Stupid Tractor Newbie question about snow depth

[muttbarker]

Hello - brand new to this website, brand new to owning a tractor and pretty darned new to living in snow. I bought a Kubota L4060 HSTC with a 74" snowblower to clear my property (ordered months ago). It did not show up until late December by which time I had a nice 3' foot blanket of snow over the property. It is pretty much frozen solid rendering the blower next to useless and the rear blade I ordered is still on on backorder. Sorry for the long intro - BUT! my question is how capable is the tractor in moving over and through deep snow. Is running through a 3 foot base an issue?

Second question in case anyone is feeling really helpful - I am assuming that until I have a rear blade to push / breakup the snow there is not much I can do with my blower, correct?

Thank you for your help. I am a long time resident of Southern California who moved to Utah, bought thirty acres and and it's all new to me.

Kevin

 

[jimh406]

3 ft of snow is quite a bit. Some questions. Do you have chains? Do you have a backup plan if you get stuck as in a 4x4 with some type of winch/chain to pull you back out? Do you have rear ballast and/or loaded tires? If you break through the top to soft snow, you may be fine. If you break through and land on ice, you'll have a lot of work to get unstuck.

If you have rear ballast and chains, I'd consider putting the bucket back on and moving some of the snow with it. Otherwise, you might have success taking a little bit of the snow off the top at a time going easy.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

chip away at the snow with a shovel to see if it's just the top inch or 2 that is solid. Often it'l be like a frosted cake..hard on top, soft inside.

 

[muttbarker]

Thanks for the super fast feedback. Really appreciate it.

 

[michigander]

2019 we got a lot of rain , then snow rain etc. Front end loader cleaned out 2 neighbors driveways.

Snowblowers and Truck plows couldn't do anything with it.

I had about 20 minutes on new tractor when i did this .

 

[Mlarv]

Are you driving on this three foot base with your car or truck? If you are then the tractor will be fine to keep it up. If not than put the bucket back on and start chipping away at it. You will learn real fast how to run the bucket. Also is you want more torque be lite on the HST peddle. This will keep it in the power band.

 

[RalphVa]

You're not going to get through 3 ft of snow with a back blade. They're only good for up to about 8-10 inches. Past that, you need the snow blower or FEL.

I once had 7 inches of sleet here when I only had a Gravely tractor. It had a huge snow plow on it, but the snow would not dig in to remove the sleet. Also had an old square chute snow blower from an older Gravely. Put it on. Sucker dug right down to the pavement and slung the sleet about 50 ft away.

If your snow plow won't do this, I'd put your FEL on and clear the snow that way. It'll be slow though. Three ft is a bunch.

 

[BigG]

I think it’s important that you answer some of the questions that were asked of you. Do you have chains? Are your tires loaded? which tires do you have on your tractor? Do you have another implement that you could put on a three point hitch for ballast? Do you have a front in loader most do but not all. And then what is your back up plan if you get stuck?

if you are new to Tractor‘s all together then be very careful and keep the front end bucket low to the ground. Keep your tractor in four-wheel-drive. Drive as if you were on eggshells and you don’t wanna break them. Use low gear on your range selector and keep the RPMs near the 540 mark on the tachometer.

 

[JimmyJazz]

A tooth bar for your bucket will probably make breaking up the ice easier although it may not be necessary.

 

[DustyRusty]

Reminds me of when I lived in NH in the early 1960s. A car drove down an old logging road until it fell through the snow. It was about 5 or 6 feet deep. The man managed to get to the main road, and eventually, the state police arrived. It took a very large loader to open the road to get the car out, and it also took a lot of time. After that, the logging road was closed at the beginning of it. Just because you can drive on some of it, that doesn't mean that it is going to hold you up where you go. I would wait for spring or a major thaw because you have no idea what is under that snow. I would only venture in with the bucket until you learn the lay of the land.

 

[muttbarker]

Thanks again for all the great insight. I had expected to get this tractor months ago and deal with all the ancillary things I would need to procure, ballast, chains, etc. I don't even have a front end loader as it is still backordered. I have the tractor and the blower. I may see if I can get a show pusher as from everything I read they are better than a plow so I can at least move the snow and then leverage the blower when we get some fresh stuff.

FYI - I am not totally stupid in that I do have a backup plan. I have a nice big old excavator that I can use to pull the tractor if I need to. Just used it the other day when my wife ran the ATV into a large snowdrift.

