Snowblower and crushed rock driveway

[sheamus]

Had the first dump of the season, so i got to try out the ne (to me) snowblower. I threw a lot of rocks. It was only 0c so the ground was soft and the shoes sunk. I tried to control the sinking with the 3pt hitch raise/lower but it was tough to get it right. The driveway is slightly higher in the center and so I think I was picking up rocks there. I was thinking of a couple solutions. 1. Weld a 4-6" plate to the shoes so the dont sink so much. 2. Weld a 4-6" plate to the center to prevent the center from getting too low when side shoes hit the soft ground or low ground. 3. Do both of the aforementioned options?

How have others solved this?

 

[stumblinhorse]

Had the first dump of the season, so i got to try out the ne (to me) snowblower. I threw a lot of rocks. It was only 0c so the ground was soft and the shoes sunk. I tried to control the sinking with the 3pt hitch raise/lower but it was tough to get it right. The driveway is slightly higher in the center and so I think I was picking up rocks there. I was thinking of a couple solutions. 1. Weld a 4-6" plate to the shoes so the dont sink so much. 2. Weld a 4-6" plate to the center to prevent the center from getting too low when side shoes hit the soft ground or low ground. 3. Do both of the aforementioned options?

How have others solved this?

Same thing here today. Only thing to do is raise the blower and leave enough snow to pack down with driving over it. Anything that I have tried has not helped. Ground is too soft and any interaction with it just digs down.

These early snows, we got about 14”, I use a back blade to cut off the top 10-12”, leave 2-4” to pack down. Blowers is way too heavy and digs in.

 

[oldnslo]

is this a front mount or 3 point hitch? If you have the option tilt the top of the blower back towards the tractor lessening the attack angle of the blower cutting edge. This will usually lessen the digging in.

 

[PEJ5]

You need to create a base of snow for the first few snow falls. If you are only clearing a few inches, use the bucket in float mode with a slight upward angle. It will scrape off any high spots. For larger storms I raise my blower slightly to clear the majority and pack down the rest to create that good base.
Once we are far enough into the season and everything is frozen, I remove my blower's skis and clear down to the base.

 

[mikester]

I tilt my blower back using the top link and it leaves a skim coat of snow on the gravel. After the base packs I can tilt forward to scrape down to the hard pack/ice.

 

[Beaver Cove Deere]

As mentioned, adjust your cutting angle to build an ice base.

 

[oosik]

Here we usually have a rock hard gravel driveway BEFORE the need to clear snow. There are always the exceptions.

I reverse my rear blade 180 degrees and clear snow this way - if my driveway is still soft.

In 2009 - after 27 years - I gave up with the blower on the 3-point. It took more than four hours to clear my yard - mile long gravel driveway - mailbox area. It took more than two day for my neck and shoulders to return to normal.

I bought a brand new Kubota M6040 and heavy duty Rhino rear blade. Now I do all my snow clearing - driving forward. It saves my neck and shoulders and takes half the time.

I still miss blowing snow in ideal conditions. I would blow the snow forward and slightly off the driveway - to the right side. This would blow all the snow off the pines that line the driveway. Prevent snow cascading down on me as I motored on by.

 

[jjeff]

From experiences I am for welding a pipe to cutting edges on snowblowers and plows it's worked better than the adjustable skid shoes raising plow or blower slightly on soft ground. I don't need my gravel driveway or lawn looking like an interstate though, I wouldn't weld the pipe on actual plow or blower just removable cutting edge.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Until our ground freezes up hard, I do have issues with picking up gravel. Once our ground freezes, it stays frozen like concrete for the rest of the season. I have a gravel driveway to clear, as well as the approach to my equipment shed, which is just grass to clear.

This year I have Edge Tamers on my cutting edge of my snow blower. I used 3 of the 4" bolt on style Edge Tamers, bolted on center and each end of my cutting edge. I have used Edge Tamer's, the "clamp on" style, on my FEL bucket cutting edge for years now. They work great.

We will see how the bolt on ones work on the 3pt snow blower this year. I may or may not take them off later in the season, once the ground is hard. After we get a layer of frozen snow on the ground, it solidifies like concrete and the Edge Tamer's on my bucket aren't needed again until spring.

If your blower has a replaceable cutting edge, you can attach these bolt on Edge Tamer's to the cutting edge on your blower:

Edge Tamer - Move Snow With Your Tractor Loader Bucket

 

[jjeff]

I've heard great things about those edge tamers on here especially. But I'm to cheap to buy them lol. So I'll stick to my proven somewhat perfected with usage and install plow/snow blower pipe hack.