Bowhunter, if you were like we were here in S IN, we got around 30" of snow right before Christmas. I have a super heavy duty 8' rear blade (weighs around 1200 pounds) and I cleared one heck of a lot of snow. Just going over to my parent's house and my grand parent's house I ended up pocketing several hundred dollars. I never once charged; that was only from people who insisted on paying me for doing the work that varied from pulling people out of drifts, ditches, clearing driveways, to clearing sub divisions.
One of the key items was my top and tilt system. I could adjust the rear blade quickly and easily from inside my toasty warm cab while listening to my favorite MP3's. For gravel driveways, I shortened the top link; thus not digging in any at all. I never once pulled any gravel out of those driveways. On asphalt driveways, I lengthened the top link to make the blade almost vertical. That way I got down to the pavement, but didn't scratch it. For roads and sub divisions, I lengthened the top link even more and let 'er eat. That made for clean pavement.
Even with the drifted over roads that had from 3' to 5' of snow on the roads, I could clear much in two passes. I'd lower the front bucket to within a foot or so off of the road and push quite a bit out in front of me. The 8' blade was angled to then clear the remaining snow off to the outside of the road. I'd turn around and do the same thing in the opposite direction and I would have about a 10' path.
My L5030HSTC was an absolute beast at moving heavy snow; even with the R4 tires (not filled). I never had any trouble at all. The most time consuming part was clearing driveways that I'd bury in making my passes down the roads. I was making those passes at around 12 mph, and I had the snow flying off the road for a pretty good distance.
All in all, it really wasn't that bad. I made quite a few good friends when I told them "no charge". One older woman simply started weeping and insisted that I take an apple pie. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Several of the places that have gravel driveways asked for my number to call me next year to hire me to clear their driveways. Apparently I was the only person with a top and tilt that could clear the snow without removing their gravel. The truth be known, I sort of hope we have a good snow or two this next year as well. Not really for the money, but for the true spirit of helping and giving that I got for having the ability to really help those in need. It may sound corny, but it really did give me a great feeling each evening I came home from helping people. I was out nearly 14 hours a day for about 3 days. And, I even got loads of Christmas cards from people I didn't even remember. It was pretty cool; they even included pictures of their kids and included stories of how my clearing their driveway and street allowed them to get some important thing done that they would not have been able to do without my help.
Oh well, I'm off the subject, but with a good heavy blade, a FEL, and a top and tilt system, you can move a massive amount of snow. With a little practice, you will be able to amaze those with gravel drives as well. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif Good luck!!
