Snow Snow Plowing with 430 FEL

jcmseven · Mar 1, 2005

IBQuick,
I have the 72" boom blade for my 4310/300cx combo. I also have the bucket and a rear blade, which I use mostly for leveling work. There is no question, the front blade is faster and does better than either of the other two options, especially if one is plowing a long road or drive surface. I have a 300' or so drive, and live on a road that is 1/2 mile to the main road, and is not plowed if snowy. Two days ago we received about 5" of snow here, and the front blade made quick work of it. I plowed all of the drive and road in 40 minutes. We are talking hours with the bucket. The only place that I could see a bucket competing would be in a confined area with lots of back and forth and a large snow volume that may need to be moved, not pushed aside. Then the extra length of the snowblade v. the bucket would handicap it, but in any other circumstance I can imagine, the blade is superior, by a lot.

John M.

IbQuick · Mar 2, 2005

I just did 5 hours of FEL snow removal from 2 days of snow,I am going to go buy that 74 Front Blade, it takes me all day to lose the chill to my bones up here after each storm. Thanks for the all info.

KennedyDiesel · Mar 4, 2005

I've been watching for a folding wing Vee blade like a Boss plow for mine. For now, I have a RB1172 Frontier blade that I can offset the hitch 45° and use it for a "wing" to cut a wider swath and pick up the spillover on the one side. Will be trying it Saturday on a 900' long driveway...

MajMac392 · Mar 4, 2005

Ib, I think Curtis plows out of MA makes pretty nice plows for CUTs. I know Palmer Spring in Portland, (Dave Weeks 1-800-PALMERS) sells them and the JD Dealer in Brunswick has them I believe. Dave I know personally, (no I'm not getting a commission), but he is honest and will treat you right.
Let us know what you come up with.

Green4Me · Mar 4, 2005

When I got my 4310 a year ago I got the 4 way bucket on the 430 loader. I figured on getting a Curtis blade for this winter and this set up would handle it fine. Well the bucket is nice for grabbing things and picking up stuff, but it only holds a couple of wheelbarrows volume. Like some of you said, slow and sloppy. I call it my yuppie bucket. While poking around the JD site I hit on their 73in large volume bucket. It said it was for moving large amounts of light material. Snow is light material, I reasoned. So I had my dealer get me one. Around $800. He had never heard of it. I have used it this season and it beats anything I have ever seen. I do two 100Ft drives here and two more up the road from me. I have no more thoughts of a Curtis blade. Plus it doesn't set around 9 months gathering dust. As far as light weight goes, it will stand up to anything a 4310/4410 can throw at it. I gave my nephew my Allied 60in blower for his 4410. I appologize if I stepped on anyones toes, wasn't intentional. I've gotten some good tips from you guys and was just relaying my experiences.

JB4310 · Mar 5, 2005

Hello Green4Me,

No offence taken here, the debate continues on the best way to handle snow, I also have a new 4310 and I am leaning towards the larger light materials bucket just like you described, after toying with the idea of a large push box for my loader or rigging some type of mount to accept my 7 1/2 ft. western plow, also considered a back blade, a front or rear mounted blower or the front mounted plow I've concluded the larger bucket would be the way to go for me.
I don't think there is any best solution for all applications, the front blade as some prefer is great for roads and long drives, the blowers are good for areas of high snow fall averages the back blades are good for pulling snow from in front of access doors. For me with long paved and gravel drives as well as a contractors yard area where I keep material and small equipment the loader is the way to go because I can move the snow out from where I need to get, I was doing o.k. with my 60" H.D. bucket but was getting some spill out, I see they have an 84" materials bucket for about a $grand,wonder if that might be to big but don't think so if it's just for snow.

Anyway the debate will continue, I've read many posts going back to last year on this subject and just recently registered to put my 2 cents worth in.

Thanks to all for the great info. John

Green4Me · Mar 5, 2005

Absolutly right, different strokes..... I got the idea from the big rigs plowing at Wallmart. They have a ten or twelve foot plow that looks like a blade without the bottom. They move that snow anywhere they want, with minimal spill off. We had over two feet of snow here last week and this thing worked like a charm. I also move horse fertilizer, chips, saw dust,ect very quickly. If one were to fill it with gravel, stone,ect, you probably would reach the loader limit. I suspect you could get 1400# plus in it. I have had it loaded with gravel enough to cause the hydraulics to labor @ 2000+rpm. Not something I would advise. The 84in would work for light snow, but heavy wet may be an adventure.

bugstruck · Mar 6, 2005

Let me put it this way. My JD 325 17HP mower has a 48" snow blade. My L3130 has a 72" loader bucket. Which one clears 400' of asphalt quicker. Not even close on up to 8" of snow on a single pass. The 325. Yeah I know, its a Deere /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif No FEL bucket can even come close to a front blade at snow management unless you want to pile it. With the larger tractors you need power angel. And if your tractor offers the non-FEL attached front blade solution it's superior in most applications, unless again, you have a regular need to pile it up. The FEL mounted blade is the ticket for that. Seems I remember a recent post (this winter) on a 4310 tearing up 2' plus of snow with a front blade. Hope this helps.

jcmseven · Mar 6, 2005

IB,
Please, I'm begging you, listen to Chris!!!! This man is exactly right. If you have a lot of snow to move, and want to do it well year after year, then the front blade is the only way to go. I like the boom blade because it is less expensive than the frame mount, can be ordered wider, and is a snap to attach and detach. I do not live in quite as high a snow area here as you do, but we do get our fair share, some years quite a lot. I recall when I was about 12 years old, I made money plowing driveways with our family's Gravely 812, a 12 hp single cylinder tractor with gear drive and a 48" front blade. I could plow about two residential drives then in the same time as our local neighbor plowing with a 40 hp tractor and rear blade could do one. If I would have only had then what I have now!!! I would be a multi-millionaire!! Seriously, the boom mounted blade is the very best thing for moderate amounts of snow. I have used them all.

John M.

Green4Me · Mar 6, 2005

I was plowing out my sugarbush roads today,about a half mile of two foot deep snow that has been there since December, and I was trying to figure out how a blade would be more efficient. To begin with, on deep heavy snow the power angle is usless,because the blade will steer the tractor. You can raise the blade to get weight on the front wheels for steering. Only thing is now you got to go over it again and again to clean up. With the bucket, periodically you can dump it out of the way and continue on. Not so with the blade. You have to ram and raise and hope. The blade also adds about two feet to the over all length of your machine. I will say though, that on eight inches of fluff the blade is indeed qiucker. Now of course if I only had a 325.........
Nuff said