Snow plowing with LA115

[shortlid]

My father in law just bought brand new LA115 for mowing there flat 1.3 arces. He has a two stage self propelled snow thrower. and wants to put a blade on the LA115. With wheel weights and chains on a paved flat driveway 100 feet long how will it do for the 1-5 of slushy stuff?

 

[jinman]

The transmission on the LA115 is not heavy duty. It's meant for the load of the mower and rider. If you put on much more weight or try to push a plow or blower, I think your transmission will overheat and fail really quickly. In my opinion, the LA115 is meant for mowing and pulling a fertilizer/seed spreader and not much more. I own a LA145 that I bought because I only ask it to mow grass and pull my little 25 lb spreader. I would not ask it to do more. For heavier work, I'd upgrade to the LA165/LA175 with a beefier transmission or ideally go to the X300 series lawn tractor.

 

[Ironhand]

In addition to the above, you'll find that the tractor is not heavy enough nor will it have enough tracton to do what you want. Having plowed for years with 4x4 ATVs, the biggest problem is what to do with the snowbanks. You'll be OK for the first few snows, but after that, not so much.

 

[mjncad]

Although front blades are available for the 'L' series, I would hate to steer one with the blade hanging off the front. Even with 84-pounds of suitcase weights hanging off the back per JD's instructions probably won't make any difference. I put two suitcase weights on the back of my L-130, and it helps it steer a little easier; but just barely.