Grading Which rear blade??

[crown]

Hard to believe that I'm thinking about pushing snow and what I will need with the temps outside in the upper 90's. I own a B7500, I have a 100 foot recently paved drive to clear. I think the rear blade is the way to go a snow blower would be nice but I don't think I can justify the cost. What is a good blade what size should I consider, what is the best technique to use??

 

[JimMorrissey]

Crown,

Where do you live? Lots of snow? Is so, I'd definitely go with the blower. --A couple of runs and you are done! None of this plowing crap. Beside you just end up with big piles of melting snow running all over when it warms up. We had 9' piles last winter from plowing! Got a blower with my BX ( 3 PT.)....and intend to never see them again. This is not to mention the bills for a bucket loader to come up and clear us out because eventually there was no place to put the snow.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Oh sorry, I just realized that you said you wanted a blade, not a blower....Woods makes good stuff. I really like mine and think it's built to last.

 

[Boondox]

Jeff -- Not sure how severe your winters get, but will give this one a shot. You'll need a blade wide enough to cover your track when it's angled for plowing, but not so wide that your little tractor can't handle the snow load. Better, look for one you can offset to the side easily. I say easily because my old King Kutter offset, but the nuts were so difficult to reach inside their deep channel that I generally left it centered. Besides, that deep channel got packed with snow making it impossible to put a wrench on the nuts. So when buying, look for one you can offset under the winter conditions you expect. Also look for a decent moldboard height. A plow with a 12" moldboard might sound like the deal of the decade till the snow spills over the top as you try plowing.

As for technique, you'll get a ton of responses. What I do early in the winter before the ground freezes solid is to reverse the blade and drive forward with the convex edge doing the work. That keeps the blade from digging in, moving gravel, etc. Later, after the ground has the consistency of concrete, I'll use the concave edge for plowing.

I plow two driveways and a quarter mile of road edged on one side by a 200 year old stone wall. So for my first pass I'll angle the blade with it offset to the right as far as possible to pull it away from the wall. Subsequent passes are much easier since the snow is away from the wall and I can speed up. Remember that with a plow (unlike a blower) you need to push the stuff far enough to the side to leave room to pile up subsequent storms. Your tractor is a pretty light weight unit, so be careful with the blade angled that the weight of the snow doesn't pull the back end into a ditch or obstruction.

Like Jim said, a blower gets it all out of the way. The problem where I live is that maybe once every five years I run out of space and wish I had a blower. The other four years I find my plow much faster and more convenient.

Hope this helps. Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[Wheeldog]

Pete,

Sounds like you move quite a bit of snow. I'm going to buy a blade this Fall and I'm curious about the moldboard height and how the blade works when there is a foot or more of snow down. Seems like the standard moldboard height for the light-duty blades is 14" - my guess is you have a heavier-duty blade (maybe 17-18" moldboard). How much snow has to be on the ground before it starts really piling up and coming over the top of the blade? (if this does happen) If there is a really large accumulation do you just drop the blade and head through it, or do you raise the blade up a few inches off the ground and make two passes?

Rob

 

[glennmac]

I plowed snow last winter with 6' Woods backblade on my 2910 with FEL and loaded R4s. I agree the blade should be long enough to cover your tracks when angled. The most important feature for me turned out to be one that I never really thought about before I bought the blade: the ability to pivot it 180 degrees while it is on the tractor without it hitting the 3ph. If the blade is too long, it can't pivot around. Mine just makes it with the Freedom Hitches I have.

The reason pivoting 180 degrees is important is because there are 4 ways to plow with a backblade depending on whether I was plowing pavement or gravel, and I used them all. To explain, you can plow while:

1. Driving backwards with the blade pointed backwards (ie, with the concave face of the blade facing towards the back of the tractor). This is how I plowed my paved parking slab. I also did not angle the blade when I plowed. This was very effective and fast, even in the deep (18") wet snows we had this winter. If anything spilled over the top, I would just come back and clean it up in a second pass. This is the way I think I would plow a paved driveway of deep snow, except I would angle the blade on a driveway.

2. Driving backward with the blade facing forward, and angled. When doing this, you are plowing with the convex face of the blade. This is how I plowed deep snow on my rutted, bumpy gravel driveway. Plowing with the convex side reduces digging up the gravel. I had to make more than one pass and had problems with the snowpiles building up on the sides of the drive (but that is a separate issue from how or what you are plowing with). Used the loader to move piles.

3. Driving frontward with blade backward, angled. Used this in light snow (3-4") on my gravel drive. Again using convex face to reduce cutting into the gravel.

4. Driving frontward with blade frontward, angled. Didnt do this much. Would only do it in light snows when the ground/gravel is really frozen, which really never happened where I was.

I also plowed walking paths for people and dogs on my lawn and fields. Used a combination of 2 and 3, above, and also backdragging my bucket, which sometimes seemed to work the best.

I was frequently pivoting the blade 180 degrees to alternate between a "frontward" blade postion and a "backward" blade for the pavement and gravel applications. So, the importance of having a blade short enough to pivot is crucial to my needs.

If everything you have is paved, you may not need to pivot nearly so much.

 

[Boondox]

Rob -- Depends on the snow. The light fluffy stuff that generally comes with bitter cold (like minus 10) is a pain in the butt, especially if there's a breeze. It has a mind of its own. That's the stuff that tends to ride up and over the moldboard (mine's 17.5") or fill in where you just plowed.

For the really deep stuff I used to make two passes with my B1750. Now that I drive an L3010 (ballasted, with Nordic ice chains) and angle the blade way the heck over (hydraulic TNT) and plow pretty fast. It tosses all but the fluffy stuff way over to the side.

There's an art to this stuff, you know. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Pete

www.GatewayToVermont.com

 

[gerard]

glenmac explained it pretty well. I plow a fair amount of snow with an L2500 R1's and chains. Use a woods 7ft with the skid shoes which makes a world of difference. Adjust them 3/4 inch gap and you can plow right onto your grass without peeling up the sod. Go 1.5 inches and you can plow gravel drives without taking up all the gravel. For the lighter snows early on I drive forward. When things get deep I reverse the blade and drive backwards pushing. If things get too deep you just don't take a full bite. Pretty amazing how easy it is to push the banks back. I got through a pretty heavy winter (Syracuse NY 170 inches or so) without a problem. I wouldn't want a blower ONLY because I don't have a live pto. (Means in heavy stuff you'd have to keep slipping the clutch which I wouldn't want to do) PS I can swing it around while still on the tractor which is a must.

 

[Wheeldog]

Pete and Glenn,

Thanks for the details. I think I now know about as much as I can without actually using the blade myself.

Rob

 

[glennmac]

I would also recommend getting a blade that has tilt and offset and some weight. These are not necessary for snowplowing, but add flexibility and bite when you are dealing with dirt and gravel.