Clearing snow. Kubota, quad with plow, or snow blower. Go

[fatjay]

My '71 new holland is pretty much unstopable with it's 46" single stage, and can tackle up to 18" without issue, wet, dry, does not matter. Might have to make more than one pass, but it does the job and has never lost traction, never broken down, and never given me an issue beyond a dead battery.

So I bought a Kubota B8200 4wd HST with 50" blower. Now I can make fewer passes, lose traction even less, and build a new cab that doesn't shake like michael j fox.

The new holland's shortcoming is it's wheel base and weight. It gets real shakey running over unblown or packed snow. It's inlet is only 18" which covers MOST stuff, but we do get 3' drifts and they are a challenge. It doesn't have 3pt, so I can't hook up the blade behind it to clean stuff up after I've passed. I'm not sure how much longer the transmission is going to last, it will grind the trans before it spins the tires. I have a spare in the shed, but who wants to swap a trans in the dead of winter while it's snowing?

 

[Tooljunkie]

'92 GMC with a heavy prehistoric IHC plow. I push wide,double wide driveway for beginning of winter. Three parking areas and a large turn-around for bigger trucks.

My little kubota gets to spend winter indoors, this year its heated. Dont need it unless i have to move a trailer or pallet.

 

[Missouribound]

Missouribound, you must be an optimist! You really think you'll get any snow? All of last winter we got a 2" snow.

Yeah I know..
I moved here from the WI / IL border. I've seen 24" of snow and then 20 below temperatures. After I moved I would send an email to friends back there after they got a big snow fall...usually with a picture of me sitting in a lawn chair drinking a beer pointing to the thermometer. But it COULD happen.
I'm not wanting or wishing for it....trust me. I did bring a snow blower with me when I moved...I gave it to my brother in law the first year I was here...I believe he has used it once. If I get to move some snow....fine. But if I don't that is perfectly fine as well.

 

[D2Cat]

Hey, FatJay your picture of your area with the B8200 just saved my butt!

My wife has been after me for a long time to clean my shop area. Even offered to help several times. I showed her your pictures. She just shook her head as she mumbled something while walking off!

Women just think different. Guess that is good, I wouldn't want her kitchen to look as bad as my shop...I wouldn't eat there!

 

[SLIMSHADIE]

Still trying to figure it out.
1st year FEL and rear blade. Snow piles 5' solid across property with kink in my neck from rear blade. 2 hour cleanups.
2nd year Front blower and rear blade. Bent fan blade on gravel and rebuilt it. Much faster but 1/2 the snow.
3rd year Front blade and rear blade. No snow to speak of... used twice?
4th year This year, front blade worked good on first snow. Use rear blade to pull away from buildings.

Sure beats a shovel. All the years have been different but ready now between FEL, front blower, front blade and rear blade. Now I wish I had a cab!

 

[car compulsive]

We live in the drier, middle section of the southern lower peninsula of Michigan, so we don't get as many big dumps of lake effect snow except for storms. However, we get lots of 1-3" light overnight LES that I clear off my rather steep 75' driveway starting at 4:30 AM. When I had a JD 318 with a blower on the front, I only brought it out when the snow was deeper than 3-4" or wet. Otherwise, I'd hand shovel. I bought the Kubota with a snow blade and now use it whenever I have more than 1" of snow.

With turf tires and 4WD, I have no problem with slipping on the asphalt - plowing down or up the driveway. My JD, with chains, couldn't blow snow uphill and sometimes barely made it up the drive at all.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Thought my 4wd went out last night,drop blade put in drive and wouldnt move. Its so mild tires just spin. Never been this slick before. Get rolling then drop plow. Pushed 1' of wet snow 20-25 feet wide down driveway. Low range, wipers on high and skinny pedal down. Temp dropping so traction will be getting better.

