Snow Attachments snow removal tools advice

[farmerjim]

was wondering what everyone uses for snow removal? i have been using just fel but it takes forever. i was thinking of a rear blade or a clamp on snow plow for my fel, but they are hard to find. i found 1, sno champ by aiken trailer but its about $850. i think i can get a 3pt sno blower for less than that.just curious as to what everyone's using.

 

[SacandagaBrad]

I use a rear blade and a 3PH mounted snow blower, depending on depth of the snow. I leave my FEL on all winter, handy for pushing up the banks or just moving heavy chunks of ice and snow around. For 6" or less, I use the rear blade at a fairly fast pace to roll the snow off to the side. Mine has the tilt feature, which works well with the pin pulled out so the blade follows the contour of the ground. I could move more with the blade, but prefer the blower for deeper stuff. The beauty of the snow blower is one pass and its gone. It also cuts through the scaper banks and deep piles with ease.

It all depends on how much you get on a regular basis and whether or not you want to wait for the end of the storm. A blade can be had for a lot less $$ and handle a lot of snow, just takes more time like the FEL. Getting out before it gets too deep and you'll have no problems. I take care of our private road (gravel) for about 300 yds and can plow out a 4" to 6" snow fall with three passes in about 20 minutes. We haven't had any real snow falls since I bought mine 3 years ago, but I know it would be no problem cutting through 20" or more with the blower.

Snow blowers do draw quite a bit of HP!

Don't know what size blower you are looking for, or if you are looking at new or used, but $850 would be on the low side. I think when I bought mine, a 50" to 60" was running around $1400 +/-.

Brad

 

[roxynoodle]

I am wondering the same thing. What I get is a lot of drifting. One 7" snow fall + west wind = 3 feet of snow in the driveway to my barn. I'm pretty sure a rear blade will be of no use in that, although it could take care of most of my driveway near the house. I was planning to use the FEL back by the barn. Would a 3ph snowblower work better? For anyone who has front hydraulics I see a lot of front mount blowers on ebay for less than $800. Won't work for me though.

 

[browns40]

Sounds like you guys are poised to buy the 2nd most useful/multipurpose implement out there (opinion of course!)...

Get a box blade: The FEL can push the bulk of your material forward, then the boxblade follows, capturing what's left without leaving windrows... once you push the snow to where you want it, lift & dump the FEL, back throught the snow pile, then load that bit where you want it...

Wit a 6 ft FEL & 6 foot box I made pretty short work of what we got, and the biggest plus was being able to back up to each entry at work, lower onto the snow, & pull it away... very little shovelling...

Last year was no big year for us, but we had the cleanest parking lot I ever saw, using that combination, the switching out to spread sand after the snow stopped...

The other nice thing about the box blade is you have two plowing directions if you wish... the rear blade portion is great for cleanup and moving snow backwards.

Course I never used a snowblower on the tractor...

 

[ksmmoto]

I have a three point hitch Agro-Trend 60" snowblower which works very well on my L3430. I am going to purchase a 84" light material bucket to use on the front.

I have several commercial accounts that I started with last winter. My blower works better than a truck on residential driveways, but its just not as quick on parking lots. I always have to go back over to remove the trail that leaks off or go slow to blow all at once.

With the large bucket I can push away the small trail on the return trip. I was looking at a snow pusher blade but they run $2000 for an eight foot! The light material bucket is $800 and I can use it in the summer for mulch and yard cleanups.

ksmmoto

 

[RalphVa]

I now use my FEL plus a back blade. The back blade is faster for removing most snows, but the FEL is useful for removing clumps up around the garages. For most snows, you can just drive forward with the back blade pushing away snow in the back. It takes away even snow compacted some by the rear wheels.

When I had my Gravely, its front blade worked great to remove snow very efficiently but was a bit cumbersome up close to the garages. ONE TIME, I had to remove the blade and mount the front snow blower. The blade would not touch the 7" of SLEET that we got that one time. Think the FEL on the JD would have been able to remove it.

I don't know why they don't make a snow blade that would just clip in place of the front end bucket on JDs. They just attach with a couple of U hooks on top and 2 pins at the bottom. A fairly inexpensive front blade could be made to just hook and clip into place. No one offers it. A manual swivel like my Gravely blade had would be fine. Wouldn't need to be hydraulic swivel. It would be easy though to disconnect the bucket dump lines and use those for a hydraulic swivel though.

Ralph

 

[scesnick]

I have a 2.5 mile driveway and i live on top of a mountain on the Md/Wv line. We get plenty of snow so This is one area I know pretty well.
If it snows 12"or less i just use my Yamaha Rhino with a 72" plow. Believe it or not it works great !! If we get a good snow I use my 580 Case backhoe. If we get over 2 feet I just park everything and break out the 3pt Ber-Vac 64" snowblower. it takes alot longer but works very well. I can make one pass down the mountain and one back in about 2-2.5 hours. The problem is that most of 1.5 miles of the driveway is through the woods and treelined so if i use nothing but plows after a few snows there is no place to put the snow so the blower was a mandatory piece of equipment for me.

