How do you plow with a bucket, and not peel up the asphalt?

[rogersmithiii]

Can you really plow a paved driveway down to bare pavement with a loader bucket? Most of the truck snowplows I've seen use the weight of the plow to keep the blade in contact with the pavement. If the blade hits a bump or irregularity, it bounces over it.

With a loader, hydraulics keep the bucket down. I would think that this would make it way too easy to scrape actual pavement off of the driveway, causing an expensive bill.

How do people do this? Are you better to attach a normal, snow plow to the bucket, and let gravity do its work?

Thanks
Rog

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Re: How do you plow with a bucket, and not peel up the asphault?

Can you really plow a paved driveway down to bare pavement with a loader bucket? Most of the truck snowplows I've seen use the weight of the plow to keep the blade in contact with the pavement. If the blade hits a bump or irregularity, it bounces over it.

With a loader, hydraulics keep the bucket down. I would think that this would make it way too easy to scrape actual pavement off of the driveway, causing an expensive bill.

How do people do this? Are you better to attach a normal, snow plow to the bucket, and let gravity do its work?

Thanks
Rog

The float feature is real handy if all you have is the loader bucket for snow removal. I also have a box blade and I just keep the loader bucket hovering just above the driveways (paved or gravel) and grab/push the majority of the snow but also have the box blade dropped scraping behind me to clean down to the driveway surface.

 

[beenthere]

Re: How do you plow with a bucket, and not peel up the asphault?

roger
:welcome:

The few times I'm stuck with moving snow with the bucket I do as Robert mentioned...in float. Then the edge of the bucket can be controlled by the curl function. Either tipped down to "dig in" or level, or tipped up to ride on the bottom of the bucket and not the edge. Lots of options.

And you can't "peel" up the asphalt unless it is deteriorated and busting up. IMO

 

[Diamondpilot]

I used float but it only works so good. I know have what is in my Avatar, a 7' Meyer snow plow and a 7' Woods rear grader blade. 10 times better and quicker. I will never go back.

Chris

 

[MikePA]

Ditto on using float for the FEL. I level the bucket (maybe a slight tilt down), put it in float then start pushing the snow. I've been doing this for over 10 years on 4 driveways and a large parking area at our barn. The driveways are paved, but the parking area at the barn is stone. If the ground hasn't frozen, I will use the FEL and back drag (in float) to pull the snow over to the paved driveway. I have a rear blade but found it a pain, literally, to use. Twisting that far around, even with a seat that swivels, was not comfortable and since it offered no advantages over the FEL, I quit using it.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Do what they do with truck plows. Put on some
Western dolly wheels for all standard, pro and heavyweight plows 62425Western dolly wheels for all standard, pro and heavyweight plows 62425

Called DOLLY WHEELS.

 

[DAY]

I will use the FEL and back drag (in float) to pull the snow over to the paved driveway. .

Do you back drag with the 'heel' of the loader , and the front edge slightly up, or the leading edge down below level? I was never sure which was the best way. I've seen skid loader guys back drag with the bucket dead level, but that was for driveway stone, before laying pavers.

 

[MikePA]

Do you back drag with the 'heel' of the loader , and the front edge slightly up, or the leading edge down below level? I was never sure which was the best way. I've seen skid loader guys back drag with the bucket dead level, but that was for driveway stone, before laying pavers.

I usually tilt the bucket below level and drag just with the front edge, but it depends on the kind of stone you have and how well packed they are. You can tell if you're pulling stones with the snow fairly quickly and adjust the bucket.

The only time I've had 'trouble' is on one neighbors 'paved' driveway that should should have been repaved long ago. Way too many cracks in it and even with the bucket level, it can pull up chunks of paving, so I generally tilt the bucket up more.

P.S. - The FEL will make scrape marks on the paving. Not a lot of them, but you will be able to tell in the spring. If that bothers you, some people have bolted a 2 x 4 to the bottom of the bucket as a wear strip. It never bothered me, so I've never done this.

 

[rogersmithiii]

Do most tractors (say the Kubota 3400 or 4400) have float? Didn't recall reading about this feature in the literature.

 

[ccsial]

Do most tractors (say the Kubota 3400 or 4400) have float? Didn't recall reading about this feature in the literature.

I think all modern tractors have float. My 1982 Ford has float.