Snow Attachments Snow Push for Compact Tractor Use - Any Good?

[GraniteRooster]

Hello Everyone -

Great forum you have here - I have learned a lot from reviewing your discussions. Hopefully I can contribute in some ways as well.

I am in the process of buying a Deere 3320 Compact for landscaping and snow removal on my property. I have a short 400 ft drive with K-turn, and steep approach to the house/garage. I will have a rear 3pt snowblower for heavy snow, and am trying to find a good alternative to the FEL bucket for cleanup of light snows.

Do any of you have experience with a BOX Plow / Snow Push on this size machine? I am looking at light duty 6ft models from Frontier, Horst, and ProTech - all about 500-600 lbs, fixed rubber edge. Some advantages I see:

1) seems like the push ought to be pretty good for 2-3" of snow and faster than the blower - corral the snow into piles and the blow away the piles as needed....

2) Not angled like FEL angle blade - less chance of racking FEL arms maybe? Less steering problems resulting

3) Cost - much cheaper than 3rd function circuit and FEL Blade ~$1650 vs. 3800

Disadvantages:

1) How well will this really push on a 5000# CUT? (6 ft width) Pushers are Usually used on heavier skidsteers, etc. -

2) Rubber edge - poor scraping performance?

Questions:

1) There are spring trip steel edge heavier-duty versions more designed for skid steers that weigh 850 lbs for 6ft pusher. Is this too heavy to be a practical bucket for a 3320 w/ 300CX (tires are loaded & ballasted w/ 600 lb. rear blower of course). Are the spring trip edge worth it for better scraping performance? My drive is gravel so I understand rubber is preferred, however most neighbors are paved and I might be helping them out. Anyone got opinions?

Thanks to all for your thoughts.

 

[easygo]

Welcome to the forum Granite Rooster
I have no first hand experience with the snow pusher you described but for snows less then 4" I think it will work like a champ. I use a 6' grader blade for small snows on a tractor that weighs about #2700 when soaking wet and it handles it fine. I think you could put a 6.5 or 7' one there and it would still be fine for small snow.
Just today I cleared my 300' and the neighbor's 500' driveway using the grader blade and we had about 10" of snow. I do have a snowblower as well but I don't use it until there is a firm frozen base on my gravel driveway.

 

[tessiers]

I built one out of an old plow, welded sides on it and added a rubber strip on all three sides. Worked pretty well, when I sold the tractor the fellow buying it wanted the pusher and offered me enough so I could replace it, I ended up with a 6' plow blade with power angle which I like as well. I plow about 1/4 mile of dirt road and I push the light stuff to one side and make 1 pass with blower, I could not do that with the pusher. Around the barnyard I liked the pusher better, easier to carry snow away from the feeders and barn doors, ect. I guess 6 of 1 and half dozen of the other for me. My next one is going to be a large loader tire cut in half. I have used them cleaning dairy barns and they do an awsome job with manure, we also used them for snow but they were always on skid steers, haven't tried one on a tractor yet.

 

[leonz]

Hello Everyone -

Great forum you have here - I have learned a lot from reviewing your discussions. Hopefully I can contribute in some ways as well.

I am in the process of buying a Deere 3320 Compact for landscaping and snow removal on my property. I have a short 400 ft drive with K-turn, and steep approach to the house/garage. I will have a rear 3pt snowblower for heavy snow, and am trying to find a good alternative to the FEL bucket for cleanup of light snows.

Do any of you have experience with a BOX Plow / Snow Push on this size machine? I am looking at light duty 6ft models from Frontier, Horst, and ProTech - all about 500-600 lbs, fixed rubber edge. Some advantages I see:

"1) seems like the push ought to be pretty good for 2-3" of snow and faster than the blower - corral the snow into piles and the blow away the piles as needed...."


You will run out of tracttion quicker than you realise.






"2) Not angled like FEL angle blade - less chance of racking FEL arms maybe? Less steering problems resulting"


That wieght will add more stress on the loader arms especially if you try to push the piles back with the box blade.






"3) Cost - much cheaper than 3rd function circuit and FEL Blade ~$1650 vs. 3800"



Why would you bother with a quick attach blade and add the third valve as can simply pull a pin adn reset it?



Disadvantages:

"1) How well will this really push on a 5000# CUT? (6 ft width) Pushers are usually used on heavier skidsteers, etc."

You will run out of traction and do not have the mass and traction which most skid steer loaders do not anyway they have to lift the box blade up to keep pushing and its counterproductive.




