BX clearing first snow with FEL

[tractorgp]

Working on installing a new linear actuator on the snowblower and doing other maintenance so cleared up the driveway with the bucket this morning.

 

[jchewie]

Thanks for the video. How well does that loader and tractor combination do scraping 6" of frozen ice from the driveway?
I'm looking at buying a compact or subcompact tractor with FEL and snowblower but don't have experience with this size equipment.

Thanks!

 

[DIXIEDOG]

It's a test of patience clearing a whole driveway with a BX FEL....you don't generally notice just how small the capacity of the bucket is until you get a good 12" storm and have to use it for clearing it. They do a very good job but they are slow and lack capacity for moving large amounts of snow. I will say I sure do appreciate the hydrostatic transmission on the BX after using my International gear drive in small spaces, the BX is a nimble little bugger.

 

[jchewie]

The area I would need to scrape would be the 30 feet closest to the road. I have an asphalt driveway and the walk behind blower can't get through the last inch or so of snow/ice tossed by the county plow. When it is 6 or 8 inches deep it is layered enough that the front wheel drive cars sink and get stuck. I spudded it by hand before, but my hands are griping about that kind of thing this year.

Other uses for a loader would be after raking the roof, just busting up the 6 foot tall heap near the house so the blower can manage, and knocking down the tall drift near the end of the drive that builds up towards the end of winter.

 

[Thomas]

Getting to know what your tractor can do good thing...also helps beat early cabin fever.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[seal oil]

Another nice video . That magnet held the go pro on ok . Looks like you got more snow then we got here . We got some snow but not enough to put the plow on the truck or take out the tractor .

 

[MikePA]

How well does that loader and tractor combination do scraping 6" of frozen ice from the driveway? I'm looking at buying a compact or subcompact tractor with FEL and snowblower but don't have experience with this size equipment.

The area I would need to scrape would be the 30 feet closest to the road. I have an asphalt driveway and the walk behind blower can't get through the last inch or so of snow/ice tossed by the county plow. When it is 6 or 8 inches deep it is layered enough that the front wheel drive cars sink and get stuck. I spudded it by hand before, but my hands are griping about that kind of thing this year.

Other uses for a loader would be after raking the roof, just busting up the 6 foot tall heap near the house so the blower can manage, and knocking down the tall drift near the end of the drive that builds up towards the end of winter.

You seem to be saying two different things. Is it really 'frozen ice' or just packed snow? If cars sink into it, how can it be 'frozen ice'?

A few comments, from someone who has used a FEL to clear driveways for over a decade.

1. The capacity of the FEL bucket is almost irrelevant. You are using the FEL like a pusher shovel with the advantage it does the lifting and dumping with hydraulics instead of your back. You use the FEL to push the snow where you want it, then dump it, as the video shows.

2. Neither a FEL nor a snow blower will handle anything that's frozen. In other words, if you don't deal with the snow the plow throws into your driveway soon after it happens, and let it freeze there, you will have a problem.

3. The same goes for the pile of snow that 'builds up towards the end of winter', which is not a drift but rather an almost frozen mountain of snow. I've tried to relocate such a snow pile with a FEL and it can be a challenge.

4. FELs, rear blades, and front blades all do the same thing, i.e., you use them to push the snow from where you don't want it to where you do. The FEL has the advantage it can be use to move snow, not just push it. It's disadvantage is it can't be angled.

Based on the threads on TBN, if you live where snow falls tend to be 12" or more at a time, people usually have snow blowers. But they are more expensive, rear mounted ones require looking over your shoulder which seems to get more 'painful' with age. Front blowers are more expensive than rear blowers but are less 'painful' to use.

 

[tractorgp]

Thanks for the video. How well does that loader and tractor combination do scraping 6" of frozen ice from the driveway?
I'm looking at buying a compact or subcompact tractor with FEL and snowblower but don't have experience with this size equipment.

Thanks!

The best way I can answer your question is with another one of my videos (below). Around here I would not want to be without my bucket during the winter and the two main reasons are getting close to the house to drag and lift snow out and to the other is to clear out hard snow/ice that the city plow often piles up at the driveway entrance... that stuff can easily shear a pin.

 

[4shorts]

Cool vid Bob. Nice to see you out on the BX again. That was just enough snow to get us used to being back in the seat again. You fellows in the city are tougher than us out around the bay. I was in a cabbed tractor with a hat and gloves on and you were on an open station tractor without them :laughing:

Let me know if you need any help with that blower. You know where we are. The GoPro did a nice job and so did you :thumbsup:

 

[tractorgp]

It's a test of patience clearing a whole driveway with a BX FEL....you don't generally notice just how small the capacity of the bucket is until you get a good 12" storm and have to use it for clearing it. They do a very good job but they are slow and lack capacity for moving large amounts of snow. I will say I sure do appreciate the hydrostatic transmission on the BX after using my International gear drive in small spaces, the BX is a nimble little bugger.

Agree with all you say and that snow in the video was sticky too so often hard to get out of the bucket. Normally have either the backhoe on or the snowblower so kind of strange zipping along without them... feels like a toy kind of thing