Snow Attachments Snow Removal with loader

[Youare]

I live in the southwest corner of New Hampshire, the Monadnock region which can get it's share of snow. I have used the FEL on my Kubota to clear snow from the driveway. However, I did pretty quickly purchase a rear blade just for snow plowing.

I have a dirt drive. The FEL works great after the ground has really frozen, when it has not it is very easy to remove a layer of dirt with the snow. The rear blade can be turned on an angle to allow you to push the snow off to the side it is difficult to do this with the FEL. Unless you can push everything straight back or the drive is wide enough to go across pushing snow to one side is necessary.

When the ground has not frozen and we have had a light snow I use the rear blade with the curve backwards to it's normal operation to keep it from digging into the soft ground.

I had an 8N with a FEL on to which I mounted a 6 1/2 foot Meyers snow plow. That worked great for plowing snow. I know several people who have made or had made a bracket to mount on the lift arms of the FEL and attached a snow plow using the curl hydraulics to control the power angle feature of the plow. A set-up like that can be purchased for reasonable price.

The only draw back to a rear mounted blade or blower is it is a little bit of a pain in the neck to drive backwards while moving snow. There is also the tendenancy to forget about the FEL sticking out on the front and hitting something.

Randy

 

[tc18ny]

I use my FEL for snow removal on my 200' long drive. It takes me about 30 min when we get less than 6''. It works great for moving banks and making big piles. You do have to get good with the controls, but once you do, you can move right along. What I do is start at one end of the drive (up by the garage), set my loader to float and tip the loader edge up slightly. I push the snow straight down the drive near the road end. I make 3 or 4 passes like this to clear the drive and end up with a pile at the road end. Then I just move the pile to either side of the drive, into the grass. This way, for spring clean up, all I have is a small area at the end of the drive to rake up any debris.
Dave

 

[bellweather]

my limited experience with moving snow with a fel has been pretty discouraging. if the snow is deep the fel accumulates snow in no time and then you loose traction. you're not plowing... you are lifting buckets of snow and dumping them to clear a path. just imagine how many buckets of snow fall on your driveway and you'll get an idea of how slow the process can be...gets old real fast. like others have said, the fel is useful for removing snow from around the house and detail work, but to get the job done I believe a blade (plow) or blower is required.

 

[rameye]

I'm in monadnock also..have a FEL and a back blade, this will be my first year removing snow with the tractor. I'm in Stoddard and at the extreme elevation we get clobbered. Alot of removal up here is done with FEL because there is just nowhere to put it by February.

Hope this works OK...wife will be expecting great things. :0

 

[firemarshal]

Thanks for the responses. This is my first post on this forum. My driveway is only 180 ft - 200 ft long and is paved. It is 25 ft wide at each end and about 10 ft wide in the center. I will be adding another 200 ft of gravel driveway as part of a barn project in a year or two.

I have found that 60 " snowblowers with manual shute rotation are around $1500. I have not priced rear blades. Do you push or pull the snow with a rear blade? I'm new to all of this.

 

[KubotaSteve]

You should pull the snow with a rear blade as pushing causes stress on the arms and could cause damage if not careful (catching something like and immoveable rock while plowing).
I used my FEL last year to plow snow and really didn't have many problems once I got the hang of it. My drive is 220 feet long and I dropped the bucket down and when the bucket filled, I continued pushing using is as a plow. I went the entire length on my 220 foot drive in 12" of snow that was on the wet side and never spun a wheel. I have the B-7800 which is the next size up from your 7500. I know you get a lot more snow than I can, but I think you will be fine this winter. If you get several snows a year that exceed 12" then I would be looking around for a blower for the future.
Besides, once I get outside plowing snow, I usually go and help the neighbors out and then you have to take the kids a ride either on a sled or inner tube (use plenty of string). It is more play than work to me.

 

[ByronBob]

Try it with the loader and blade and if you disagree with us then your shopping for more toys....or I mean implements next year.
The 7500 is a nice machine and you'll be impressed with what it can do for you.

DO NOT FORGET A BLOCK HEATER...............

 

[hazmat]

Go with the blower if you can swing the $$$. I bought a used one (old) for $500.

The heavier snow we get in New England is tough on the smaller tractors (I have similar size New Holland). You have to get out often in a big storm. I could effectively plow 3" of heavy snow, or 6" of fluffy. any more and instead of widrowing off to the side, it would push the tractor off course.

With the blower you move the snow once.

 

[8561]

Firemarshal - I am a little north of you in Hopkinton. I did my drive last year with an FEL and rear blade. It can definitely be done that way, but you'll be amazed how long it takes. I've ordered a rear 60 inch blower for this year. One thing to consider is piling snow. As you'll recall, we had a lot of snow in December. By New Year's Day, I didn't know where I was going to put it. Fortunately, January and Feruary had limited snow, so it wasn't an issue. A blower will leave you with no snowbanks and be much quicker, but certainly costs a lot more than a rear blade and the FEL you've already bought.

By the way - who quoted you the $1500 for 60" with manual chute? What brand? That's a pretty fair price, better than most I've seen this year.