Winter is coming

[lamarbur]

We too live in the eastern hills of CT. Have a 1400 ft dirt driveway,, Since day one, I use a power angle plow, 90" on a Case DX 45 cab tractor, with heavy wet snow, I found out trying to watch the weather reports and hit it half way through and go back and finish works great, I also mount St Pierre roller chains on the front,

 

[badels]

Winter is here for me. In the past I have only used a rear blade and the loader with bucket. On my new deere I am running a front frame mounted hydraulic blade and a rear hydraulic blade. This weeks storm was quite the trial run for it, and it really performed well. I need to fill the tires yet and invest in some front chains, but managed to clear about a mile and a half of 18 inches of wet, heavy, and drifted snow without. Ideally a blower would have been perfect for this storm, but my set up will do great till I want to afford one.

Brad

 

[nybirdman]

You can use the"float" on the loader(and a lot of people do) but you have the weight of the FEL+the weight of the plow pushing down.My plow is plenty heavy and I don't need/want this.It has two pivot points(low) and the chain is used to lift.
As stated the rear blade is used to clear garage doors ect.My front blade has skids and the rear blade will clean right down to the asphalt.I have R1's(AG) tires and no chains;loaded tires and have never had a traction problem.Total weight is about 7,000lbs.

 

[radioman]

You definitely need a front truck plow to mount on your JD. There are hours of reading here on TBN and I enjoyed reading every one of them as each person have thier own way of mounting things for what works for them with what they have laying around or went out and bought materials to make it work. That includes me.

 

[BuzzardA91]

BADELS, ouch, already...... I guess we had a huge Halloween storm two years ago but it's still too soon. Thanks for the float response. I did read all those posts on using a truck plow but for me, I think I need to buy one already with a JDQA. I need it to come off quick and switch with bucket. It would cost about $750-$1000 for a truck plow if I can find one in decent shape. I don't think I will have time or the skills to rig one up.

Also it seems the few I have found on the net don't stick out as far and aren't quite as heavy as truck plows. That maybe helpful with using the tractors float. I also need to manually angle on it and those are made to do that. I don't have front hydraulics yet.

I can grab a used 7' blade that would be perfect, for cheap. But I am still worried about rear weight and traction. When I bought the tractor it was suggested on here to NOT fill the tires if you have a backhoe.

 

[nybirdman]

If you are going to take the BH off in the winter,may need to add a ballast box.If you don't get a lot of snow; a heavy duty back blade may do the trick for you.One a least a foot wider when angled.Should be able to purchase for around $1500 new or look used.Mine is a Bush-Hog branded with angle/off-set.

 

[nybirdman]

Check with Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer for ideas and prices.Front and rear blades..........

 

[BuilderML]

This year i set myself up with a 7' landpride rear blade. The previous storms i only had the front loader to work with. The big nor easter we had with 36" of snow took me 8 hours for my 1400 ft driveway. My only concern with the rear blade is it is only about 300 lbs. My rears aren't loaded as i use my tractor with a mmm for the lawn. What i'll be doing is making 2- 80lb blocks of cement to mount on top of the rear blade for added weight. Should work but only time will tell. My driveway is gravel so i think i'll be getting a 3" blk. pipe and having a 1/4" grove cut into it to slide over the edge of the blade. Buzzard good luck with your selection and hope we don't get another crazy storm like we have had in the past.:thumbsup:

 

[duroc]

I did read all those posts on using a truck plow but for me, I think I need to buy one already with a JDQA. I need it to come off quick and switch with bucket. Also it seems the few I have found on the net don't stick out as far and aren't quite as heavy as truck plows. That maybe helpful with using the tractors float. I also need to manually angle on it and those are made to do that. I don't have front hydraulics yet. I can grab a used 7' blade that would be perfect, for cheap. But I am still worried about rear weight and traction. When I bought the tractor it was suggested on here to NOT fill the tires if you have a backhoe.

I bought my FEL plow from my NH dealer, but the product is made by Construction Attachments. There are a number of QA plow manufacturers out there, but this one seemed to fit my needs/wallet better. As for the front hydraulics, you don't need them. Just use the "curl" hoses for the right/left plow function. When you need the bucket, swap them back. It takes 5 mins (at best) to make the swap.

My plow is the only attachment I need for hydraulics, so I couldn't justify spending $1000 for another remote. I do have loaded rears, but I think if you put the back-blade on the 3 point it will help with traction, as well as backing into tight spots for plowing. You can always add hang-on weight to the BB if needed. The FEL-plow allows you to pile the snow pretty high, so you may not even need the bucket 'til spring. Below is a picture of my setup.


View attachment 340220

 

[duroc]

Yes they are pheasant; I raise about 1500 per year.I own a small uplands preserve.
My set up looks a little different;I was going to add a boom pole when I first built it,that is why the vertical is so long.Just a skid steer adapter plate with pivot points so the blade can float on the chain.I find this works best for me.Similar to what would be used on a pick-up only no lift cylinder.I replaced the angle cylinders.The most expensive part was the hydraulics for the tractor(third function).

So, do you release the birds, sell them, hunt them? Just curious! I used to hunt pheasant for many years, but they are pretty much gone in this area. I do see them occasionally, but not like years ago. Beautiful birds for sure.

I'd appreciate it if you could take a close up picture of your plow setup (from the QA to the rear of the plow). No hurry, just something I've been considering doing in the near future. Thanks, nybirdman.