Ontario Winters

[peter_vii]

Hi all,

What would be a good tractor (HP?) for snow removal in Northern Ontario?
Say 2-3 ft of wet snow and a 1000' driveway?

I'm thinking 30-50HP, but is that enough? too much?

Thanks,
Peter

 

[JDeerekid]

30hp should be plenty. With that amount of snow you will probably want a snowblower. 5-6ft snowblower will work. Front snowblower or rear snowblower and loader.

But you should answer a couple more questions.

What else do you want to do with it?
How much property?
How much do you want to spend?
How long do you want to spend moving snow?

 

[LBrown59]

30hp should be plenty. With that amount of snow you will probably want a snowblower. 5-6ft snowblower will work. Front snowblower or rear snowblower and loader.

But you should answer a couple more questions.

What else do you want to do with it?
How much property?
How much do you want to spend?
How long do you want to spend moving snow?

Under 5 minutes.

 

[PILOON]

Hi,
I am north of Montreal in a snow belt area and maintain 3 drives all in the 1000' + size.

I use a 20 HP gear drive with a 60" rear blower and a 60" front plow blade.

Very rarely do I spend more than 1 hr per drive (usually about 30mins), sure a 16-18" dumping is not as fast as I need to take 1/2 wide passes otherwise I am bogging the engine down.
Actually your ears tell you if you are 'biting' too much as you soon learn to notice teh RPS kinda dropping as well as the snow does not blow quite as far as usual.

I found that my front mounted plow blade makes for real fast work in the lesser snow falls as I then only need one blower pass.

A lot depends on what other uses you will make of your tractor as well. Do you need a lot of HP? or is compact manouverability more essential?

I did own a much larger tractor/blower/loader (deere 510)and would never go back there as all I could do was straight line work and finishing off with a walk behind.

With my CUT I can turn 360 deg anywhere on my drive if need be.

Just make sure your blower is about 6-10" wider than your rear wheels.

 

[peter_vii]

30hp should be plenty. With that amount of snow you will probably want a snowblower. 5-6ft snowblower will work. Front snowblower or rear snowblower and loader.

But you should answer a couple more questions.

What else do you want to do with it?
How much property?
How much do you want to spend?
How long do you want to spend moving snow?

1. garden, fence work, plant trees, landscaping work, move dirt, stones etc.
2. 30 ac workable, 80 ac total
3. 10-18K with loader
4. 1 hr, 3 ft of snow on 1000'x16' driveway

I'll probably need another, bigger tractor for plowing/planting/moving the 30 ac of fields, but I was wondering if I can get away with 30-32 HP for the
above landscaping/garden/snow removal work.

 

[JDeerekid]

1. garden, fence work, plant trees, landscaping work, move dirt, stones etc.
2. 30 ac workable, 80 ac total
3. 10-18K with loader
4. 1 hr, 3 ft of snow on 1000'x16' driveway

I'll probably need another, bigger tractor for plowing/planting/moving the 30 ac of fields, but I was wondering if I can get away with 30-32 HP for the
above landscaping/garden/snow removal work.

Well I will stick with what I said before and you should be find with 30hp. You could probably go smaller if you intend to get a larger tractor for the larger projects. Good luck on what you choose. just make sure you get a good dealer if you buy new.

 

[jcaledon]

I'm most familiar with the John Deere and Kubota machines. Your price range is a real limiting factor. A B3030 with a cab sounds about right, but in Canada, it may be out of your price range (maybe not, the economy is really scary right now). A John Deere 2520 might do the job as well. A B2920 will fit within your price range, and would probably suit your needs.

 

[kozak]

HELLOOOO Peter up Yonder !

Agree with everybody else. 30 to 33 HP would be fine. Make sure you get the R4 tires & extra weight (300 - 500 Lbs) & you'll be all set.

Don't have long now. You probably have snow already. Were scheduled to maybe get some in the next couple days & were way south of you.

GET THAT TRACTOR & start having FUN !!


Vic

 

[WilliamBos]

HELLOOOO Peter up Yonder !

Agree with everybody else. 30 to 33 HP would be fine. Make sure you get the R4 tires & extra weight (300 - 500 Lbs) & you'll be all set.

Don't have long now. You probably have snow already. Were scheduled to maybe get some in the next couple days & were way south of you.

GET THAT TRACTOR & start having FUN !!


Vic

Do NOT get R4 tires if you have a heavy clay based soil. They will load up quicker than gas companies up here raise prices, and will not clean off. We had a set when we got our 1523, and got rid of them soon enough, switched them out for turfs. Either R1 Ag tires or turfs.

Not trying to start a war here, just need to factor in all before buying.

We got snowed on last Wednesday. Thankfully it melted.

 

[Northland]

I live in Northern Ontario, in the mountains, just off the NE shore of Lake Superior. We get a lot of snow here!

