Plowing Lawn with Bucket

[AStanton]

I just discovered this trick and I don't know if other guys are doing it. So I'm passing it along. With a blower on the back, it's not always practical to use it for small amounts on snow. And because I have a bucket on the front, I discovered this technique to remove small amounts of snow. This works particularily good on lawns, where you don't want to tear em up. I put the bucket in float and plow with the bucket in the full curl position. This works especially good for straight runs; turning with the bucket down has some issues.
Get ready in the Northeast: we got two duzzies acoming.

 

[George2615]

I plow the same way but don't use full curl. I just float and curl up slightly so the cutting edge is up about A half inch or so. I'm about to head out to check my tractor over now to prepare for the 5-8" we are supposed to get tonight.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Luckily I don't need to plow snow and the stuff we are getting right now wont plow, FREEZING RAIN, the worst thing one can get in the winter. My pine trees are all inverted V shape now and I hope the rain ends soon or at least gets above freezing or I am going to have some major limbs breaking off the pines. I would take a foot of snow anytime rather than freezing rain.

 

[dodge man]

I do the same thing, except I also just curl the bucket a little bit, not full curl. If I want to scrap up frozen snow from a paved surface, I go the other way and let the cutting edge dig in a little.

 

[tcartwri]

I just drag my blower around. Very quick way to smooth out the laneway.

 

[bellweather]

I do that too, with bucket curled just a bit. Word of caution, don't run into any immovable objects, like a tree root or partially exposed ledge. Easy to do when there is snow on the ground.

 

[kcender]

I do the same thing, except I also just curl the bucket a little bit, not full curl. If I want to scrap up frozen snow from a paved surface, I go the other way and let the cutting edge dig in a little.

Same here.

 

[Chilly807]

I built a set of skids for the bucket bottom, ramped at the front and back. You can control how close you scrape by adjusting the curl angle and leaving the bucket in float. I've tried curling the bucket slightly, but it rides up on the snow in float mode.

Sean

 

[HeLa]

thanks for the tip. i'm going to try this today!

i've been floating the plow (with skids) and this works OK so long as the ground is well frozen but your method would be even better, especially when the ground softens up a bit.

 

[craigbaill]

I built a set of skids for the bucket bottom, ramped at the front and back. You can control how close you scrape by adjusting the curl angle and leaving the bucket in float. I've tried curling the bucket slightly, but it rides up on the snow in float mode.

Sean

Yep, I did that after ripping out some grass...oops. I managed to scrape some snow but the bucket mostly just compacted it and rode on top. I need a rear blade anyway for ballast so I will just add a rubber mat strip to it and see how that goes.

Man I have some work to do on the lawn now.....!