Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Tractor to blow lots of snow

[wvpolekat]

I think polekat was talking about a blower on the loader.

$1200/load, I am moving there. :laughing:

Correct. Look on ebay. You can regularly find old Oshkosh blower trucks with a pair of Detroits on them. You may cause an avalanche with the noise from a pair of Detroit 2 strokes screaming away though.

Like I said, I may be way out in left field, but just throwing ideas out there.

 

[jjmarotz]

Tell ya what.... living in snow country, (next door to Yellowstone Park) we get some pretty substantial snow falls here too. Over the yrs I have seen farmers with 100-150hp tractors with 8' rear mount blowers move more snow than most will see in their lifetimes. Watched my dad with his Versatile move a crapload of snow!!!!!! ( But these farmers use these to open up spud cellars or grain bins and rural roads that the county will not touch in the winter. So they get more use than a CUT would do.

When I bought my house from my dad 5 yrs ago I too thought I needed a large ag style tractor... so I got me a late 60's JD 4010 2wd and an 8' dual auger blower, installed a heavy duty 7' loader and went for it.... yes it worked OK and moved a ton of snow, but found it was useless in the summer around the yard. Had that setup for 1.5 yrs and put on a whopping 30 hrs.

After that I purchased a new JD 3203 with 300 loader and 6' Meteor blower and never looked back!!!!!! That little bugger moved more snow than I could believe, let alone the yard work, fencing, barn cleanup, horse corral cleaning, etc, etc.!!!!

Now I have a 3720 cab and front mount 59" blower that is totaly awesome!!! Finally had the chance to upgrade and love it.

Yes the smaller tractor does take a bit more time to move the same amount of snow as the larger one.... but I kinda like playing in the snow With the smaller tractor I tend to put on roughly 50hrs a yr in the snow. I only open my driveway, shop pad, and access to horse barn and occasionaly I have opened up the 1/2 mile drive to my house when the county crew is... well.... ummmm..... ..... worthless

So keep your options open and keep the phone # handy for the guy with the Versatile!!!! I have called upon my neighbor with his 8' blower and 120hp to "widen" the property out when things close in on me, but only twice in 5 yrs Last pics is from a NASTY blizzard a couple yrs ago (4-8-08) where the county crew spent over 9 hrs in 2 days bucketing snow from the last 150 yrd of our road... you can see where I tried from my side to open it with the 3203.... it got deeper and harder packed the farther I got till the county showed up.... If you have time to move it EVERY day and stay on top of the snow a smaller tractor will do a LOT more than most people think!!

 

[JDGreenGrass]

Tell ya what.... living in snow country, (next door to Yellowstone Park) we get some pretty substantial snow falls here too. Over the yrs I have seen farmers with 100-150hp tractors with 8' rear mount blowers move more snow than most will see in their lifetimes. Watched my dad with his Versatile move a crapload of snow!!!!!! ( But these farmers use these to open up spud cellars or grain bins and rural roads that the county will not touch in the winter. So they get more use than a CUT would do.

When I bought my house from my dad 5 yrs ago I too thought I needed a large ag style tractor... so I got me a late 60's JD 4010 2wd and an 8' dual auger blower, installed a heavy duty 7' loader and went for it.... yes it worked OK and moved a ton of snow, but found it was useless in the summer around the yard. Had that setup for 1.5 yrs and put on a whopping 30 hrs.

After that I purchased a new JD 3203 with 300 loader and 6' Meteor blower and never looked back!!!!!! That little bugger moved more snow than I could believe, let alone the yard work, fencing, barn cleanup, horse corral cleaning, etc, etc.!!!!

Now I have a 3720 cab and front mount 59" blower that is totaly awesome!!! Finally had the chance to upgrade and love it.

Yes the smaller tractor does take a bit more time to move the same amount of snow as the larger one.... but I kinda like playing in the snow With the smaller tractor I tend to put on roughly 50hrs a yr in the snow. I only open my driveway, shop pad, and access to horse barn and occasionaly I have opened up the 1/2 mile drive to my house when the county crew is... well.... ummmm..... ..... worthless

So keep your options open and keep the phone # handy for the guy with the Versatile!!!! I have called upon my neighbor with his 8' blower and 120hp to "widen" the property out when things close in on me, but only twice in 5 yrs Last pics is from a NASTY blizzard a couple yrs ago (4-8-08) where the county crew spent over 9 hrs in 2 days bucketing snow from the last 150 yrd of our road... you can see where I tried from my side to open it with the 3203.... it got deeper and harder packed the farther I got till the county showed up.... If you have time to move it EVERY day and stay on top of the snow a smaller tractor will do a LOT more than most people think!!

Fantastic post right there. Complete with pictures and all.!!:thumbsup:

 

[Deadman]

If we limit ourselves to only things where it makes perfect economic sense to do it ourselves this would be a pretty small forum! Most of us get at least some enjoyment out of doing some of these jobs.

I can't imagine it'll be that much time. If he gets a 6' blower and a 12' path is ok for his road he just needs to go up and back - probably an hour most times and probably a few times a week.

His original post was about how to save money on this project by doing it himself. Everyone else has gotten so wrapped-up in the tractor size debate, so I tried to be open minded about the situation as a whole, not just the tractor sizes.

 

[Rob-D]

MOVE!!

 

[Rob-D]

JJ,
Can you leave the 59" blower quick attach brackets on with the front loader? How bad is it to switch back and forth?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[jjmarotz]

JJ,
Can you leave the 59" blower quick attach brackets on with the front loader? How bad is it to switch back and forth?

Thanks,
Rob

No, the quick attach has to come off, but only consists of 3 pins. No tools needed. I've only taken the blower off once, (just got the tractor in late March), but can only think it would take less than 20 minutes to switch around.... less when I do it more

 

[pitt_md]

Here's a pic from about Easter, about as bad as the road got. Hope this works...

Message - TractorByNet.com Photo Gallery

I'm gonna need a bigger boat, huh?

Holy Hemlock! Don't send the boy!

 

[some zilch]

i would be leaning more towards a bigger skid steer than a tractor. the skidsteer is going to have 50+ horsepower, if not pushing 75. skidsteers have WAY more hydraulic flow/power than any regular tractor. they are widely available used with fully enclosed cabs w/heat. you can lift the snowblower as high as the arms will go as they are hydraulic drive, not shaft like a farm tractor. the snowblower is in front of you, so visibility is easy. changing from snowblower to bucket is a 2 minute job. a wide variety of attachments are available to rent, unlike tractors. i am very partial towards bobcats, and they start extremely well in cold weather. thier kubota engines are excellent and bulletproof. if in my opinion, since you are willing to spend the $$ and not try to get a $5000 tractor/blower, there are better choices than a tractor/pto snowblower. skidsteers can be bought used, but in excellent operating condition these days for pretty reasonable

 

[schmism]

i would be leaning more towards a bigger skid steer than a tractor. the skidsteer is going to have 50+ horsepower, if not pushing 75. skidsteers have WAY more hydraulic flow/power than any regular tractor.

how exactly do you think you power a POWER TAKE OFF snow blower on a tractor? with a hydraulic motor?


anyway....

Class 3 (40+hp) cabbed CUT at least. A small AG tractor (60+hp) wouldnt be out of the question.

Plow on the front, 72" blower on the back.