For the first few winters I used my 30HP Kubota B7800 with the FEL, a 6 foot back blade and rear chains. It worked well enough until last winter when it snowed what seemed non-stop and a foot at a time all winter. I had snow and 10 foot snowbanks on April 1.

I bought a used, just like new, Agrotrend 5 foot rear snowblower for $700 and spent 1/4 the time clearing my driveway and other areas. I reversed my front tires and added v-bar chains. That made all the difference in traction.

I hate getting the snow blowback in my face but driving in reverse isn't so bad...yet. A front snowblower and cab would be nice but for the $700 I spent I am very happy.

 

[Tig]

I think 30 hp would be plenty for the jobs on your list.
On an average snow fall with some drifting I can do 600m of laneway 8' wide with my 16 hp tractor in about 20 mins.

 

[smfcpacfp]

My Kubota B3030 HSDC work well with our snow and my 400' driveway. With relatively dry snow it takes about 1 hour from when I fire it up until I have it cleaned up and put away.

We had some wet heavy snow in early April (2 feet on 2 occasions). That was really the acid test for me - no problem. I did slow down and take my time and some pictures:

 

[WayneB]

I live in Northern Ontario, in the mountains, just off the NE shore of Lake Superior. We get a lot of snow here!

For the first few winters I used my 30HP Kubota B7800 with the FEL, a 6 foot back blade and rear chains. It worked well enough until last winter when it snowed what seemed non-stop and a foot at a time all winter. I had snow and 10 foot snowbanks on April 1.

I bought a used, just like new, Agrotrend 5 foot rear snowblower for $700 and spent 1/4 the time clearing my driveway and other areas. I reversed my front tires and added v-bar chains. That made all the difference in traction.

I hate getting the snow blowback in my face but driving in reverse isn't so bad...yet. A front snowblower and cab would be nice but for the $700 I spent I am very happy.

I have a Woods rear snowblower and the first year I enjoyed clearing the driveways although the snow was constantly blowing into the face. I was using my heated snowmobile helmet and that helped a whole bunch.

The following year I went ahead and installed a fiberglass sunshade, Femco weather break, lights rear and front and added Plexiglas on the ROPS to close off the backend. I hooked up a DC motor to control the blower chute. By no means is it as nice as having a custom cab with full heat and radio, but it certainly makes being out in the cold blowing snow more enjoyable. Actually, most of the time I am out there with just a jacket and gloves.

New method of handling snow:

Old method of handling snow, she still does some of this!

 

[kozak]

Nice snow pics guys. Thanks.

WilliamBos,

Strange that R4 tires with larger treads would fill up quicker than turfs. I also have turfs and there not bad. Actually, better than I thought they would be. Originally I wanted R4's but tractor came with turfs.

As I never have had R4's I cannot comment on how well they will do in clay. What about snow. Surely R4's are better than turfs ??


Vic

 

[JDeerekid]

Nice snow pics guys. Thanks.

WilliamBos,

Strange that R4 tires with larger treads would fill up quicker than turfs. I also have turfs and there not bad. Actually, better than I thought they would be. Originally I wanted R4's but tractor came with turfs.

As I never have had R4's I cannot comment on how well they will do in clay. What about snow. Surely R4's are better than turfs ??


Vic

Why did you have to ask. If this question gets out there will be a thousand post here and still no answer

 

[WilliamBos]

Nice snow pics guys. Thanks.

WilliamBos,

Strange that R4 tires with larger treads would fill up quicker than turfs. I also have turfs and there not bad. Actually, better than I thought they would be. Originally I wanted R4's but tractor came with turfs.

As I never have had R4's I cannot comment on how well they will do in clay. What about snow. Surely R4's are better than turfs ??


Vic

Have a look at a real set of snow tires, and then turfs, the treads are comparable. They will be fine, with chains even better. A friend of my Dads has to compacts, one with turfs, and one with R4's, he prefers the turf tractor over the R4 tractor.

We have R4's for over a month while we were waiting for the turfs to come, and even driving full speed on ashphalt would not clean them off. Like gumbo here, but the turfs clean off fine.

 

[peter_vii]

Thanks guys.

One more question for those of you who use (rear) snowblowers with position
control hitch.

Is the position control hitch useful in running snowblower or rear blade?
Or quarter inching is good enough for snow removal jobs?

Thank you for all responses.

 

[George in Spokane]

> reversed front tires.

Smart boy, I never thought of that. Thanks

 

[Northland]

Thanks guys.

One more question for those of you who use (rear) snowblowers with position
control hitch.

Is the position control hitch useful in running snowblower or rear blade?
Or quarter inching is good enough for snow removal jobs?

Thank you for all responses.

I am sure position control would be better but the 1/4" valve works fine for me

 

[Northland]

> reversed front tires.

Smart boy, I never thought of that. Thanks

Thanks but I can't take credit for the idea as many TBNr's had done this before me and that's where I got the idea. It works well on Kubota's where front wheel clearance for chains is a problem.