We’ve got a long, steep gravel driveway and I’m thinking about buying a small 4X4 farm tractor. I’m wondering which is the weapon of choice: a loader or a 3 point hitch blade? Or is there a need for both? Much thanks, Scott.
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If the surface is gravel, anything you do will move both the snow and some of the gravel.
And it's unfortunate that there is nothing that I can think of for a tractor, that has the skis on the bottom that you really need. If you had a pickup truck, and got a blade for the front, you could get one with skis that would hold the blade up out of the gravel.
In general I would want a loader. I had a tractor with 3 point and realy wanted a loader.
>>>I had a tractor with 3 point and realy wanted a loader.
What was the issue? I'm guessing that it's easier to get a loader bucket to "float" over the gravel than a blade on a 3PH.
I'm not sure about the snow
I'm not sure about the snow removal. I just would want a loader in general. You can pick things up and carry them.
I used to sell Kubota tractors for a short time - I just did the garden tractors though.
After a big snowfall, where we had cleared the lot and made some big 8' mountains of snow next to the parking lot. I took an old used 4x4 garden tractor (710 model I think) and went tearing up those snowbanks. That thing was a freaking mountain goat!
Anyway, you would be surprised at what you can do with a good heavy garden tractor. You can do a loader, or go with a snowblower on the front.
Hi Paul.
I Googled your tractor; I think you mean the Kubota B7100 4X4, right?
It looks like a possibility, but I'm thinking about something a little larger, perhaps something like the L3130. It looks like it could dig dirt with a bit more ease. Any thoughts about that?
Snowblower mount is the way to go. Throws the snow so less bank to catch drifting snow.
>>>Snowblower mount is the way to go.
You mean a snowblower on a 3PH?
I think rear mounted blades are best for plowing snow. You angle them to one side, run down the drive, and the snow rolls off to the side.
Loaders can be good in really deep snow, as you can scoop it up and pile it a lot higher.
If you get a blade, buy the heaviest one your tractor can pick up. It makes it a heck of a lot more useful in general, and the extra weight on the tractor will help.
Tire chains work miracles on snow and ice. They'll make a tractor seem like it's 3 times as big as it is.
One thing you may not have thought of - You said your drive is steep. I was always taught to never plow snow uphill. When you're going downhill you have the weight of the tractor working in your favor. Going uphill you may only be able to pull the tractor itself.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
>>>That's all I can think of
>>>That's all I can think of at the moment.
Thanks Boss; I figured you'd be the guy to know.
When I lived in the country I had a 4WD Ford 1720 with a 6' 3PH blade. My drive was about 500 yards long and like yours, steep.
I thought it worked great. As another poster mentioned, in a snow of more about then 6" I could not clear going uphill but that was no big deal as going down hill was a breeze (my house and barn where at the top fortunatly).
My location was in the Virginia Blue Ridge and we had several 20+" snowstorms over the years. I found that if I waited until the snowing was over after a big one and started to clear, I had to clear while backing up the tractor as the snow was just too deep even going downhill. But if I went out every 6" or so and cleared, it worked fine.
Boss Hog mentioned angling and it works great. In moderate snows (12") I would go down the middle with the blade set straight and then go back down again twice, once on each side with the blade angled. Worked great.
Other posted have mentioned the gravel removal problem. You're going to have that concern, blade or bucket.
For me I got very good at setting the blade (and continually monitoring it as I moved) to get the snow off with hardly any removal of gravel. It just takes a little practice, a steady hand on the height lever and a little patience.
Also, as an aside, while clearing snow, obviously it's important to stay on the driveway. During our first winter I had no idea exactly where it was as everything was white and wound up 6' into the lawn one time. After that, every November I staked the right side every 50' all the way down.
Doug
I prefer throwing the snow when there are big storms. A ten horsepower 32" Ariens snow thrower makes quick work of big snowfalls, four passes and done. Throws the snow a long way and works in tight places too. If you're going to be outside on a tractor, why not simplify it and walk. Helps to keep you warm too.
I have a couple of the older ones. Cast iron and good steel. No plastic or pot metal. Eats the snow up and moves it away. Even at the end of the driveway where the street plow has piled it up. Love those things.
