1000ft long, 100ft elevation, twisty, gravel- front or rear mount?

[LouNY]

Lou you must be in the running here for hills and switchbacks!
It's nice to finally hear a friends voice in a nerdy internet way.

It sounds strange to me.
It is a challenging driveway at times, takes a lot of maintenance.
Especially as I try and keep it so two vehicles can meet and get by.
I've gone through a lot of equipment learning what I need.
Had several dedicated plow vehicles for many years and sanded with a shovel out of the back of a pickup,
with one of my kids driving, that was always fun
Then I bought an old well used sander that was a wakeup call for me, when it got to the point of needed quite a bit of work again,
I bought a new one.

 

[beenthere]

Have similar driveway with elevation change, and over the 50+ years here have learned a lot. From day one have conjured up a front mount blade, beginning with a JD LA with hand lever to lift the blade, to a Ferg TO-30 with front blade lifted through set of cables connected to the 3pt lift, JD 420 with front blade off a Jeep, to now with a JD 4300 and 7' Western plow blade and a wing plow for when snow needs pushing back into the ditch away from the drive (not often tho). Never wanted anything to do with a rear blade or rear snowblower.

 

[Rustyiron]

It sounds strange to me.

Lou I meant as the winner of difficulties (grade and switchbacks).

 

[LouNY]

Lou I meant as the winner of difficulties (grade and switchbacks).

I was saying that my voice sounds strange to me when I hear it on a recording.
It doesn't sound like I hear myself when I'm talking.

 

[LouNY]

Have similar driveway with elevation change, and over the 50+ years here have learned a lot. From day one have conjured up a front mount blade, beginning with a JD LA with hand lever to lift the blade, to a Ferg TO-30 with front blade lifted through set of cables connected to the 3pt lift, JD 420 with front blade off a Jeep, to now with a JD 4300 and 7' Western plow blade and a wing plow for when snow needs pushing back into the ditch away from the drive (not often tho). Never wanted anything to do with a rear blade or rear snowblower.

I like your wing.
I use my backblade to wing banks over the edge if needed, I'll offset and angle it then drive forward or reverse to wing it over and out of the way.
I'll also use the front SSGA blade to get snow right to the edge of the drop offs, then angle in and knock them over at times. The corners are were my largest snow piles will accumulate but I can use the loader or blade to push them clear over the banks, at times I'm pushing snow 10 feet of the driveway and driving on 6-8 feet of packed snow with the front tires.

 

[Lena]

I retired from West Virginia highways. Don’t put salt on gravel roads! Salt will melt through ice and snow, then continue to melt frozen ground which makes mud.

 

[thclimer]

That is a very steep driveway with sharp turns as well and I can see how over the years you have perfected your methods for maintaining it.

 

[oosik]

My only similarity to your condition - we both get snow. You will get more than I ever do. My driveway is long( 5000 feet) and basically flat. I've never got so much in one occurrence that I have to plow DURING the storm. I always plow AFTER the storm.

In your situation - 4WD tractor, 35 to 45 hp, RimGuard in the rear tires-for weight, aggressive chains on a four wheels, cabbed would be nice, rear mounted snow blower, FEL with bucket for those really tight places.

AND - welcome to TBN and the forum.

 

[LouNY]

I retired from West Virginia highways. Don’t put salt on gravel roads! Salt will melt through ice and snow, then continue to melt frozen ground which makes mud.

It would be nice to not get salt on gravel roads in the winter as it does thaw the road surface at times which makes a muddy sloppy mess.
However, Unless you have access to very heavy equipment and a huge mountain of sand so you can break out the frozen sand and set it aside you need to have enough salt mixed into the sand to prevent it from freezing up in your pile or to at least keep the frost level down to just a few inches.
So while I will agree that salting gravel/dirt roads is not a desirably thing to do at times a bit of salt is required.
The sand that I buy and stockpile under a tarp is a sand salt mix, it does still freeze at times. Often I'll have a pile of frozen chunks up to 6 inches thick that I have had to dump off to the side.

 

[LouNY]

To the Original Poster while a tractor with a loader, pto and blades or blowers may well be the best way to take care of your driveway it will not be cheap or even inexpensive.

