Which is best? Truck w/Plow, FEL Plow, or Rear blade? Help the Noob...

[MossflowerWoods]

Guys & Gals,

So I got about 10" snow with a crust of freezing rain on top last Thursday, followed by 5" snow on Friday, and then rain on Saturday.

I have ~1/4 mile long gravel drive with 90 degree turn and loop down to the house on a steep hill from the gate, and another ~1/4 mile gravel easement (mostly straight, slight curve and minor slope) from the pavement to my gate.

My Front Wheel drive commuter got stuck in the slushy ice, my soon to be Ex has the AWD crossover and in the process of trying to clear enough of the 15" of mess to be able to go get my kids or go to work (I did not get to the pavement except on my tractor from Wed eveing until late Saturday afternoon) backdragging with my FEL bucket destroyed my driveway.

I need to make a change before next winter (hoping I surive the rest of this winter and the rainy season this spring).

Do I just go get a 4x4 pickup with a snow plow? Get an 8' rear Blade for the 3pt? Or invest in a Front Plow Blade for the FEL?

Sometimes in the past I've had more money than brains, and in reality not much of either. But with my impending divorce, and the state of the economy in general, I need to try to be reasonable and thrifty.

But this last few days has almost made me HATE snow for the first time in my alomst 50 years of life.

I'm looking to replace my trusty 2wd F-150 4-door with something better and 4x4 as my backup vehicle, but I really need to find a livable solution to this occasional situation.

I'm all ears...

Thanks in advance,
Be well,
David

 

[dave1949]

This recent unpleasantness with the snow will soon be but a memory. :laughing:

Seriously, if that was a very rare event for your location, I would upgrade to 4x4 pickup and call that a 95% solution. That last 5% isn't worth spending money on for plows and such. For the rare times you need to clear deep snow, the tractor FEL will do it, maybe you need chains.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

This recent unpleasantness with the snow will soon be but a memory. :laughing:

Seriously, if that was a very rare event for your location, I would upgrade to 4x4 pickup and call that a 95% solution. That last 5% isn't worth spending money on for plows and such. For the rare times you need to clear deep snow, the tractor FEL will do it, maybe you need chains.

Dave, Dave, Dave...

Your advice is WAY TOO Practical...

I hope that you are correct, but I'd like an 8' rear blade (I think, maybe).

I asked my dealer about a FEL plow blade in the beginning and they were $$$$$$ as I recall.

I suspect this will happen maybe once a year, and some years more than once.

What I REALLY want is a 2000-2002 F-350 7.3 PSD 4x4... for those days... But honestly my neighbor's F250 had tough moments in the icy stuff...

Be well,
David

 

[leonz]

Guys & Gals,

So I got about 10" snow with a crust of freezing rain on top last Thursday,
followed by 5" snow on Friday, and then rain on Saturday.

I have ~1/4 mile long gravel drive with 90 degree turn and loop down to
the house on a steep hill from the gate, and another ~1/4 mile gravel easement
(mostly straight, slight curve and minor slope) from the pavement to my gate.

My Front Wheel drive commuter got stuck in the slushy ice, my soon to be Ex has
the AWD crossover and in the process of trying to clear enough of the 15" of mess
to be able to go get my kids or go to work
(I did not get to the pavement except on my tractor from Wed eveing until late Saturday afternoon)
backdragging with my FEL bucket destroyed my driveway.

I need to make a change before next winter
(hoping I surive the rest of this winter and the rainy season this spring).

Do I just go get a 4x4 pickup with a snow plow?
Get an 8' rear Blade for the 3pt? Or invest in a Front Plow Blade for the FEL?

Sometimes in the past I've had more money than brains, and in reality not much of either.
But with my impending divorce, and the state of the economy in general, I need to try to be reasonable and thrifty.

But this last few days has almost made me HATE snow for the first time in my alomst 50 years of life.

I'm looking to replace my trusty 2wd F-150 4-door with something better and 4x4 as my backup vehicle,
but I really need to find a livable solution to this occasional situation.

I'm all ears...

Thanks in advance,
Be well,
David

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As you have the Mule already thats half the battle.


loading the rears and buying good ring chains with heavy lugs and a snow blower would
solve your issues with snow, and you can buy a small Subaru and be done with it for much
less money than a 4 by 4 with an 8 foot plow as buying new will be well north of $35,000.00+-

Second; with your terrain and a four wheel drive truck without chains is just asking for trouble.
And hiring a wrecker to remove the carcass will be very expensive and until then =no plow what so ever.

