Snow snow removal with 2200

newtractorowner · Mar 19, 2001

Thank you everyone for your replies to my post. I have a long gravel driveway. About 900' on a hill. I want to use the 2200 to plow-blow snow off it. I have considered a fel with a curtis 5' blade. My dealer tells me this is able to be done by welding, as the set-up on the curtis frames is for a two cylinder hydralic system. When I e-mailed curtis, they said that they did not have a set up for it. Anyone know about this situation?
How about a front snowblower? The driveway is gravel/bank-run. Some big rocks stick out from the surface in areas. Would these rocks interfere/destroy a snowblower? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks again.

Steve_S · Mar 19, 2001

Well, from a snowblower on gravel or stone point of view I think you should find alternatives. Stones could mess up your auger and will definately end up in place you don't want them like your yard. I currently use a 6' rear blade to do my plowing, or my loader depending on the situation. The blade does a tremendous job on all surfaces. I just have to be careful to keep one hand on the hydraulic lever when on stone. I actually tip the blade forward from the top when on stone so as to "drag" across the snow instead of "dig" into the snow. Typically you wouldn't need a blade as big as mine but I use it on a 2200 as well and it hasn't gotten bogged down yet. The other option, this I use as well, is to jut tip your FEL down to almost perpendicular to the ground (about 65 degrees or so), push your control lever to float and drag it in reverse. But that is a pain in the neck....Literally!

RAllen · Mar 19, 2001

I have a similiar home drive set up. I have to plow about 1/2 of gravel drive. Your profile does not list your location so it is hard to advise. I live in Montana and can establish a good base. I use a back blade like sdsjr3 in the beginning of the season for light snow. I use the blower for good dumps but have to be very careful with the front hght. control. After there is a solid base, I can use float.
In any event you WILL throw rocks with a blower and you WILL break shear bolts. But, a blower cannot be beat if you have 5+". I can do the entire drive pluse my turn around in less than a hour. My nieghbors, using 4X4s with blades take much longer

Guess who gets to do most of the plowing/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Edited by RAllen on 03/19/01 02:55 PM (server time).

Thomas · Mar 19, 2001

If your diveway slopes and you get lot of snow you may want to consider weight on the rear,also if there ice under the snow a set of tire chains could come in handy for the blower and plow.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Pks · Mar 20, 2001

One set of relationships to consider is the amount of snow you receive in a season and how it arrives. If you get about 3 feet per season then a blower may not be cost effective: $1200 to $2500 vs. $400 for a good blade. But if you get about 6 inches a week for the majority of the season, then a blower will help you out far more during the season.

This is due to the problem of embankments that are created by the blade. After the first 30 inches of snow, a blade will cause embankments along the length of the plowed area. After these get about knee high you will be forced to push the banks away from the edge of the drive in order to maintain the drive's width. If any rain has frozen the banks, then the FEL is your best tool for pushing them back. This can take a lot of time. Blowers don't create embankments.

As an example, I have a blacktop driveway that is 10 feet wide, 300 feet long and averages a 20 degree slope. I use a 6 foot rear blade. It takes the same time, about 10 minutes, to clear the drive of 2 inches or 18 inches of snow. To push back the banks, it takes another 20 minutes with the blade (FEL was not used because I was experimenting). One special note;, I only plow downhill since gravity is a GREAT way to speed the process. Also, I push the snow across the road into a 10 foot ditch.

If you live near Buffalo, may I suggest a blower is the best bet... imho

Peter

RAllen · Mar 20, 2001

A fellow member is at work and his company's firewall will not let him reply directly. Steve Ciarcia emailed me and asked me to relay his reply to this forum thread.
Rick

Relay Message

Mr. Allen (I can only guess what the R stands for since it isn't in your bio),

A couple days ago you posted an answer in the owning a Kubota section of Tractorbynet. The subject was snow removal with 2200. Unfortunately, our company firewall doesn't like whatever software Tractorbynet uses and I can't post comments. Since I have a BX2200 explicitly for snow removal I'd like to add something to the conversation. I'd appreciate it if you could post this for me. Thanks.

I live in eastern Connecticut and we're getting hammered this winter too. I have a 400' paved driveway opening into a large parking area in front of the house and garages. I typically use a pickup truck with a 7' plow and move the big piles (after a few storms) with the front loader on my Kubota 4WD L2550GST. I also have a couple snowblowers including a 10HP for touchup.

This year's weather has tested the credibility of everyone's snow removal methodology as you might guess. When we had the 2-foot-plus snowfall 6 weeks ago I couldn't even get out of the garage with the plow (it has to push up hill from there). I spent 3 hours behind the 10HP snow blower clearing the driveway and enough room to get the plow out. And, as you all know, you end up looking and feeling like frosty the snow man.

In my experience, for snowfalls less than 8-10" it is much easier to use a snow plow (provided you have some place you can push the snow). While you can use a snowblower on a 10-12 foot wide driveway, it is not easy to blow snow in a 100' wide-open parking area (you keep blowing the same snow). When you get over a foot, then snow placement becomes the real issue. While I can still use the plow in the large open areas and deal with the huge piles later with a front loader, the only way to do a driveway that has 2 1/2 foot snow banks already along the sides, is with a snowblower.

After that storm 6 weeks ago I decided to solve the problem. I ordered a Kubota BX2200 with Curtis Cab (heated, with lights, fans, wipers, etc) and a 50" Kubota front-mounted snowblower. I added wheel weights and chose not to water-fill the tires. The Kubota PTO snowblower is well built and adequate for the task.

Well, after the latest 2-foot snowstorm and a couple 4-6 inchers for good measure, I'd say that it works great and the hydrostatic transmission is perfect for the application. So far I've only sheared one blower pin when I tried to eat the neighbor's mailbox (I had to replace it with a John Deere pin because the Kubota blower is so new my dealer didn't have any).

So what's the conclusion? Well, there is absolutely no justification for the expense. It isn't even worth addressing that. This combo fits squarely in the executive toy category and not for everyone. I'm only relating my experience to say that a tractor-mounted snowblower is great. Of course, staying out of the weather while you are using it makes it better ;-)

In truth, I don't think it will get much use if we go back to light winters. I already have another bigger tractor and plowing with my truck is much faster. I'll just think of it like my diesel generator that it is always there if I need it ;-)

--Steve