Snow snow removal question

[raykos]

Hello all,

I just bought a 2305 this summer. Among the many reasons for buying it was snow removal. Last winter I fell & broke my tailbone trying to use my snowblower to remove the pile of snow dumped at the end of my driveway by the township plow; the township plowed late at night and by the time I got to it, the pile had frozen over. So, I'm hoping that this winter I can use my FEL on the 2305 in 4 wheel drive to plow/remove snow on my driveway.

But, after looking at some posts & pictures in this forum, it looks like I'm going to need chains & a snow plow blade? Considering what I had to pay for the 2305(FEL, backhoe & MMM), my financial officer,(a.ka. the wife), probably wouldn't be to excited about having to spend more money on my "new toy".

Has anyone had any experience using just the FEL without any chains for snow plowing? My driveway is about 125' long, and it's flat.

Thanks,
Ray

 

[ToadHill]

I've done it but I have the tires loaded. You can plow with the FEL but it takes a long time if the snow is deep. You didn't list your location so it's hard to guess. When the FEL fills up and you you begin pushing snow in front of you, the front end tends to lift and you aren't getting all the snow anymore so it's time to backup, unload the bucket and start again. You can't just push snow in front like you can with an angle blade.

 

[jjmarotz]

Another option to the blade is get a blower. You will be able to direct the snow where you want it, not where it has to end up. As in snow banks that keep crowding further and further into your drive, thus creating a very narrow path to your house. The blower may be more $$ than the blade, but I will never use anything else for snow. All this does depend on how much snow you recieve in any given year of course. Blowing also compacts the snow more than piling it. Thus you shouldn't have the huge mountains of snow around your place.

 

[Yourkie]

jjmarotz...you do have some snow there and that looks cold. I've always used a rear blade which sometimes works better than my neighbors 3 pt SB. Other times it's hard to move the snow out of the way, so I'm thinking of adding a three pt blower.

What size and make is that snowblower? Do you find that the manual control of the chute works OK and is easy to control? I was looking at a used one that had hydraulic control which could be a convenience but maybe not a necessity. My experience with my walk behind which I occasionally use to clear a path, is when the wind is changing it is sometimes hard to pick a good direction, other than in your face.

 

[MikeD74T]

raykos, If you were able to clear your driveway with a walk behind snowblower you certainly can with your FEL. If you have a 1/2 mile driveway I'd say go for the plow. I clear my driveways with a DK45S & FEL without chains on flat ground. I have ring chains but they'll eat hottop. Once in a while it takes a little momentum to get things moving but I've never been unable to move all the snow I wanted to. If you feel traction is a slight issue look into traction screws as used in ATV tires. ROETIN MOTO-R SNOWMOBILE TRACK & ATV TIRE TRACTION SCREWS from Western Power Sports Snowmobile Accessories MikeD74T

 

[gary_dsc]

I had a 445 with a front blade and it worked really well for snow removal. I later bought a FEL and used that for snow in place of the front blade. It worked real well unless the snow got really deep which doesn't happen too often where I live. It definitely took longer with the loader versus the blade, but my driveway is only about 300' long (flat, no chains needed), so it wasn't too bad. However, when I would plow out the farm lane (about 1200'), it just took too long. When I bought the 2305, I also bought a front blade. Based on past experience, I think that the blade will work much better for me than the FEL. If the snow gets too bad and I can't push it away from the driveway with the blade, I have the best of both worlds. I'll just go get the 2040 and move the piles back with the loader on that tractor.

My neighbor has a blower on his tractor and it works real well as long as you can blow the snow downwind. With no cab, blowing snow on a windy day is just no fun.

 

[jjmarotz]

That was yesterdays 2 hr storm. Yourkie, it is a Meteor model 68, check out homepage for specs. The hand crank works fine as I can still reach it when the blower is down. Make sure to keep it greased up though. I took the chute completely off and spread grease all around any parts touching each other. Helped to move freely and stopped the metal to metal screaching. I am going to put on an electric turn control at some point just for more convenience, as I still don't have rear hyds. And the "in your face" quote is SOOOOO true, but part of living in snow country I guess.

