Yard-tractor Snowblower?

Skyhawk · Sep 17, 2003

I have an 1848HV Sabre (18hp Briggs, with hydro), and want to get a snowblower. I live in south-central PA, and we get 4-8" snows relatively often, and we get an occasional 'big' snow of 24"+. I have a gravel driveway, in decent shape, that's ~ 900' long, with a bit of a curvey slope in one area. I've been using a 4x4 ATV with a front mount blade, and this does fine with snows up to about 12". (Yes, we were snowed-in last winter!) /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

So the question is, would I be better off getting a 42" single-stage snowblower for the front of my Sabre (~$1300), or a decent walk-behind 2-stage snowblower, like an Ariens 1128 (11hp, 28", also for ~$1300)? Or, are there other affordable options that I should consider? Thanks in advance for any input.

JeffreyG · Sep 17, 2003

Don't know much about it. But I'll give comments anyway

Walk behind snowblowers work good. My new garden tractor will have a plow for messing around. I didn't want to spend the big bucks for tractor mounted snowblower. Besides, if there is REAL snow, I bet you'd need quite the tractor to keep from getting stuck and to manuvere around. The walk behind doesn't get stuck. Mine weighs 240 lb, I think, and if it bogs down, you can literally push it or pull it, so you can't really get it stuck. And I've cleared 3 feet of snow with it fine.

My snowblower is a two-stage, 9hp, 29" wide, 21" high, scraper and skids adjust to avoid gravel no problem.

Here is a good website for walk behind snowblower discussions:
http://www.whatsthebestsnowblower.com/

snowman · Sep 17, 2003

If the blowers are basically identical in all respects, primarily cost, I'd say go with the one that attaches to your Sabre instead of the walk behind blower.

Walk behind blowers do require alot of effort and muscle, especially with the wet stuff. The Sabre with you on it will have a good amount of weight I assume, which would help you greatly.

It may not be as manuveurable (sp) as a walk behind, but at least you're riding and not tiring yourself out.

Rick Jay · Sep 17, 2003

GaryB,

Welcome to TBN!

I know nothing about your specific tractor, but my dad has a 1973 Gilson 16 h.p. gear tractor with a 36" single stage snow thrower. He's had it since 1973. It has worked well for him. For a while, I had a 10 h.p. Bolens walk behind that I only used on heavy snows. It is a workout, to say the least. I only have about 100' of driveway with a parking area. I can't imagine using a walk-behind on 900'! Yikes!!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

If your tractor is in good condition and you expect to have it for quite some time, I would recommend you get the tractor mounted snowblower. I would also recommend tire chains. AND...for your own comfort...some sort of cab.....or a very warm snowsuit with goggles.

Good Luck,

~Rick

BigEddy · Sep 18, 2003

So I'm going against the grain.
Get the walk-behind.
2 Reasons - First you save wear and tear on your expensive tractor and you can store it all winter away from the snow and the slop (albeit at the cost of maintaining a second motor but total hours operation therefore cost filters, fuel, oil, will be the same)
Second - I don't think you will be pleased with the tractor performance. The snowblower is heavy, it hangs way out front, it reduces your traction substantially. You make up for it with chains and lots of weights. Now you get stuck. Fun to get out. Because the tractor is 40" wide, they sell you a 42" blower. Sounds great, and works great until you get that 24" snow. Then you don't have enough horsepower to deal with that much snow. I recommend you stick with the quad for the light snows, and get a walk behind for when you get a really heavy snow. Or - call a neighbour once every couple of months.

For my 300' drive, I use a 5' rear blower on my compact, but I've got a blade for my Garden tractor and a walk behind, plus my neighbour has a blower on his 318, so I've tried all options. The blade is fastest for a small fall, the 5' blower the most used solution. My neighbour uses my walk behind more than I do and his blower cost more than all my bits combined.

Marko · Sep 19, 2003

Gary ,

Welcome ,

Here is my 2 cents , get the one that attaches to you tractor.

I have a White Series LT15 (15.5HP) with a 42" 2 stage blower for the front. I live in New Hampshire and last winter was a bad winter. The machine handled the job fine. One thing you will need that you did not mention is tire weights and chains for the rear wheels. This is a must to counter-balance the heavy blower and to give traction to the rear end. For what it is worth I sold my 6HP walk behind and put the money towards the attachment for the tractor. One machine is much easier to take care of then two. I paid about $1100 for mine and I already had the wheel weights and chains.

Hope this helps

Mark

MossRoad · Sep 19, 2003

The key words there are "two stage".

A two stage blower tends to work much better than a single stage powered by the same engine.

Rick Jay · Sep 19, 2003

GaryB,

So...have we helped make up your mind yet? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

One other possibility. Do they make a small plow for your tractor? If so, that would work well when you get anywhere from a few inches of the heavy stuff to about 10" of the powdery stuff. The plow is much faster than a blower.

Then get the walk behind blower for the very heavy snowfalls.

This is what I used (before I bought my Kubota). I had a small plow on my Honda lawn tractor and a 10 hp Bolens walk-behind that I only brought out for the heavy stuff. I only have about 100' of driveway, but I do have to work up-hill to get to the street.

I'm thinking that if you get only the walk-behind, the first heavy snowfall you use it, on about your third 900' pass or so, your forearms and/or back are going to be really wishing you were driving your tractor. On the other hand, if you get the tractor mount snowblower, you probably will get stuck a couple of times, but with chains and extra weights, you'll probably be able to back out easily most of the time.

