Back dragging with a front snowblower ?!

[ve9aa]

Do any of you guys do I like do and do some backdragging with your front (or even rear) mounted snowblower?

In my case, there are several areas where I tend to do it a lot more than others.

Two notable locations are:
Out next to the end of the driveway, where it meets the road, the county, in all their wisdom, put lots and lots of "reclaim" (tiny balls of reclaimed asphalt that never sticks together) for the first 10-15' of my driveway. This has the habit of seldom freezing once exposed to sun and salt....and you know they salt the roads like mad here, so consequently I am "chucking rocks" like mad out there. I've found that by raising the blower up, then setting it down on the apron of the asphalt and back dragging the snow "into" my driveway and then snowblowing where the driveway *IS* frozen, I am chucking way less gravel.

Second location is near my garage. I have a heated slab and on the south side of the house, my garage door also reflects a lot of light so for various weeks throughout the winter my driveway can thaw out close to the garage.

There are a couple "dead end" areas with obstacles where turning off the blower and backdragging for a couple feet makes more sense than potential risks of running an auger into something.

Anyways - I am only on my 3rd yr with the 'Bota and 'Blower but find I really like doing this mostly to reduce the chucking of rocks.

Anyone else do it?

 

[mcmxi]

Not intentionally! But if it works for you that's great. I typically have to raise the 3-point blower to avoid dragging snow over an area I just cleaned up.

Maybe you could patent a bolt on polyurethane cutting edge to use for back dragging with snow blowers.

 

[sagor]

Nope, that is why I have a 3pt blade on the back of the BX25. Blower in front, blade for scraping or back blading areas like concrete landings. Also, I have no qualms using the blade at the road edge, pushing anything loose back towards the ditch.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I back drag the bucket all the time to get most of the snow away from garage door
Using the blower that way seems ok to me.....

We're finally getting our normal January snow as I type......
..should be an interesting morning in 8 hrs.....

 

[RCW]

Nope.

I don’t think my older BX2750D blower and front hitch front are intended for the purpose.

Just seems designed for forward motion, not reverse.

Just my opinion.

For some of the conditions like you mentioned, I hook up the rear blade that I bought couple falls ago.

 

[nbryan]

I use it for small amounts on occasion but that's only being lazy because I've almost always got the boxblade on the back when snowblowing, and that's something it excels at - scooping snow from tight corners and dragging it into a pile the blower can tackle.

 

[BX'r]

I back drag the 2750 in order to pull snow over patches of bare ground .
I also plow small amounts of snow with it short distances to an area where I can blow it.

 

[Orangeglow]

I have a front mounted blower. I back drag, in the float position, in a couple of areas of my yard. It does a great job of leveling out the snow in a gravel area. I hate seeing gravel get blown thru my blower.

 

[RCW]

I said I don’t, but caught myself back dragging the blower this morning.

Same as others; in float to smooth out a spot I left with the back blade.

 

[Mowbizz]

Don’t do it intentionally but I don’t see any harm in back dragging in a limited manner.
when I used to plow snow, I had a Sno-Way plow with down pressure….that was a backdragging dream!

 

[Orange1forme]

I backdrag with mine in multiple places.
I have a back blade, too, but at times it is better to use the blower.

So far I cannot see any harm to the blower, its components or the tractor.