Snow:blade/blower tradeoff

[idaguide]

So I've been loving my 64" rear-mount snowblower, which I'm using now after several years of back-blading and the associated "push-back" procedure required after blading.

The snow is now sent far from the road. Nice change. However, the backblade would scrape right down to my frozen gravel surface. It was always easing driving out (uphill) after blading a big snowfall. The snowblower is a different story. Yes, it puts the snow away. But it leaves (especially when throwing slush) a thin layer of frozen snow/ice.

Last night I blew the slush off. Left that thin layer. This morning it was a 300-yard long skating rink, with a 6-percent kicker at the top entering the road. My wife made it out with studs on her SUV. My 4x4 pickup was a different story. Had to chain up all around to get it out.

So I'm left thinking that the blower is not quite the perfect solution I thought I had. Gonna have to get some sand and leave at the top, I guess, unless there's something in this operation that I'm not doing quite right. Do any of you long-time snowblowers have a suggestion/solution for me?

thanks in advance.
grae

 

[DrainPondDesign]

Idaguide,

My 59" JD blower has adjustable skid shoes either side of the housing, yours may have them as well.

Before the ground freezes I must keep them fully down to avoid digging into the gravel drive.

After the ground freezes I can raise the shoes fully so the blower can get right down to the surface. The blower housing has a cutting edge designed to scrape down to pavement.

If your gravel drive has rocks in it you may shear the auger or impeller shear bolts getting right down to the gravel.

Until a new snow locks into the ice surface to provide traction I too must rely on sand.

 

[joeyd]

Idaguide - Howdy neighbor! I feel your pain with this warmer weather we are having. I also have a long drive and 1 1/2 miles downhill to Hwy 97 and this recent rain has make an ice rink all the way to the Hwy. It doesn't matter if one of the neighbors plows the road or if I use the snow blower we still get ice with this type of weather. When it's ice we use chains on all 4 tires going up or down. Thus the price we pay for living in Camelot as they say.

Overall I am happier blowing snow than plowing or back blading.

 

[ihuntbear]

I have lots of driveways to do.My blower is all the way down. The first snow until it froze I had the blower all the way up on gravel driveways .Now that its froze I have the blower all the way down and have no complaints about ice

 

[wny770]

Idaguide,

My 59" JD blower has adjustable skid shoes either side of the housing, yours may have them as well.

Before the ground freezes I must keep them fully down to avoid digging into the gravel drive.

After the ground freezes I can raise the shoes fully so the blower can get right down to the surface. The blower housing has a cutting edge designed to scrape down to pavement.

If your gravel drive has rocks in it you may shear the auger or impeller shear bolts getting right down to the gravel.

Until a new snow locks into the ice surface to provide traction I too must rely on sand.

Boy, that's about as perfect as someone can say it. I too often wondered blower or blade..... Until 2001, when we received 7 feet of snow in 3 days. Now, I wouldn't even consider a blade.... depending on your average snowfall, of course.

 

[Dmace]

If your leaving too much snow behind with the rear mount snow blower then LENGTHEN the top link so the blower is angled down more. It puts the auger closer to the ground and picks up more. You may notice a few more small rocks flying if the gravel is loose but I think it's a small trade-off for a clean driveway.

Also, if it's real bad I sometimes use the loader and scrape it down more. It's quick and one of the many benefits of using a rear mount snow blower vs a front mount which removes the loader.

 

[Usta]

When done with the snowblower, I drive down the driveway and back once and the tractor tire chains seem to roughen up the drive enough to eliminate the ice rink condition.

 

[etcallhome]

When done with the snowblower, I drive down the driveway and back once and the tractor tire chains seem to roughen up the drive enough to eliminate the ice rink condition.

Took blower off for the smaller amounts of snow we had been getting. This evening with front blade I did same thing for neighbors driveway.. Scraped down as much as I could . He had mad several trips up his drive . When done backed up several times and left tractor in 2wd so it would spin with chains on and roughen up the remaining snow so there wouldn't be a skating rink

 

[Don87]

Took blower off for the smaller amounts of snow we had been getting. This evening with front blade I did same thing for neighbors driveway.. Scraped down as much as I could . He had mad several trips up his drive . When done backed up several times and left tractor in 2wd so it would spin with chains on and roughen up the remaining snow so there wouldn't be a skating rink

That is a little trick that I've been using for years, when I couldn't scrape the blacktop clean.:thumbsup:

 

[idaguide]

Thanks so much everyone. Sounds like the ice is part of the trade-off, and sand is part of that, too. Several great ideas here. I have been driving up and down some to scuff the surface, but hadn't thought of two wheel drive to scuff even better.

I wondered about the 'angle of attack' on my blower. Will look at that, as I haven't yet sheared a bolt...

Thanks again.
grae