Snow clearing with front mount snowblower...rear box blade or rear angled blade?

[IanB]

This will be my 1st year snow clearing with a B2650 tractor, and 63" front mount snow blower, I currently have a ballast box mounted on the rear, but I'm thinking I could have another implement back there that would provide the weight I'm after, and also offer additional functionality for snow clearing. I have a 150' driveway, large open parking area, and 360 degrees around the shop that I'm looking to clear, all of it is gravel (mix of limestone and granite depending on where in the yard) so lots of curb, fence, and buildings to clear near. I do not have tire chains, or filled tires, I'd be relying on the FM snowblower and whatever rear implement I end up with for weight. It's flat here, no hills on my property, FWIW.

I can see how the angled rear blade would allow you to pull snow away from curbs and make a nice windrow you could hit with the snowblower to clean up nicely, but I understand a box blade would work better for getting in close to garage doors, walls, fences, etc, and I could also use it to level my gravel in the spring. I have zero experience using either, so looking for the experiences of others why have already been down this road, what's the move here? It looks like it would be between a 60" box blade or a 72" rear blade.

Pic of the B2650 with its winter coat on!

 

[NHSleddog]

Power angle rear blade is hard to beat. It gets close to the doors etc and cleans the fluff that the blower leaves.

 

[Jchonline]

+1 on the rear angle blade. I have hydraulic angle with Top n Tilt links.

 

[Roadworthy]

I concur with the rear blade. I don't think the box blade is the tool for the job. The angle doesn't adjust so snow would just be pulled or pushed in a straight line. You can angle one side for cutting ditches or grooves but they do not angle side to side as a blade will.

 

[85Hokie]

I'll agree with all above! Even without the hydraulic version - hard to beat, and if you can afford the hydraulics .... that's the cat'z azz!

 

[IanB]

I don't think the B2650 has rear hydraulics, so I'd be stuck with manual adjustments on a rear blade, correct? The front hydraulics will be used by the front mount snowblower, so unless I'm missing something, I think that's the only option that would work for me.

 

[hedgerow]

My vote would be for a rear blade also. I probably pushed snow for thirty plus years before I had a hyd adjust blade. After moving snow a few time you will figure out whats the best position for the blade for your set up. The blower will be your friend when snow is deep and drifting.

 

[River19]

I do the front blower and rear blade combo and it is aces for my little 500' gravel hill.

Anything in the 1-3" range is rear blade only anymore and the blower takes care of it. With the angle blade I have been known to angle a 1-3" storm into a pile in the middle with two outside passes up the hill then down then I clean the middle up with the blower and blow the pile off the side......

It really is a great combo. My Box Blade will never see snow......well attached to the tractor that is

 

[ultra97rider]

Since the OP mentioned the rear Blade for gravel leveling in the spring. I would like comments on that. Seems the rear blade is good for snow. how about driveway maintenance?

 

[Tire Biter]

When I lived in the north, I had a front mount blower on a B7500 and used it on gravel and traprock etc. . You’ll want to put some gauge wheels on on yer blower or it’ll get eaten up pretty quick. I learned that with a an old JD I had. I had them mounted behind the blower housing and it kept the cutting edge about an inch and a half above the ground surface. The sun melted the rest. The stock skids just won’t keep it from picking up stones.

 

[River19]

Since the OP mentioned the rear Blade for gravel leveling in the spring. I would like comments on that. Seems the rear blade is good for snow. how about driveway maintenance?

I have both a Rear Blade and Box Blade and most of my driveway maintenance is done with the Box. That being said, I have done some minor maintenance with the Rear Blade and it worked well but I would say it is better for simple touch up and smoothing. If I have any type of holes or real shaping to do I prefer the Box as that is really it's core function.

That all being said, if you get creative with a rear blade and your FEL you can do a reasonable amount of work on a gravel driveway.

Perhaps I am just spoiled with both lol

 

[BAP]

Box blade will allow you to get closer to the buildings than a rear blade if you are backing up to the building and dropping the blade to pull snow away. The center beam on a rear blade sticks out beyond the blade by about 6-8”.

 

[IanB]

I think I'm pretty well settled on a rear blade for snow clearing, but there's a good chance I'll pick up a box blade down the road to deal with driveway maintenance as well. We'll see how much hand shovelling is really required, and reassess after a season of snow clearing with this setup. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[ve9aa]

This'll be my first year doing the snow thing with my tractor (BX2380) but I have a Front snowblower and a rear blade ready !

I think a box blade (although I have zero experience) would not be as versatile in the snow. Just my fairly uninformed decision.

I also decided to go for chains on the rears, but none of my tires are filled.

I'll probably try to just use the blower (no rear blade) at first before the ground is fully frozen and see how that works out for me.

 

[mcmxi]

I think I'm pretty well settled on a rear blade for snow clearing, but there's a good chance I'll pick up a box blade down the road to deal with driveway maintenance as well. We'll see how much hand shovelling is really required, and reassess after a season of snow clearing with this setup. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I used a box blade and rear blade on the BX for five years and bought larger variants when I picked up the MX. I used the rear blade on the BX during the winter as a counter weight and also for doing exactly what others describe i.e getting snow away from buildings and then blowing it away with the front mount snow blower. The MX will be set up in reverse with an hydraulic angle snow plow up front and blower out back. The plow was great last year on the gravel driveway. If we get snow this winter it'll be my first time using a rear mounted blower.

As for box blades and rear blades, I was able to do a half decent job on 200 yards of common gravel driveway in the spring using the rear blade behind the MX, however, next week I'm picking up what Land Pride calls a grading scraper, or what EA calls a land leveler. These are supposed to be the best implement for gravel driveways and the one I ordered has scarifiers although I doubt I'll be using them on the driveway. So I'll have a rear blade, box blade and grading scraper/leveler to pull behind the MX but many far more experienced than I will tell you that if you are doing mostly gravel work, the grading scraper is the best choice.

I can't imagine that it'd be too hard to add a plate to the rear of a grading scraper to make it into a box blade. Something that was easy on/off so you have two implements in one.

GS15 Series Grading Scrapers | Land Pride

Land Leveler Land Plane Utility Grader with Scarifier Shanks (everythingattachments.com)

 

[Snowman7]

Rear blade for sure.
This will be my first winter with a hydraulic unit so I am pretty pumped!

 

[1911is4me]

I've been doing snow blowing with a B2650 for 4 years now using the same 63" snowblower. I started using a 72" rear blade in conjunction for the last 2 years. It's great when you need to scrape down the driveway after someone has driven on it before you get home to clean up. You can also reverse the blade to clean up a lot of slush rather than plug up the shute.

Get the blade and you'll never regret it.