To Dae 06. What kind of plow set up do you have? Do you have a straight snow pusher mounted in front of the bucket or on a quick attach with the bucket removed or do you have power angle blade on a quick attach? Usually angle blades have some play in the center pin that allows the blade to follow the contour of the ground much better.
First time using my front (FEL) mount snow blade
- Thread starter Dae06
- Start date
I plow a lot of residential driveways and use my rear blade like this frequently to push snow into the grass, and to find the pavement edges. It glides right over the grass.
When my driveway was gravel I spun the blade around 180 deg and plowed forward.
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Thanks to you guys, I bought the rear plow to go with the front blade I already had. Turned the back blade around backwards, put both the front and the rear blades in float, gear selector in medium, and I'm able to plow my one mile of gravel and dirt roads easily without digging up the road. This is on an MX5800. It's a big and heavy machine, and the combo of the tractor and these implements is wonderful.
Thanks again for the extremely helpful input!
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Thanks again for the extremely helpful input!
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"Keep your blade tilted back", Do you mean keep the top of the blade tilted forward, which brings the bottom of the blade tilted back?
Exactly. If you do the opposite of that, it's more likely to dig in way too much and the springs won't work as well if you happen to hit a big rock or something else
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I've got a similar driveway to a number of you guys (steel and turny with drop offs on the side) and I can relate to the original poster's challenges. The difference between a bobcat pushing snow and a tractor is the wheelbase and the length of the plow arms and the distance from wheels to the plow blade.
I've found that tipping the front blade back results in the lower front arms digging into the dirt and making a bigger mess than scalping the drive a bit.
My best solution to plowing has been to make sure to box scrape the drive prior to the first snow, and then plowing with the box blade on the back. I plow with the blade about 2-3" above the dirt and the box blade on the dirt to catch the extra. That gap on the front blade prevents nearly all scalping and the box finishes the drive pretty well.
Around here the snow all evaporates within a few days, so I don't try to create a nice packed snow surface, which my explain why I use a different technique than is required in other regions.
I've found that tipping the front blade back results in the lower front arms digging into the dirt and making a bigger mess than scalping the drive a bit.
My best solution to plowing has been to make sure to box scrape the drive prior to the first snow, and then plowing with the box blade on the back. I plow with the blade about 2-3" above the dirt and the box blade on the dirt to catch the extra. That gap on the front blade prevents nearly all scalping and the box finishes the drive pretty well.
Around here the snow all evaporates within a few days, so I don't try to create a nice packed snow surface, which my explain why I use a different technique than is required in other regions.
Not as big and heavy as my M9000 but my blade is 10 feet wide too. I keep my skid shoes set to give me 1 to 1 1/2" clearance under the cutting edge. My point and shoot camera took a dump but I'm hoping 'Santa' will bring me a new one. If 'she' does, I'll take some pictures and post them. No chains for me, don't need them with an 8,000 pound machine. Plow and frame weighs a bit over 1000 pounds. Bought it used from the county and needed a new cutting edge. Cutting edge alone weighs over 100 pounds. Got it for doing the road more than the driveway. Out here where the buses don't run, snow means the road department might make it in 3 days, maybe. 10 foot plow is 2 passes, maybe 3 at most. I have just under a mile to do to get to the pavement. Besides, my neighbors appreciate it. Right now it's black but this summer it will go from black to Orange II. Sold my blower, was just to slow and I don't like using the bucket because it won't 'roll' the snow like a plow will and it's hard on the bucket cutting edge doing the road anyway.Thanks to you guys, I bought the rear plow to go with the front blade I already had. Turned the back blade around backwards, put both the front and the rear blades in float, gear selector in medium, and I'm able to plow my one mile of gravel and dirt roads easily without digging up the road. This is on an MX5800. It's a big and heavy machine, and the combo of the tractor and these implements is wonderful.
Thanks again for the extremely helpful input!
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With my MX5800, the front blade, rear blade, chains and ballast in rear tires, I'm about 9,000 lbs, but I was sure glad to have chains when I plowed yesterday. There was a previous 2" thick slab of ice on all my roads under the snow from rain over the past few days followed by freezing Temps followed by snow. I'm actually looking at getting front chains now, after that fiasco. Slick as snot
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I run into this type of snow conditions often with my plow truck. I have found if I drive the truck with the plow UP back and forth a few times it will pack the wet snow down and give my plow a harder surface to ride on and not dig up the gravel.
I assume you have the shoes off? Otherwise they dig in and make deep ruts and the blade would be too far off of the ground. I did try this, but it still kept digging in. Maybe I just need some practice. I've turned to using my rear box blade a lot in this situation. Hopefully it will freeze hard and make it easier.
The blacktop driveway I plow is a piece of cake. I just float the blade and go.
Well yeah, on blacktop it'd be easy to plow without the shoes. On gravel and dirt though, you scalp the top of the road off. You can quickly lose hundreds of dollars in gravel.
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RCW
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BX2360, FEL, MMM, BX2750D snowblower. 1953 Minneapolis Moline ZAU
Yeah. Like Mister said, shoes are a must on stone/dirt regardless if it's frozen down or not.
I bought a plow for my BX this year to plow a gravel driveway and small parking area. I did a bunch of reading on plowing snow on gravel, and quite a few people suggested putting a piece of pipe over the cutting edge of the plow.
So I did it, and it does work. It gets most of the snow up without picking up much gravel. The idea is that it pushes the top 1" of snow into the gravel, but picks up the rest. Some people have tried this with PVC and were successful, but I made a crude version out of steel that bolts to the plow. Some have welded a pipe right to the cutting edge as well.. I wanted something removable because I will end up paving in the future.
My plow didn't come with the shoe kit, and it doesn't seem to need it with the pipe.
So I did it, and it does work. It gets most of the snow up without picking up much gravel. The idea is that it pushes the top 1" of snow into the gravel, but picks up the rest. Some people have tried this with PVC and were successful, but I made a crude version out of steel that bolts to the plow. Some have welded a pipe right to the cutting edge as well.. I wanted something removable because I will end up paving in the future.
My plow didn't come with the shoe kit, and it doesn't seem to need it with the pipe.