Tips / advice for plowing with a rear blade?

[snuppaelena]

I was gifted an MH50 with a 7 foot rear blade from my father. He has used it since the mid 80s to plow his steep mile long driveway.
I was wondering if anyone had pointers for me as to any 'best way' to plow. I am not on a hill, mostly all flat gravel road.

 

[LD1]

Angle and roll it to the side whenever possible as it is the most efficient.

If a lighter snow, use the backside of the blade and if won't remove your stone if you have a gravel drive.

Learn to use split brakes.

 

[jjlite]

Fit a pipe to the bottom of the blade so it wont dig in. :2cents:

 

[chim]

Nice MH! As LD1 said, the back side of the blade is the ticket for a stone road - especially if it hasn't frozen tight. Adjust the toplink so the pivot point is vertical. For smaller snows go forward with the blade at an angle so it casts the snow to one side. For pushing banks back rotate the blade. Some advise against pushing backward with a rear blade but I've done it for 20 years and three tractors without any problems.

 

[oosik]

My mile long gravel driveway "usually" is frozen hard before we get any snow worth plowing. So I really don't worry much about scarfing up the gravel.

Plow the driveway as wide as possible the first time - over time the frozen berms will move in on you and you will eventually have to break them up and move them wider.

Without 4WD those chains will be a big help for snow plowing.

 

[/pine]

It will take you some time (mostly out of the seat) but learn to adjust the length of the top link to change the attitude of the cutting edge...as well as adjusting a side link to tilt the blade for crowning etc...

Good Luck...

 

[motownbrowne]

If you get snow before the drive is frozen, turn it backwards and pack a layer. Leave it to freeze and it will help conserve your gravel. After that, adjust "bite" by changing your top link length. In your photo, the top link is very short. This is usually ideal for snow, but you'll have to play around with that until you find what works.

Also, during the first snows of the year, plow the driveway extra wide so you'll have room later in the year as your banks move closer together.

 

[Billrog]

When we have late frost or freeze up I do what motownbrowne says.

 

[RippySkippy]

Plow snow with the blade reversed and pushing the snow rather than pulling. My blade is 8' wide, and when it's angled while it plows wide enough for the tractor to drive in a clean path, if the blade faces forward and when driving forward, it had enough force to slide the front end around. Turn the blade around, and it works great.

The advise to plow wide is valid, since you can only push the snow, you have to plan for 3 or 4 snows out. If you only plow a drive path, where will you put the next snow storm? My stink'n drive was 8', and the plow path was 30' (lots of drifting)

I know not everyone likes or can stand to turn backwards that long but for me it worked.

 

[RobS]

All good advice so far. If you put out driveway markers, set them at least 4 feet outside the edge of the driveway so you have someplace to put the snow.

And dress in layers! (there is a whole thread on clothes for plowing somewhere...)

 

[motownbrowne]

Plow snow with the blade reversed and pushing the snow rather than pulling. My blade is 8' wide, and when it's angled while it plows wide enough for the tractor to drive in a clean path, if the blade faces forward and when driving forward, it had enough force to slide the front end around. Turn the blade around, and it works great.

The advise to plow wide is valid, since you can only push the snow, you have to plan for 3 or 4 snows out. If you only plow a drive path, where will you put the next snow storm? My stink'n drive was 8', and the plow path was 30' (lots of drifting)

I know not everyone likes or can stand to turn backwards that long but for me it worked.

That's definitely one way to do it. And if there's lots of snow I'll do that sometimes, as long as you're slow and careful it's fine. The reason for caution is that 3 point hitches on tractors are designed to pull, not push. Yes, some pushing is fine, but it's much easier to break things going in reverse than forwards. Of course, it's also going to depend on the blade size and tractor size (as well as how much your tractor is over engineered, which might be quite a bit on that old Massey).

 

[lungdoc]

Many blades can be reversed fairly easily so blade is pointing "backwards" but is still being pulled.

 

[jgayman]

Many blades can be reversed fairly easily so blade is pointing "backwards" but is still being pulled.

True. The only problem with going forward (regardless of blade orientation) is you must drive over the snow first. This will pack a wet snow hard as a rock. With the blade turned forward this is less of a problem as the cutting edge will still bite in and plow the snow. But with the blade reversed it has a tendency to just glide over the snow.

I've been plowing / snow blowing my gravel driveway for 40 years and there is no easy answer. I run a blower in the front with the shoes set for around 1.5" of clearance and a blade on the rear. 99% of my plowing is done by going in reverse and using the backside of the blade.

Last season I placed those reflective marker sticks all around the perimeter of my snow clearing areas and when plowing I kept my piles within the sticks. Made it nice in the spring as there was no gravel in the grass.

 

[jrclark]

I snapped my blade last year by going in reverse. It's not something you want to do in high range. It sounded like a gun shot when it happened, startled me. Lucky for me it was the last bit of snow I needed to move on the last snow storm of the winter. I was up s*** creek if it had snowed after that.

This year, I'll definitely be turning the convex side to the front and pulling it. All other push work can be done with the bucket. Of course, none of this is happening until the cutting edge gets welded and the moldboard is reinforced.

 

[Billrog]

1st yr. plowing snow I bent the top link pushing backwards also ending up doing a few repairs to the blade. Now if I do any pushing backwards at all with the blade it's done very carefully.

 

[LD1]

1st yr. plowing snow I bent the top link pushing backwards also ending up doing a few repairs to the blade. Now if I do any pushing backwards at all with the blade it's done very carefully.

How did you manage that?

Pushing in reverse puts the TL in tension....not something that bends it.

PULLING is what puts toplink in compression and likely to bend if you have a lighter duty cheap one and have it lengthened alot.

 

[motownbrowne]

How did you manage that?

Pushing in reverse puts the TL in tension....not something that bends it.

PULLING is what puts toplink in compression and likely to bend if you have a lighter duty cheap one and have it lengthened alot.

If you had the three point hitch raised all the way and were reversing, the top link would definitely be under compression

 

[LD1]

I guess that is a slip possibility if whatever you are pushing is trying to lift the blade beyond the limits of the lower arms.

But pushing or snagging something with the cutting edge while going backwards, puts the top link in compression.

 

[farm boy00]

I snapped my blade last year by going in reverse. It's not something you want to do in high range. It sounded like a gun shot when it happened, startled me. Lucky for me it was the last bit of snow I needed to move on the last snow storm of the winter. I was up s*** creek if it had snowed after that.

This year, I'll definitely be turning the convex side to the front and pulling it. All other push work can be done with the bucket. Of course, none of this is happening until the cutting edge gets welded and the moldboard is reinforced.

Have snapped a top link and bent a blade trying to move a big horse buggy that sat for a few years. Top link was old and was half broke anyways. Blade was old and not valued around the farm. Sold the blade with a small bend. Now I am always careful too

 

[arrow]

I was gifted an MH50 with a 7 foot rear blade from my father. He has used it since the mid 80s to plow his steep mile long driveway.
I was wondering if anyone had pointers for me as to any 'best way' to plow. I am not on a hill, mostly all flat gravel road.

View attachment 445312

See the part that states "Woods" on the side, try to get this horizontal when pulling snow. The blade will scrape better that way. I have this exact same blade ( for 28 years) but needed something I could off set to get close to buildings. I cut it up and made it into a "slider" type blade.