Snow Snow Removal

[AceDeuce]

Well, I made a BIG mess out of my driveway last weekend. I woke up on Sunday morning and to my surprise we had 8" of unpredicted snow. It was wet, heavy and sticky. So heavy I couldn't push it with the back side of my rear blade like usual (it would just ride up and over the pile). I had to turn the blade around and push with the front side. It worked great at moving the snow but of course it also dup up lots of gravel which is now in the process of slowly settling into my front yard as the snow melts.

Ironically, I had a contractor out to bid on paving my driveway the day before the storm!

 

[KeithInSpace]

I clear all my neighbor's driveways EXCEPT those with gravel. I just can't get the snow up without doing damage to their gravel. I guess I could if I took forever on the task, but I have my limits when doing a favor...4 snowfalls/icefalls so far this year and I clear 7 200' to 600' long driveways free of charge after each.

I only use the FEL. Works OK.

 

[bialecki]

Well, I made a BIG mess out of my driveway last weekend. I woke up on Sunday morning and to my surprise we had 8" of unpredicted snow. It was wet, heavy and sticky. So heavy I couldn't push it with the back side of my rear blade like usual (it would just ride up and over the pile). I had to turn the blade around and push with the front side. It worked great at moving the snow but of course it also dup up lots of gravel which is now in the process of slowly settling into my front yard as the snow melts.

Ironically, I had a contractor out to bid on paving my driveway the day before the storm!

It looks like I am not the only one who has the problem of plowing on a gravel driveway. Last night I was trying to plow ~6" of wet snow. I think I plowed more 3/4" gravel than snow! I had the spacers set so the blade would be ~ 1/2" above the gravel and I used the float position of the valve when I was using the front blade of the B7800, see the attached photo. It ended up after I made a big mess of the gravel I used the back side of the blade while using the tractor in reverse to level out the skid shoe ruts and the piles of stone. I know when the snow melts I will have a lot of raking to do..... Hey wait what a great excuse to buy a new 3 pt rake come this Spring. "Honey you know my back is bad and I just need to get our driveway raked into shape"! Sounds like a Woods or ATI rake may be in order.

Dennis Bialecki

 

[B7610]

First time posting here, but I love this forum. I almost got the front blade but decided for a rear blade instead. I found the FEL to be too damaging. I have 1000' drive and the rear blade works great! It is a 5' king kutter

 

[ccsial]

I have a 3/8 mile gravel trail that goes to my cabin. I make a practice run on it in November with the back blade, keeping just above the gravel, and write down the setting. I use that setting and take what I get. I don't dig up gravel but it isn't cleared all the way down either. It's plenty good to drive on.

I usually blow my blacktop drive with the L3400 but the last storm I had to use the Ford with the rear blade. I got it all to the side and then used the loader to dump it a few feet beyond. That took a lot of time with the Ford (no HST). I really hate this wet stuff.

 

[Pks]

If the blade shoes are digging in, that tells me the ground didn't freeze. Bummer... but all is not lost. Consider attaching a 1" diameter pipe (I used black pipe) to the blade. The round shape to the pipe will allow the blade to travel over 3/4" gravel...no shoes required and no digging into the gravel.

 

[bialecki]

If the blade shoes are digging in, that tells me the ground didn't freeze. Bummer... but all is not lost. Consider attaching a 1" diameter pipe (I used black pipe) to the blade. The round shape to the pipe will allow the blade to travel over 3/4" gravel...no shoes required and no digging into the gravel.

Thanks, creativity over capital! That is what I like about the members of this form.

 

[ccsial]

If the blade shoes are digging in, that tells me the ground didn't freeze. Bummer... but all is not lost. Consider attaching a 1" diameter pipe (I used black pipe) to the blade. The round shape to the pipe will allow the blade to travel over 3/4" gravel...no shoes required and no digging into the gravel.

Sounds like a good idea. How do you attach it? I would not want to weld it on. I suppose it could be welded to a plate and bolted on.

 

[proudestmonkey]

Sounds like a good idea. How do you attach it? I would not want to weld it on. I suppose it could be welded to a plate and bolted on.

I wonder if the pipe idea makes much sense for those of us in colder climates, where the ground is usually frozen all winter, which holds the gravel in place (mostly). Seems like a good idea, though, for guys living in Virginia, where a big snowstorm falls on soft gravel, which makes it a bit easier to make a mess of a gravel driveway.

