Sander Options - L3710

[Woodsman603]

That time of year again.

Our driveway is a quarter mile long with a somewhat steep hill at the end. I've got an 8' plow on the front and a Woods9000 backhoe on the rear of my L3710.

As of right now, the driveway is a sheet of ice. My F250 with studs barely makes it up. Wife's car, don't even bother. So I'm looking at my options as to what to do here. Some options are getting an ATV for the property and using a sander on that, perhaps one for my truck hitch that I can pop on or off, but I come here in regards to the tractor.

The backhoe. I've had people tell me its not that big of a deal to pop on and off. Has anyone actually taken one off and on? I'm looking at this thing and am thinking this is going to suck. But if I could get it off then pop on a sander for the rear during the winter time I'd be setup.

What about the front? I have a skid steer adapter plate on the front. What if getting a blank plate, welding up a hitch setup, and pop a truck hitch spreader on the front? Run some wiring to the front for me to click it on and off, and go from there? Any reason that would work?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[LouNY]

The worst thing with a sander is how are you going to load it.
If you are planning on sanding the full length of your driveway you would need to fill a small one a few times.
If you are looking at the receiver hitch style units have you considered mounting a receiver on your backhoe?
You could easily put a receiver on a ssqa plate or even in your bucket or blade.
Many of the small receiver style do not work well with sand especially if it damp.
View attachment IMG_20180205_123232794.jpg
I used a full load in this today on my quarter mile driveway.

 

[Woodsman603]

Never thought of a receiver right on the backhoe. That could work too.

Yea, the big thing was refilling it. I have no idea how much I'll need. If it takes a truckload like yours for a quarter mile, I need to rethink my options.

For right now, I'll have to park the car at the end of the driveway until the ice softens up a bit. Once all the snow is gone, have a dump truck drop off a giant pile of sand for next year. Use the FEL to spread it that way.

 

[davisgary2]

I had a l3200 and now have a l3560hstc. Both had backhoes. Backhoe on and off is about 5 mins. Putting 3pt hitch arms on and off is another 5 to 10 mins.

 

[LouNY]

Never thought of a receiver right on the backhoe. That could work too.

Yea, the big thing was refilling it. I have no idea how much I'll need. If it takes a truckload like yours for a quarter mile, I need to rethink my options.

For right now, I'll have to park the car at the end of the driveway until the ice softens up a bit. Once all the snow is gone, have a dump truck drop off a giant pile of sand for next year. Use the FEL to spread it that way.

What I do is get a tri-axle load of sand salt highway mix every 2-3 years, get it dumped in the fall and cover it with heavy plastic to keep rain and snow off it. Depending on the mix it will only freeze 2-3 inches most years and I use my loader to scoop up and load the sander. A sander will make the sand go much futher then shoveling or trying to sprinkle out of a loader bucket.
I don't recall right now but I'm thinking I saw a bucket type sander one time, I now that they make a sideshooter for filling free stall, stalls with sand.
One issue is the weight between a spreader and the sand the weight can add up rapidly.
I believe my sander has a capacity of about 2/3 of a yard it is a 6 footer.
Lou

 

[Gordon Gould]

What I do is put good studded tires on the wife's CRV too and forget the sand. Sand can be a real hassle if you don't have the right equipment and a place to store it out of the weather. Most of those small spreaders will do salt but not straight sand - at least last time I looked. Good tires every once in a while is far cheaper and easier.

gg

 

[Thomas]

Friend of mine has old style side walk pull behind cart spreader and its good size,does a nice job but not design to spread out only width of unit...maybe something in that like might help you.