A snow blower, loaded rears and ring chains will outlive your DK50 and you can buy a bigger mule with
no issues of overpowering the snow blower ever.

You will be abloe to push the tractoe out with the loader if you get in to far pushing snow BUT

The snow blower will eliminate the snow stacking issue or trying to plow with a bucket.

Sure you may not use it every year but YOU WILL OWN WHAT YOU NEED FOREVER and the time it takes to mount the chains and snow clearer are a part of a saturday as long as you keep the drivelines greased and the chains dry and hanging inthe garage or wherever you park it.

A truck mounted snow plow by itself will cost you much much more than a 6-7 foot rear mounted Pronovost snow blower
with a chute extension.


Spending good money on a very strong piece of equipment does not cost you money as it will have a very long
service life and a high resale value especially when you want to offer it for sale.


The other plausible option is purchasing one of the small JD 2 series sub compact tractors with a soft cab, front mounted snow blower chains and loaded rears.

they are about 15 grand plus tax with a loader and no snow blower

A smaller mule would work with a smaller snow caster (5 foot) in your situation for
sure BUT I hate front mounts simply because they are more work and more expensive
to buy because of the mounting frame and when they screw up they really screw up


Saying that you could buy a good Pronovost rear mount for the 23 horsepower series 2 tractor and handle everything mother nature throws at you. The only issue is the vibration from engine due to the timing being advanced to gat around the emmisions for tier 3 BUT thats easy to fix in the blink of an eye.

A smaller mule will give you more manuevering room and you can use the hydro to its advantage simply by turning in the seat slightly to watch the world go by as you reverse down the path with the snow blower opening the road.

It ALL depends on your sanity level: but I would not want to take out a 5 figure mortgage for a plow truck that will hoover when it comes time to trade it in as all plow trucks (even trucks set up for plowing at the factory) are suspect in truck dealers opinion simply from frame damage.

 

[tcreeley]

This recent unpleasantness with the snow will soon be but a memory. :laughing:

Seriously, if that was a very rare event for your location, I would upgrade to 4x4 pickup and call that a 95% solution. That last 5% isn't worth spending money on for plows and such. For the rare times you need to clear deep snow, the tractor FEL will do it, maybe you need chains.

Good advice.

 

[tcartwri]

Somehow, I think there's going to be a whole lot of consumer interest in awd or 4wd vehicles in your area...

 

[nybirdman]

Since you have a tractor:cheapest way out is a heavy duty rear blade.That combined with you FEL you should be ok.I would never put a plow on a 4WD truck..too much of a beating.
We had a similar event in Dec.snow,freezing rair,layers of ice. I had to take my front plow off and dig out with my bucket(with tooth-bar).I couldn't have done it with-out the tooth bar.I was three hours going two hundred yards this way.

 

[Buckgnarly]

I own multiple plow trucks, a rear blower, and a front 7.5' Fisher I made to fit my FEL. All have pros and cons, but the absolute last thing I would ever want to use is a rear blade. Granted we get a ton of snow here, but I just don't get how people use them for snow removal. Seems way to slow, and cannot stack.

I use trucks my 90% of the time because it is much faster and easier. Once the banks get high though, the blower and FEL plow knock them down and back. If you do not get a lot of snow, the homemade FEL plow would be your cheapest choice, second would be a used beater truck with plow.

 

[motownbrowne]

Rear blades work fine and they are cheap. I'd buy a snowblower for the three point for 1000$ on craigslist, though.

 

[dave1949]

I've never tried a rear blade in snow, don't have a rear blade. Like Buckgnarly I have trouble seeing a rear blade being very useful in deep snow. I wait until the storm is over and then clear. Our snows rarely exceed 12" so I can get away with that. I have cleared 20" in one shot with just a FEL; that takes a while and convinced me to get a blower.

For David, he would have a year-round use for a rear blade at least, so if it gets him through the occasional snow, that may be the better choice.

My impression is most of David's snow is the heavy very wet kind which may not blow very well. He isn't going to build up snow banks along the driveway all winter so there is probably no worry about running out of space for plowing or blading.