How does that work on a gravel drive? Does it suck up the occassional stone? And I know when I pushed the lawn mower (with about 14" rear wheels) across the drive to the other side, it was a lot harder to push or control even if self propelled then when on asphalt and that was in in July when no snow is there.
In my case, at 32", it would have been well over a mile over gravel on a steep hill and that's figuring in clearing going downhill and uphill. Probably closer to two miles just clearing while going downhill.
Doug
For me, having a gravel driveway isn't usually an issue. Have a 44" snowblower mounted on a smaller JD garden tractor (X320). Our driveway is 3/4"- gravel, any pieces that get picked up generally are small enough to go through the blower without ill effect ............ unless you have your chute aimed at a car or house. I go over the driveway to root out large pieces of uncrushed stone before the snow flies........ if you don't plan on replacing the auger shear bolt(s). If your gravel size is much larger than 3/4"-, a snowblower could be a problem. I set the the skids on the blower high to lessen the the amount of gravel picked up- there's always some but far less damage to the driveway than if you were plowing.
From the street curb to my back door is 3330 feet and we get some snow on occassion. I have a Kubota MX5000 with bucket and 3PH blade....it takes both to get the job done. Drifts are the biggest problem that the bucket handles. Ice storms are a different story.
If you get a tractor - DEFINITLY get a loader.
I am not sure about Kubota, but some loaders have a bucket mounting like a skid steer has. If you got that option, a front mounted blade would work well and allow you to carry something on the 3 pt to add weight.
I have a 40hp New Holland with filled tires and sometimes could still use a bit more weight when using the back mounted blade.
Terry
I vote for a loader and a 3pt box blade. The box blade contains the snow and then you can push it off the driveway in reverse with the rear mounted wear bar. It also works great for leveling out all the potholes in spring.
-h
All I can tell you is "it depends". A blade will go a lot faster in reasonably light snow, but you really need a loader in heavy stuff (either wet or deep), especially if there's drifting. Re the gravel, with a loader you can angle the bucket up a hair so it skims over the gravel, but the blade can be used before/after winter to level the gravel in the first place.
If you ever do any landscaping, the blade is good for leveling ground, but the bucket is really good for hauling trees/bushes around, etc.
Thanks everyone. It sounds like both a blade and a bucket is the way to go; which is what I suspected.
...now to the budget planning phase...
Scott.
Paul is right about the B7100. It'll do you well. It did me for 20 plus years. But, forget this loader stuff. You want the 4 way hydralic dozer blade on the front for snow. And a five foot blade for the rear. This setup will get you done quickly and extremely clean.
Scott,
I've been driving a
Scott,
I've been driving a New Holland (Ford before that) for years and have always used the rear plow blade with three-point hitch. Never had a single problem. It becomes way too tricky to plow using the loader. See the photo.
Cheers and good luck,
-Ed
Thanks Ed.
Is that blade beefy enough to grade hard-packed gravel in the summer?
A B7100 4WD with the dozer blade in front and rear blade being discussed makes for a nice road grader. Load the front blade down with a box of rocks and you'll dig nicely. The back blade does the fine grading. This mechanism solves much of the problem with using a one bladed tractor for grading - that being tractor bouncing and leaving washboard patterns in your wake.
When snow plowing, at the end of your road, you simply lift both blades a bit, hit the left brake, and as you spin around, drop the blades just at the right moment, hit the throttle and do the next pass. You can't do that with a pickup or bigger tractor.
I'd go with the blade and a
I'd go with the blade and a wife to turn the blade around if you need to push instead of pull. The wife will be a lot more expensive than the blade, is much harder to get to work in the cold/snow and is generally a lot harder to work with but the wife comes with other features which, at times, outweigh the deficiencies.
>>>which, at times, outweigh the deficiencies.
Sage advice. LOL.
Hi Scott,
I've graded gravel
Hi Scott,
I've graded gravel with a rear blade many times. Used to have to re-lay a new coat of gravel on a 1/2-mile long driveway about once every 3 years and that's what we used. Now, I'm not making a particular pitch for that brand of blade that you see in the photo - I just posted it as an example of the type of blade I have always used. My suggestion would of course be to speak with a manufacturer's rep before laying down the "Benjamins." However, that's exactly the type I've used in the past.
