Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Tractor to blow lots of snow

[Rod in Forfar]

With used tractors it seems the bigger they are, the cheaper they are. Perkins diesels start well in winter, by and large. Now while big tractors are cheap, big snowblowers definitely are not. I'd think it would be harder to find a good blower than a good tractor.

Last winter I broke down and bought a tractor with a cab. I'd simply had it with the snow blowing back over the tractor and me.

A cab will cost next to nothing at the time of purchase, but a fortune later if you try to retro-fit one.

Will your driveway allow you to blow downhill all the way? If so you might get by with 2WD. Uphill backwards with a 2WD is difficult while blowing, though.

Most likely a high-hours 50-70 hp with cab (and block heater) and 6 or 7' blower would be a good target. Pick one with a history of good cold-weather starts when plugged in. You should be able to buy it and a half a blower for your ploughing bill last winter.

 

[RFB]

I plow miles of snow at 3300+ EL. Sometimes 50 hours a week or more.

Trial and error has led to:
L5030HSTC;
Curtis 7.5 snowplow;
Loftness 841S Blower;

Tires/Wheels reversed to the widest possible position

Chains (H on back, V bar on front) on R1 tires

Rim Guard in the rears.

Message - TractorByNet.com Photo Gallery

 

[aczlan]

I agree on the cab and the blower.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned, is a turbo. At 8000 feet, you will lose less power due to the thin air on a tractor with a turbo than on a non-turbo tractor.
If you are thinking of a front mount snowblower system on a large tractor, I would recommend talking to Michigan Iron and Equipment about their front mount snowblowers. They are an advertiser on this site and I have leard many good things about them. While it may be too far to get a tractor from them, you may be able to have them make you a kit to (for example) mount a 75" snowblower on the loader of your tractor.

My suggestions, would be a 4wd tractor of the appropriate size with a turbo, a heated cab, extra lights on the cab, a turbocharged engine and a loader that has a skidsteer quick attach (I am partial to the Kubota L and M series, but we have a good Kubota dealer just down the road).
Then you could work with someone like MI&E to get the following:
1. Quick attach to 3 point adapter for your loader
2. 3 point snowblower
3. PTO powered hydraulic power pack
4. Hydraulic lines up the loader
5. A hydraulic motor mounted to the adapter from step 1 (to power the snowblower from step 2) and connected to the hydraulic lines from step 4
6. Hydraulic chute rotation and angling

I believe that Deere also makes something like this (I saw it at Empire Farm Days last year), but I don't know if they make a large enough version for what you are talking about.

Aaron Z

 

[Ford tractor]

Diesel kubota tractors start well down at -20 to -30F. BUT, you NEED to have a good battery and add anti-gel additive to the fuel. I don't care what they say at the pump, it WILL leave you stranded at the worst time if you don't.

From looking at you picture, the small B tractor with blower won't toss the snow over the old snow. That's a sure fire disaster. You would need to toss the snow something like 20' high and 35' out. Unless you can adjust and always go down wind.

 

[mjncad]

A cab would be nice, but I can add that later, right? And yes, chains are not negotiable as well as 4wd. The snowcut on the side of the road can get to 6 feet late season.

Get the cab now as retrofitting is going to be a PITA as life always seems to hand you other tasks to deal with.

I do think a tractor is your best investment. If you bought a $30,000 tractor it would be paid off in 5 years at $6,000...the amount you are paying to have it cleared now.

Factor in inflation, and the payback could be even sooner.

Better than a Tractor

UNIMOG 4X4 SNOW BLOWER

That might be a good alternative if he can get parts and service easily. I think Unimog's are some of the coolest machines out there.

Most likely a high-hours 50-70 hp with cab (and block heater) and 6 or 7' blower would be a good target. Pick one with a history of good cold-weather starts when plugged in. You should be able to buy it and a half a blower for your ploughing bill last winter.

West of the Kansas and Nebraska means a harder time finding good used equipment. Try Tractorhouse or Machine Finder and take a look at the limited selection for the Rocky Mountain states.

Personally there is no way I'd blow a mile of mountain road backwards...spend the bucks and get a front mounted blower. A previous poster suggested a turbo due to your altitude, which is a good suggestion. Add plenty of front and rear work lights, and even consider side work-lights so you see the road's edge. Riding a tractor down into a deep ravine at night is not my idea of fun. You could hang a rear blade off the 3PH, or even a survival kit made from a ballast box or something similar. I could see putting shelter, food, etc in the box in case the OP gets stuck halfway between home and the main road. How old is the OP? What is doable now may not be so much fun down the road.

