skid shoes or not

[Anonymous Poster]

I plan on using a rear blade for snow removal this winter and am trying to decide if I should be using skid shoes. My driveway is paved and I guess I was thinking that if I used the shoes I would'nt able to scrap right down to nothing. But on the other hand, the shoes will probably keep me from re-landscaping the lawn along the edges.

Any replies back on others experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Corm]

I use a rear blade to plow my gravel driveway. I tried to use skid shoes last year (like those that are on a pickup truck snow plow), and didn't like them at all. Like you, I had hoped they would keep me from "landscaping the edges of my lawn", and also from digging up the driveway. I used them the first time I plowed; what a mistake. They did a pretty good job of digging up the driveway (I should have waited till the ground was frozen/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif). So I took them off and tried them again after the ground was frozen. I was unable to adjust them well enough so that they would not scrape some gravel, and still remove nearly all of the snow. I gave up and didn't use them again. Now I just use the heighth control on the 3 point and that works pretty well for me.

In your situation, with a paved driveway, you may fare better than I did, although you may want to wait till the sides of your driveway are frozen so the skid shoes don't dig up your lawn. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Corm

 

[BigDan]

I have found, based on suggestions previously given here, that it works really good to use the back blade turned around backwards -- in other words have the convex side of the blade toward the direction of travel -- for the first few snows until the ground is really frozen. This way, the blade does not dig in at all.

 

[MikePA]

While we're talking about plowing snow with a rear blade, do most people

1. Drive in reverse and push the snow

or

2. Drive forward and pull the snow

 

[Knight9]

I was scraping my driveway night before last. It tried the blade in a number of different ways. No doubt the way that worked the best was driving forward with the blade reversed.

Kevin

 

[TerryinMD]

Kevin,

Did you have the blade angled at all? I've not used my blade for snow yet and I do not understand how reversing the blade would be effective.

Terry

 

[Knight9]

Yes, what I ended up doing was a pass down the middle of the driveway with the blade straight. I had the blade the regular way and didn't like the way it was ripping up the gravel etc. So I reversed the blade, angled it and made passes up and down moving out from the middle until the edge of the driveway. The results were pretty good. I think that is how I will do the whole thing.

I did run the whole thing with the blade fully lowered into the "float" mode. Seemed to work pretty well.

Kevin

 

[Charliebrn]

I drive forward with the rear blade pointing forward. I don't have problem with the tires packing the snow because I have the FEL down in the float position....

 

[Von]

Mike,
I drive in reverse and push the snow. Here is a photo of my old tractor with the back blade on.

 

[treeboone]

I generally plow going forward, fel up, rear blade angled to windrow the snow. This saves the neckache of plowing backwards. It is a bit tricky until the ground freezes. Also make sure the blade is flat on the ground. This is where the adjustable 3rd link comes in. run it in or out in length until the blade is working flat on the ground. It will still be necessary to develop a feel for plowing, but if one side of the blade is digging, nothing will help.

 

[TimSullivan]

I have found that skid shoes on unfrozen gravel can be a problem. The fixes are to use over size dishes from commercial plows and a light hand. The next hint is to adjust the plow so that the edge is perpendicular to the drive. Most blades and shoes are set to have the blade dig into the dirt. That is not good for the driveway. I had to really shorten up the top link and remove and reset the shoes. If there is not much snow, pulling the blade concave side forward does work well. This is also a good way to level out any new gravel you put on the driveway. However it does do a number on the paint.

Once the driveway is frozen the shoes and the attack angle of the plow take care of the most problems.

 

[snowman]

For what it's worth, was able to use my rear blade yesterday for the first time for snow removal.

Not alot of snow; about two inches of heavy wet stuff.

Still cleared the driveway though because I wanted to see how it would do. Was also concerned about not using skid shoes on it, as I paved over the driveway during the summer and did not want to tear that up.

Worked great. Cleared the slush right down to the pavement, no tearing up of asphalt at all.

Was much easier than working with a snowblower on a gravel driveway like last winter (still use the snowblower, just not enough snow yesterday to be of any use).

Took about 20 minutes to clear a 600' long 11' wide driveway and 50'x40' turnaround. It amazes me how easy tractors make life!