Page 1 2
Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Member |
I live in the country with a 600 x 18 paved driveway plus large garage aprons. I've been plowing it with a 3/4 ton truck and 9 1/2' Hiniker V-plow for the past 20 years. It works pretty well until the banks get high, then the driveway starts to narrow down pretty quickly. This year, I actually paid a guy with a skid loader to come and move the banks and give me some room. The pickup (not my daily driver) is getting old and will need to be replaced in a few years. The question is whether to replace the truck and set it up with a similar plow, or sell the truck and buy a utility tractor with enclosed cab and front mounted blower. From my reading and the opinions of a few friends, I am thinking the pickup/plow combination is faster in light snow, but not necessarily in bigger snowfalls or once the banks force you to get creative with pushing. Also, the blower does a nicer job and doesn't leave you with 6' high banks everywhere along your aprons. Opinions? Experiences?? Advice??? FWIW: I think the size tractor needed would be something like the JD 3046R. Not certain though. Thanks, | ||
|
| Not as lean, not as mean, Still a Marine  |
What is the composition of the driveway? If it's gravel, does it freeze and stay frozen well? I have a smaller blower on tractor and the only issue i face is blowing on soft gravel. Even with wide floats, it digs in and I'll pick rocks. Frozen gravel or a good snow pack make it so much easier. I have about 400 feet of drive with a 150 foot road and a circular drive off of that. The angles involved make it a nightmare to plow. Blowing takes me about an hour. The tractor you linked will definitely meet your needs, if you will be using the capabilities in other areas as well. I would even look into the 2 series (could even get down to a 1 series if you are only using the blower and mower). Snow blowing itself isn't a major strain on these machines. I shall respect you until you open your mouth, from that point on, you must earn it yourself. | |||
|
| Staring back from the abyss  |
If all you need to do is move snow, then I'd probably stick with the truck/plow. The bonus of the tractor/blower is that while it does a great (better) job of moving snow, you've also now got the tractor for other jobs should you need it. Throw on a backhoe and dig some trenches, throw on an auger and put in some fence posts, throw on a box-blade and level some ground, etc.... The other bonus is that if you buy the tractor/blower, you can pretty much guarantee that you won't get any appreciable snow for the next year or two.   ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
|
| Member |
Keep the truck, buy the tractor - best of both worlds. "Getting old & will need replaced" - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. When it is broke, fix it. | |||
|
Member |
I once plowed with a Honda Rubicon and a 5' blade. It was fine for light snow but suffered in the deeper stuff. My driveway also got too narrow later in the winter. At the time my driveway (400') was gravel and I found myself raking gravel back onto the drive in the spring. About 5 years ago I bought a 29 HP Kubota tractor with a 63" dual stage blower. While I didn't spring for the cab, I have plenty of warm clothing to make the job enjoyable. In NW Montana we can get some deep snow ranging from powder to wind-blown hard packed drifts to wet, sloppy stuff. I spray my blower with Fluid Film once in the fall and have never had a clog. The gravel problem was minimized with the blower's skids adjusted high. That was solved when we paved the driveway a couple years ago. Now I can clean right down to the asphalt. I highly recommend Kubota. I use the tractor in the other seasons with a loader to work around the place. A backhoe would be nice but I never really had the need to justify the cost. I also have a Kubota zero turn mower that is also bulletproof. Have you Kubota dealer bring one out to demo. Mike I'm sorry if I hurt you feelings when I called you stupid - I thought you already knew - Unknown ................................... When you have no future, you live in the past. " Sycamore Row" by John Grisham | |||
|
| Member |
With the snowfalls we have been having this year in East Central Iowa if I had bought a blade for my tractor I would now have a path about 10' wide on my 4 car driveway. The blower is slower but allows you to clear the berms off the drive. I agree that your best course of action is to buy the blower and keep the truck until it is kaput. The “POLICE" Their job Is To Save Your Ass, Not Kiss It The muzzle end of a .45 pretty much says "go away" in any language - Clint Smith | |||
|
| Member |
Definitely the short term answer. A 2002 truck is probably worth less than $10,000. If it is established that the blower is better, the truck wouldn't need to be replaced if/when it dies. | |||
|
| Three Generations of Service  |