 

[lamanated]

If your driveway sees a lot of wind, get the snow moved on the downwind side, otherwise the snow will go over the bump on the upwind side and curl down on the driveway into a lovely bigger pile vs being swept across the driveway.. A blower gets it away, and when the sun is out, it allows the low sun to heat up the ground faster, vs being in the snow bank's shadow .Per a conversation with a scientist/weatherman at a expo we attended, your driveway needs to have some dark exposed for the sun to heat it up,, it will just reflect off of the ice and snow.. so get some dirt exposed..

 

[fatjay]

Hey, FatJay your picture of your area with the B8200 just saved my butt!

My wife has been after me for a long time to clean my shop area. Even offered to help several times. I showed her your pictures. She just shook her head as she mumbled something while walking off!

Women just think different. Guess that is good, I wouldn't want her kitchen to look as bad as my shop...I wouldn't eat there!

I need more garage space. But it's my space and I know where everything is. No one goes in there but me and i have a half dozen projects going at any given time.

My daughter has offered to clean it on more than one occasion for me. I told her she wasn't allowed to touch a thing in that garage until I die. Then she can do as she pleases

 

[NEPA Guy]

Personally I like to use the front mount snowblower on the 2650 in my nice heated cab while my wife follows me on the atv with the plow to clean up the spots I missed.

 

[1999harleyRN]

We finally got about 3 inches yesterday (could see the dark clouds of the LES bands to the north). Even though the wife's lead-sled Caravan could have made it up and down the 1/4 mile drive without too much issue I figured I should clear the snow to be safe. Of course the wife said I was just "playing" with the tractor; but since buying a "used" L3800 with 110 hours the first part of October, all I have done with it is move some split firewood and hay bales, and leveled off an old goose pen.

Previously had used a well worn 9N with back blade to clean the driveway, the FEL is going to take some getting used to. I have put the back blade on the Kubota just in case. My only concern now is will I need to get chains for her.

BTW, I have a big case of tractor envy for all of you that have heated cabs and blowers!

 

[NoJacketRequired]

BTW, I have a big case of tractor envy for all of you that have heated cabs and blowers!

No need for envy. I have one tractor (B7510) with a heated cab and front-mounted blower and one tractor (B7200) with no cab and a rear mounted blower. They both work well - I just have to wear a lot more clothing to operate the cab-less unit. Of course the cab-less unit feels a lot more maneuverable and is a lot easier to get on and off. Visibility without a cab is SO much better.

Last week when I was blowing snow with the cab-equipped B7510, at temperatures right around the freezing point, I had to actually turn the heater off as I was getting too warm. Oh the humanity!

 

[bearskinner]

We got about 3" last night, and its light and fluffy, but I want to play with the front snow blade, so I'll probably go out after breakfast and hit the driveway down to the main road, a little more than 1/4 mile total.

 

[MikeyA]

We finally got about 3 inches yesterday (could see the dark clouds of the LES bands to the north). Even though the wife's lead-sled Caravan could have made it up and down the 1/4 mile drive without too much issue I figured I should clear the snow to be safe. Of course the wife said I was just "playing" with the tractor; but since buying a "used" L3800 with 110 hours the first part of October, all I have done with it is move some split firewood and hay bales, and leveled off an old goose pen.

Previously had used a well worn 9N with back blade to clean the driveway, the FEL is going to take some getting used to. I have put the back blade on the Kubota just in case. My only concern now is will I need to get chains for her.

BTW, I have a big case of tractor envy for all of you that have heated cabs and blowers!

What type of tire do you have? Unless you have any large hills to deal with, I think you will be ok without chains. I have turf tires on my B2650, and they did fine without chains on our last snow. Your L weighs quite a bit more than my B series, and that is a plus too.

 

[1999harleyRN]

MikeyA - sorry it took so long to respond (I work nights). I have the R4 industrial tires, and do have a steep hill up to our upper pasture, and a short steep section down by the road. So far they have done well when moving hay and firewood except on real muddy days. When I woke up for work tonight there was a fresh 6 inches, so will have to plow in the morning when I get home .

