the season, once the ground is hard. After we get a layer of frozen snow on the ground, it solidifies like concrete and the Edge Tamer's on my bucket aren't needed again until spring.

If your blower has a replaceable cutting edge, you can attach these bolt on Edge Tamer's to the cutting edge on your blower:

Edge Tamer - Move Snow With Your Tractor Loader Bucket