Snow Equipment Owning/Operating operating a 3 point blade in snow

[escavader]

HI ,probably a dumb question,
I have always wondered and have never asked.For those of you who move light amounts of snow with a blade,are you still able to scrape it clean,after you ran over it and packed it down.I noticed some of you have your blades facing towards the tractor,instead of away,so you are actually driving on the snow before you plow it.It does seem it might be easier on the tractor to pull a blade then push it
The reason im asking is as some of you know,im installing a quick hitch in my loader bucket[for 3 point blade] ,to aid in the final clean up of my drive.Will a blade work just as good in either direction?It seems it might be easier to pull the snow away from the buildings etc if its facing the tractor.Thanks for the replys.
ALAN

 

[JSR LLS]

I went with a front mounted blower. But, most of my neighbors use a rear blade, FEL combo for snow removal. They have the blade facing the tractor, so they do drive over the snow first. They have no problem cleaning all the snow off their drives (asphalt), even after driving over it.

 

[Bob_Young]

With the blade facing forward, it scrapes up the snow plenty clean after driving over it. In fact it scrapes the driveway sealant off the high spots A rubber squeegee edge is probably the way to avoid this.

With blade swung 180 degrees & facing backward (while driving forward) the snow that's been driven over will NOT be scraped clean. The blade will ride over it.

Backward moving blade is the way to clear snow from turf or unpaved surfaces. Not a real clean job, but won't dig in and tear things up.

BTW, if you're thinking of getting a rear blade for snow, try to find one that will allow adjustments in blade tilt. With the tilt pin removed, the blade will float on tilt and conform to tilt variations on the surface you're working. Does a cleaner job and keeps the ends from digging in. The smallest rear blade I know of with this feature is the Woods RB60.
FWIW
Bob

 

[RoyJackson]

I use the FEL and rear blade. I use a combination of plowing forward (especially for the first passes over a deep (8"+) or wet heavy snowfall) and reverse for pushing the accumulated piles off the drive. I keep the blade slightly (half inch to an inch) off the surface when making those first passes (I also use the FEL bucket)
Since my blade won't rotate 180 degrees, I use the concave side when driving forward (and pulling snow away from the garage doors and house).

For a lighter snow (less then 8" and/or powdery), I normally plow in reverse and leave the blade down. The convex side of the blade doesn't damage my gravel drive too much.

So, for me...and most folks using a rear blade, I think, it's a combination of the methods that make most sense.

 

[Kendrick]

I have a rear snow blower and use the bucket to backdrag it to finish. I have a gravel drive, you can tell when the blade is down to hard... either you cant stear or you hear the crunching of the gravle. the snowblower leaves about 5/8" on top. I am planning to play with the shoes to see if the lower setting will work for me.

using the fel forwards or back doesnt matter you can give it a close shave either way

 

[Northland]

BTW, if you're thinking of getting a rear blade for snow, try to find one that will allow adjustments in blade tilt. With the tilt pin removed, the blade will float on tilt and conform to tilt variations on the surface you're working. Does a cleaner job and keeps the ends from digging in. The smallest rear blade I know of with this feature is the Woods RB60.
FWIW
Bob

That's a real good suggestion and a feature I wish I had on my cheap King Kutter rear blade

 

[Northland]

We get an average snowfall of between 13 and 17 feet of snow so I am plowing both small amounts and large amounts (12"+) at times.

Our drive is white stone in spots but last fall I had a two tandem loads of coke breeze (cinter fines) from the local steel mill put down. It locks down and together like concrete. I am going to do my entire driveway next spring.

I recently put v-bar tire chains on my front R4s. I already had v-bar tire chains on my rear tires. I find that with the added traction and steering effectiveness of the front chains the most effective way to clear snow is with the 60" FEL bucket down in float position and my 6 foot rear blade down and angled two notches while pointed forward.

In the past I had used the rear blade while driving the tractor in reverse. I had tried pushing in reverse with the convex side and the curved side but found it was always faster and more effective to use the rear blade going forward.

Perhaps with the new front tire chains I will have better luck pushing snow going in reverse. I will try it once we get some more snow.

 

[wolc123]

I use a rear blade facing backward and push the snow in reverse. We often get real deep snow, and I ran some angle iron across the top of the blade and attached a 12" wide piece of 3/4" marine plywood to make the blade higher because snow would often spill over the top of the shallow blade. This setup works real good on deep snow and with it my 4wd tractor with no chains and calcium-loaded R1's can push virtual mountains of snow and it cleans right down to the stone or blacktop driveway even in icey conditions. I also added a couple 200 lb suitcase weights inside the 3pt frame of the blade to give it more downpressure and assist in scraping clean. Facing the rear blade forward works for moving only small ammounts of snow because there is not room for much under the tractor. I also have a front loader bucket which I use for pushing back the banks when they get too high although the rear blade will push them back pretty good by itself. I previously used the same blade on a smaller 2wd tractor with calcium-loaded R1's with chains. That setup worked OK but the chains scratched up the blacktop and it could only push about half the snow with out spinning the chained tires as my new 4wd pushes without chains. In fact, I cant recall if the tires have ever spun while pushing snow with the new, big 4wd. I think that the ammount of snow you can push is mostly determined by the weight of your tractor. Tire type matters also (R1's are best) and chains will help especially on ice, but there is no substitute for weight. Also remember that it is best to have the plow on a drive axle. That means you can put one on the front or back of a 4wd but it should always be on the back of a 2wd.

 

[Northland]

I think that the ammount of snow you can push is mostly determined by the weight of your tractor. Tire type matters also (R1's are best) and chains will help especially on ice, but there is no substitute for weight.

I would disagree with that statement based on my experience. My 4WD Kubota B7800 with RimGuard loaded rear tires, FEL/ 60" bucket and the rear blade weighs 3400 lbs.

Without chains it slips and slides on my stone driveway, trails and particularly on any incline. Where I live and for what I use my tractor for I would never trade weight for traction via chains.

 

[wolc123]

In your case I agree, considering the R4 tires which are an especially poor choice for snow. For plowing with those, chains do make a world of difference as they are virtually useless on snow (or mud) without. The tractors I mentioned were a 2wd Ford 8n (aprox 3000 lbs with loaded rears), and a new 4wd JD 4120 (aprox 5000 lbs with loader and loaded rears). The Ford had chains while the JD does not, both have R1's, and the JD will push more than twice what the Ford will. Assuming that the 4wd cancels out the chains, then it must be the extra ton of weight that lets the JD push so much more snow with the same blade. Do you have a blacktop driveway? If so do the scratches from the chains bother you? If so, a common way to overcome the traction issues of R4's without chains is to use a blower instead of a plow which requires far less traction.