As far as single vs. two stage blowers, I think the two stage will toss the snow a bit futher, but even the single stage should be able to toss it across a typical driveway, and that's all you probably really need to do for most of your 900'.

I'm also not so sure the front mount snow blower will affect your traction as much as some say. When you're actually blowing snow, the majority of the blower weight is resting on the skid shoes. Again, my dad uses a 30 year old gear drive tractor, and it's always been preferential to a walk-behind for his 130' driveway.

I will add that blowing snow, especially heavy wet stuff, really works an engine hard. If the snow is deep and heavy, you need to go slow. I think a hydro transmission allows you to easily adjust the tractor speed to the snow depth.

If you only had 100'...maybe even 200', I wouldn't have any problem at all recommending a good walk behind. But I keep thinking about 900' (that's about how far our driveway is down the street we live on) and trying to imagine walking that distance pushing a snowblower for 7 or 8 passes.

Well, I guess we'll all be interested in hearing what you decide to do. Feel free to bounce more questions off of us.

~Rick

mainiak1 · Sep 20, 2003

I own a Wheel Horse 20 HP 46" blower I do a 330' paved driveway. This works fine for me. I wouldn't mind using this for up to a 600' foot driveway. I'm 46 years old and have used snow blowers since I was 10 years old, walk behind
and with tractors. I have a cab with mine as a tractor when you are blowing no matter care full you are you get snow on you. You have to put on full snowmobile gear or you will get wet. If I had to do that size driveway I would buy a used
truck with a plow. You may have to pay a little more than your budget and it might be ugly. I don't think you will be happy with anything less than this. My blower would take about one hour and ten minutes to do a drveway that size with 10" of snow. I don't have that much time to get out in the morning. Good luck!

JeffreyG · Sep 22, 2003

Yeah, 900 feet is a lot, now that I think about it.

When I was a kid we shared a 1300 feet rough gravel driveway with our neighbor. He owned an old Dogde Ramcharger with a plow and kept it clear. We had about 75 feet of our own driveway off of that which I cleared with a Cub Cadet and a blade. I could not have cleared the whole 1300 feet with a garden tractor or with a walk behind snowblower.

Currently I have 150 feet gravel driveway. Walk-behind snowblower clears that nicely. But with my new tractor I still want a blade because I think it will be easier and quicker if there is less than 10 inches of snow. Maybe it will just be more fun /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

BigEddy · Sep 22, 2003

900' - Wow - Missed that.
I retract my suggestion. I wouldn't want a walk behind for 900'. My drive is 300'. That's long enough for a walk behind.

However, I haven't had good experience with a blower on a yard tractor, so I'm not sure the Yard tractor blower will do it for you either, unless things are flat, and snows are light.

I use a blower on my compact, and swear by it, but in your case, I don't know what to recommend now. The front blade is great for light snows, but can get overwhelmed. A blower is better for heavy snows, but too much or wet snow will bog you down.

If you do go with the blower, make sure it's 2 stage, and you will need chains and weight.

Either way - I wouldn't want to walk a 900' driveway 6 or 8 times!

Skyhawk · Sep 23, 2003

Sorry for the delay getting back. We haven't had power since Isabel went through. (It's nice having lights again!)

First, thanks to everyone for sharing your knowledge. I should have been clearer in my original post. I've never used a snowblower before, and really wasn't sure what they're capable of. For 'normal' snows of less than a foot, I was planning to use the snowblower around the garage and parking area (~100 feet), and continue to use the 4x4 ATV and snowblade to clear the rest of the lane. But the main thing I'm interested in, is a way to clear the 'big' snows (20"+) that we occasionally get. The ATV just can't handle snows that deep, so we get snowed in! If it takes me all day to open the road, that would be OK as long as I could get it open.

From what I've gathered here, and on the snowblower forum (thanks JeffreyG!), I really should have a 2-stage snowblower for the gravel. Unfortunately, the blower that's available for my Sabre is single stage. I really like the idea of 'sitting' and letting the tractor do the work, but I'm not in a position to trade it on a new one right now. So that's steering me towards a decent size walk-behind. The timing is not that bad -- I'm in decent physical shape, and should be able to handle the 'workout' for the next 10 years or so. Then when it comes time to replace the Sabre, I'll get a 4wd compact tractor, with a 2-stage snowblower (I'd really like to do that now, but can't afford to pay cash, and don't want another payment).

Thanks again for all of your input!

Argee · Sep 24, 2003

Home Depot, Sears, TSC sells 2-stage snowblowers that will fit your tractor. I live in a snowbelt area where we average 10-15+ feet of snowfall annually. I too have a gravel drive that I bladed with my garden tractor for several years. I've had a blower for the last couple of seasons and it works really well.

Skyhawk · Sep 24, 2003

Argee, are their blowers 'generic', or specific for my Sabre? If it is generic, is it hard to adapt? Thanks! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

skent · Oct 1, 2003

if you go the tractor-blower route, add an extra 150 to 200 pounds of ballast to the rear of the tractor along with chains. I have a 30 year old sears with a 42" blower and I have great traction going forward and blowing. But try to back up with the blower lifted and it takes weight off your rear wheels. I added 200 pounds of home made ballast to the rear of the tractor and it works great now.

5030 · Oct 1, 2003

Gary:

I would'nt get a snowblower at all. I'd hire a SNOW REMOVAL service. Not only is it a tax writeoff, but for the price of a snowblower, you can have your drive cleared for years. Heck, after a few years, you would need a new blower to replace the one you wore out anyway.