Snowblower and gravel roads

[RCW]

As RCW said, skid shoes can and will sink in soft gravel also. When I have that happen, I just put the blower down then lift it slightly instead of leaving in float. That sometimes helps too.

Very true; little lift takes all of that away.

Just a PITA at 0500 in the dark when you’re trying to get to work. Like I said before, not insurmountable. Like @ItBmine says, just take it out of float and keep blower up a little bit.

 

[ItBmine]

Very true; little lift takes all of that away.

Just a PITA at 0500 in the dark when you’re trying to get to work. Like I said before, not insurmountable. Like @ItBmine says, just take it out of float and keep blower up a little bit.

In an ideal world it would be like the old days and get to minus 40 before it snows, then it's no problem, LOL

But now I finally understand what all the southerners were always complaining about because now I'm even dealing with wet snow and thaw/rain cycles.

Here it is January 8th and I still have gravel showing. I usually have 6 or more feet of snowfall by now, LOL

 

[nbryan]

My snowblower doubles as a grass trimmer and gravel ridge leveler at the beginning of winter. It's been through 7 winters of this, and other than some paint chipped off here and there it still rips through the snowbanks like new. The inside of the blower housing and chute are nicely shined up.

So your having relatively smooth gravel to use one on will be no problem.

I have found that adjusting the glider feet down a notch or 2 when in softer, less frozen ground conditions at the beginning of the season can help avoid gravel scooping. Then raise the feet back up when the ground has frozen solid.

 

[Like Tractors]

This works pretty darn goodly on gravel. I have wide skid plates on the back side of the blower also.

 

[je1279]

This works pretty darn goodly on gravel. I have wide skid plates on the back side of the blower also.

I don't think I've ever seen edge tamers used on a snowblower before, but that is a great idea.

 

[Like Tractors]

I don't think I've ever seen the edge tamers used on a snowblower before, but that is a great idea.

It's not beyond me to do things that aren't supposed to be done! What I really like about my snowblower is, if I get it put on the tractor before snow is predicted for our area, the snow usually goes somewhere else. Those poor folks south of me probably aren't happy!

 

[ItBmine]

This works pretty darn goodly on gravel. I have wide skid plates on the back side of the blower also.

Now that's how they should build them from factory!!

 

[ctfjr]

I suffered for 20 years at the old house with the same issue. Our driveway was about 500', uphill and curvy. Until the ground really froze, my kids used watch and call me the earth mover king. Threw a lot of gravel into the woods.

I found that extending the shoes to their longest and pulling back on the top link helped a lot. Not 100% but cut the shear pin replacements by more that 50%

 

[ItBmine]

I suffered for 20 years at the old house with the same issue. Our driveway was about 500', uphill and curvy. Until the ground really froze, my kids used watch and call me the earth mover king. Threw a lot of gravel into the woods.

I found that extending the shoes to their longest and pulling back on the top link helped a lot. Not 100% but cut the shear pin replacements by more that 50%

LOL. Yes, on a 3 pt tractor blower that helps too, shorten your top link.

 

[HorsPower]

What is your typical annual snowfall amount? Loader mounted blade with a rear three point snowblower (like Mcmxl has) is a pretty tough combination to beat. You only need to mount the snowblower when snowfall is adequate to merit doing so, and the snowplow is easily removed from the loader when you need to go switch back to other loader work.

I have the same setup as CaptSeabee, front mounter blower and I can put my loader mounted blade on the back. Mounting the subframe and front mounted blower is a bit of a task and requires removing the loader. So basically I use my loader with the 7.5' blade, unless we get a large enough snow that's merit mounting the snowblower.

Unless you get a lot of annual snowfall, I would suggest building a good loader mounted snowplow and use skid shoes for your gravel drive. Add the rear mounted snowblower if you find it necessary.

 

[Donystoy]

LOL. Yes, on a 3 pt tractor blower that helps too, shorten your top link.

That is the one thing that the factory front mount blower can't do. You cannot adjust the angle at which the blower enters the snow. Years ago, when I retrofitted a blower housing to my old B7200 I made it adjustable as shown in the picture.

 

[Bearcatrp]

Found someone selling a barely used rear 3 point land pride snow blower for 2400.00. Haven’t really had a big snowfall in last 5 years but still contemplating getting it. So far my rear blade and front blade are doing the job.

 

[ItBmine]

Found someone selling a barely used rear 3 point land pride snow blower for 2400.00. Haven’t really had a big snowfall in last 5 years but still contemplating getting it. So far my rear blade and front blade are doing the job.

I like redundancy. I only do my own personal driveway, but no way I'm getting caught with my pants down, LOL
And if these both fail, I can put a rear blower on one of my antique show tractors, LOL

Only wish I had this much reliability in my vehicles, LOL

 

[Bearcatrp]

Up there, you folks need redundancy. I would do the same if I lived in Canada.

 

[nbryan]

I like redundancy. I only do my own personal driveway, but no way I'm getting caught with my pants down, LOL
And if these both fail, I can put a rear blower on one of my antique show tractors, LOL

Only wish I had this much reliability in my vehicles, LOL

No blade or RTV here but between the front snow blower, box blade, and front end loader I've also got some redundancy.

 

[ItBmine]

Up there, you folks need redundancy. I would do the same if I lived in Canada.

Yes, that's the thing. If my tractor brakes in the summer and I can't mow the lawn no big deal. If it breaks in the winter I'm hiring someone or I'm screwed, LOL

 

[Papadiver]

Guys thanks for all of your suggestions. All good stuff. I found a 6 foot hydraulic snow blade, skid steer quick connect on marketplace. Brand new never used. I got that for my Ford 1720. That solved a few problems. Especially correcting the sore neck and back from bending around all the time. I’m learning how to use that and adjust it so I don’t tear my gravel roads up. And it works wonderful on the blacktop! If I should update the tractor later I can still use that with whatever. I do like the idea of the Kubota x1100c UTV with a BOSS plow. We got 4 more inches of snow yesterday on top of the 8 with ice we already had from last Monday. So I’m still having fun and getting plenty of exercise!

Ron

 

[McMXi]

If you look at @mcmxi picture at post #9, and @CAPT Seabee picture at post #13, their shoes are outboard to the housing, which is great. However, the shoes are "slotted" to allow changing cutting height. These are both much larger blowers than my little 4-footer and a better design than mine.

I still don't consider ideal, as the "slots" can allow the shoes to slide up if not paying attention. Not a deal-breaker by any means, just pointing it out.

Just some clarification re my snow blower, the holes in the outboard shoes are discreet and not slotted. There are three sets of square holes for carriage bolts which allow adjustment of elevation and angle. Also, the blower came with the optional rear shoes that are adjustable for height.

I only use the blower on asphalt so I want the cutting edge to be very close to the surface of the driveway which is different to most who blow on gravel surfaces.