Choosing between using walk behind snowblower vs BX1880 FEL

[eastvt]

So, pretty new with the 1880 FEL. I’ve got 13 hours of doing all kinds of things with the bucket (wood, dirt, gravel, and some snow) and have gotten at least a small bit of skill with it. Loving the tractor so far. Don’t have a mower under it yet.

So, the tractor (with chains and loaded rear tires) is pretty small. The walk behind snowblower is of course even smaller. In Vermont we get a full range of snowfall situations.

I’ve used this Honda snowblower for 30+ years. It’s fantastic and I’ve got good skill with it. Main problems with it of course are slush, and the max speed is pretty slow compared to blowing ability for small snowfalls (under 4 inches). I get frustrated trudging along behind it at full speed, which is a slow walk, when it can do more work than it’s doing. I think it’s 10 HP, 28” wide blower. So not huge, but all the power is used to blow snow.

I’ve used the tractor for the last light snowfall and it went quite well. It was just a few inches. I know it’s going to be different with this much snow. I can’t find good tips or YouTubes about small tractor/big snow methods. On youtube those guys with BX tractors are just zipping around their paved driveway with 3 inches of snow.

I figured it would be easy to decide in many cases whether to use the tractor or the walk-behind. Slush (which we seem to get more and more of) or a couple inches of snow the tractor is a no brainer. Deep snow, the walk-behind so I can blow the snow as far away as I want. Big chunks of ice or set-up snow that fall off the metal roof, the tractor is going to be great compared to trying to chew them up with the snowblower auger.

So now we’ve got 8” of fresh, medium heavy snow and it’s not clear to me which machine I should fire up.

I know my skill with the tractor is a factor. That bucket is small, the gravel driveway isn’t thoroughly frozen, not sure how well I’ll do getting big piles of snow where I want them or not tearing up the driveway. On the other hand it’s windy out (not my favorite snowblowing weather), it’s not super deep snow but the snowblower will go at a pretty slow walk in it. (First time I used the tractor the driveway was more frozen, but I did tear up a few spots at the edges a bit more than I would have liked. Less frozen now, I think, after the warm spell we just had.)

Driveway isn’t huge, like maybe 70 yards long or so.

I’m thinking I might push half the driveway toward where I want the piles and then go out and push the farthest areas through that cleared space instead of trying to run the whole length of it with an over full bucket? Not sure of technique…

I guess this decision will get clearer with experience, but don’t want to waste time one way or another. Any tips?

 

[Hkb82]

If it were me and I was worried about the driveway I’d use the walk behind till the ground is frozen enough to limit the damage caused from the loader bucket. They aren’t ideal for snow removal but will work. If not real concerned about having to fix the driveway in the spring then the extra tractor seat time is always nice.

Best of both worlds maybe Santa will bring ya a blower for the tractor.

 

[xrocketengineer]

Edge Tamers?

 

[NHSleddog]

I can't believe this is a question a tractor owner would ask - LOL.

I am a neighbor to your East, similar situation.

I have an old snowblower, not sure when it ran last. Pretty sure it will not be run again.

Early snow, I use my bucket for it all. If you are worried about the drive leave it up an inch or so. Later in the season, I use my SSQA power angle snow plow. The beauty of the plow on the tractor is you can raise it as high as you need to push the banks.

 

[eastvt]

I started out with the tractor, and indeed I found myself taking some little chunks out of the hardpack. I did end up using the tractor for the heavy stuff the town plow had piled at the end of the drive — because they’ve got the same situation, an unfrozen road. There was a lot of gravel in that snow, and I don’t like blowing rocks with the snowblower, wears it hard. I used the tractor to clear out by the mailbox, which was full of road gravel.

It turns out this little BX1880 can really move some snow, and indeed if the driveway was frozen more I would have only used the tractor bucket and not the snowblower at all. But as it was the snowblower was fine.

I have the straight edge protector from BXpanded, which is great. Edge Tamers serve a different purpose and would be good right now, but usually I want to scrape down as close as I can. For me I wouldn’t care so much, but my wife’s balance is not great and she doesn’t like walking on ice and snow, after a bad fall that hurt her wrist badly a few years ago. I’m guessing though with the driveway frozen hard the tractor bucket would have scraped it down cleaner than I got with the snowblower today, since I didn’t want to blow a lot of rocks.

 

[jyoutz]

What I’ve found that works best for unfrozen gravel roads is a rear blade turned around 180 degrees so the curvature of the blade faces the rear. In this position, you can float the 3ph and it will scum off the snow while floating over the gravel without digging in. If the snow is deep, do the first run with the blade facing forward and hold it up about 2-3 inches, then reverse the blade and float it as I described before to finish the job.

 

[BX Woody]

So, pretty new with the 1880 FEL. I’ve got 13 hours of doing all kinds of things with the bucket (wood, dirt, gravel, and some snow) and have gotten at least a small bit of skill with it. Loving the tractor so far. Don’t have a mower under it yet.