"2) Rubber edge - poor scraping performance?"

Potatoe, potato; depends on how finicky you are about pavement or gravel especially with ice.





"Questions:

1) There are spring trip steel edge heavier-duty versions more designed for skid steers that weigh 850 lbs for 6ft pusher. Is this too heavy to be a practical bucket for a 3320 w/ 300CX (tires are loaded & ballasted w/ 600 lb. rear blower of course). Are the spring trip edge worth it for better scraping performance? My drive is gravel so I understand rubber is preferred, however most neighbors are paved and I might be helping them out. Anyone got opinions?

Thanks to all for your thoughts.

"


Dont waste your money, just purchase a quick attach kit for the loader
and a manually set plow for it if you really want one.

 

[GraniteRooster]

Thanks for the feedback guys - I guess everyone will have a little different setup that is dialed in to their liking. At this point I am planning give the new machine some time on my driveway with the blower and FEL and then decide what the front may need, if anything.

If anyone has pictures of a snow push mounted up on your CUT and working in winter - please post!!

Thanks

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

Hello Everyone -


I am in the process of buying a Deere 3320 Compact for landscaping and snow removal on my property. I have a short 400 ft drive with K-turn, and steep approach to the house/garage. I will have a rear 3pt snowblower for heavy snow, and am trying to find a good alternative to the FEL bucket for cleanup of light snows.

Thanks to all for your thoughts.

Depending where you are "in the process of buying a 3320" Look at the possibility of getting a 72" or 84" bucket instead of the standard 60" or the standard bucket and a wider high volume material bucket. The HVMB will be less $$ than a snow pusher. For the most part the bucket will function almost like a pusher - just tip up the edge a bit.

One problem with a pusher, unless you get one with hydraulic ends is that you cannot get closer to anything than say two feet, whereas with a bucket or blade you can get close and back drag the snow.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Most of us use a old truck plow in place of the FEL's bucket. I run a 7' Meyer plow that was totally rebuilt and uses the tractors remotes to run the angle.

Very quick way to move a lot of snow.

Chris

 

[tessiers]

I can't seam to find any pictures of my snow pusher, however I was very happy with it, I felt it was the least amount of pressure on the loader frame, rubber edge cushioned the bumps and with no bottom I seldom felt too much weight. I did have to lift it a couple of inches in heavy snow more to keep weight on the frontend than anything. On my long drive I would push till it was full and then push it off the side, then start again. Not purfect but it was effective.

I have tried a larger bucket but that did not carry nearly as much snow as the pusher and was very heavy when trying to break out drifts, although it worked OK in light snow.

I like the plow real well but I find in heavy snow it pushes the tractor around a little and does't seam to stack the snow as easily.

Bottom line is I liked my snow pusher the best until I got the blower, now I like the plow which I just push the snow into a furrow so I can blow in 1 pass. I think the ideal thing would be a front mount blower.

Good luck!!!

 

[GraniteRooster]

Thanks for sharing your experience Tessiers - thats good feedback. Nice family farm and webpage you have there - congrats on your hard work.

 

[mojoinco]

I am going to have to keep an eye out for an old excavator type tire. Sounds like an interesting way to go. Could probably make it work with my forks. Be heck to cut in two though. Ranchers are starting to use them for pasture water tanks (fairly bullet and cattle proof). No rust either.

I use my bucket and rear blade (don't have a blower). But my rear blade swings (double jointed) so I can keep the tractor off of the edge of the drive way. If I ever get around to installing extra circuits, I can see getting a used truck blade for the FEL. And running the rear blade (not hard, but sure nicer to stay in the cab and move it to the other side as position dictates).

And I have had the tractor take a 45 degree turn when using both (too large a bite). Kind of entertaining. You may want to keep in mind how your tires respond (R1 versus R3, etc). Wide industrial type will not take as big a bite, or float more. Then you chain up or go back over it (smaller bites).

 

[D33r3 6r33N]

GR--
I had this welded up a while ago. Though it is just a blade not a pusher, it is 54" wide. I have ~250$ in it, both the blade and the QA brackets came from ebay. The plow is an ATV type and is the same is what they sell at cyclecountry.com. I have also mounted a piece of truck tire to use as the cutting edge.
They also sell on the same site sides to make the plow a box. The only problem with it is...I haven't been able to use it.

