Snow blowing Better with SSL or tractor?

[Doc_Bob]

I do not want to start a fight. But, I am new to SSL. My neighbor wants me to get a SSL for snow blowing, moving dirt, and blading. He states they are much better than any tractor doing these jobs. He tells me traction would be fine (when compared to a tractor with R1) and having the snow-blower in front (with the SSL) is much nicer than a PTO driven snow-blower on a tractor.

I have a lot of time using a New Holland TN 70A with bucket and a rear mounted PTO driven double augur, two stage 84 inch blower. I have no experience with a SSL and a fronted mounted SB.

So I come to you at TBN to help me learn the pros and cons. What do you suggest?

Thank you, Doc

 

[PILOON]

What is an SSL?

 

[aczlan]

Skid Steer loader

Aaron Z

 

[Doc_Bob]

What is an SSL?

oops, I thought SSL = skid steer loader?

 

[RodNH]

After using a rear-mounted pto blower on an open station tractor and then moving to a SSL with blower, I'll take the SSL any day of the week for that job, assuming about 50 or 60 hp AT THE BLOWER is adequate. If the job requires much more than that, a high hp tractor is the only reasonable solution because the SSL lacks hydraulic capability above that amount. Excellent visibility without straining your neck, excellent maneuerability and speed control, complete comfort in a heated cab and full hydraulic control at your finger tips makes the SSL a pleasure to use for snowblowing. Plus no shear pins to be bothered with. Not cheap however.

 

[Doc_Bob]

After using a rear-mounted pto blower on an open station tractor and then moving to a SSL with blower, I'll take the SSL any day of the week for that job, assuming about 50 or 60 hp AT THE BLOWER is adequate. If the job requires much more than that, a high hp tractor is the only reasonable solution because the SSL lacks hydraulic capability above that amount. Excellent visibility without straining your neck, excellent maneuerability and speed control, complete comfort in a heated cab and full hydraulic control at your finger tips makes the SSL a pleasure to use for snowblowing. Plus no shear pins to be bothered with. Not cheap however.

Good information! What exactly do you mean by not cheap? What kind of money are we talking? What do you run?
Doc

 

[RodNH]

My SSL is a 2010 Bobcat S650. 74 engine hp. Has most options but has standard hand/foot controls - not joysticks. Blower is 6ft wide, just enough to clear the tires. High hydraulic flow (30.5 gpm at 3500 psig) at the auxiliary quick couplers. A high flow machine and high flow blower matched to the SSL hydraulic capability is preferable in getting the maximum use of available engine hp. Total cost was $47K, including $1.4K for a 6ft HD bucket and $5K for the blower. This is an industrial machine however and is NOT geared to agricultural uses. If gardening, haying and the like are dominant work requirements, a SSL is definitely NOT the machine you want. It can't reasonably compete with an agricultural tractor and implements in that arena.

While a SSL can completely turn around on its own vertical axis (a benefit btw), it sure does tear up a lawn or unpaved areas unless slow, careful, long radius turns are used. Even then, some damage to unfrozen earth will be noticeable. One thing I noticed when I got the Bobcat was an inability to conveniently use the bucket as a lifting mechanism. Safety features and the configuration of the lift arms do not permit getting out of the cab to attach a chain to anything with the bucket raised more than a few inches. OK for two people but not for a lone operator. For me, that's a big negative as I constantly use the front bucket on my tractor as a means of hoisting and moving things around. Yes, you can remove the cab door on the skid and bypass the safety lockouts but it's a VERY long step down (and back up) and no way to add a step without interfering with the lift arm's cross member. And the lift arms have to quite a ways up in order to even do that. You can get a lifting boom attachment to mostly overcome the skid's chain-hoisting limitations but that's another $700-$800 or more.

Lots of considerations. In an ideal world, you'd have both a SSL with hydraulically-powered attachments best suited for its capability and an agricultural tractor with appropriate attachments best suited for those purposes. Unfortunately money is usually a factor and compromises have to be made. Pick the most important job(s) and get the equipment best suited for them. Compromise for the less important/ less frequent tasks. My choice of the SSL with snowblower was based on a must-have in-house (and comfortable) capability to keep my 1/2 mile driveway passable shortly after the worst case conditions of snow accumulation and drifting. I have a narrow drive in many areas where plowed banks build up and by mid-winter there is no place left to put more snow if plowing was the only option. Expensive snowblower . However it also does great with a log splitter because of the higher hydraulic flow and I have modified my 3pt York rake to be used with it while pushing forward. That's much easier than dragging behind my tractor:

Rod

 

[Doc_Bob]

My SSL is a 2010 Bobcat S650. 74 engine hp. Has most options but has standard hand/foot controls - not joysticks. Blower is 6ft wide, just enough to clear the tires. High hydraulic flow (30.5 gpm at 3500 psig) at the auxiliary quick couplers. A high flow machine and high flow blower matched to the SSL hydraulic capability is preferable in getting the maximum use of available engine hp. Total cost was $47K, including $1.4K for a 6ft HD bucket and $5K for the blower. This is an industrial machine however and is NOT geared to agricultural uses. If gardening, haying and the like are dominant work requirements, a SSL is definitely NOT the machine you want. It can't reasonably compete with an agricultural tractor and implements in that arena.

Rod

Great explanation! Why no joystick?
Doc

 

[RodNH]

Great explanation! Why no joystick?
Doc

More expensive, not only to buy but also to maintain. I do not use the machine commercially and have no way to pass operational/maintenance costs along to others. I have to eat all costs and I need it to be as simple and reliable as possible. I do dislike the reliance on the on-board computer and electronic displays but that was unavoidable. Hand/foot controls, while definitely not the latest and greatest feature, are the best choice for me personally. If I used the machine all the time, say for lengthy periods regularly, especially for loading operations, personal fatigue would be a prime consideration. Joysticks (pilot or E/H now with Bobcat) would then be a preferred option. But that's not important for me and I see no real benefit in them for occasional snowblowing or other intermittent and irregular work that I'll use the skid for.

 

[SSdoxie]

With latest new M-series Bobcat Skid or Track Loaders up to 75 Hyd. HP is available on the 700 & 800 series.
On the tractor side Bobcat introduced front mounted PTO snow blowers this past year, they run off the 2000 RPM mid-PTO. So you can have the advantage of front mounted blower without the cost of the skidsteer or hydraulic driven blower.