I plowed snow on my driveway the first few years with a yard truck (unlicensed rust bucket not even street legal) chained up all the way around with heavy v-bar reinforced tire chains and weight in the back. They will do the job, it will be a learning curve for sure and you will want to have a solution in mind for when you get stuck.
Because even chained up all the way around if a front tire drops over the bank or into a low spot you will find times that you can't reverse back up hill and keep working, or the plow frame gets hung up on a frozen snow bank.

After a few years I ended up with a 55 HP 2wd Oliver with a loader. That tractor went through several sets of chains and even chained up and with an empty bucket at times she wouldn't stop just using the brakes. It would take down pressure from the loader onto the cutting edge of the bucket on hard ice to get stopped going down hill.
A 4wd drive truck chained up is safer and easier to use then a chained up 2wd tractor.

On a steep driveway with a tractor there is only one kind of chain to buy and use and that is the studded Euro style such as the Aquiliane Talon,
TRYGG, or OFA's. They are expensive but there grip and performance is so superior to any other type of tractor chain it is unbelievable.

Also all of my vehicles have a set of mounted and ready to go studded snow tires for the winter season.

Good luck with your driveway

 

[oosik]

I just priced Aquiliane Talons for my Kubota M6040. WoW - $2650. That's a four wheels chained up. Glad I have no need for chains!!!

I had V-bar chains for my previous tractor. Heavy tractor chains - $950. I thought that was a lot.

 

[Creamer]

Very nice unit, I would like one also. They are a bit hard to find now days and most are pretty well whipped and abused.
Here is link to a few;
https://www.tractorhouse.com/email/view-page/308417

They will range in price between over $16,000 to almost $90,000 for used ones with many over 4000 hours on them.
Then addin another $12000 for that blower.

Also the OP has hills and ice to work with so add in tire chairs and the good studded chains for those tires will be $1600 to $2400 a pair.
Then a couple of gallons to up to 5 gallons an hour for fuel while working.

But I'd still like one and have been looking for one not all rusted out from being used for snow service.

Since I paid $7500 for the tractor a few years ago and had an opportunity for a very lightly used Buhler Farm King blower for $1200 I think your prices are a little out of line. The tractor is not in perfect shape but very functional and only had 4000 hours on it. The 150s sell for that now as well if you look at auction sites and see what they bring. The 276s and newer are int eh $16,000 range and up.

 

[Farmer495]

I'm in NS. You will be dealing with anything from 5cm flurries, 10-15cm light storm, 20-40cm winter storm or the odd 50,60 cm or more dump.

Snow can be fluff, or solid packed drifts or slush.

Rear mount 3pt PTO blower and front end loader with bucket (full hyd with down pressure!) is very versatile and most economical and will handle it all. Snow blower gets the snow away and into places you can't push. I do 99% of my snow removal with 3pt rear facing snow blower, all gravel driveways.

4wd makes it easier with the hill. good set of chains wouldn't hurt. I don't run chains and I handle slopes and hills with ag tires ok. I do lots road travel so chains don't work well for that.

If you have a low budget and you are starting your snow removal at top of the hill, an open station 2wd 6000-7000lb diff lock loaded tires with studded chains with loader and 3pt blower would work. Clearly something 4wd with cab is much nicer but also way more money.

No experience with truck plows, I just observe those get parked for driveway jobs in bad storms and once you run out of room to push you are done. Same goes with snow blade on a tractor. You get high banks or run out of room to push.

Quad or SXS would require plowing continuously during storm until you ran out of room to push snow. Basically a toy better than a shovel.

Front blowers are really nice but very pricy and often limit the tractor from doing anything else.

Photo is from one NS storm last winter. I wake up and clear snow. I don't plow multiple times, I do it once.

 

[oldnslo]

Lou
You just need bigger trees to stop you when you run off the road

 

[LouNY]

