Snow Equipment Owning/Operating operating a 3 point blade in snow

[escavader]

HI ,probably a dumb question,
I have always wondered and have never asked.For those of you who move light amounts of snow with a blade,are you still able to scrape it clean,after you ran over it and packed it down.I noticed some of you have your blades facing towards the tractor,instead of away,so you are actually driving on the snow before you plow it.It does seem it might be easier on the tractor to pull a blade then push it
The reason im asking is as some of you know,im installing a quick hitch in my loader bucket[for 3 point blade] ,to aid in the final clean up of my drive.Will a blade work just as good in either direction?It seems it might be easier to pull the snow away from the buildings etc if its facing the tractor.Thanks for the replys.
ALAN

 

[JSR LLS]

I went with a front mounted blower. But, most of my neighbors use a rear blade, FEL combo for snow removal. They have the blade facing the tractor, so they do drive over the snow first. They have no problem cleaning all the snow off their drives (asphalt), even after driving over it.

 

[Bob_Young]

With the blade facing forward, it scrapes up the snow plenty clean after driving over it. In fact it scrapes the driveway sealant off the high spots A rubber squeegee edge is probably the way to avoid this.

With blade swung 180 degrees & facing backward (while driving forward) the snow that's been driven over will NOT be scraped clean. The blade will ride over it.

Backward moving blade is the way to clear snow from turf or unpaved surfaces. Not a real clean job, but won't dig in and tear things up.

BTW, if you're thinking of getting a rear blade for snow, try to find one that will allow adjustments in blade tilt. With the tilt pin removed, the blade will float on tilt and conform to tilt variations on the surface you're working. Does a cleaner job and keeps the ends from digging in. The smallest rear blade I know of with this feature is the Woods RB60.
FWIW
Bob

 

[RoyJackson]

I use the FEL and rear blade. I use a combination of plowing forward (especially for the first passes over a deep (8"+) or wet heavy snowfall) and reverse for pushing the accumulated piles off the drive. I keep the blade slightly (half inch to an inch) off the surface when making those first passes (I also use the FEL bucket)
Since my blade won't rotate 180 degrees, I use the concave side when driving forward (and pulling snow away from the garage doors and house).

For a lighter snow (less then 8" and/or powdery), I normally plow in reverse and leave the blade down. The convex side of the blade doesn't damage my gravel drive too much.

So, for me...and most folks using a rear blade, I think, it's a combination of the methods that make most sense.

 

[Kendrick]

I have a rear snow blower and use the bucket to backdrag it to finish. I have a gravel drive, you can tell when the blade is down to hard... either you cant stear or you hear the crunching of the gravle. the snowblower leaves about 5/8" on top. I am planning to play with the shoes to see if the lower setting will work for me.

using the fel forwards or back doesnt matter you can give it a close shave either way

 

[Northland]

BTW, if you're thinking of getting a rear blade for snow, try to find one that will allow adjustments in blade tilt. With the tilt pin removed, the blade will float on tilt and conform to tilt variations on the surface you're working. Does a cleaner job and keeps the ends from digging in. The smallest rear blade I know of with this feature is the Woods RB60.
FWIW
Bob

That's a real good suggestion and a feature I wish I had on my cheap King Kutter rear blade

 

[Northland]

We get an average snowfall of between 13 and 17 feet of snow so I am plowing both small amounts and large amounts (12"+) at times.

Our drive is white stone in spots but last fall I had a two tandem loads of coke breeze (cinter fines) from the local steel mill put down. It locks down and together like concrete. I am going to do my entire driveway next spring.

I recently put v-bar tire chains on my front R4s. I already had v-bar tire chains on my rear tires. I find that with the added traction and steering effectiveness of the front chains the most effective way to clear snow is with the 60" FEL bucket down in float position and my 6 foot rear blade down and angled two notches while pointed forward.

In the past I had used the rear blade while driving the tractor in reverse. I had tried pushing in reverse with the convex side and the curved side but found it was always faster and more effective to use the rear blade going forward.

Perhaps with the new front tire chains I will have better luck pushing snow going in reverse. I will try it once we get some more snow.

 

[wolc123]

I use a rear blade facing backward and push the snow in reverse. We often get real deep snow, and I ran some angle iron across the top of the blade and attached a 12" wide piece of 3/4" marine plywood to make the blade higher because snow would often spill over the top of the shallow blade. This setup works real good on deep snow and with it my 4wd tractor with no chains and calcium-loaded R1's can push virtual mountains of snow and it cleans right down to the stone or blacktop driveway even in icey conditions. I also added a couple 200 lb suitcase weights inside the 3pt frame of the blade to give it more downpressure and assist in scraping clean. Facing the rear blade forward works for moving only small ammounts of snow because there is not room for much under the tractor. I also have a front loader bucket which I use for pushing back the banks when they get too high although the rear blade will push them back pretty good by itself. I previously used the same blade on a smaller 2wd tractor with calcium-loaded R1's with chains. That setup worked OK but the chains scratched up the blacktop and it could only push about half the snow with out spinning the chained tires as my new 4wd pushes without chains. In fact, I cant recall if the tires have ever spun while pushing snow with the new, big 4wd. I think that the ammount of snow you can push is mostly determined by the weight of your tractor. Tire type matters also (R1's are best) and chains will help especially on ice, but there is no substitute for weight. Also remember that it is best to have the plow on a drive axle. That means you can put one on the front or back of a 4wd but it should always be on the back of a 2wd.

 

[Northland]

I think that the ammount of snow you can push is mostly determined by the weight of your tractor. Tire type matters also (R1's are best) and chains will help especially on ice, but there is no substitute for weight.

I would disagree with that statement based on my experience. My 4WD Kubota B7800 with RimGuard loaded rear tires, FEL/ 60" bucket and the rear blade weighs 3400 lbs.

Without chains it slips and slides on my stone driveway, trails and particularly on any incline. Where I live and for what I use my tractor for I would never trade weight for traction via chains.

 

[wolc123]

In your case I agree, considering the R4 tires which are an especially poor choice for snow. For plowing with those, chains do make a world of difference as they are virtually useless on snow (or mud) without. The tractors I mentioned were a 2wd Ford 8n (aprox 3000 lbs with loaded rears), and a new 4wd JD 4120 (aprox 5000 lbs with loader and loaded rears). The Ford had chains while the JD does not, both have R1's, and the JD will push more than twice what the Ford will. Assuming that the 4wd cancels out the chains, then it must be the extra ton of weight that lets the JD push so much more snow with the same blade. Do you have a blacktop driveway? If so do the scratches from the chains bother you? If so, a common way to overcome the traction issues of R4's without chains is to use a blower instead of a plow which requires far less traction.

 

[daTeacha]

I use a DX29 with R1 tires and 130 lb of wheel weights on each rear wheel. My rear blade is a 7' wide model that can be offset or tilted with a bolt/nut on either side. I currently have it offset about a foot to the right and that side is angled back, leaving the edge of the blade running outside my right rear tire.

When the snow gets deep, I will swap out the front bucket for a modified carry-all that I can attach to the FEL and from which I have a 6 foot rear blade hung. Then, I can proceed down the gravel drive either pushing or pulling snow while moving it to the side of my choice.

My next little project will be to make some adjustable bogey wheels for the 7' blade. By mounting a pair of heavy duty steel wheel casters properly, I can keep the rear blade off the gravel. By loosening the adjusting bolts, I hope it will be able to move up and down at either end to adjust to the many contours of my hilly driveway. I'm planning on the casters instead of the traditional mushroom shaped shoes mainly for ease of fabrication of the mount and price considerations. The casters are from TSC at about $10 each, as opposed to the shoes for about $25 or more. Plus the mounts for the casters will be easier to make.

FWIW, I think most of us tend to use a rear blade while driving forward since we (at least me!) are finding our backs less flexible than they used to be and turning around is literally a pain after a fairly short time.

 

[Northland]

In your case I agree, considering the R4 tires which are an especially poor choice for snow. For plowing with those, chains do make a world of difference as they are virtually useless on snow (or mud) without. The tractors I mentioned were a 2wd Ford 8n (aprox 3000 lbs with loaded rears), and a new 4wd JD 4120 (aprox 5000 lbs with loader and loaded rears). The Ford had chains while the JD does not, both have R1's, and the JD will push more than twice what the Ford will. Assuming that the 4wd cancels out the chains, then it must be the extra ton of weight that lets the JD push so much more snow with the same blade. Do you have a blacktop driveway? If so do the scratches from the chains bother you? If so, a common way to overcome the traction issues of R4's without chains is to use a blower instead of a plow which requires far less traction.

I have white stone on my driveway and as of last fall a few loads of coke breeze. I was going to buy a rear blower but once I added the front chains I found my tractor (with the FEL down and rear blade fwd) was terrific for snow plowing.

I assume many of the members here must have much longer and larger driveways then me since I know few would get more snow then the 13 to 17 feet we get here off the NE shore of Lake Superior. I feel my existing rig works more then well enough.

I also actually like splitting 10+ cords of maple by hand every year. As I get older then I will automate the snowblowing and the wood splitting functions

 

[JSharp]

Experiences with rear blades for snow moving seem to vary depending on the size of the blade, the size of the tractor, and how finished ( or not ) the driveways is.

I plowed snow this weekend for the first time with my rear blade and it couldn't have been easier. Not all that fast, but easy. I never hurt for traction and didn't do any damage to the drive or the equipment. I don't have a yard full of gravel now either like I've had in the past after paying to get it plowed.

But, I'm using an almost 4000 LB tractor with loaded R1 tires and a 7' blade turned rearward and angled as far as it will allow. And I'm plowing a sort of rough gravel driveway with no need or desire to clean it all the way down to bare gravel. I made sure the blade was level after angling then set it 1"-2" above the drive with the position control and went.

Working in reverse is a pita for someone like me who's had 3 back/neck surgeries. So I do it the easy way that doesn't strain either one. I plow a pattern such that I only need to pay super close attention to one side at a time. And I don't worry about getting the last little flake moved off. The vehicles and the sun when it shines will take care of the rest...

 

[Squeak n Itch]

Advice from a newbie.
One advantage I have with a swing reversible blade is the ability to back up to a snow pile and lift the pile a bit. The FEL will do the same but with a 7' rear blade it makes for pretty quick work. Also, small adjustments on the attack angle of the blade (top link length) can make a rather large difference in preserving the gravel on my drive. This blade can be mounted with a 1' offset to allow me to go forward and move the snow away from the drive.

As with most of this stuff it takes trial and several errors => bringing all of the gravel back ONTO the drive in the Spring. Seems this group just loves that sort of experimentation!

 

[RalphVa]

I've a 4' wide tractor with a 5' reversible Frontier rear blade, combined with FEL. Have used the rear blade both ways: driving forward and going reverse, both with concave blade in direction I'm going. It clears the asphalt pavement really good in reverse and almost the same forward. I really like this combo. Haven't had a 7" sleet fall that needed my Gravely snow blower (that I don't have any more) to test it out. Suspect that would require the FEL to do it all. The Gravely 4' plow wouldn't touch it.

Ralph

 

[JB4310]

I've been using my 72" rear blade for three years now and I'm still learning, obviously you can't plow with blade digging in on gravel for the first snow or when ground is not frozen yet but once frozen it's O.K. I put the extra weight on to help keep the blade from riding up over the top of the snow when back blading, which you can even do on grass with out damage.
I never thought driving forward and pulling blade would be good even though many here have said they do it, well this year I tried it on one of the neighbors and was surprised how good it worked, especially with the weight it scraped down clean even on packed snow.

 

[Squeak n Itch]

Never could bring myself to sell the Gravely. It awaits a really big snow that would stump the Kubota. Just a matter of time here.

 

[daTeacha]

When I lived near the west coast of Michigan, a really big snow was also just a matter of time -- wait for winter and you will get a really big snow!

People commonly shoveled or raked the snow off their roofs to keep them from collapse in that area. Plowing the drive meant plowing the entire yard early in winter to make sure you had enough room to put the stuff as the winter wore on and on and on and on and on and on and...

At least is was mostly flat ground except where the rivers and creeks were.

 

[Northland]

good pictures JB4310-I am one of thooes guys who has only used his rear blade going forwards.

After these posts I am inspired to try my 6 foot rear blade going in reverse but we haven't had any snow in a week now. It's suppose to climb to 5C on the weekend.

 

[TCowner]

JB4310, I see you have a John Deere 45 blade on your 4310 with the imatch attachment. I have a 7' 45 blade on my current TC40DA New Holland which is being traded for a JD 4720 in two weeks. I ordered the Imatch with the tractor.

Did you have to do any modifications to the blade to make it Imatch compatable? It looks pretty slick on your 4310.