So, the tractor (with chains and loaded rear tires) is pretty small. The walk behind snowblower is of course even smaller. In Vermont we get a full range of snowfall situations.

I’ve used this Honda snowblower for 30+ years. It’s fantastic and I’ve got good skill with it. Main problems with it of course are slush, and the max speed is pretty slow compared to blowing ability for small snowfalls (under 4 inches). I get frustrated trudging along behind it at full speed, which is a slow walk, when it can do more work than it’s doing. I think it’s 10 HP, 28” wide blower. So not huge, but all the power is used to blow snow.

I’ve used the tractor for the last light snowfall and it went quite well. It was just a few inches. I know it’s going to be different with this much snow. I can’t find good tips or YouTubes about small tractor/big snow methods. On youtube those guys with BX tractors are just zipping around their paved driveway with 3 inches of snow.

I figured it would be easy to decide in many cases whether to use the tractor or the walk-behind. Slush (which we seem to get more and more of) or a couple inches of snow the tractor is a no brainer. Deep snow, the walk-behind so I can blow the snow as far away as I want. Big chunks of ice or set-up snow that fall off the metal roof, the tractor is going to be great compared to trying to chew them up with the snowblower auger.

So now we’ve got 8” of fresh, medium heavy snow and it’s not clear to me which machine I should fire up.

I know my skill with the tractor is a factor. That bucket is small, the gravel driveway isn’t thoroughly frozen, not sure how well I’ll do getting big piles of snow where I want them or not tearing up the driveway. On the other hand it’s windy out (not my favorite snowblowing weather), it’s not super deep snow but the snowblower will go at a pretty slow walk in it. (First time I used the tractor the driveway was more frozen, but I did tear up a few spots at the edges a bit more than I would have liked. Less frozen now, I think, after the warm spell we just had.)

Driveway isn’t huge, like maybe 70 yards long or so.

I’m thinking I might push half the driveway toward where I want the piles and then go out and push the farthest areas through that cleared space instead of trying to run the whole length of it with an over full bucket? Not sure of technique…

I guess this decision will get clearer with experience, but don’t want to waste time one way or another. Any tips?

I have an 1880 and I found it’s easy to gouge the pavement with the bucket if the driveway is uneven. Around 4 years ago I bought the k connect quick attachment and the front snowblower with the hand crank Shute rotation & electric deflector. The setup is awesome. I use to have a walk behind Ariens and all I did was fight with it because it wanted to climb all of the time or spin tires

 

[PaulR]

Gravel areas with a plow: Plow Pipes.
I never heard of them either until I started looking for solutions to help my brother plow our "holy" gravel parking lot.
They can be fabbed and quick-fitted even on v-plows. Don't see why they wouldn't work on a tractor bucket. Similar principle to the above edge guard thing.

 

[bearskinner]

I had a really nice, driven, walk behind snow blower. Not only is it slow, it cuts a very narrow swath. Not very much fun on ice, trying to walk behind it. ( sold it, and so glad I did) On just a couple inches of snow, especially the stuff that turns into a slurpee, I’ll use the back blade.
There is no greater joy than a front mounted snow blower, cutting a perfect path thru 12” of fresh snow. It blows it 30’ away, and your doing it on your tractor, looking forward.

 

[eastvt]

Current storm on the way, no question: I’m using the tractor. Sounds like we’re getting something like half an inch of snow, then .1 inch ice, then another inch snow. Driveway should be nice and frozen after the last two nights. The thing with gouging — at first I was blaming lack of skill, but this is Vermont, and nothing — nothing — is level or flat.

 

[lilguy]

I just traded down from a B2601 to a BX1880 TLMMM. Am working on procuring a MK Martin SB48 Meteor 3 point hitch blower. They are Canadian and need a minimum of 12 hp to function. Kubota has 13+ hp at the pto and the blower is 250 + lbs so a good match for the 1880. I had a L2250 for 30+ years with a FEL and rear 60 inch blower at our previous home with 1300 ft drive and it worked great for me.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I'm a firm believer in snowblowers.. get that white stuff ,far,far away the FIRST time ! The problem with pushing, is that if you don't get it 'far,far away', ovenight the windrow freezes and you have a heckuva time trying to get the next snowfall 'far,far away' cause there's a mountain of ICE to deal with....
Having sold next door, I've reduced my required snow work by about 95%.Only have 150' driveway and 8 car area to do now, so an 8hp/27" walkbehind would be ok though I prefer the 22hp/40" snowrider.

 

[ve9aa]

Same sorta situation as you in EASTVermont........The first snowfall I did with the front blower.....big mistake !
...all I did was chuck rocks.

Second snowfall did 95% with the back blade facing the wrong way round (like buttering bread) as was described earlier. Ahhhhhhhhh, much better. Touched up here and there where's it "kinda frozen" (or grass) and the snowblower worked like a charm. Should we get a deep thaw, I'll employ the back blade again.

Good Luck !