Using a blade and blower

[jgayman]

Are the benefits of using a blade worth the additional hassle of returning misplaced gravel back on the driveway and patching a scared lawn during spring clean up ?

Yes! A few years ago I picked up some orange driveway markers from Lowe's and put them around my driveway. That not only tells me where the edges of the driveway are in deep snows but it shows me how far back I can push snow. If I stay within the markers there is no gravel in the grass.

Don't get me wrong, I do get little piles of loose stones at various places around the driveway but they are a breeze to cleanup. I just removed my snow implements yesterday and reinstalled the loader and it took me all of 20-mins from the tractor seat to completely redistribute all the stones and smooth out everything. The driveway looks brand new again.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

How much snow and how high of drifts are you going to need to handle? My set up is a front blade rear blower. The only thing I'd really like to swap out is a V-blade plow instead of my straight blade. The ancient McKee blower is awesome.