Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Snow sticking in loader bucket

[tamarack]

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do to keep snow from sticking in loader bucket? Any help would be appreciated. Have a good day.

 

[daTeacha]

The most commonly recommended product is a simply spray on item like a non-stick cooking spray. There are others, too. This comes up every time it snows. Check the archives for other products and solutions.

Personally, if I had the problem, I would probably wax the interior of the bucket or wipe it with Rain-X windshield cleaner before using it.

 

[MrJimi]

The main reason the snow is sticking is because your bucket is warmer than the snow is and all the other ideas are good also
If you leave your tractor outside the next time it snows, It will not stick

 

[daTeacha]

So does the dirt stick because the bucket is warmer than the dirt??

 

[MrJimi]

So does the dirt stick because the bucket is warmer than the dirt??

Moisture

 

[George2615]

I haven't done it to my tractor bucket but have used Western (red) or Meyers (yellow) plow paint on my truck plows and not had snow stick. The dealers tell me the plow paint has something in it to help prevent sticking.

 

[Bigboyskioti]

My tractor stays in the barn (unheated) and the snow sticks..... I've thought about a good coating of cooking oil or the non stick sprays.

 

[john_bud]

How about wrapping the back of the bucket with 20,000 W of heaters? Then the snow will melt.

Or spray with Pam or silicon spray or mist with diesel.

Rich, - Van der waal's forces.

jb

 

[rimshot]

It's just gonna happen if snow is at above freezing temperatures and if the snow is heavy and of high water content. I live in a climate of practically daily winter snow fall. For us, the climate is normally constantly well below freezing so the snow is dryer and much lighter. In short, it just does not pack like the Fall and Spring snow does. Driving wet snow into a wedge shaped bucket is a sure fire recipe for it to stick. Snow plows like Western and Blizzard make are designed for deflecting snow in order to move it. FEL Bucket collects first, packs and then trys to dump. Now, that's no snow job!

rim

 

[MrJimi]

Generic Pam can be bought at your local dollar store for a dollar

 

[kozak]

If you want to put on some of the slipperiest stuff known to mankind, try some silicone lubricant. I would imagine any oil lubricant would work just about as well......will just slip in & out of that bucket like a slurpy !!


Vic

 

[RedDirt]

We get low elevation non-sticky snow (wet) so I haven't had this problem but what about paraffin wax? On small stuff like snow shovels we heat them up on the shop wood stove and melt the stuff on for a solid coating. Obviously you can't do that with a bucket but we'd put our cross country skis outside in the cold then just rub on a heavy coat of paraffin wax. Snow never sticks to either, even the skis up in the high country powder. We buy the paraffin blocks at the canning section of the market. Candle wax would work too.

 

[daTeacha]

John Bud -- Which ones? Dipole-dipole or London? Maybe cavitation between the dirt and the steel causing a pressure differential sufficient to press the dirt in place.

As of yesterday I had some dirt, fines, and gravel frozen in the thing from roughing up the drive when it was wet and then having it get cold again. I don't usually consider it a problem.

Tonight will probably see some used hay and sheep/donkey byproducts sticking in there after I clean out the barn, but I'll hose those out before the coming freeze hits. I hate it when I get manure stuck to the firewood that sits in the passthrough next to the living room.

 

[mjarrels]

Wax on... wax off!

mark

 

[itn]

i spray armor all or pledge before i start.

 

[Blackbird_BX]

I wonder if EZ-Slide Graphite-Based Coating Paint at Tractor Supply would do the trick. Tractor Supply Company - EZ-Slide Graphite-Based Coating Paint, 12.8 oz

 

[bjcsc]

I have some stuff I make for my old military long guns (M1, '03) for keeping the stocks as they should be and I think it would work great in this application. The only snow I ever see is in y'all's pictures, but I think it would work and it's simple and inexpensive to make. You need three ingredients: Beeswax, BLO (boiled linseed oil), and turpentine - 1:1:1. I buy empty paint cans from Lowes or whomever to keep it in. I use quart cans to keep it in and a gallon can to make it in. You melt a pound of beeswax in the can (on a stovetop), measure the volume afterwards and return it to the can. Add the exact same volume of turpentine and then of BLO, only heating it long enough so that everything mixes. Once it cools to room temperature it's ready to use. It sets up like soft shoe polish. It will waterproof wood and leaves a satin to flat satin finish.

 

[TheHammer]

I've never used it, but a lot of guys at a snow plowing site I visit use Eureka Fluid Film. They use it to keep snow from sticking on plow blades and as a rust/corrosion preventative. Supposedly, it works quite well.

Fluid Film: Corrosion Preventive, Lubricant and Rust Inhibitor

 

[Westendorf-RR]

Snow is sticking in your buckets because of how the bucket is designed. When it comes to selecting a good bucket, look at the relationship between the bucket's side panels and cutting edge/flat bottom . If you select a tapered bucket similar to the concept of an ice cube tray or sand mold - tapered in on the sides and front to back, the snow and dirt will release freely and not suction back into the bucket. Also look for a bucket that has the reinforcements on the outside (not inside). Any gussets or supports added to the inside the bucket will cause material to stick.

 

[RobJ]

Snow is sticking in your buckets because of how the bucket is designed. When it comes to selecting a good bucket, look at the relationship between the bucket's side panels and cutting edge/flat bottom . If you select a tapered bucket similar to the concept of an ice cube tray or sand mold - tapered in on the sides and front to back, the snow and dirt will release freely and not suction back into the bucket. Also look for a bucket that has the reinforcements on the outside (not inside). Any gussets or supports added to the inside the bucket will cause material to stick.

Good answer and I think this would cure the problem. Think about it, you hit the snow bank with a running start and pack the stuff into the bucket.

Folks with bigger equipment have been welding chains in the buckets to help loosen up the contents. Down here it's mostly for mud of course. But the weight of the chains and the way they move around keep it loose and gravity works on the chains when dumping. If you didn't want to weld you could always just bolt in the chains.

It might work for snow to.