recommendations on tractor for snowplow Business

[earthly2]

I am considering utilizing a Compact Utility Tractor such as the JD 2305..2520 or the 3320
I have presently 12 customers and their paved driveways run on the average 30 X 100 Ft.
Please recommend which tractor would be suited to this purpose and if the loader would suffice or would I need a front Plow...I am also going to use the tractor to help clear about an acre of small saplings and move some boulders on the average 1000 lbs....All help would be greatly appreciated.
I really did not want to spend 25,000.00 on the 3320 with Loader, Front Blade and Ballast, so the recommendation would be appreciated if they will do the job... Thank you Earthly <font color="green"> </font>

 

[Woody_NH]

Earthly,
While I really like my 3320 for work on my own property, if I was going to plow driveways commercially I would go with a 4wd pick-up with a plow. Much faster plowing, easier to move between jobs and easier to expand your plowing business.

The tractor with FEL will clear snow but it will take a while.

If the one time land clearing is the only other use for the tractor, rent one or hire someone. If you have other long term uses, I would buy a little more tractor than what you think you need right now.

 

[eliot3b4]

I'll take a tractor over a pick up truck any day. Pickup truck looses money meanwhile a tractor will hold its value. You can't put a snow blower or a snow mover on a pickup truck or a sweeper, mower deck, or backhoe.

Blue skies
Jean

 

[AK_Mike]

I do my 150 ft gravel driveway and about 1,500 ft of gravel road with my JD 990. I have a Frontier RB 2084 rear blade and a 300CX loader. I set the stop on the 3-point control lever so the blade stays about an inch off the gravel. For pavement, I would suggest putting on a skid-shoe kit, otherwise, you could easily dig up a blacktop driveway before you realized what was happening. I also use the bucket to plow. I set it so the bucket is a few degrees above level, and put the SCV control in float. That way the bucket follows the slope of the ground, and cutting edge stays about an inch of the gravel. While a tractor is real useful for plowing my road, I don't think I would use one for a commercial plowing business, as it is slower than a plow truck, and it would be a pain trailering it around and loading/unloading between jobs.

 

[JohnnyTractor]

If you're looking to do 12 driveways in any given storm, I'd also look at using a truck with a plow - however, there are many times when you'd like to be able to stack the snow -that's when a front end loader comes in handy. I just purchased a 2305 with a loader which, though I've never moved snow with it, seems like it would trailer well on your route. Just drop the trailer to plow, then pull the CUT is you need the loader.

 

[RoyJackson]

If the driveways are close together, I'd look into a tractor, probably the 3320.
If they're more then half a mile apart (each), I'd go for the pick up with a plow. Tractors are cool, but unless you're willing to load it (and unload it) quite frequently, they're just too slow to move from one location to another.

 

[KubotaSteve]

I'm with Roy on this one. Unless the driveways are close together where you can drive the tractor to each one, it wouldn't be worth it. Plus, if the weather is bad enough that something needs to be plowed, I wouldn't want to be dragging a trailer around and once you get to the jobsite, you will need somewhere to park your machine.
Say it takes you 10 minutes to load your machine and 10 minutes to unload, with 12 jobs that would be about 4 hours spent unloading and loading the machine.
A lot of the guys plowing out my way do the subdivisions and will do the drives in the subdivision for a small fee /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif, but usually won't get involved in doing private drives as it is too much running involved.
A year ago, my neighbor tried to call someone to plow their driveway and no one would do it. It was about 500 feet long, so I ended up cleaning it up a little. (they had no 4X4).

 

[TimberXX]

If you plan to drive it, have you worked out the insurance?

 

[earthly2]

Hello again and thanks for your inputs. I will be driving from house to house in a small sub-division and have contracted out 12 houses so far all with a 1/2 mile radius. My traveling time is very small. I do not need to trailer the the tractor to and from, my route will bring me back to where I started from
after the last job is completed. My issue now; is that if the 3320 can not move the boulders I have previously mentioned
Can I do the snowplow work with JD 2305 with 61 Bucket and
the Quick Attach Front Plow Blade, or should I still invest in the JD 3320 to speed up my work.
All replies are appreciated. There is a $8000.00 dollar difference between the 2 machine. I am a fairly large person,
6'4 285 lbs. would the size of the 2305 have any limitation in the comfort category?

 

[2nstonge]

I suggest spending some seat time on any models you're looking at, that will quickly answer any questions about comfort, fit or other ergonomic issues. Hopefully, the dealer lets you try it at home, if not, an hour two puttering around his lot is better than nothing.

-Norm