NoJacketRequired - I envy the blower more than the cab, but it would be nice to plow in a flannel shirt instead of Carharts and jam out to some Allman Bros

 

[NoJacketRequired]

NoJacketRequired - I envy the blower more than the cab, but it would be nice to plow in a flannel shirt instead of Carharts and jam out to some Allman Bros

There be no jammin' in the cab of our B7510 - it's WAAAY too loud in there already. I wear my David Clark earmuffs when blowing snow, otherwise hearing loss is almost a given. Yeah, it really is that loud inside the cab. It seems to trap all the HST noise. In the summer I take the doors off and still wear 26NRR earplugs when running the mid-mount mower.

But yeah, it's really tough to have to unzip the jacket while blowing snow. Really tough...

As for the blower - I moved snow with the FEL on my first tractor, a MF-35, for two years before buying my first blower. I've never looked back, and I've convinced several neighbors to switch to blowers. They just make sense, and, ultimately, do a far better job of snow removal.

 

[Mike9]

My son has a dedicated plow truck and a quad with plow, but I can do more work with my B6200 and 6' back blade. I push the snow back off the road so the county truck can't bury my apron and mail boxes every pass. By the time they get around the corner there is nothing for the wing to pick up.

 

[torch]

Yeah, it really is that loud inside the cab. It seems to trap all the HST noise.

https://www.cnet.com/products/sony-mdr-zx770bn/

 

[sheepfarmer]

Tried out the snow blower on the B2650 for the first time on about 6 to 8 inches of not very fluffy snow on decidedly unfrozen ground. Snow blower and tractor did great, cab toasty, visibility excellent. Operator needs more practice, but at least I didn't break any shear bolts. Alternated between digging up bits of lawn and driveway with skids and leaving 4 inches of snow. Skids down as far as they will go, about 2 inches. However the surface is very uneven. Would be nice if it was flatter and harder so it could go in float.

Re: noise in cab, after trying out several b2650s with cabs, and finding them disappointingly noisy, some more than others, the dealer that sold me mine (Alderman's) offered to take one that was still in its crate, lift the seat out, and cover the metal under it with a layer of sound insulation. They did a great job, very neat and tidy, and it helps. There is already an inch of insulation under the floor mats. I no longer feel compelled to wear ear muffs, the Worktunes I have are good, but not hugely comfortable. The cab does a great job of blocking the snowblower racket, and it is just the HST gear noises that have been a problem.
There have been a couple of threads on it. The sound is not gone but it is better.I think one could put sound baffles in the ceiling to further help, but someone pointed out that the glass is probably participating in the sound reverberations, and nothing youcan do about that.

 

[NoJacketRequired]

The cab on our B7510 is an aftermarket cab. The previous owner liberally applied sound-deadening material to every flat metal surface inside the cab. I'm sure it has made some appreciable reduction in interior noise levels.

That having been said, I've spent a lifetime around some pretty noisy machines, most of them equipped with turbine engines that scream and/or rotor blades and props that hit hard in the low frequency ranges. Plus I have spent a fair bit of time as a competitive pistol shooter. Even now, in my 50's, my hearing is pretty much perfect. I don't begrudge one penny I've spent on hearing protection over the years.

In a similar vein, I have to admit that I just don't like listening to music when the audio cues from machinery are so vital to its safe and problem-free operation. I can't count the number of times I've heard, through muffs, earplugs or both, some tiny change in the sounds made by equipment, and, upon investigation, some mechanical defect was beginning to make itself heard. Besides, the steady thrum of equipment doing its job is one of the satisfactions of having and using good equipment.

But back to the topic of snow... My wife is recovering from the removal of a brain tumor which, by its presence, immobilized one leg. She has to walk with a rollator (wheeled walker) to exercise that leg. Being the loving hubby, today I blew out our lane, removing a couple of inches of snow, then scraped it with the box blade, then blew away those scrapings. Yup, I had the lane in fine shape. Guess who forgot to check the weather forecast? Yup, you guessed it... The snow began falling just as I was tucking the tractor back in the shed. Dang, guess I'm going to log some more "orange hours" tomorrow!