Questions about snow removal.

[crazyal]

The first thing to remember is a tractor with a loader is not a bulldozer. When you talk about hitting a manhole cover I can tell you from experience that you can do some serious ($$$$) damage. If you look at some of the posts in this thread of front mounted plows they use trip springs to prevent damage to the loader and hydraulics.

The advantages of using the loader are you can put down force (actually lift the front wheels off the ground) where as the 3pt hitch can't. It makes a big difference with some of the snows we get (like the wet compacted stuff that's been driven on). A loader mounted plow also can be very useful to push piles back and get them much higher. For the deep snow you'll occasionally see I would go with a snow blower first and if not then a plow on the loader (with trip springs).

 

[BubbaSam]

Well, I live in North Central Massachusetts and have used them all. The front bucket is slow like others said and you have to dump often if you have a lot of snow to move. The back blade works just OK but we get a lot of snow and pulling it just doesn't work I spin the blade around and push it... but it loads up too. I tried to angle the blade but I have industrial tires (4wd) and all it did was load up and push the tractor to the side. Oh... and I do use rear chains. Was told NOT to put them on the front with 4wd.

My driveway and the road to my barn are both gravel with some slight uphill. Couldn't do squat without the chains.

Last year I purchased a rear 5 foot snowblower. While it works great... it's a bear on the neck and back, driving backwards all the time. But.. it is much faster.

I forgot what type of tractor you might have said you have but if you have a mid-PTO then get a front blower. If not and you get a higher amount of snow then the rear blower is the way to go.

That's my 2 cents and I'm stickin' to it (until i get another tractor with a mid-PTO). I wasn't smart enough when I bought the Kioti CK30HST but it's been a FLAWLESS tractor for 13years now.

 

[dodge man]

This pic from about 5 years ago was roughly a 20” snow, hard to say, lots of drifting. The drift up ahead of the tractor is about 6 feet deep. I did my driveway and the neighbors driveway using just the end loader, pic is my previous tractor. This is looking down the township road at about 1:00 pm. I didn’t know when or if they were going to clear the 1/4 mile to the county road. It took me several hours to clear it.

My point with the pic is the rear blade or any front blade is useless, there is no place to push the snow. A blower is the real tool to have if you get these kind of snows on a regular basis. We have lived here 24 years and it’s the only snow like this we have had.

 

[grsthegreat]

Ya, I use my front blower every year to clear drifts. I blow them the direction wind is blowing so it doesn’t just blow right back over the road. With drifts, a tractor plow just doesn’t cut it. The plows attached to a large dump trucks can move them though.

 

[LittleBill21]

I will be the odd man out, I came from plowing with an atv, and 300 feet of gravel with hills. I put a set of edge tamers on the bucket, and i can push over a foot the entire length of one drive with pretty much 0 issue. I did groove my r4 tires and that helped a lot.

That said I cut my plowing time in half, and with it all hydraulic and power steering, almost 0 effort

I strongly recommend you try it before spending money.

I WAS buying a blower. I am NOT buying one now after one season, and we got 2 feet in one storm.... if your trying to make money thats a different story.

 

[nfisheremti]

Have any pictures you can share of siped R1s

here you go. i made them about every 3/8" and about 3/8" deep (10mmx10mm for people happier with metric)

 

[hube2]

here you go. i made them about every 3/8" and about 3/8" deep (10mmx10mm for people happier with metric)

Did that help with lateral traction.

My issue is that when I'm pushing snow that the snow will push the front of the tractor left or right. Or when trying to make a tight corner that the fronts will slide to the side. Or when I'm going in across a slope I need to steer up the slope to go straight and the front will still slide down the hill. I've got no problem in the back because I use studded chains in the winter. I don't want to put chains on the front for fear of damage to the front axle, couldn't live without the 4WD in the winter now that I have a tractor that has it.

I put a couple of shallow grooves in my fronts running parallel to the sides of the tire trying to mimic some tread patterns I've seen, but this did not help much, if at all. Lugs on my tire do not appear as deep as yours from the photo.

I get a lot of ice and slippery conditions on hilly areas here and I have yet to find a solution to prevent the lateral slipping. It's something I've lived with for a long time, been here 26 years and have almost always had some type of tractor for moving snow. I've pretty much learned to deal with it and have only started to look for a solution since reading threads about grooving and sipping tires here on TBN.

There was another thread about Carlisle Vera Turfs that I followed but the person that tried them said they were still seeing the lateral slipping with them so not something I'm going to replace new tires to try at the cost to find out I'm no better off. Besides, I really like my R1s on my hills, I've seen all kinds of tires spin on damp ground going up the steepest parts of my property and only the AGs give me the traction I need.

 

[hube2]

This pic from about 5 years ago was roughly a 20” snow, hard to say, lots of drifting. ...

That's what it looks like around my house from about the second week of January through mid March every time it snows. Lot's of wind here. A snowblower is slow but anything less than the trucks the town uses isn't going to plow it. I have to pull the deepest parts of the drifts down with the bucket before I can blow the snow away. A lot better, some might even call it fun, now that I have something more suitable to the task. I would have gone bigger but wouldn't have anywhere to store something bigger.

 

[Captain Dirty]

I cannot fit "standard" (such as Aquiline) chains on my tractor's front tires and turn (steer) the wheels owing to clearance problems. I do not have hills and have not had traction problems so the question is moot for me.

Thule and Koenig make chain sets with much smaller chain to fit cars like sport sedans that have very limited clearance. These are often designed with some "easy attach" system and are marketed for urban skiers to meet California and other western states chains in the mountains requirements. They do have some links arranged circumferentially near the center of the tire treads as opposed to the axial orientation of "ladder" chains so they might help with directional control. I have experience only with the Thule brand and have had good results with my Honda Accords in ski country (NH). Google "Thule snow chains" to see if they are available in a size to fit your front tractor tires and might otherwise be suitable for you.

 

[Looking4new]

I plow with the FEL and a rear blade. I am chained up on all 4 and have 4 wd, R4s. I do have a front mount blower but found that it plugged up with wet sloppy snow more often, so I took it off and just use my bucket. I have teeth on the bucket and a gravel driveway. The way the teeth are on the bucket, I leave an inch of snow behind after every snowfall, but to me it doesn't matter because if I wasn't plowing in the winter then I would have nothing to do. I retire every winter and only work in summer. My cab and heater keep me warm enough that I can plow in a T-shirt.