Questions from a First-Timer with Skid Shoes on a Plow Blade

[billattractorbynet]

For 15 years, I've been plowing out the neighborhood with a Kubota TG1860G garden tractor with a blade on the front. (The neighborhood is a mix of asphalt, smooth gravel, and not-so-smooth gravel. Also, some is flat and some is hilly.) I just upgraded to a Kutoba RTV-500 with a blade on the front.

And...it's my first time with a blade with skid shoes. I will be honest...I didn't even know there was such a thing as skid shoes until this new Kubota arrived with skid shoes on the blade. Interestingly, the manual for the blade tells you how to adjust the skid shoes, but it gives zero advice on when to use them and when not to use them.

I've done a little research on this site, and the best conclusion than I can come to is that some people believe that skid shoes should be used to elevate the plow blade very slightly above the ground for gravel, whereas some people don't use them at all. My old blade without the skid shoes had an adjustable bottom edge that was supposed to be curved slightly up in the front from snow plowing and supposed to make contact with the ground for grading.

Would like to get opinions/experiences on use of skid shoes with a blade on the front of a medium-sized ATV. In particular, I'm wondering what to do with them on a job that keeps transitioning between asphalt and gravel.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[leonz]

Hello Bill,

Welcome to the forum. Are you sure your garden tractor did not have skid shoes???????? it probably did and you did not realize it as the tractor would have been stopped cold in dirt.

If all you have is all season tires you will need to keep it plowed low so you could leave 3/8 o0f an inch of snow on the ground.


As far as an RTV or mule for plowing snow there is no difference, just the size of the Toy er Mule er snow plow.
The work is the same no matter what you use. The bolt on depth of cut adjusters are a pain in the mules backside.
If you have not dinged up the plow yet you should ask your dealer about taking it back so you can use a very small truck plow with the disc depth gauge shoes that can be adjusted by removing and replacing steel washers on the mounting tube and buying a plow with a clear plastic blade that does not weigh very much.
Otherwise your just going to have to settle on one height to plow with and it sounds like you used the same height with the garden tractor. If you leave snow on the ground you will avoid having issues with digging up a lot of dirt.

SO; as you have tubeless tires I would strongly suggest that you purchase solid concrete blocks for weight or four or fiv bags of tube sand as you will get stuck before you realize it and your 4 wheel drive mule will get stuck and very stuck.

You will need chains if you have heavy snow falls. chains and weight in the rear box are your friend and you can get chains from Tire Chains-Best Snow Chains and other retailers.

You will create a lot of wear on the front end and brakes of the RTV500 when plowing so keep that in mind as you need to just plow in low all the time.

Having ballast like tube sand or solid concrete blocks and chains are the two major things you need to have and go from there.

Just keep in mind that loading the rear tires with windshield washer fluid for added traction is also an option if you have a low snow load every year BUT do not expect to push back a lot of snow with the RTV500 either.

 

[Fallon]

Skid shoes prevent the blade from digging into gravel & plowing gravel. Most pavement guys don't use them so they can scrape things clean. People that have their gravel freeze up in a block of ice all winter often don't use them as the blade can't get through the ice.

Here in Colorado it will be 15 degrees one day & in the 60s a day or 2 later. Our ground is often soft under the snow. If I didn't use skid shoes on my gravel & dirt driveways & roads, I'd end up with big windrows of gravel & dirt on the side of the road when things melt. Heck that happens a fair bit with skid shoes when it's really soft & muddy during a warm slushy snow.

 

[billattractorbynet]

It's interesting that on this thread and another thread I've been warned that I won't be able to push a lot of snow with the the RTV-500. I had pretty good luck with the a lot lesser machine (TG1860G) previously...that's probably because I'm plummeting down the driveway as I'm plowing, so I have gravity on my side. I take a pass with the blade down and come back up the driveway with the blade up.

The old blade definitely did not have skid shoes. That blade had a bottom edge that could be angled upward.

I will definitely be plowing in low gear. That's a given. Now that I'm enclosed with a heater, even if this isn't any faster, it's going to be a lot more pleasant.

 

[airbiscuit]

When I had a plow truck, I set the skids to hold the blade up about 3/4 inch to not scrape off the gravel. After that was driven on and froze down, I either tool the skids off or set them at 0" for the rest of the winter.

I now have 40hp CUT with loader and rear blade or 3pt snowblower. If the snow is 6" or less, I will use my Yamaha Grizzly with a 5' plow as often as not. It's just faster. ATVs will plow an amazing amount of snow. The only thing that might give your RTV trouble might be 6+" of heavy wet snow. Do you no longer have a tractor as backup?

 

[billattractorbynet]

No...I sold the old tractor. It was a garden tractor with one drive wheel. I doubt there was anything it could handle that the RTV-500 won't be able to in four-wheel drive with the differential locked. I have no great expectations of the RTV-500 other than "slightly better than what I had".

When I had a plow truck, I set the skids to hold the blade up about 3/4 inch to not scrape off the gravel. After that was driven on and froze down, I either tool the skids off or set them at 0" for the rest of the winter.

I now have 40hp CUT with loader and rear blade or 3pt snowblower. If the snow is 6" or less, I will use my Yamaha Grizzly with a 5' plow as often as not. It's just faster. ATVs will plow an amazing amount of snow. The only thing that might give your RTV trouble might be 6+" of heavy wet snow. Do you no longer have a tractor as backup?

 

[airbiscuit]

Your 500 will plow much like this

 

[billattractorbynet]

Yup...pretty much what I'm expecting. Looks like how my TG1806G handled it, except a lot faster.

And I've got canvas doors on order....

 

[RjCorazza]

Sounds like you have a good handle on why and when people use skid shoes, and have been given good advice here. The only thing I would add is that if your work involves both gravel and pavement I would ensure or modify the shoes to be quickly adjustable keeping the blade between say an inch off, to full contact. I thought hard about the cabbed Kubota rtv, as my FMAO (freezing my butt off) are over. I plow 20 or so driveways and opted for a heavy cabbed L4060. With loaded R4s, loader, and blower / blade it comes in at about 7400 lbs. More importantly, I was warm and dry last year for the little snow we got here in Maryland. Going from a lawn tractor to the rtv you are going to be loving life !!!

 

[timswi]

I had an RTV500 and now an RTV1100. On both I pulled the skid shoes all the way up so as to not use them at all. What I did on both was install a 1" rubber strip at the bottom of the plow to prevent digging into gravel and help clean asphalt driveways. This has worked veery well for me over the 8 years I've been doing this way. An old machine belt or rubber horse mat works weel for this purpose.

An RTV500 will move far more snow than you could imagine. I was very impressed with min during some serious snow storms. You do have to keep up with the snow faall though, don't try to move feet of wet snow all at once.