Here are some photos of my new to me Grattex "extendable and reversable" snow blade. I was trying to find a front mount blower for my
B26 and came across this used blade at my Kubota / Case / New Holland dealer. It came of a NH tractor that only had 40 hours and one season on it.
Unfortunately we have not had very much snow this winter despite living an hour north of Toronto. I started the
B26 for the second time since October on Friday! Forget about a green Christmas - we have had an almost completely green January too. We got about 3" of blowing snow yesterday so I am waiting for daylight and then I will go out and play in the snow for an hour or two.
This is their model "559" blade which means it goes from 5.5' to 9' wide. My driveway is not paved and given that we live in an 1885 house in a small village it will probably stay that way. We have about short 50' single care width entrance with a circular drive to the main entry door and than a large clear area for parking which is probably 100' by 80'.
I had purchased the larger Kubota light duty front bucket for the
B26 which increase width from 60" to 66" and has probably a 50% larger capacity but when I saw this Grattex blade I realized it would really cut down my driveway clearing time. I wanted something I could operate will facing forward due to neck and back issues and this has been great the two times I have used it so far. My driveway is a slight uphill from the road so it is a bit of a challenge maintaining traction at full extension but if I get bogged down I just backup and take a run at it. If that doesn't work, I backup again, narrow the blade and push a smaller amount and so far with out two modest snow falls that has worked fine. If traction becomes a major problem, I will get chains for the front R4's.
The blade wieghs about 800 pounds according to the specs and I certainly wouldn't want anything heavier on the
B26. Despite the robust construction of the
B26 you can really feel the weight of this blade when you pick it up. Very solid constuction. This blade has cut my driveway clearing time almost in half and the reversible option allows me to back drag snow from those awkward spots. I used to have to make repeated loader trips to clear snow from a couple of spots where I did not want piles but not anymore!