 

[Oleozz]

Has anyone had any experience using just the FEL without any chains for snow plowing? My driveway is about 125' long, and it's flat.

Thanks,
Ray

Hi Ray----I used a JD 870 with turf tires and FEL for six years to remove snow and it did well. I had a plow on the back but never put it down. Chains would have helped but you can get by without them.

 

[Tig]

I used the FEL to clear snow last winter. I had ags and no chains. It's fun and good FEL practice. Looks kinda silly if there isn't much snow but what the heck.

 

[Yourkie]

...... Last winter I fell & broke my tailbone trying to use my snowblower .....

Raykos I can identify with that. I was using a Bolens 8hp walk-behind snowblower about 20+ years ago to clear sidewalk snow for my mother and her neighbors, and while I was pulling it backwards ( it was stuck) , my feet went out from under me on the black ice. It took me a number of weeks to feel comfortable sitting down. That was a lesson learned that I never forgot.

BTW I still have that SB (its about a 1975 vintage that I bought used) and it runs fine.

 

[LBrown59]

Hello all;
But, after looking at some posts & pictures in this forum, it looks like I'm going to need chains & a snow plow blade? Considering what I had to pay for the 2305(FEL, backhoe & MMM), my financial officer,(a.ka. the wife), probably wouldn't be to excited about having to spend more money on my "new toy".
Thanks,Ray

A front blade for your JD [though not as versatile as what I did] is a lot cheaper than what I did.
I just bought a new front blade with a used Kubota BX1500 on it for $6025.
Now I have 2 choices for snow removal.
Use the BX1500 with front blade and or use the BX23 with FEl

 

[davkir]

I have a very inexpensive rear blade (<$300) that works pretty well along with the loader. I usually turn it around and use it backwards. I have a mixture of blacktop, crushed stone and barn areas. I'm sure it isn't as fast a a blower but it always has done the job. I'm in Indiana so we don't get a lot of snow at one time so you can keep up with the accumulation pretty easily. R4's, not loaded , no chains.

 

[flyngti]

When using a blade (either front or rear) with a steel edge, is there a trick to pushing snow without gouging your asphalt? Same question for using the FEL -- what's the technique to scrape as much snow as possible without gouging? I don't get a huge amount of snowfall here but I want to be ready just in case. Last year (before the 2320) we only got a few inches and I cleared my 600 ft asphalt drive by hand with a snow shovel. It was PITA and I don't want to do that again!

 

[farmerhays]

I have the 2520 with FEL and no chains and no loaded tires, so my experience is straight outta the factory. The 2520 weighs more than the 2305, but I don't think too much more as the 2520 is 1,800# before adding the weight of the FEL.

I cleared my driveway (130ft long straight plus another 300ft added on later for horseshoe/circular) last winter when we had 2" freezing slush + 5" wet snow + 3" powder drifting like crazy.

When you are pushing snow, you typically will have the loader in float position and after ten feet of heavy stuff, the tractor will ride up on the FEL, lifting the front tires off the ground. When this happens I back up until the front wheels are "close" to the ground, take the FEL out of float and push with the rear wheels only. The front wheels are just off the ground or barely touching. This lets me go another 15ft or so.

When the snow is wet, you will have to take it slow, but I haven't found this to be a problem since you have to go left and right down the drive way to push the snow off to the sides. You can also scoop and down off to the sides as well. I can't push heavy snow all the way down the driveway and across the road because there is another driveway over there, but you may want to push it across the road and into the ditch in your situation.

The tractor/FEL gets the snow, ice and crap left by the snowplow without any problems for me, all without chains and loaded tires. But again, I'm not trying to be a straight-line plow for 100ft at a time.

I'd try it for a year and see how it goes before investing any more. If I wanted to spend more money, I'd look for a plow or blower before I would bother with the hassle of chains.

