Grading Front Blade Experiences

[cerescobra]

I'm considering a B7800, B3030 or B2920 tractor. I plan to install a front blade in the winter to move snow (W. Michigan location). Can any of you give me your opinions of the functionality of the front blade? I would also like to use it for some minor grading of a short dirt road behind my house and for some landscaping. My rationale for the front blade vs. rear 3pt mounted blade is for snow removal, I think I'd get a kink in my neck if turned around to watch the blade path. Also, thought it would be better to not have to drive over the snow, packing it down, before scraping it to the side of the driveway. I've been told the blade (with hydraulic control) has limited angle abililty and limited height range. Is this really a problem? Before making this investment, I would appreciate advice from those that have experience with a front blade installation. I want a quick attach function and will accept either a frame mount or FEL boom mount setup. Any experience with either? What brand blades are you using and what widths? My dealer is recommending a Curtis 60" boom mount, but I want to consider any other options that might be more desirable. My research confirms that the Deere frame mount blades are much less costly than any options I've found for the Kubotas. This has a major impact on the total cost of the Kubota vs. Deere packages.

Thanks,

Chuck

 

[cschlaps]

I second Chuck's question, and look forward to reading the responses that are posted. This winter was my first experience with a rear blade and FEL for snow removal, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. For a $250 used rear 7' blade, I effectively plowed my 300' driveway and the 1/2 mile private road that we live on. Pulling the blade forward was not a problem, even on ice (although tire chains will help even further).

At this point, I'm still considering a front blade. The FEL mount style intrigue me, but I've heard mixed results about those. The factory Kubota setup is very expensive, so I've considered fabricating my own front blade. Either way, I'm not yet sure if I can justify the cost and effort when my current (and cheap!) combination works well.

Thanks in advance!
Chris

 

[dvan1966]

I have a B6200 with a FEL that I have been using for snow removal for a couple of years. I bought a 5' RB this winter and it makes clearing snow much easier using both FEL and RB.

 

[bandit67]

I considered going with an FEL mounted snow blade this time around, until I decided I couldn't justify the $2000-$2500 cost. I like the idea of being able to lift the blade 6' in the air to build piles, and like front mounted blades as they are easier to use in general (I used an ATV plow this past winter since I was tractorless). I decided to stick with the rear blade setup because it worked well on my last machine and is significantly less expensive, and I decided that if I end up with enough paying snow removal jobs to justify an FEL mounted blade, I can do it at a later time. I can also use the rear blade for occasional grading work, as I did with the last machine.

There are times when you wish you had a front blade when using the rear blade for hours in a big snowstorm, but in general, the rear blade does a great job clearing snow, in both light fluffy and wet heavy snow. I didn't have skid shoes - didn't want them for the paved surfaces, and just turned the blade around on the gravel surfaces so as not to dig it up too badly. I have a 59 year old friend who thought I was crazy for even considering the expensive front plow, when his rear blade setup works fine.

I would not, however, use the FEL mounted blade for anything other than snow removal, especially not as a dozer blade in the dirt on these smaller machines. If that is a significant task, then you should go with the frame mount blade setup, but again, the rear blade works for that too. A 60" FEL mounted blade, when fully angled, is going to be too small for snow removal on either of the two 30hp machines you're considering, and the 6' Curtis blade is too big for the B2920.

 

[amigauser]

I have the kubota quick hitch (which mounts to the tractor frame) and 6' front blade that I use for winter snow removal on my B3030. It works extremely well on both my paved main driveway and my side gravel driveway. It goes on an off in about 10 minutes. The only bad thing is the quick hitch will not co-exist with the FEL so you can't leave the quick hitch on an still mount the loader. The only mod that I am planning to add is a rubber snow deflector so that snow does not come over the top of the blade when plowing. The limited (about 6 inch or so) lift height has not been an issue for me.

I would not use the front blade for plowing anything other than snow. It has trip springs and it would not be good for moving dirt. For dirt moving I would use either a rear blade or box blade.