I know I am going to have to re-grade my driveway come spring, to push the gravel back into the middle. No big deal as long as I don't dig into the base. Better than blowing it 20 feet onto the grass.

 

[Thomas]

If this nasty storm arrives like the weather station saying AD your gonner have some more heavy white to push.

Digging up the driveway...but you didn't stall the tractor while plowing,that's a good sign you are getting the feel of plowing.

 

[jdgreg]

Before we got our's paved, I used skid shoes on my BB just for the purpose of reducing scraping gravel onto the grass. Even with the skid shoes, come spring I usually found myself back on the tractor with the rake, scraping gravel back onto the drive. Seems only sure fire way of keeping gravel out of the grass, is to ether leave the snow alone, or pave the drive.

 

[Stef]

I had that dilemma before buying a blade or a blower. Finally got a blower. My driveway is gravel so I raise the blower an inch in the air. When I'm at the end of the driveway I drop the blower on the ground and drag it forward. The result is a nice flat surface and it compacts the snow at the same time.

I do the same thing over the lawn (blower at 6 inches from the ground) when I want to make a slide or a snow pile for kids (a track for the dog). It works very well and it doesn't damage the lawn at all.

I remember my first winter with a blower mounted on the tractor. I didn't know how to adjust it as it should be at first and I blew a lot of gravel. One learns from his mistakes after passing the next summer raking gravel 50 feet away from the driveway.

I'm sure it's fun to plow though. One day I'll by a front blade.

 

[Fjord]

Sounds like a good idea. How do you attach it? I would not want to weld it on. I suppose it could be welded to a plate and bolted on.

Check out this thread in this forum. Near the end, Herringchoker explains how he attached a piece of pipe to the bottom edge of his snowblower for the same reason. I think his method would also work for attaching it to the rear blade.http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/92915-rear-5ft-snowblower-questions-about.html

 

[AceDeuce]

I've heard the pipe idea before. Never got around to trying it though. My blade does have shoes but they don't help much because the gravel over most of the driveway ranges from 3/8" to 1-1/2" with little or no fines. It just rolls around like marbles. It'd be a different story with a 21A mix.

Hopefully it won't be an issue next year because it's looking like I'll be having it paved soon.

I too have paid the price of being a rookie blower operator. It only takes one time having to rake gravel 50' either side of a 500' long driveway to learn not to drop it all the way down!

 

[Pks]

Last year I made extra large skid shoes/skies for my Kubota snow blower. They are longer and wider so they slide easily over the sandy sections of my 900' drive. The skies don't dig in much on the sand and don't dig in at all on the 3/4" gravel frozen or not. I needed them to prevent the blower from digging into the crown of the drive. Our driveway is really a two-track/jeep-trail so the crown is a bit high and there isn't much gravel.

The pipe idea was applied to my back blade and also worked well. I use both approaches depending on the condidtions.

 

[rfogle]

I wonder why you couldn't use the pipe idea I posted as a reply in this forum
about 02/11/2006 under the thread "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow". I also posted some pix. It's a 2" pipe with a slit plasma cut in it to put the cutter bar edge in, 1 flat washer welded on each end to prevent side slip and a short length of chain welded close to each end. For my bb, I place the pipe and use a tarp strap from chain to chain over the center arm of the bb to hold it in place. Cleans the snow real well w/o digging in.

 

[ccsial]

I wonder why you couldn't use the pipe idea I posted as a reply in this forum
about 02/11/2006 under the thread "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow". I also posted some pix. It's a 2" pipe with a slit plasma cut in it to put the cutter bar edge in, 1 flat washer welded on each end to prevent side slip and a short length of chain welded close to each end. For my bb, I place the pipe and use a tarp strap from chain to chain over the center arm of the bb to hold it in place. Cleans the snow real well w/o digging in.

That is a pretty simple idea and sounds good. I like simple. I have customer who can cut the pipe and I have my own weldor. I'm gonna try it.

 

[Raddad]

The tractor or your technique aren't the problem. I have a drivewar made from a mix of clay and crushed stone. It is as hard as concrete in the winter. I never grade it in the fall so it's loose when winter comes. I'm sure someone on TBN will know what the mix is called. I use a rake with gauge wheels in the spring and summer to get it good and flat. I don't use skid shoes on my back blade when I plow snow and it scrapes most all the snow off.