I typically clear my driveway with a 42" blower on my JD 335 garden tractor, and I use the chains on that...and what a pain those are. I used to help my dad put the chains on a IH 656 and that was absolutely awful. The 2305 and 2520 are inbetween as far as tire size, so that means they are somewhere between painful and absolutely awful to put on/take off. For that effort, I'd rather take a little longer clearing the driveway with slanting/scooping the FEL. Plus, that's play time!

 

[megotatractor]

Yep, do it every year. FEL and no chains necesary. But like toadhill says if you get a lot of snow it takes along time. I have the HDAP (knobby) tires and they are GREAT snow tires! my technique involves pushing forward with the bucket then pushing backwards with the rear blade, repeat. after a 20 inch dump of snow I quickly run out of places to push the stuff. I'd get a front blower if I had the bucks, and use a front blade for the lighter snows. I should add a tip for the newbie FEL user; try to set the bucket down and then lift up a little bit, you got to keep some weight on those fronts for traction!

 

[yankeerider]

For 12 years my 755 w/MFWD and FEL with turf tires was my only snow removal machine. Worked fine for 2 approx. 80 ft long gravel driveways and the 150 ft very steep unpaved road to my back lot. However, I could spend many hours when got dumped on by 20+ inches of snow. Plus, I still had some long walkways that I needed to shovel because of width. About 4 years ago I bought an Ariens walk-behind snowblower and that has become my primary snow removal tool. It's faster than the FEL, and, because I can keep it in the attached garage, I don't have to trudge through snow to the building where I keep my tractor.

The FEL excels, though, at clearing the large, frozen, heavy stuff the state highway plows push into the end of my driveways. Since you indicate you fell while dealing with that kind of stuff, I'd suggest you do like I do: Snowblower for most of snow when footing isn't really a problem, then clean by the street with the FEL.

I'll never forget the year of record snowfall where I spent about 2 hours piling snow in the side yard to make room for the snow I had to get out of the driveway because it was already piled too high along there from many previous big storms.

 

[53gravely]

Here's my cheap solution that works great.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...apt-6ft-snowplow-3-pt.html?highlight=scotsman

 

[raykos]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the responses; do appreciate it. Sort of looks like my choice of using the FEL vs. the snowblower is going to be situation dependent; if the wind isn't blowing to hard and I need some exercise go with the snowblower, or if I just want to have fun go with the FEL!

Thanks again,
Ray

 

[Nuru]

Raykos I can identify with that. I was using a Bolens 8hp walk-behind snowblower about 20+ years ago to clear sidewalk snow for my mother and her neighbors, and while I was pulling it backwards ( it was stuck) , my feet went out from under me on the black ice. It took me a number of weeks to feel comfortable sitting down. That was a lesson learned that I never forgot.

BTW I still have that SB (its about a 1975 vintage that I bought used) and it runs fine.

I have neighbors that use SBs but I just don't want to be in contact with the ground when I am clearing snow, so for me the Blade works very well.

 

[cadblaster01]

Hey Rakos,

Sorry I am coming to this post a little late, but I think I can shed some more light on this topic.

First I have a 2210 which is for all intesive purposes the same tractor as the 2305. I have 650' of driveway to clear when it snows.

When the snow is cold (dry) and deep the best way, no doubt, is to use the 3 pt. blower, a front mount would be even better, but those things are just too expensive. I picked up my 3 pt. blower, used, at an auction. So I paid about a third of the price of a new one.

If the snow is deep and wet or at all slushy, I use the loader bucket. The blower will just jam up on me under these conditions.

If it's not too deep I can use my newly acquired front blade, once I get it working with my tractor.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/jd-owning-operating/111447-will-fit-my-tractor.html

I have never seen a real need for chains, and my drive is not flat. 4WD is a must though. Occasionally I also use the diff lock.

It would be more helpful if your profile was updated as to your location. Are you in snow country?