Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Bulldozing snow with FEL

[Bob_Young]

I've read that the correct way to bulldoze with an FEL is with the bucket level and full. It's designed for this and doesn't put excessive force on the bucket cylinders. However, this hasn't been effective for me as my bucket trys to ride up over what I'm trying to push and leaves alot behind.

I've found that if I lower the bucket edge 30 to 45 degrees below level toward the dump position and then lower the bucket so that the edge is an inch or two off the ground I can bulldoze snow easily and do a cleaner job of it. Because I feel this stresses the bucket cylinders, I go slow in 1st or 2nd with hand over the joystick in case I hit something. I think I'm asking for trouble with this but it does a nice job. Been using this to push snow piles back from the edge of the drive. Back blading with the rear blade would probably be best, but this is so easy.

Wondering what you old FEL hands do in this situation. Anyone damaged their loader doing it the way I am?
Bob

L4300 with LA682 Loader

 

[johnk]

I have my bucket curled up and drop it to the pavement. Make sure you're not in float position and it will push the snow ahead of the bucket quite nicely. I don't keep mine at an angle in dump position in case it gets a hold of a seam in the concrete or whatever. With the postion I keep the bucket I crank along pretty quickly without fear of latching on to something......I also have a back blade that is down when doing this so the surface does get cleaned with the blade while the bucket does most of the pushing... Do whatever works!!!!!

 

[SacandagaBrad]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( my bucket trys to ride up over what I'm trying to push and leaves alot behind. )</font>

Then you're not quite level with the ground. Leave it in float and feather the angle of the bucket downward a little. You will get the feel of it pretty quick. The key is to keep the bucket level with the ground at all times, which can take quite a bit of adjusting depending on what you are clearing. I can even do it on a gravel drive, just takes a little experimenting and practice.

Hope this helps.

Brad

 

[markie61]

Like Brad, bucket tilted forward with the arms in float position BUT with a piece of rubber stall mat on the edge. Very nice squeegee action.
Mark

 

[RalphVa]

Mine seemed to work the best level, with a little bit of down force. Scraped the driveway clean, like a snow shovel; whereas, my Gravely plow always left about 1/8" of snow that we then shovelled away. With a little down force, you don't lose your steering, if you do the wheel brakes help then to steer it.

Float is a nuisance on mine, as you seem to have to go through lifting the front wheels off the ground before it gets into float. Once you raise and dump, you have to go through that same nuisance motion again.

I'm new at this FEL snow work though but I've done enough to know I don't need the old Gravely square chuter any more.

Ralph

 

[Will_C]

I'm with Brad on this. I use the float position, and "feather" the leading edge to scrape clean without gouging.
Will

 

[frank_f15]

i use my bucket 95% of the time to clear snow off drive, (concrete) i uslually leave the bucket in slight dump position ansd gently lower it so ii am just barley scraping the drive, i go slow and hand on joystick for minor adj. does a nice job and i don't belive there is any damage to tractor, have been doing it this way for years.

 

[MikePA]

This past Sunday I cleared 3 driveways and the parking area/paddock at our barn. All of it was done in float, bucket either level of tilted slightly down.

 

[Bob_Young]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Looks like I'll just have to work at it a bit. Slight down angle either with or without float sounds like the ticket. With 4 to 6" expected tonite and 3 driveways to clear (one with a partial sod surface), I'll have a chance to perfect my technique.

Markie, that stall mat squeegee sounds interesting. How did you attach it to the bucket?
Bob

 

[markie61]

Remove the toothbar or flip it back into the bucket.
There are 8 holes already drilled in the cutting edge. I found a 6' x 1.5" strip of scrap metal and drilled corresponding holes in it. The stall mat strip is about 6" wide and sandwiched in between the bottom of the cutting edge and the strap. I used carriage bolt so the heads don't ding up my driveway.