Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Snow Removal w/FEL

[skent]

next angle

 

[skent]

and one more (notice the barbell weights mounted on the rear wheels. . . . . )

 

[art]

It can be done but every time you make a bank you give a higher block to leave snow on the other side of. Take a blower and shorten the top link so it leans back to the tractor.

 

[Jibber]

A plow attachment sounds like a good idea. Not sure I was clear in that my snowblower is a gas powered sears.. not a 3pt or tractor mount.

I like Skent's attachment if I decide to use the bucket. That looks slick.

 

[Jibber]

I know all about that Ohio snow.. I grew up in Alliance.

Blue Thunder is a beauty!

Go Bucks.. and Mt. Union Raiders!

 

[frank_f15]

as u can see u will get all kinds of prefrences on this subject ,so here is mine. now mind u, i am plowing on pavement so it does make a differenc, but i use the fel to move snow90%of the time the back blde is on for added weight and to plow light snow. now we do get quite a bit of heavy deep snow and i have never had a problem using the fel. my buddy has a fel and rear blower but uses the fel 75% of the time. i don't like driving backwards and to put a front blower on is costly and i also loose the use of the fel. jsut my $0.04 worth /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif see attachment for some of the snow u can move with the fel.

 

[F350Lawman]

F15

That's good to hear. We got pounded last year and I am planning to use the FEL exclusively this year for snow removal. I am actually looking foward to it.

I have about 175' of paved driveway, about 200' of gravel drive and some grass paths to and from the barn.

I intend to scrape the pavement clean but leave acouple of inches of snow on the gravel. My 4 wheel drive is the only thing that goes up the gravel drive to the barn so some snow is fine.

My only other challenge will be getting the 300-4000 feet across the field to the woods evry few weeks to dump manure with the trailer. For that I may just drive over it to keep it packed down. If the snow gets real high I may need to skim a foot or so off the top so the under carriage doesn't hang up. I think if I go through it with thtracor multiple times while it is powdery I will sort of plow a usable road

 

[slowzuki]

I think NY gets a similar amount of snow to us, it gets hard to keep on top of the pack if you just keep driving on it. Using a loader you can make "run-offs" to pile the snow in. Takes a long time compared to an angle blade.

Last winter the guy who does the road to my sisters barn gave up after we got a foot of ice pellets. He got his 55 hp 4wd stuck in a drift in his yard, the tractor weighs about 8-9000 lb but made it half way around his barn before breaking through the crust! He got it out in about 6 hours using his other tractor and a shovel.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">but leave acouple of inches of snow on the gravel. My 4 wheel drive is the only thing that goes up the gravel drive to the barn so some snow is fine. My only other challenge will be getting the 300-4000 feet across the field to the woods evry few weeks to dump manure with the trailer. For that I may just drive over it to keep it packed down. </font>
I know snow conditions are different, but when I did this, i.e., not removing down to the gravel I regretted it. My goal was to not pick up gravel with the FEL and then dump gravel into the field or, with the rear blade, drag it there.

The little snow I left, got packed down so dense it turned to ice and neither my tractor nor my 4x4 was any help. The only thing that resolved the situation was sunshine that melted the snow. Where the packed snow was in the shade, only warmer temps helped.

My other mistake, while I am doing true confessions /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif , was thinking I only needed to plow out the driveway/gravel area at the barn every other snow. Afterall, the driveway at the barn fronted on the road the township plows. When I decided it was time to plow the driveway at the barn, there was 8 - 10 inches of snow to deal with. It wasn't ice, but it might as well have been. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Now what I do, is plow out any place I think we might want access to after every snow. On paved and gravel areas I scrape down until I see paving or stone. This means I usually have gravel in the field and/or divots in the gravel where I dug too deep., but figure skating on a tractor and a 4 x 4 cured me of leaving any layer of snow. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Note: I do not use chains on the tractor or the 4 x 4 which may make it easier to travel a road/path covered in packed snow.

 

[kensfarm]

Last year was our biggest snow fall I've seen since 1999.. the snow was chest to waist deep.. just trying to get to the tractor I had to stop half way & rest. I couldn't believe how well my TC35D got around in the deep snow. My farm neighbor across the street got his 100hp tractor stuck just trying to get into his driveway.. the plow trucks couldn't even come down the main road due to the snow drifts blown from the fields. The neighbor's are really happy to see you on those days.. I helped dig out my 2 farm neighbor's.. & 2 close by residences.. it was a long day.. but a fun one working that tractor & FEL. Here's a picture off the back porch.. before I headed out.

 

[farmerdick]

I find the rear blade is best unless the snow is over 6-8 " deep (depends if wet or powder). The FEL tends to pile it up, rather than push or pull it aside.
FEL is great for clearing where plowed or drifted, or deeper.
I have a path accross an open field to a manure pile. Unfortunately it runs basically north-south, in an open field, and when the west or northwest winds blow following a storm, the snow drifts in. The drifted snow packs in denser than fresh fallen snow.
Early in the winter plow the paths or driveways wide, give plenty of room for future plowing.

 

[PineRidge]

<font color="blue"> and one more (notice the barbell weights mounted on the rear wheels. . . . . )

</font>

That's a pretty slick idea! Once you finish moving snow you can use the barbell weights to work out.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[AndyMA]

I use both a 84" bucket and a 8' plow to move snow. The bucket does a neater job and allows me to pile it up to about 20' when necessary. When I used the plow on my 2120 I found that many times the weight of the snow I was pushing would push the front end of the tractor off of the edge of the driveway. At that time I was clearing a 1/4 mile drive with bends up a pretty steep hill. I would pile up so much snow behind th eplow that big clumps of snow would come right over the top of the plow. Here is a shot of me moving snow with a bucket during an average storm last winter.

Andy

 

[AndyMA]

another picture of the snow drifts on the edge of where I was plowing.

Andy

 

[F350Lawman]

MikePA

Gald we all make the same mistakes /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I also get the ice over on the gravel. It is dead flat so I still can get up and down with hay every couple of weeks. I really just let my momentum carry me from the good spots, through the bad.

Maybe Santa will get me a back-blade! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[JJT]

I'll second PineRidge. For 10+ years I used a truck and a tractor to plow snow. 5 years ago I switched to a 78" rear mounted blower and will never go back to a plow.

I have an 800' gravel drive, I set the leading edge of the blower about 1" off the ground until the ground freezes.