-Ed
Sis had a farm tractor with a regular truck snow plow mounted on the front. The skids on the blade held it up off the driveway enough so as to not be constantly scraping gravel off. There were no hydralics hooked to the plow. The way it worked was someone had rigged a cable and some pulleys so that when you raised the 3PH it raised the snow blade. When you lowered the 3PH it would let the blade down and then the cable would get slack and the blade would float. The tilt on the blade was manual. OK - person powered. The whole setup worked good on the ~ 1/4 mile driveway. The tractor had a wide front end - not a "tricycle" style.
Notice I said she "had". The deal was that they also used the the tractor/plow to clear the show off the pond for ice skating. Well - you can guess the rest of that story. They did fish it out, but it was never the same... :-)
Matt,
That reminds me of the time a buddy of mine and I parked his car beside a 4-acre pond during a barn party out here in Connecticut. This was in 1993 (if my memory serves me). That night we had a 100-year storm. The toyota, which was parked about 10-feet from the pond, was gone next morning. We hooked a chain around the axle, pulled it out with a dozer, slapped two dehumidifiers in it and performed a little cursory engine work - she started right up. This was an 82 Tercel. Unreal!
Careful taking adive from these Americans on snow. What some of them consider snow we wouldn't even consider a flurry.
How much snow do you get? How long does it stay around? Do you get much drifting.
A blade is fine if you get a little snow now and again that melts off and no drifting.
Here on the Island we get lots of snow and it stays around. The first time you push it with a blade is fine but it makes a bank next to your lane, which then drifts in to the top of the bank. Each time you plow it the bank get higher and fills in more.
If you're getting a tractor, get 3 pt hitch blower for sure. No big bank by your lane, no drifting in. You can direct where the snow goes.
In my 30 years on the farm we've never pushed snow with the loader, too slow, to much back and forth.
Angus
>>>Here on the Island we get lots of snow and it stays around.
Actually, my profile tells a little lie. It says Whistler, but we actually live just North of Pemberton, about 20 minutes away, and about 1500 feet lower in elevation. (I wrote Whistler because who-the-heck knows where Pemberton is!)
We don't often get huge, continuous blasts of snow and wind, but it can happen on occasion. Our climate is greatly influenced by coastal warmth, meaning it often snows one day and rains the next. So in some ways we do represent the "American" experiences that others have shared.
Thanks for your point on the loader, which others have echoed. I didn't expect that it would play second fiddle to the 3PH blade. Good to know.
Scott.
Scott, I have both a loader and blade on my small JD 970 4wd tractor. I'm with BossHog on this one, even though he hates green.
Probably as important as the equipment is the 4 wheel drive and then experience. I have had my equipment for 19 years, so floating the loader or blade is no big deal to me, but it took some time, and a lot of divots, to learn. Gravel driveways tend to get a hump down the middle so plowing them with a blade or bucket tends to catch that hump and take it along with the snow. A few years I have remembered to dress the driveways before winter set in and that does help. Just dressing the driveway a couple of time durring warm weather helps and will give you valuable practice in learning to feel the loader and blade float. It also helps if the hydrulics on the tractor have fairly fast reaction.
>>>ravel driveways tend to get a hump down the middle so plowing them with a blade or bucket tends to catch that hump and take it along with the snow. A few years I have remembered to dress the driveways before winter set in and that does help.
Thanks Dave. That's exactly why I was asking if Ed's blade was beefy enough to grade gravel. There's no doubt that I'll need to take the hump off before each Winter.
I have a 4 wheel drive model 7610 Kubota with a front loader and a rear blade. I have found that gravel drives that have a lot of loose gravel are best served by pushing or pulling the snow with the CURVED side of the blade. In other words, with the back of the blade. The snow generally separates from the gravel this way.
For packed snow or ice the blade would be used in the normal way with the cutting edge of the blade available to move the hard stuff.
I have really used my loader a lot since Christmas to pile snow higher than I can push it with the rear blade. We've had so much that it is becoming almost impossible to find a place to push it to.
So, I would recommend both a front loader and a rear blade. On my first tractor I had only a rear blade. I wouldn't go back now after having a a front loader for the last 5 years.
You can always start with the tractor and rear blade and add the loader later.
Chuck