 

[rpoage]

I have has a full winter with the Kubota 60" hydraulic blade this year and it was perfect for my needs. Very fast for light snows and reasonable for heavy snows. No problem with the angle. For heaver shows I used higher angles with good results. I found the installation easy and the quick hitch is a easy fast one person job.
If I had a lot of snow I can easy see the snow blower as the only issue with plow is the packing of plowed snow next to the edge of the road. When that stuff freezes it just like concrete. For my purposes it was perfect. I have to keep a 400 foot drive clean for deliveries and I am in a wind tunnel so the easy of the plow allows me a 5 minute clean up every couple hours during a storm. I'm still a little undecided on the squeege edge but I ended up pulling the skids up all the way and using the complete weight of the plow on the squeegee for best results. No major squeege wear so far. As for using the BX and the plow for landscaping there will be to issue with traction if pushing any major soil.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Send a note to either Bialecki, or Killer_b. They both have experience with both kinds of blades, and have made some interesting choices. I respect the judgement of both.

 

[gotcha]

I have a B26 and had my fabricator make me a quick attach plate that fits my quick attach FEL. He built my plow attaching locations to it plus he made a receiver for my trailer hitch and a set of forks all on the one quick attach plate. The unit works great for the snow plowing and the bucket is right at the end of the drive and can be changed in a matter of minutes. The cost of the pre-made plate was $240 and his additional labor and materials less the forks, but does have the connecting locations for the forks installed all for $200 for a grand total of $440. Whoops,guess I kinda got off topic. I love the plow and haven't had any problems without chains as yet nor have I had a problem of the front end pushing off to the side. I have done up to 10 to 12" of wet snow and more with fluffy stuff. This response is with only 1 winter season with the B26 as we just got it the first of June.
The Gotcha Man

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

I have a 60" power angle blade on a 22 HP Honda, with Turf's and no chains. Depending on the weight of the snow it is good for most local storms. The last major storm left 20" - 24" in my drive. There was not enough power to push through for the first run. Given enough time and patience I probably could have shoved it off to the side bit by bit, but chose to use the FEL on the JD instead. Most normal storms are handled very easily.

Eventually pushing back the edges can become a problem due to sheer weight and the other thing with the front QA type mount is when lifted up to push back a high bank the blade, mount and front axle can ride up on the snow and it's quite easy to get stuck and have to dig the snow out from under the blade / mount / axle to get out. This can be sepecially annoying if it's blowing and snowing at the same time. I'd highly recomment the power angle feature.

 

[SeymourBota]

I have a 6.5 ft Curtis power angle for our 2410. Mounting it in place of the bucket is not much of an issue, UNLESS the blade in on uneven ground!!

The total weight of the blade is a bit much for the 2410 but probably well within the range of the models you are considering.

It's a quality product and very handy for piling snow up and away- essential if you don't have a blower.

Too bad you're not closer- I would sell you mine- barely used- for a good price.

 

[ronjhall]

I have a B2910 (same tractor as B7800 with premium features of B3030) with a Curtis 6.5' front blade mounted on the FEL. It has been used since 2000. No problems. Grading dirt is not one of it's good features. Maybe a front mounted blade would work better for dirt. I find that FEL bucket and 3PH attachments work better for moving dirt. Here is a link to my first post on the blade back in 2000. Let it Snow. Pictures at end of thread. I have posted more info since then. If you need more info please ask.

 

[builder2]

I picked up a 7' Western plow for $200.00 and fabbed a quick attach mount out of box tubing from my scrap pile (free) for my FEL.
Welded tabs on the quick attach mount to accept the Western plow pins as if it were truck mounted.
Welded a chain attachment point on the top of the quick attach mount for hooking up the plow lift chain.
This allows you to lift the plow as high as you want to bank snow. I lower the FEL to about 10" off the ground and lift chain allows the plow to follow the ground level. I did not hook up any hydralics to angle the blade, I just use a hitch pin. If the plow starts to cut into dirt, I just lower the FEL a little.
Been using it for 3 years now with no problems. That being said, I do not abuse it by ramming into snow as that could result in damage to the FEL. I would not use this set up on dirt as the FEL and rear blade are much better suited for this task.

Paul
This is all mounted on a JD 5200 2WD and I keep my Woods backhoe on for weight.
Our drive is 1800' long and with this set up cut my plowing snow time down to about 30 minuts compared to 2 to 3 hrs in a heavy snow.

 

[LBrown59]

I have a 60'' Hyd lift and angle front blade with a BX1500 on it and a FEL with a BX23 on it.
Great combination for snow dirt sand gravel slag etc.

 

[lawn_king]

I had a kubota 2019 power angle front blade on my B7500. It was a heavy duty blade with trip springs,it worked great!