So, follow up question, in order of importance - 1) ballast or 2) chains (rear wheel only?) Tires are stock ag. tires, 14.9 - 24 rear and 8.3 -16 front.

 

[muttbarker]

Reminds me of when I lived in NH in the early 1960s. A car drove down an old logging road until it fell through the snow. It was about 5 or 6 feet deep. The man managed to get to the main road, and eventually, the state police arrived. It took a very large loader to open the road to get the car out, and it also took a lot of time. After that, the logging road was closed at the beginning of it. Just because you can drive on some of it, that doesn't mean that it is going to hold you up where you go. I would wait for spring or a major thaw because you have no idea what is under that snow. I would only venture in with the bucket until you learn the lay of the land.

Love that story! I do know what is underneath as there was no snow when I bought the land. It is a hayfield with a gravel road surrounding it so I am safe in terms of falling into ice or whatever.

 

[91diesel]

agree with everyone above, an FEL to start to bust it up is your best bet. That is one benefit (besides the price) of a 3ph blower with an FEL up front. We had similar conditions here in Alaska (snow, rain?, snow) and I was able to get someone's driveway done (2-2.5' cover) with the snowblower and a BX. Is there any softer spots you could get the blower started at? Maybe head into it at an angle?

 

[ve9aa]

I am pretty new to tractors, but not snow...lots of experience with a large 45" walk-behind. (and many other smaller ones over the last ~5 decades)
As long as you keep on top of it (no pun intended), (ie: next year), your tractor will blow pretty much anything you give it. 2 months worth at 3' deep is not a fair test, but if you chip away at it, --maybe you can make a dent.

The first thing I'd buy is rear tire chains. All the ballast in the world won't do you any good on ice. I am sure you have some of that in that 3' there somewhere.

In my own situ, I normally "pull" with the back blade. Not sure how much pushing I can actually do.

YMMV

Welcome.

 

[bucktail]

If the crust on top is what's giving you trouble, you might try it again on a warmer day as it will soften. Probably end up using your loader though.

 

[kubotasam]

I have the tractor and the blower. I may see if I can get a show pusher as from everything I read they are better than a plow so I can at least move the snow and then leverage the blower when we get some fresh stuff.

A snow pusher is not going to help if you do not have the loader to connect it to.
Also a snow pusher is going to be next to useless trying to move 3' of snow.

 

[jyoutz]

You're not going to get through 3 ft of snow with a back blade. They're only good for up to about 8-10 inches. Past that, you need the snow blower or FEL.

I once had 7 inches of sleet here when I only had a Gravely tractor. It had a huge snow plow on it, but the snow would not dig in to remove the sleet. Also had an old square chute snow blower from an older Gravely. Put it on. Sucker dug right down to the pavement and slung the sleet about 50 ft away.

If your snow plow won't do this, I'd put your FEL on and clear the snow that way. It'll be slow though. Three ft is a bunch.

You can’t get through 3’ of snow with a back blade, but you can push it with a back blade driving in reverse.

 

[91diesel]

Well, maybe you can push a back blade through 3' of snow. It'd depend on how heavy your back blade is. My BX setup certainly wouldn't do it. My back blade is pretty good for cleaning up though

 

[91diesel]

Also, (I pretty sure you can do this on a Front blower) have you tried going into the snow until the tractor stops, and then moving the snowblower up to break up the top layer (probably above the snowblower) and letting it feed into the blower that way? I had to do that in the 2.5' areas of that person's driveway as my blower (3ph style) is only about 25" tall at it's intake.

 

[sheepfarmer]

I didn't see where you might have said whether your current weapon of choice was front mounted or rear mounted blower? If front mounted you can chisel away at the ice/packed snow a little at a time, making a path for the tractor. Start with the blower lifted up, do a few feet then back up and lower it and take another bite. Figure out what really needs to be cleared and what can wait until spring.

I have an L3560, a little smaller than yours, no cab, and a fel and back blade is a good combo. I also use a front blower on a smaller tractor, a B2650. The L3560 with loaded rear tires would almost certainly get stuck if I plunged it straight into 3 feet of snow. With the loader I can clear deep drifts down to a foot or so then turn around and scrape off the rest with the back blade. The front blower in the B2650 has done 18 inches with patience.

If you can't get your blower to work with patience and small bites, I think you are dead in the water until you get your loader. If a rear mounted blower maybe someone who has one can give you hints about backing into drifts.