Pirahna Toothbar for Breaking Up Ice

[kcoburn]

Do any of you Pirahna users have any experience roughing up or breaking up ice with it? I have a 1/2 mile gravel lane that winds up and down and through timber. I clear snow with a L5240 with a front mounted blower. But, of course, there's always an inch or so that thaws, refreezes and makes treacherous walking and driving. I have a B7610 that I could mount the Pirahna toothbar on, hoping that I could at least rough up, or breakup the ice on the hills and around the buildings. Last year my wife fell and broke her shoulder. Need to do something to improve the situation. I've explored other methods, ie storing and spreading sand/salt mix. Pervious experience tell me I must have heated storage or the mix will not be useable. Thanks for responses.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I don't have a toothbar yet, but one year I had some luck tilting my back blade so there was one sharp corner down and using it to score the ice and then I could go back to level and scrape/drag the chunks away. I would think you could use the piranha the same way, back blading with the fel to score. Not sure how easy it would be to pick up the chunks in the loader without gouging up the gravel, but if you have a back blade you could scrape them off to the side.

 

[85Hokie]

Do any of you Pirahna users have any experience roughing up or breaking up ice with it? I have a 1/2 mile gravel lane that winds up and down and through timber. I clear snow with a L5240 with a front mounted blower. But, of course, there's always an inch or so that thaws, refreezes and makes treacherous walking and driving. I have a B7610 that I could mount the Pirahna toothbar on, hoping that I could at least rough up, or breakup the ice on the hills and around the buildings. Last year my wife fell and broke her shoulder. Need to do something to improve the situation. I've explored other methods, ie storing and spreading sand/salt mix. Pervious experience tell me I must have heated storage or the mix will not be useable. Thanks for responses.

Those two words....... ICE and GRAVEL driveway......never a great combination! Then again, ice and anything.....other than an adult beverage is a bad combination.....thinking about it further, that MIGHT be a bad combo too!

Backdragging with the PTB will help a lot, teeth pointed down and allowing the front wheels off a smidge (placing all the weight you can and still turn) will place more pressure per inch than a regular bucket, not sure it will be a cure all however.
IF you place the teeth down and go forward, the gravel will have to move somewhat and thus the ice, but you will need to "fix" that mess when the ice goes away. With the PTB fixing that is very easy.

I have a short gravel drive, about 80' long, at a 15% grade down to the house. When we have a huge rain, the gravel will wash enough to break an ankle. I go down the drive, teeth down on the toothbar, drag back several times, then will I have moved the gravel, I then backdrag with a flat bucket, the 1/2" thick lip of the PTB allows for a perfect packed drive. I can fix the drive in a fifth of the time that mother nature takes to mess it up!

 

[Tooljunkie]

Need a plow blade with an ice blade. Its a really hard grader blade with vertical slots, tears up the ice. They use them here as well as sandviks, a special blade that uses replaceable tips that turn as they move along the ground.

Sandviks are expensive,the ice blades are reasonable.

 

[D2Cat]

How about dragging one of these on the path?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...MI562Mp_-q1gIVRYJ-Ch3sBAJsEAQYASABEgLUV_D_BwE

 

[Grouse Feathers]

Our driveway has a hill with a 7% grade for about 200 yards. Twice freezing rain on top of snow has made the hill impossible for our two 4wd vehicles. The first time I used my BX without chains to run up the hill as far as possible (about 15 yards per attempt) and then lowered the piranha blade tilted to almost vertical and backed down the driveway. After repeated runs working my way to the top of the hill I had all the ice scored so the BX and 4wd drives would go up the hill. The second time I had chains on the BX and could drive all the way to the top and start the scoring all the way from the top down. Scoring does not remove the ice but makes it drive-able and walk-able with care.

 

[kcoburn]

Thanks for the excellent suggestions. I think I'll go ahead and order the Pirahna bar. I've been looking for an excuse anyway. We'll see if it'll get me by.
Had an old 3 pt disc years ago and sold it for scrap. Now I wish I hadn't.
Ice blade edges for my rear blade would probably be my next route if the toothbar doesn't scarify adequately. Any suggestions for a supplier?

 

[Dave_eng]

My farm lane conditions are not as extreme as yours.

Many years I attached a couple of pointed manure forks to my 84" snowblower so all the weight of the blower was on a couple of forks.

The forks cut through the ice but, in the end, I felt like I had not improved the situation for our cars using the lane as the ice flakes lying on top of the ice were as slippery as the ice itself.

I will be interested in hearing how you make out.

Dave M7040

 

[NBKubota]

Our last house the driveway was gravel, but only about 200' long. Used a plow on my Polaris ranger, and threw sand down on those occasions when it got icy.

Now, we have a 1000' gravel driveway, and a large parking area. It will be interesting to see how the tractor does clearing the snow. I won't be spreading sand by hand, that's for sure! Looking at a front ssqa plow to assist with the blower. Perhaps taking it down even further than the blower will prevent getting that ice build up?

Anyone with a front plow blade have any suggestions or pros/cons to getting one?

Cheers!

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[bearbait]

Our last house the driveway was gravel, but only about 200' long. Used a plow on my Polaris ranger, and threw sand down on those occasions when it got icy.