 

[radman1]

I have a 400'+ cement driveway 14' wide and 2 different pads attached to the driveway. Put the cement in over the past 2 years and now it is done. Before that had gravel driveway. I use a modifed Meyers snow blade. 84" and does a nice job. Bought the blade on an auction for $75 and made a mount. I had considered a pusher snow box but when they begin to fill, you have to dump the snow somewhere into a pile. How far you can go depends on the size of the box and depth of the snow. The angled snow blade allows me to make a pass down the middle, then one on each side and push the snow back off the edge of the road. The angle blade is much faster, and leaves the snow not in big piles to melt easier. If you driveway is gravel or rock, the skids on the blade can be lowered and let you leave most of the material on the road and not get pushed off like a pusher will do.

I use a snow blower for bigger snows. The angled snow blade also lets me push the snow to the edge of the road and then snow blow it easily if I really want to get the snow far away.

 

[D33r3 6r33N]

GR--
I had this welded up a while ago. Though it is just a blade not a pusher, it is 54" wide. I have ~250$ in it, both the blade and the QA brackets came from ebay. The plow is an ATV type and is the same is what they sell at cyclecountry.com. I have also mounted a piece of truck tire to use as the cutting edge.
They also sell on the same site sides to make the plow a box. The only problem with it is...I haven't been able to use it.

I got a chance to use it last night. I think it works real well. Though I can see where others do not like this setup as down pressure on the blade can cause your front tires to be off the ground But I don't have a big drop off or curves or a big hill either.

 

[treman]

Granite Rooster,
I have a 100ft gravel drive. In the past I've used my 7 ft 3 pt grader blade on my 8N turned around and it works alright. this fall I got bored and took some 3/4 in plywood and made some sides to make it into a pusher box and it seems to work well so far. We haven't got any serious snow so far so it is yet to be truly tested. If i had a longer drive i would not put sides on it.

On the other hand, I use a skid steer at work to plow. Its 8400 lbs and over 80 horses and at times it can struggle with the 10 footer that is on it if the snow gets heavy enough. Its not the volume of snow its those wet heavy 4-6 inch plus snowfalls that get you with a pusher. On a tractor it is not going to be easy or at times even possible with a heavy snow to turn to push the loaded pusher box off the edge of the drive. My opinion is get a angle blade and don't look back. while a pusher can be nice to clean lots its not really the best tool for doing a long stretch like a 400 ft drive. Hope this helps.

 

[jnyost]

I am in the same situation as the OP. My initial thoughts were to also get a snow pusher so it would not stress the FEL. I've read horror stores of people stating an angled blade can break your FEL arms (crack, bend, etc) since they are not meant to take the stress at those angles. Is this not true? Are angled blades safe? I know anything can be dangerous, I'm just generalizing.

 

[tessiers]

I am going to have to keep an eye out for an old excavator type tire. Sounds like an interesting way to go. Could probably make it work with my forks. Be heck to cut in two though. Ranchers are starting to use them for pasture water tanks (fairly bullet and cattle proof). No rust either.

When I get the courage or time I intend to make one with a frame on top I can drive into with my forks and chain it to the back. I am looking for a loader tire about 66" diameter, I plan to cut it on one side where the sidewall meets the tread and then in half to make a half moon shaped scraper blade. We used them on skid steers at a farm I worked on and they are great for scraping down the manure in the barns. I plan to try cutting it with my gas powered 14" abrasive cut off saw. When the disk loads up hit a piece of steel with it and it cleans the disc right up.

Thanks for the complements on the farm, we try hard.

 

[Toddao]

Ok tell me that is a bad idea want to take a 24-36" plastic corragated pipe cut in half , I have a 4' bucket and want to make it 6' long it will only be 1' over hang and held on with straps. Has any one tried this ?

 

[nuffer460]

GraniteRooster, Are you looking for a front snow pusher, that attaches to the FEL arms? If that's what you think you want. Take a look on Youtube. There are a couple of video's of a homemade snow pusher built for a John Deere. I think that it's just over 72" wide. He moves allot of snow quickly. Do a search for " 1 fireball ferkey ". He has about 8 video's on there.

 

[harddock]

For Sale in MA if interested

 

[jk96]

I've got this one but does require a remote valve to run the angle. It's an 84" blade with folding wings to turn it into a pusher. With the folding wings I can angle the blade and quickly clear our driveway for our business and then lock in the wings to clear the parking lot. As others stated, for a drive you'll want a straight blade that you can angle. For a parking lot, the pusher moves a lot more snow than a standard blade. This gives me both options with one blade.