 

[Hard]

I just use a 6' rear blade on my 500' driveway and large parking area. I have removed up to a 9" to 10" snowfall with the rear blade. It does a great job of scraping down to the asphalt. A lot cheaper than a snowblower but if I had to do this job quite frequently and over a span of several months I would probably get a front mounted blower.

 

[Thomas]

Good morning farmerjim.
Useing rear blade after while was hard on the neck...as you said fel takes to long,soooo I got my crayons out and came up w/this idea...works darn well.

One pin to hitch up the plow or unhitch to use the fel...and one can get closer to objects while plowing and not fearing having the rear tire scuffing objects.

 

[roxynoodle]

Very cool, thanks for showing us!

 

[MossRoad]

I use our Power Trac PT425 with a 60" power angle snow plow on the FEL arms. I can pile snow higher than the canopy.

 

[GreenWannabe]

I don't know why they don't make a snow blade that would just clip in place of the front end bucket on JDs. They just attach with a couple of U hooks on top and 2 pins at the bottom. A fairly inexpensive front blade could be made to just hook and clip into place. No one offers it. A manual swivel like my Gravely blade had would be fine. Wouldn't need to be hydraulic swivel. It would be easy though to disconnect the bucket dump lines and use those for a hydraulic swivel though.

I happened to run across a blade they claim will mount on a quick attach JD 400 series loader, using their weld-on adapter. I don't know whether it will work with your 410 loader, but it mmight be worth a try if you hven't already talked to them.

Curtis - Tractor Loader Blades

 

[PineRidge]

Last fall I picked up this used Myers plow for a tad over 100 bucks. I'm now in the process of making it look nicer.

 

[HEC]

I use fel,7 ft rear mounted blower and an old 8ft. truck plow I picked up for $100. I welded on a piece for the top link to hook onto and swivel the plow by hand as needed ,and drop in the pin to hold in place.The advantage of a reg. snow plow over a scraper blade on gravel drives at least is that they will trip if you hit something that won't give way.I leave the fel. on all the time and switch between the blower and plow depending on snow conditions.I use the plow whenever possible as it is the quickest for sure.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

My snow removal device.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/1172/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

 

[Hard]

I use our Power Trac PT425 with a 60" power angle snow plow on the FEL arms. I can pile snow higher than the canopy.

What the heck is a Powertrack??? Is that some kind of build it yourself vehicle??? Looks interesting. Can you buy all the pieces as a kit and put it together yourself?? I thought I saw something like that in the back of a Popular Mechanics magazine in the classified section before, as a set of plans to buy. How do you like it? Looks like it might be fun to move a little bit of snow with.

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

Hard,

If you click on Moss Road web site PT425 Home Page he has some real cool videos of his PT in action. I wish I knew about the PT before I got my Kubota BX.

See this link for many hours of interesting reading on Power-Trac by TBN members who own them.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/power-trac/

Here is a link to the mfg web site
Versatile Tractors,Compact Tractors,Trailer Packages,Landscaping,Utility Vehicle Rentals,Mowers-Power Trac

 

[Hard]

Hard,

If you click on Moss Road web site PT425 Home Page he has some real cool videos of his PT in action. I wish I knew about the PT before I got my Kubota BX.

See this link for many hours of interesting reading on Power-Trac by TBN members who own them.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/power-trac/

Here is a link to the mfg web site
Versatile Tractors,Compact Tractors,Trailer Packages,Landscaping,Utility Vehicle Rentals,Mowers-Power Trac

That is one very cool piece of machinery. I really enjoyed the video featuring the destruction of the multi flora rose bush. I have taken out several of those but not that easily.

MossRoad, I hope the Powertrac company is throwing some free merchandise your way. You're doing a lot great advertising for them.

 

[MossRoad]

Free merchandise?? Harharhahrahrahrhhrhraaaaa!

I just do it for fun. I am very enthusiastic about that machine. It is a tinkerer's dream come true. It is a VERY simple machine, really. Just an engine that spins a few pumps, some hydraulic wheel motors and cylinders, some valves to control things and some hoses to hook it all together. The rest is a couple joints that let it articulate AND oscillate in the middle and a pile of plate steel. Simply elegant. It works and is easy to modify if you choose!

 

[jimmysisson]

was wondering what everyone uses for snow removal? i have been using just fel but it takes forever. i was thinking of a rear blade or a clamp on snow plow for my fel, but they are hard to find. i found 1, sno champ by aiken trailer but its about $850. i think i can get a 3pt sno blower for less than that.just curious as to what everyone's using.

I use a 7½' Fisher PA blade on a QA plate in place of the loader bucket. PA is run by the rear remotes and looong hoses. Out back I usually have the heavy Gannon box blade, as it's pretty good at scraping sleet or ice.
I'm still trying to enjoy this beautiful fall! Though plowing is fun, hunting season is better. With global warming, maybe less snow for the future?
Jim