 

[JoeL4330]

I don't think a front mounted blade will work very well for grading and I know that a rear mounted blade does work fine for modest snow depths ...mine tilts and angles and you don't need much angle to cast the snow to the side if your speed is moderate. I have a very long, very steep gravel drive and a trick mentioned earlier is to remove the pin on the tilt which, coupled with the 3pt hitch "float" permits the blade to comply with the surface quite nicely.

So, I wouldn't necessarily want the blade on the front unless I had blacktop that I wanted to scrape down to.

Another trick mentioned for gravel drives is to use a landscape rake instead of a backblade ...free tilt, angled, etc. Supposed to do an amazingly good job. I think my next upgrade will be to a York rake that also has a flip-up/down blade and gauge wheels, which should be the cat's meow for modest snows and my gravel drive (and, of course, great for grading). If I want to make big piles, I can always use the FEL.

With that rake-blade setup, though, I might then explore a front-mount 3pt adapter for it w. quick attach (chain for the top link for compliance) because if that works I can keep my rear-mounted blower on--a double-ended threat ...and chains on all fours, of course.

 

[AMR]

I have the 72" front mount blade with subframe for my B3030, it did a great job this winter, I couldn't imagine anything much better or quicker for the kind of slop we got here in CT this year. I had a 60" on my BX23 that worked well also. I didn't find with either that the hydraulic angle was too limiting.

 

[tandttravis]

Gotcha, can you post some pics of your plow setup? I have a B-26 as well

 

[gotcha]

Gotcha, can you post some pics of your plow setup? I have a B-26 as well

I tried to answer your request for the picture, but I can not locate the one I took when I got it from the fabricators so you will have to wait until I get it back from having it sand blasted and powder coated. This may take a bit as it is a gratis job and being done as the individual has the time. I will post the picture just as soon as I get it back. The Gotcha Man

 

[David Cockey]

I was thinking front blade before we bought our BX2350 this winter. But instead I decided to try a rear blade and a FEL. With a record snowfall this winter (over 70") and 25 hours of snow removal later I'm no longer interested in a front blade. The rear blade works very well in almost all conditions, and the FEL got a lot more use than I anticipated. I wouldn't want to have to deal with snow again without the FEL.

Generally I plow the drive going forward with the rear blade angled to throw snow to the right. Parking areas are plowed both going forward and rearward. The FEL was used to pile snow up, move the piles back, and cut the snow banks back. It was also used to push snow with it "float" position. Took a little bit of practice to find the right angle for the bucket so that it didn't dig into the ground but also didn't ride over the snow. Driving repeatedly over the snow can be problem in the wrong conditions. Then I flip the blade around and plow blade first.

 

[ELMO67]

Well, I have an L3010 with rear chains and a 72'' Landpride rear blade that I have used to plow my 1300' + 500sq. ft. driveway for the 6 1/2 years. It works "ok" for most occasions, but with a snow depth over 10", no matter what angle, a lot of snow rolls back over the blade. It usually takes 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours to plow my driveway (a couple of hills) and I plow out to approximately 12' wide. I don't have any rear lights, and as most of you know with a front bucket the headlights are almost worthless. This year, after procrastinating for the last few years, I decided to get a factory front blade and quick hitch assy. Kubota doesn't make a quick hitch to fit the L3010 anymore, so after a LOT of searching, I found a new, never installed subframe, and a very slightly used 72" front blade for an AWESOME price from Emerich Sales in New York ( Thanks again Jim and Gary!). Anyway, it was a lot of work to install this, I had to strip and paint all the brackets Kubota orange, make a bracket to relocate the control valve to the loader subframe, and modify the hydraulic hoses so they would work with both the front plow and the loader. IT WAS WORTH IT!!! I can now plow uphill, not get off the tractor to change blade angle, see where I am going in the dark with what have turned out to be good headlights, not have a stiff neck when I'm done ( never really realized I was uncomfortable before), AND I can finished the job in 1 1/2 hours with a smile on my face. Now as far as dirt work, the blade also has two brackets that can be pinned in place to keep the blade from tripping. I have just started cutting in an access drive on my property and I am absolutely AMAZED at how much power this thing has to dig. It really seems like a 4 wheel dozer, it flat out DIGS! Well, can you tell I'm pleased? I wish that I'd done this from the start, but there is no way I could have gotten this setup as inexpensively as I ended up doing.