Snow Snow plowing recommendations for gravel road

[nybirdman]

For a little snow a few times a year;a rear blade on the tractor does a good job and you will have it for other uses.
A medium duty 8' with off-set would be perfect.

 

[Rebeldad1]

bought a used 7" landscape rake and added wheels. works great maintaining our gravel road and works well on snow removal as well

Easy to operate and no maintenance

 

[varmint]

As you can see from my photo, I use a 78" HLA snow plow on my SSQA loader. I plowed a well-established gravel lane, about 1200' total, for years with it. Now, the lane is paved to our house, nobody lives beyond us, and best of all, the rich neighbor's groundskeeper runs his plow up to our house after it snows. Seems like the days of 30" snows are behind us, so I haven't even mounted the plow for 3-4 years, to clear our little drive and around the parking areas. But, the plow, with its shoes, didn't throw enough gravel to worry about. If the snow was really deep, I just plowed twice, first time half way down, then a finish pass. I found spreading the rear wheels 4" total helped with the tractor being pushed, and chains if things got really gnarly. A cab was the only thing I really lacked.

 

[Threepoint]

I have lots of years of gravel road plowing experience. Anything front mounted will remove your gravel along with the snow unless you leave a few inches of snow on the road. For heavy snow I hold my loader bucket about 3 inches off the road surface and have a rear blade attached with the moldboard rotated 180 degrees, so I can skim the road in float. The front bucket pushes the heavy snow and the rear blade removes the few inches left on the road. With the blade facing backwards it will ride on the gravel but not move it. You will probably get a lot of people who suggest a snow blower, but that’s an expensive piece of equipment to buy and maintain for just 2-3 times per year of use. For heavy weekly snow, yes a blower is worth it. My 2 cents.

A lot of thoughtful approaches in this thread, but I have to agree with the quoted recommendation from jyoutz for the circumstances the OP describes. Now going on 30 years, I've maintained a mile of private access road of crusher run stone ("21A" here in Northern VA: nominally 3/4" down to fines). Maybe two to three plowable snows each winter, typically 4 to 8", but occasionally 10" to 12". Very rarely, but sometimes much more over a two-day period. In 2010, Snowmageddon dumped about 30". (Seriously?? In Virginia?! )

If accumulation is over 5 or 6" of wet snow, I'll usually lead with the loader bucket two or three inches off the surface as jyoutz describes, to "break track", followed by the angled, 3-pt mounted snow blade. If the gravel isn't frozen, I'll turn the blade 180 so the back of the moldboard and cutting edge move the snow. For the past eight years, I've used a 7' Woods HBL84 scraper blade, 550 lbs (with offset capability). If the gravel is frozen hard, I can mount a pair of Woods OEM skid shoes, then use the blade in forward orientation. Still, though, the skid shoes can sometimes scrape shallow ruts. I also have hydraulic top 'n tilt, and I've swapped out the manual adjustable offset arm on the scraper blade for a hydraulic cylinder.

From the OP's description in his original post, I think this approach might work well for him, without the need for a more specialized setup.

 

[diesel85]

As you can see from my photo, I use a 78" HLA snow plow on my SSQA loader. I plowed a well-established gravel lane, about 1200' total, for years with it. Now, the lane is paved to our house, nobody lives beyond us, and best of all, the rich neighbor's groundskeeper runs his plow up to our house after it snows. Seems like the days of 30" snows are behind us, so I haven't even mounted the plow for 3-4 years, to clear our little drive and around the parking areas. But, the plow, with its shoes, didn't throw enough gravel to worry about. If the snow was really deep, I just plowed twice, first time half way down, then a finish pass. I found spreading the rear wheels 4" total helped with the tractor being pushed, and chains if things got really gnarly. A cab was the only thing I really lacked.View attachment 731742

Nice looking machine!

 

[ovrszd]

There's no way I'm plowing a mile of road with an ATV. Especially when I have two cabbed tractors. Speaking as if I were you.

Buy a hydraulic angle rear blade. I paid $2,000 for this one. Has hydraulic angle and hydraulic tilt. I also have a hydraulic top link. Using a diverter valve to run 3 cylinders from 2 rear remotes. Has adjustable shoes to protect your gravel.

 

[5030]

There's no way I'm plowing a mile of road with an ATV. Especially when I have two cabbed tractors. Speaking as if I were you.

Buy a hydraulic angle rear blade. I paid $2,000 for this one. Has hydraulic angle and hydraulic tilt. I also have a hydraulic top link. Using a diverter valve to run 3 cylinders from 2 rear remotes. Has adjustable shoes to protect your gravel.


View attachment 731808

Or a skid steer for that matter. I'll take my front mount 10 foot p-low and rear blower and raise you a buck..

I thought you had a road grader to plow with????????

Looking at6 18-20 mid week. Think I need to at least mount the plow tomorrow.

 

[ovrszd]

Or a skid steer for that matter. I'll take my front mount 10 foot p-low and rear blower and raise you a buck..

I thought you had a road grader to plow with????????

Looking at6 18-20 mid week. Think I need to at least mount the plow tomorrow.

In 35 years of running the township grader I've never bladed my driveway with it. It's an integrity issue for me. I don't even like parking it at my house because I don't want taxpayers to think I'm using it for personal gain. When I built my house and shop pad I did it all with my tractors. Including the final grade.

 

[FERLING]

In my mind you don't get enough snow to warrant a blower.

I do around a mile of private road & drive, all gravel.

