Urethane bucket edge -- unnecessary? Dumb?

[SmallChange]

I have a FEL bucket with a straight edge, and I use it to clear snow (my driveway has a big cul-de-sac with walls and I have to carry snow out through a narrow neck).
But when I finally got it paved with asphalt a few years ago, I worried about the steel edge damaging it, so I bought a bolt-on urethane edge. It's at least a couple inches tall. For the two snows we recently had (only around 3 inches deep), this edge was tall enough to pile snow up in front of the bucket rather than in the bucket, some of the time. At a couple points I actually dismounted and shoveled the pile into the bucket, or kicked it in, feeling foolish.
And now that I'm paying attention to other people clearing paved driveways and roads, I have not not seen a single urethane bucket edge.

So, this was a dumb choice, wasn't it?

I do see some plow blades have adjustable skids behind them. And I do own bolt-on bucket edge tamers, short little sled runners that wrap around the edge (without the urethane). I've seen some people using CUTs with FEL buckets clearing snow on pavement, and they didn't have edge tamers. For that matter, the years before paving when I didn't have the urethane, I was getting a few feet of the edge of the paved road without edge tamers.

What's the smart approach? Bare bucket? Add edge tamers? Or keep using the urethane?

Thanks!!

 

[RjCorazza]

Not on a bucket, but I use 1.125" thick UHMW Polyethylene edges on front and rear plows. They are very durable, and I suspect a thinner material will help keep the snow front piling up in front of the edge. You could also cut a 45 degree edge, perhaps leaving a 1/2" blunt edge for durability.

 

[Roadworthy]

I had a gravel driveway so I got Edge Tamers. They worked great!! I had the driveway paved in asphalt and continued using the Edge Tamers. I figured replacing them would be cheaper than replacing or repairing the bucket. I don't think they're really needed on my now several year old asphalt but I still think they're good "wear insurance".

 

[RjCorazza]

I will add that if you are concerned with scarring up your pavement there is nothing "unnecessary" or "dumb" about using a polyurethane edge on the bucket. I do think thinner UHMW polyethylene will work better though. I had thought about adding it to my bucket, but of all things... I never did because of my total lack of knowledge of countersunk bolts.

 

[oosik]

I have a mile long gravel driveway. If I MUST clear snow before the driveway freezes up - rock hard. Rotate the back blade 180 degrees and blade it that way.

With the blade reversed it does not skerf up the gravel.

However - as a matter of fact - its been over five years since I had to clear snow on the driveway. I don't become concerned unless there is six inches on the ground and it's still snowing.

Just last week - got five inches. Looked at the weather forecast. Following day and thru this week - temp are in the 40's. The five inches we had is barely an inch now.

This has been the story - for snow - here for the last five years.

 

[ruffdog]

I'm not a fan of using the bucket to plow snow. If it is very flat pavement it will do very little scarring. If the pavement is not flat, a corner of the bucket may try to dig in as it does not float to stay level. To help, using the float position on the FEL will help.

 

[SARG]

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

View attachment 848460

That looks like a horrible setup to me. Edge is too thick, and with all that framis (crap) sitting in the bucket bottom, looks like a pain to actually dump the bucket clear.

But that's just from looking at the picture.

Do you have one of these? Does it actually work better than my assumptions (quite possible, I know)?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I have a FEL bucket with a straight edge, and I use it to clear snow (my driveway has a big cul-de-sac with walls and I have to carry snow out through a narrow neck).
But when I finally got it paved with asphalt a few years ago, I worried about the steel edge damaging it, so I bought a bolt-on urethane edge. It's at least a couple inches tall. For the two snows we recently had (only around 3 inches deep), this edge was tall enough to pile snow up in front of the bucket rather than in the bucket, some of the time. At a couple points I actually dismounted and shoveled the pile into the bucket, or kicked it in, feeling foolish.
And now that I'm paying attention to other people clearing paved driveways and roads, I have not not seen a single urethane bucket edge.

So, this was a dumb choice, wasn't it?

I do see some plow blades have adjustable skids behind them. And I do own bolt-on bucket edge tamers, short little sled runners that wrap around the edge (without the urethane). I've seen some people using CUTs with FEL buckets clearing snow on pavement, and they didn't have edge tamers. For that matter, the years before paving when I didn't have the urethane, I was getting a few feet of the edge of the paved road without edge tamers.

What's the smart approach? Bare bucket? Add edge tamers? Or keep using the urethane?

Thanks!!

I have pushed (can't really call it "plowing" when using a bucket) snow with my bucket and bare edge on pavement when helping friends deal with heavy snows. I always tell them it's possible that it will leave scratches on the surface (they've never minded when dealing with several feet of snow and no larger equipment).

As long as there's no broken edges or lifted cracks in the pavement that the edge can catch or hook, it will only be surface scratches. They seem to fade rather quickly. But I'm using my bare steel edge, laid flat on the surface (no bucket tilt) and my fel is in float to not put any serious down pressure on the edge. This is on fairly fresh snow that hasn't frozen solid.

On the few occasions where I've had to hard scrape frozen ice piles off the pavement, I've had to tilt the bucket slightly downwards and put downpressure on the fel to get it to scrape under the ice. It rolls the ice off the pavement rather nicely, but it does leave scratches behind. They do fade over time, but if I were to do that over a patch of broken or uneven pavement, it would certainly damage it.

On my own place, we have a parking pad of concrete in front of the garage, and the rest of the driveway is gravel. So I will start the season with the Edge Tamers on the bucket to not pick up rocks from the driveway. Once the ground freezes hard, it will stay that way all season and I can remove the Edge Tamers and use the bucket edge to scrape down to the frozen base without problems. I also put Edge Tamers on the cutting edge on my 3 pt snow blower this year. But with very little snow this year, it's really not been a good "test year" to see if I like them on there or not. I know from the few times I've used them, they have not picked up any gravel from the driveway.

 

[SARG]

That looks like a horrible setup to me. Edge is too thick, and with all that framis (crap) sitting in the bucket bottom, looks like a pain to actually dump the bucket clear.

But that's just from looking at the picture.

Do you have one of these? Does it actually work better than my assumptions (quite possible, I know)?

I bought the Snowedge with the a spare replacement edge several winters ago.
Because of the sacrificial edge it makes a novice operator like me capable of clearing my paved driveway without any notable damage to the surface. I can have the FEL in various angled positions and it still functions as intended.
After at least 3 winters the edge still doesn't appear to be worn to any significant degree.
For my layout it's a perfect tool.