Snow Snow clearing newbie - Recommended steps

[WinterDeere]

Unless the driveway area is very obvious, drive some marker stakes for guidance. Our main paved driveway isn't an issue, but a gravel driveway that curves to the sheds. Although I frequently use that driveway I tend to plow the adjacent yard unless I stake it out.

Good advice! I remember when we bought our current house, at closing the seller said, "I left some plow markers in the barn for you. You'll swear you know exactly where your own driveway is, but in deep snow, you'll find yourself plowing the front yard, without those markers."

He was right. One year we got a real early snow, before I got the markers up. My wife left the house before me that morning, and she "zagged then zigged" when she should have "zigged then zagged", heading down our long S-shaped driveway. Created a neat figure-8 pattern in the snow melt, after I drove the correct route in my own vehicle.

 

[RjCorazza]

Good advice! I remember when we bought our current house, at closing the seller said, "I left some plow markers in the barn for you. You'll swear you know exactly where your own driveway is, but in deep snow, you'll find yourself plowing the front yard, without those markers."

He was right. One year we got a real early snow, before I got the markers up. My wife left the house before me that morning, and she "zagged then zigged" when she should have "zigged then zagged", heading down our long S-shaped driveway. Created a neat figure-8 pattern in the snow melt, after I drove the correct route in my own vehicle.

So true. Even after 28 years of plowing my gently curving 600' driveway I struggle to stay on it without stakes.
To be responsible for turf damage I require my customer's driveways to be staked, but they rarely stake them. I take photos while driving up the driveways in my tractor before winter, and it really helps. I tried loading them into my backup camera screen, but the interface is way too clunky, so I just use my ipad for the photos.

 

[shooterdon]

After I bought my inverted blower the amount of snow we got seemed to lessen. I may have used 5-6 times a year for 5 years. So, I sold it this year for $4000

It did a very good job and if you have snow to move, you will be happy. Great tool.

I wound up with a contractor grade V-plow on a city truck I won at an auction, and it was OK but tended to move a lot of gravel with my poor plowing skills. Used it for two years and sold it too this summer for $3600

Decided to get a snow pusher as I have places to push snow. Only cost $1700 and no moving parts to worry about. Will see how it does. If we get hammered, my neighbor has a plow truck and $150 once or twice a year seems like a bargain. I am a big believer is buying what makes sense for 95% of the jobs and hiring out the rest. In my case, using a 74" blower to move 4 inches of snow is overkill. We rarely get more than 4" at a time. Of course, this year we will get a lot more...LOL.

BTW it takes a fair amount of snow for a blower to work well. The less snow you have, the faster the ground speed you can use.

 

[Gord Baker]

This will be my first winter snow clearing with the big boy, I've moved up from a JD570 lawn tractor/blower to a Kioti CK2620 & Inverted (pull type) snowblower. That little JD tractor did surprisingly well, but just not enough for the big snow dumps we get. Anyways, since this is a new task with new equipment for me, I want to make sure I am approaching it correctly.

So this is what I believe to be the correct way to do it;

• Warm up tractor
• Raise 3pt hitch
• Move into initial starting area
• Set RPMs approx 1200
• Clutch, then slowly release while PTO is initially engaged
• Bring RPMs up to ~2,000
• Get into the snow and lower the 3pt hitch to desired height above ground and start blowing the snow

When I reach the end of a pass down the driveway, is it a good idea to disengage the PTO while raising the 3pt hitch and maneuvering or does it matter?

cheers!

There should be an Indicator on the Tach as to what RPM to run equipment. Usually 540rpm. Check with MFG'R. If Prevailing Winds are to the EAST, blow snow that way Each Pass. Avoid building a drift on either side.

 

[Starrynights]

After I bought my inverted blower the amount of snow we got seemed to lessen. I may have used 5-6 times a year for 5 years. So, I sold it this year for $4000

It did a very good job and if you have snow to move, you will be happy. Great tool.

I wound up with a contractor grade V-plow on a city truck I won at an auction, and it was OK but tended to move a lot of gravel with my poor plowing skills. Used it for two years and sold it too this summer for $3600

Decided to get a snow pusher as I have places to push snow. Only cost $1700 and no moving parts to worry about. Will see how it does. If we get hammered, my neighbor has a plow truck and $150 once or twice a year seems like a bargain. I am a big believer is buying what makes sense for 95% of the jobs and hiring out the rest. In my case, using a 74" blower to move 4 inches of snow is overkill. We rarely get more than 4" at a time. Of course, this year we will get a lot more...LOL.

BTW it takes a fair amount of snow for a blower to work well. The less snow you have, the faster the ground speed you can use.

In my equation, the cost savings for snow removal was used to sell the idea of getting a tractor. I think we paid something like 3.5k last year (in CDN). So its about a 10yr payback... if I also include the other things I can do with it (moving gravel and soil etc). Things that would take me weeks to do by hand, and I'm getting to that "extra discounts" age.

Where we are, we had about 10ft of snow over the last winter, so it will get the workout!

 

[Starrynights]

There should be an Indicator on the Tach as to what RPM to run equipment. Usually 540rpm. Check with MFG'R. If Prevailing Winds are to the EAST, blow snow that way Each Pass. Avoid building a drift on either side.

I will do this. Storms typically blow in from the West, and about 2/3 of the drive runs East-West, with a 90 degree bend a the end. I put up a snow fence about 30m up from that N-S cross section to (hopefully) cut down on the drifting across that.

 

[ArlyA]

Funny, most of our snow comes from a northerly wind (lake snow).

 

[WinterDeere]

Funny, most of our snow comes from a northerly wind (lake snow).

... and ours usually rolls up from the south!

Disadvantage: It'll be 10F before the storm, then 35F after the storm... instant melt!

Most of our snow occurs when there's cold air in-place, and warm air pushes up from the southwest. Not every time, but probably more than 50% of the time.

 

[gstrom99]

There should be an Indicator on the Tach as to what RPM to run equipment. Usually 540rpm. Check with MFG'R. If Prevailing Winds are to the EAST, blow snow that way Each Pass. Avoid building a drift on either side.

Blow (or push) your snow WAY FAR AWAY early in the year. As the year goes by, those edges/piles tend to get closer and you won't want to try and move them further when they're frozen hard.

 

[Starrynights]

Funny, most of our snow comes from a northerly wind (lake snow).

Ours is lake effect snow too.. it blows in over Lake Huron from the W or NW, but the trees funnel it through the property mostly from the west (at least thats the way the drifts build up). Not much as yet... but winters just started.