I did some juggling with my snow weapons this year. I had a Cub Cadet zero turn blower with cab, but my wife has a bad back. Two surgeries, more degenerated discs, discs in her neck going.... She can sneeze and throw her back out. So even the zero turn was a struggle for her. Enter my mom and grandmother with an old Dynamark blower with solid axle that neither of them could rock onto one wheel to turn. Then there was me, wanting a tractor to till with, do a better job mowing than our Husky riding mower, and just to lift/carry/dig all the things I've been doing by myself due to her back. How to help everyone, and reduce my workload? hmmmmm
I talked to my grandmother about taking her blower, and giving them mine. After some explaining she agreed. So I gave them an easier to maneuver zero turn, took their old blower, and traded it along with my riding mower for cash down on a MF GC2600.
It's a bit overkill for out 50 ft of driveway and sidewalk, but it sure is quicker and more fun now that I have the hang of it! I read about putting 2" PVC on the loader blade on here, so I tried that at first. Had the bucket angle wrong, hit a pot hole near the sidewalk, cracked the PVC, and knocked my light bar off. Re-attached the bar with hose clamps, flipped the PVC over, and finished up. Had zero traction for turning, and had this horrible sinking "what have I done, why did I get rid of the blower?!?" moment. Next day I realized the ballast box was probably shifting weight away from the front reducing my traction. Sure enough, once I took that off traction got better, but I could still drift it around corners, and 2wd was useless in 7" of snow. So now I'm prepping to load the tires this weekend before we get more snow. Maybe even flip them for the extra width (read that here too!).
With the 2" PVC cracked I decided to try 3". That actually works better. It snaps over the thicker cutting edge, and locks on so it doesn't slide off back dragging. Also lets me level the bucket and still have 1.5-2" of clearance under it so it doesn't dig in. I pushed my entire back yard into a pile for the kids without tearing up the grass. I'm glad I traded the blower again. :laughing: May get a back blade at some point for other uses as well, but for now it does what I need and more.