Now, we have a 1000' gravel driveway, and a large parking area. It will be interesting to see how the tractor does clearing the snow. I won't be spreading sand by hand, that's for sure! Looking at a front ssqa plow to assist with the blower. Perhaps taking it down even further than the blower will prevent getting that ice build up?

Anyone with a front plow blade have any suggestions or pros/cons to getting one?

Cheers!

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Looking at where your from I know you get a lot of snow. The trouble with a front plow on a tractor is if you don't have lots of room to push the snow back it will start to close in on you and push the tractor to the side instead of pushing the snow. Also with gravel a plow will leave most of it on you lawn. I use a back blade as well as the blower for heaver snow. On gravel with a back blade you can turn it backwards and leave more gravel on your road instead of the lawn...once you get a base down switch to the blower.

 

[NBKubota]

^ Thanks for the info bearbait. I'm kind of thinking a combination of the 2. Push the snow aside (light snowfalls) then blow it afterward. It's what I used to do at our old place (only I had a walk-behind to do the blowing afterward ugh).

Would the front blade not dig in too bad if I have the joystick in the float position? I know with the plow on the ranger, as long as there was a bit of frost in the ground, it wasn't too bad.

Thanks again for all the advice for a newb. It is very much appreciated.

Sorry for the thread hijack!

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[Dave_eng]

My tractor and loader are larger than yours NBKubota so the geometry of my FEL may be a bit different.

When I try and use the FEL float position going forward, the resistance from whatever I am trying to push going forward lifts the front wheels off the ground and is a useless feature.

Going backwards, the float position can be a big help leveling topsoil as the bucket stays in the orientation you put it and the down pressure on the bucket is not from the loader arms but just the bucket weight itself.

I don't have any experience with products like the ratchet rake or the tooth bar so these comments are just from my imagination. If you are working the tooth bar backing up, will its attachment to the bucket be strong enough? Going forward it is supported by the bucket edge.

Look forward to reading how you make out this winter.

Dave M7040

 

[bearbait]

^ Thanks for the info bearbait. I'm kind of thinking a combination of the 2. Push the snow aside (light snowfalls) then blow it afterward. It's what I used to do at our old place (only I had a walk-behind to do the blowing afterward ugh).

Would the front blade not dig in too bad if I have the joystick in the float position? I know with the plow on the ranger, as long as there was a bit of frost in the ground, it wasn't too bad.

Thanks again for all the advice for a newb. It is very much appreciated.

Sorry for the thread hijack!

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If your lucky enough to have the top layer freeze then you may be ok but in my experience well let's just put it I sold the plow. The back blade which is much cheaper when turned 180 degrees and the turned so to put an angle on it will move the snow to the side without taking all your gravel works great when driving straight ahead. You do not want to blow the snow pushed to the side by your plow if possible. It will be full of gravel and very hard on the drum in your blower. The whole idea is to use the blade until you get a base down then use the blower that will ride on top the frozen snow. Take my advice with a grain of salt as your idea my work fine with the gear you have. Good luck and let me know how you make out.

 

[bearbait]

My tractor and loader are larger than yours NBKubota so the geometry of my FEL may be a bit different.

When I try and use the FEL float position going forward, the resistance from whatever I am trying to push going forward lifts the front wheels off the ground and is a useless feature.

Going backwards, the float position can be a big help leveling topsoil as the bucket stays in the orientation you put it and the down pressure on the bucket is not from the loader arms but just the bucket weight itself.

I don't have any experience with products like the ratchet rake or the tooth bar so these comments are just from my imagination. If you are working the tooth bar backing up, will its attachment to the bucket be strong enough? Going forward it is supported by the bucket edge.

Look forward to reading how you make out this winter.

Dave M7040

I have a piranha tooth bar has no problem back dragging with it, a great tool to have.

 

[Dave_eng]

Pronovost Snow Blowers had at a recent time the option of hydraulically controller wheels on a snowblower to avoid the blower digging in to gravel or sod before everything freezes solid.

They appear to have dropped the idea perhaps because of lack of interest.

Some time when I am a little more flush with cash, I am going to try and modify my inverted blower to have this feature. I bought the tires and wheels but that is as far as I got.

I see no reason why any blower could not have wheels added to better carry the weight than skid shoes do.

Anyone else think this good be a good idea to keep the gravel in the driveway?

Dave M7040

 

[bearbait]

I think it's a great idea. I think the reason why it didn't catch on is not enough demand, a lot of paved driveways out there but with more and more people buying tractors who knows, there may be a market for it soon.

 

[Hans Hans]

I know a lot of people don't like the front mounted snow blades on gravel, but I use a Bxpanded blade that mounts on my loader bucket and it works great! I plow a 900ft gravel drive with it and it does a nice job.

Since the blade has skid shoes on it, you can use the curl function on the bucket to adjust the blade and keep it just off the top of the gravel.

 

[NBKubota]

^ Thanks to all of you for the help and suggestions! Damn this really is a great forum.

I have a sneaking suspicion this will definitely be a trial and error situation. I will probably start a new thread to document how it all works.

Thanks again gents, Cheers!



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