I

Lou
You just need bigger trees to stop you when you run off the road

I've had a couple of good rides on that driveway.
One time going up with the dynahoe the engine quit and the air compressor wasn't working that day, so she started rolling down backwards.
Trying to turn the steering wheel with no power assist, finally got it turned a little bit into the up hill side ditch about then the hoe struck a 12-16" poplar tree about 2 feet up from the ground, shoved the tree right out of the ground slammed the hoe stick all the way in towards the unit blew out a couple of hoses and came to rest sitting somewhat crosswise in the ditch. Walked up to the shop grabbed a few tools and started working on her, I forget what was wrong with the compressor for the brake system but I did fix that first (air over hydraulic brakes, they suck) got the engine fired up brakes aired up up drove it up and then started the repairs on the hydraulic lines. That was lots of fun had to pull the boom cylinders out to reach and replace the hoses.
Then the park brake lock jumped off on the Oliver one day as I was putting a chain on a tree to remove it, poor Oliver toke off went over one bank after running over several small trees, drove the loader bucket a foot into the hard packed driveway, stood the tractor up on her nose, yanked the rods out of the curl cylinders, crumpled the front horns on the loader frame, broke a spindle, flattened a rim, blew out a steel steering line. Got her started up bucket shoved to the ground and backed it up to the shop. Took awhile to repair that damage.
trees just didn't work real good

 

[oldnslo]

Trees are expensive brakes..

Glad you appreciate my warped sense of humor.

If you dairy the milk truck driver must love your place in winter.

 

[LouNY]

Trees are expensive brakes..

Glad you appreciate my warped sense of humor.

If you dairy the milk truck driver must love your place in winter.

My house was never a part of the farm.
I don't allow any traffic in the winter if we have any ice or snow on the driveway unless they have studded tires or chains.
I leave a tote at the bottom of the driveway for packages and keep a parking area plowed out there for visitors and then I ferry them up and down.
Or if expecting company and no storms forecast I'll spread a couple of yards of sand for visitors, the fun never ends.
One good thing about it when they spin out trying to make it up usually they just end up stuck.
When I worry is when someone has been up visiting and it storms while they are here, nothing like chaining up to the rear of someones vehicle and having to use one of mine as the brake to get them down safely.

 

[ning]

I

I've had a couple of good rides on that driveway.
One time going up with the dynahoe the engine quit and the air compressor wasn't working that day, so she started rolling down backwards.
Trying to turn the steering wheel with no power assist, finally got it turned a little bit into the up hill side ditch about then the hoe struck a 12-16" poplar tree about 2 feet up from the ground, shoved the tree right out of the ground slammed the hoe stick all the way in towards the unit blew out a couple of hoses and came to rest sitting somewhat crosswise in the ditch. Walked up to the shop grabbed a few tools and started working on her, I forget what was wrong with the compressor for the brake system but I did fix that first (air over hydraulic brakes, they suck) got the engine fired up brakes aired up up drove it up and then started the repairs on the hydraulic lines. That was lots of fun had to pull the boom cylinders out to reach and replace the hoses.
Then the park brake lock jumped off on the Oliver one day as I was putting a chain on a tree to remove it, poor Oliver toke off went over one bank after running over several small trees, drove the loader bucket a foot into the hard packed driveway, stood the tractor up on her nose, yanked the rods out of the curl cylinders, crumpled the front horns on the loader frame, broke a spindle, flattened a rim, blew out a steel steering line. Got her started up bucket shoved to the ground and backed it up to the shop. Took awhile to repair that damage.
trees just didn't work real good

I'm starting to wonder why you got rid of the oliver!

 

[LouNY]

Traded in when I bought the Branson 8050, with cab heat AC and 4wd. Still kept my IH 574 for a backup and second yard tractor.
Thinking about another one now, not sure if I want small (30-40 hp) or good sized (95-150 hp). Good sized I could leave my boom arm mower on during the summer and fall, it is a pain to mount and unmount.
The Oliver 1550 Diesel Utility was a good tractor did a lot of work for even just being 2wd.

 

[grumpymama]

Hi everyone! So sorry for going MIA- I was without my laptop for a few weeks there and couldn't remember where/how to come back to this forum! Just wanted to express my gratitude for all these responses, your experiences and advice are really helpful! I just fished reading them all, now I need to go back through and make notes haha. There's a ton to consider, and though this will be the first winter on this land and with this driveway, we hiked it a ton last winter and know we're up against some deeeeeep snow. There was easily 3-4' of snow (and more where it drifted) last winter, and Nuttby mountain likes to dump 18"+ at a time when Truro only gets 6" haha. My husband and I are going to head into the dealerships next week to see what might be available, I'm keeping an eye on the used tractor ads but not seeing much. I really appreciate all of your thoughts! (and wish you could all come over so I could "test drive" your tractors and get some tips haha)