I plowed with a truck for several years. Advantage - Faster. Disadvantages - Banks as noted, and there is NOTHING harder on a truck than plowing snow. $500 in frontend parts every Spring. Bought a new truck, priced new plows (JEEBUS!) decided not to tear up a $30,000 truck by putting a $6000 plow on it.  Looked on Craigslist and found a 3PH mounted snowblower for $700. The guy was trying to use it on a Ford 8N and got disgusted REAL quick with a reverse gear that was way too fast for snowblowing, plus no live PTO. Basically gave it away. Moved snow with this combination for several years. Takes longer, can be DAMN cold without a cab, but when you're done, you're done. Hired out to move banks back for folks that were plowing with trucks.  Got tired of freezing my ass off, plus no live pto and no power steering, so bought the Cabota. Same blower, added electric chute swivel and hydraulic deflector. Short version: I'd never go back to plowing with a truck. Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent. | |||
|
| Member |
^^^^^ Dang! Talk about a stiff neck after being turned backwards in the cold for an hour. I'd definitely go with the front mount blower and sit straight ahead if I buy one. | |||
|
| Member |
We live on a county non-maintained road. I plow about 1 1/2 miles. I too sometimes get to a point where I need to push banks over, move snow... I push banks with a Bobcat when needed. I've moved snow with a Bobcat/blower, very very slow going! Too slow for how much I'm plowing. Plow/Bobcat is good one-two punch. The Bobcat also works well when I get the Jeep stuck!  | |||
|
| Three Generations of Service |
Absolutely! If I didn't already have the 3PH blower, that's the way I'd go. $6000 kinda takes the shine off that idea tho, plus you have to take the loader off and mount a blower subframe. Maybe if I hit the megabucks... Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent. | |||
|
| Member |
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I blow snow without a cab. A friend of mine fashioned a ‘cab’ out of 2x2s held on with C-clamps. He then hinged a door and covered it all with clear shower curtains. He called it his Fred Flintstone cab. Cheap but effective. Sorry, no pictures. Mike I'm sorry if I hurt you feelings when I called you stupid - I thought you already knew - Unknown ................................... When you have no future, you live in the past. " Sycamore Row" by John Grisham | |||
|
| Green grass and high tides  |
Money is always a concern. For me anyways. But I would say get the biggest tractor with the biggest bucket you can. A cab would be a luxury. Move the snow early to give yourself as much plow space down the road and call it good. "Practice like you want to play in the game" | |||
|
| Member |
Used tractor with loader and blower. As long as you are the type to do some of your own repairs, I would recommend an older tractor with loader. Then attach the blower to the 3point hitch. You can push snow with the bucket or blow with the blower. My tractor is a mid 1960’s John Deere 1020 gas. About 35 hp, 3 cylinder engine and about as simple as they come. This size used to be considered middle size “Utility”. Ideal machine with virtually all parts still available. 2WD, but with fluid in the tires it doesn’t need 4WD. Mine cost me 4500 (four thousand, five hundred) and came with a slew of attachments. With the price of tractors my suggestion is used with parts available. Some might say avoid used because you don’t know what you’re getting. Mine was beat by a small landscaping firm, novice driver/operators and they weren’t easy on it by any means. This tractor is now 50+ years old and it’s not for sale. Too reliable. | |||
|
| Lawyers, Guns and Money  |
I've always wanted more property... but you guys are making me glad I live in a subdivision... "Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown "The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor | |||
|
| Member |
Living in the country isn't for everyone, but I'd rather deal with moving the snow than neighbors getting pissy because my snow/grass/leaves blew in their yard. No way I'd ever live like that again. | |||
|
Member |
With a driveway like yours and with snow like we had this year, I would probably want both. I think most years you could get by with just the plow. I just wanted to complement you on your choice of plow. About 19 years ago, I worked for Hiniker. They had then recently launched their snowplow line and I think they made a decent product. There were some teething problems with the first batch but they've been pretty solid since. At the time, they were the first with their system of quick disconnect, which everyone later copied. | |||
|
| Member |
Thanks! The plow has been fantastic and nearly trouble free. I wore a hole through a hydraulic line once because I had it crossed over the wrong spot, but that was my fault. The performance of a 9 foot plow on a pickup is actually pretty impressive. Sometimes conditions just exceed the limits of the system. | |||
|
| Member |
[url=http://s914.photobucket.com/user/pborxsther/media/Screenshot_20160929-083101_zpsys3kz4eo.png.html]  https://youtu.be/Ncmt3SsXVSM. You can see it in action in the above link. This was through 18" of snow. | |||
|
Go Vols! |
You could get a new John Deere lawn mower and get the blower attachment and plastic cab. Doesn’t have to be a full size tractor. | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata | Page 1 2 |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
© SIGforum 2024