Another poster suggested turf tires with the chains, and I can see the reasoning; but if the OP is planning on doing other chores with his tractor, then turf tires may be a bad option. If the 8,000' elevation in Utah is anything like the 8,000' in Colorado, there won't be many of those lush east coast and Midwest lawns to justify turf tires.

 

[Duffster]

Thanks for the welcome. I did the snowmobile thing for a year and it is a pain. Another complication is that the cars then have to be left at the head of the road and get broken into, and the ski resort where I have to park is not very understanding about me leaving my cars in their lot, although I may try to work a deal where I pay them to park there. And then there is insurance when you can't get a firetruck to the house.

Yah, it's a lot of snow. If you do the math, with five+ months of snow and 500 inches, that's about 3 inches a day. Piles up quick, it does.

Currently the road is cleared by a Versatile (?), huge articulated thing, overkill actually. Probably a 6 foot blower. I am thinking dedicated front mount blower used solely for clearing the snow. Other folks up here use Bobcats or the like.

Here is the used one I was talking about, but it may be a bit small.
ksl.com - Classifieds for Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming

Are you sure about that? Sounds like the perfect machine to me.

$6000 a year sounds pretty reasonable.

 

[forester2]

Ditto on Aczlan's recommendation. Unit mounted on loader arms will give you some real flexibily when piles get high. Having had rear mount w/o a cab and now front mount with cab, for me it's the only way to go- especially with your temperatures and snowfall.

 

[klausb]

Thanks for all the info guys. I really appreciate your help. So some answers to questions...

I live adjacent to Solitude Ski resort, in Big Cottonwood Canyon, above Salt Lake City. Last year was about average snowfall and we got 494".
Snow Report | Winter | Salt Lake City, Utah Ski Resort | Solitude

The snow is usually very light, so packs down significantly. It usually falls in the 6-8% density range, so it is 92-94% air. It falls in storms that drop 1-2 feet intermixed with bright sunny days, so packs out pretty well under it's own weight. The ski areas normally report max. packed base of about 140" in your average year. It usually doesn't get serious until February, when I have received as much as 10 feet in as many days.

One guy that does commercial plowing uses a Bobcat and plows quite a bit of road after each storm. A lot of people with less road than I have, use something in the Bobcat class.

As for walking one way, I already do that a lot and it isn't such a big deal for me. My road never gets plowed before 4 pm and sometimes goes two days before it is cleared, so walking is often the only option. Not a big deal for me. I am a backcountry skier so for "fun" I often walk/climb 4000 vertical feet in a day over several miles for the skiing. I have also attempted two summits of Denali/Mount McKinley (20,000+ feet above sea level), and made a successful summit bid which took 6 weeks on the mountain in -10 to -20F weather most of the time. So walking one mile to a car or the house is a walk in the park for me. I'm fifty years old and have lived in this house for ten years so have walked that road a thousand times, literally. between walking the dogs, walking to from the car, and skiing, sometimes I will walk it four times in a day.

I can't really build a garage at either end. The sharp end of the road is Forest Service land (on three sides of my property) and building anything is a total and expensive pain. The dull end of the road is ski area parking lot.

So my synopsis so far if I am correct is 50+ horsepower, cab, I like the idea of the quick mount blower on the loader, need lights, block heater, and I think I will need 4wd with chains on all four paws. So it sounds like a high hours bigger machine would be the ticket and it sounds like I will be in the 25-30K range?

So, how much should I be thinking in yearly maintenance costs? Even if the money works out breakeven, I think I would rather be independent and plow the road when I need it, not when someone else can get to it. And five years return would be more than acceptable to me. I kinda like playing in the snow anyway. :laughing:

Thanks again for all your help, and please keep it coming with suggestions. I've learned more in the last day than I ever knew and I really appreciate you offering up your advice! And I will keep you posted as to what I end up with and how it works out.

 

[MarkV]

Beautiful area you live in! We have skied there several times. It must be fun to be part of that local community. Alway a fun place to spend time.

I think you could look at tractors closer to 40 hp and get the job done, except for those big storms, and after 10 years I would guess they are part of your live style and you adapt. Most manufactures make the break between the smaller framed compact tractors and the lager framed ones at 30 hp. I would go larger frame and greater power due to your elevation and snow conditions. Looking at the size and type of blower you want would go a long ways toward saying how much power you need. Then I would look at your elevation and stay on the high side of the power range for the blower.

Again, beautiful area in that part of Utah!

MarkV

 

[klausb]

Thanks Mark.. it is beautiful and has some incredible skiing. The community can have two sides... good people, but there are the water issues, parking, etc. that can get somewhat political as it does in any small community. But overall it is worth it dealing with the snow for me. Although one old guy that was delivering firewood to me from down in the valley kinda summed it up right. He said, "Son, even the moose and the deer got sense enough to move down the hill in the winter." :laughing: