plowing a uneven gravel driveway up hill and down really sucks!

[bigtiller]

I get amused when I read the posts about the many ways of moving snow.
David from jax

An old neighbor had one of the coolest blowers. It was about 20" wide and ran on tracks.

The scraper had 2 height settings controlled by a lever on the handlebars. On low, it did concrete and on the high setting, the front of the machine would raise up about an inch or so, and would clear snow from a gravel driveway.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

That looks awfully nice for only $100

Needed the carb cleaned. He was asking $300, thinking it still ran. It didn't. So I offered $100. Flushed the tank, fixed the carb, changed the oil, hit it with some automotive polish...

Still had the little nipples on the tires. I got really lucky

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

An old neighbor had one of the coolest blowers. It was about 20" wide and ran on tracks.

The scraper had 2 height settings controlled by a lever on the handlebars. On low, it did concrete and on the high setting, the front of the machine would raise up about an inch or so, and would clear snow from a gravel driveway.

I'd love a tracked unit for that reason alone

 

[jyoutz]

Needed the carb cleaned. He was asking $300, thinking it still ran. It didn't. So I offered $100. Flushed the tank, fixed the carb, changed the oil, hit it with some automotive polish...

Still had the little nipples on the tires. I got really lucky

Very nice find. I’d like to have one for the patios and sidewalks. My road is about a third mile so a walk behind blower wouldn’t be practical for that.

 

[Kubota Dave]

You do have to angle the reversed blade to make snow roll off.

I figured that much, i just have never seen anyone using in backwards. Looking like i will not get a chance to try it as the snow we are getting is mostly ice/rain so far.

 

[terraformer]

finally got some snow and i got to use my manual adjusting land pride 72" QA snow blade! I always plow a few inches off the gravel road but the issue is i can not get past is hills. I can have it set perfectly but as soon as you start to go down hill it causes the plow to be down facing plowing into the driveway going up is the opposite. I have tried doing the float method and it still digs in. I have even used plow shoes. I always end up leaving way to much snow on the hills in my driveway and of course that is where your car is most likely to get stuck. I can't find any videos of people using a front plow on a gravel driveway with hills they all seem to have perfect level gravel drive ways.

On a flat level ground i don't have any issues. We don't get enough snow to practice much.

Been thinking about trying the cut PCV pipe on the plow.

I also have a rear mounted snow blower that works great for weight. I find that my front end gets light if i have a pile of snow in front.

I always push snow going backward with a grader blade in the forward position. The blade tends to move less rock when pushing on the back side of the blade.
Have about 10,000 sq feet of rock driveway

 

[vagem55]

In my opinion the rear blade is far easier to avoid disturbing gravel than anything that pushes. Unless the gravel is hard frozen, a front plow will move gravel no matter what the blade edge is made of. The rubber edges are intended to protect pavement, not plow gravel. A reversed rear blade with the cutting edge facing backwards will move snow and not gravel. Yes you drive over the snow before moving it and yes you’ll leave an inch on the road. I don’t know how you can plow to bare gravel without also moving it. If the snow is deep, hold your loader bucket about 4” above the road to push the deep snow, while the rear blade cleans the remainder.

Did you invent the pet rock?
Okay, not the same, but there are so many simple solutions we don't even think of.
You, sir, are a genius (confirmed today)!

 

[jyoutz]

Did you invent the pet rock?
Okay, not the same, but there are so many simple solutions we don't even think of.
You, sir, are a genius (confirmed today)!

No genius. I just noticed many years ago that when I pushed snow in reverse that it skimmed the snow without moving gravel. So I turned the blade around and started doing it that way. Now after being a member of this forum I see this is a well known practice that many people do.

 

[DRE97]

I use a 4" schedule 80 PVC pipe on the bottom of my blade to plow a 300+ ft gravel driveway with a hill and a dip.
Over the last 15 years or so I have tried different diameter PVC pipe and I find the larger 4" PVC pipe works the best. Put the front blade in float and plow away. Usually leaves a thin layer of snow that melts off quickly.

 

[IndyIan]

I figured that much, i just have never seen anyone using in backwards. Looking like i will not get a chance to try it as the snow we are getting is mostly ice/rain so far.

I think if you've got a heavy rear blade, using the back of the blade works well. I have a light 7' ~400lb rear blade and its pretty useless going backwards, but my driveway is frozen gravel so using the front of the blade isn't moving much gravel.
For unfrozen gravel and a light rear blade, I think the small diameter pipe on the cutting edge, using the front of the blade will work best?