The most heard complaint about plowing gravel is getting it into the grass.
I tried plow shoes, they just dug into the dirt as the ground isn't usually frozen the first couple and maybe the last couple times I have to plow.
PVC pipe was suggested, tried, it broke in cold weather.
Steel pipe is really hard to cut lengthwise and harder to attach.

Ended up using angle iron bolted to the cutting edge.
(In pic., bolted in place of cutting edge because holes were already there.)
Easy to attach & take off.
I can even plow paths in the yard with NO damage come spring.
2" x 1/8th" seems to be enough.
Works as well on front or back blades.
I even strap one on my york rake & use that to plow surprisingly well.
View attachment 731716View attachment 731717

Like the yard rake transformation. Always wondered if that would work. Thinking (see attachment) of trying something like this on my yard rake to help on raising the gravel on driveway.

 

[jyoutz]

I mostly just use my tractor bucket with edge tamers. First year here in snow country and according to locals, this has been the worst winter in a decade or more. I have a half mile of driveway and have had to clear the snow several times. Other than getting a cab to get out of the wind, I'm fine with what I have, but unless you are clearing a parking lot or have short push runs, I think I would prefer a plow over a pusher.

Do you use the edge tamers to plow snow on a gravel road?

 

[jyoutz]

I use my 3 pt blade. I plow about a mile of gravel roads several times a year. One of the problems with plowing on gravel in our area is that the ground here does not freeze hard all winter. If you use the grading blade by itself, you are often throwing gravel to the side of the road with snow. I have been bolting a 2 x 10 PT board to my blade. My board is 2’ longer than my blade so that I have some leeway beyond my tire width. This allows me to plow to the edge of the road without running my tractor real close to the edge of the road. The board also is a blunt edge rather than a cutting edge, so does not throw gravel with the snow. The result for me is that I am able to plow almost down to the gravel without moving the gravel. I just drilled 2 holes in my blade, and attach the board with 2 bolts. When I want to use the blade for grading in the spring, I just take off the board. I believe I heard about this from someone on this forum, but I can’t remember who.

There are others who have fashioned PVC to on their cutting edge or steel pipe to bolt on. The wood board works well for me. I have a much smaller tractor than you, but don’t see why it wouldn’t work for yours.

Jack

Turning the blade around 180 degrees basically does the same as bolting a board to the cutting edge. It allows the blade to ride over the gravel without moving it.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

Do you use the edge tamers to plow snow on a gravel road?

Yes, it keeps the cutting edge off the gravel so that all I am moving or plowing is snow. We get very powdery snow here at times and the bucket cuts right through it and into the gravel. With the edge tamers what is left is about a half inch of snow that will burn through fairly quickly when the sun comes out.

 

[jyoutz]

Yes, it keeps the cutting edge off the gravel so that all I am moving or plowing is snow. We get very powdery snow here at times and the bucket cuts right through it and into the gravel. With the edge tamers what is left is about a half inch of snow that will burn through fairly quickly when the sun comes out.

Great. I have been leaving the bucket above the gravel a few inches and finishing with rear blade turned 180 degrees. It would be nice to be able to float the bucket without disturbing the gravel.

 

[3 Horse Ranch]

It would be nice to be able to float the bucket without disturbing the gravel.

I plowed some sticky wet snow once and the edge tamers did little good since the sticky snow lifted a layer of gravel despite the edge tamers.

 

[jyoutz]

I plowed some sticky wet snow once and the edge tamers did little good since the sticky snow lifted a layer of gravel despite the edge tamers.

Good to know. Maybe I’ll just stick to my method.

 

[Grandad4]

You can spend a lot of time plowing a mile of lane/road. Very enjoyable for some and a pain for others. If you enjoy it, use a rear blade on your M7060 and take your time. If you regard it as a chore, get a beater 4x4 plow truck, which should handle your occasional 6" snowfalls like a champ and do it in half the time vs. the tractor or skidsteer. One caveat about the truck... might not be a good choice if those hills and ruts you mentioned are bad.

 

[diesel85]

In 35 years of running the township grader I've never bladed my driveway with it. It's an integrity issue for me. I don't even like parking it at my house because I don't want taxpayers to think I'm using it for personal gain. When I built my house and shop pad I did it all with my tractors. Including the final grade.

You're a good man. I work for the gov't and I don't use the taxpayers money that bought tools and equipment at my homestead. Same with parking the trucks and cars in my driveway. It's tough looking at nice F-450 diesel with a stake rack with a TommyGate lift, with a BOSS HD commercial plow knowing that sure, what's 10 minutes?! Tempting, but nope, not gonna happen.

 

[MHarryE]

As a former Missourian, I’d hate to spend too much for the few snowfalls you get. Up here in MN, I put a SSQA power angle blade on my L6060 until I got my SVL75-2. Snow pushes so hard to the side I needed to chain the fronts on my tractor but was not as much of a problem on the CTL. My father-in-law only used the back blade for his 200 yards of steep lane on his farm in NW MO. He kept the blade well off the ground since unlike my case, his drive never froze.

 

[rcraigpt]

Thanks for the recommendations all. Looks like I'm going to be able to test them out - they're calling for 12-18" at my place today/tomorrow!

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks for the recommendations all. Looks like I'm going to be able to test them out - they're calling for 12-18" at my place today/tomorrow!

So far, as is typical, the forcasters shot high. We only have an inch up here and will miss tonight's round completely.