60' front blade or Snow Blower

I’ve used the front snow blade for 3 years, then purchased a new front snow blower this last year. I used the blower all winter, and never put the blade back on. It’s a wonderful thing to blow the snow away from your track, not piling it up like the blade does. I don’t think I will ever use the blade again. Yeah, it’s that much nicer, and we do get some snow up here.

Blades have their place but a SB is the cats arse

If your tractor can use and manage a 60' (i.e. sixty foot!) blade then do it. You
probably would take one pass and clear the drive and then some...

Now if you meant 60" (i.e. sixty inch) blade then I would have to agree with
skeets and say that a snow blower is the cats arse (although I thought the
saying was cats meow)...

I have plowed my driveway, used the FEL and used the snow blower. With
the snow blower there are no snow banks, moves the snow once, done a
lot quicker, etc... I would go with the snow blower if you can....

If only one choice,it would be the blade for year round use but in the winter my 60' blower works very well on the gravel driveway,Last winter by the end of January I had ran out of room to push the snow,purchased the blower used,problem solved,wont be pushing snow any more.

there is the question of how much you can actually use the blade for things other than snow..... I really do not know; but if there is not much, with the blower being such a huge winter advantage over a blade.. I'd lean that way.

Course that matters where one lives.... if a snow blower is a bit of overkill for a particular area..... then blowers advantage start dropping and blade starts looking more advantageous.

Up here in "Snow Country", my set up is a ssqa 72" Snow Basket on the loader, and a 3164 rear blower. Yes, it can be awkward using a rear mount blower due to neck issues. But in all honesty, you don't really have to be looking back ALL of the time. Usually a quick glance now and then is all thats required. Why a rear Blower? Because a blower on the 540 RPM PTO is basically practically unstoppable. With a 4 blade impeller at 20 or 24" diameter, you will throw just as far if not further than a front mount, without taxing the engine as much. The set up I have is not phased by heavy or deep snow. The Snow Basket makes getting into tight spaces and back dragging snow into a large windrow quick and clean, then the blower relocates said snow quite effectively. The problem with a blade is all of the snow over flowing the edges. You will have to pass at least 3 times to clean what a blower will in one pass. Another drawback with a blade is that you really can't pile snow effectively, causing you to run out of room during Winter. A snow basket like I have doesnt pile well either, but that isn't it's designed purpose either. A blade designed for snow removal wont be worth much in dirt/gravel/loam, because it isn't made as heavy duty as a dedicated dirt blade. You will bend and twist a snow blade in dirt, guaranteed.

I have a lot of space to pile up snow so I mainly use the front snow blade to clear my gravel driveway since it's really fast.

I just got a rear blower for last winter and it works great and would be the way to go if you don't have much room to pile up the snow. I used a good walk behind snow blower before and it couldn't throw the wet snow we get around here very well so I thought a pto blower wouldn't work well. I finally broke down and got a Puma with a 28" fan and it's amazing. I just have to be careful with the gravel until it gets frozen solid.

It's nice to have both but if I could have only one, I think I would choose the blade since it's faster and I have lots of room for snow.

Big question is what else you'd really use a blade for. I don't have a blade so I don't miss it - I do everything with my bucket. When I put the lawn in I might have used a blade (but used a land plane for most things instead), if you have a gravel drive a box blade is more likely to be useful, and I now have basically nothing I'd use a blade for.

Front blade or blower meaning you don’t have a loader is an easy choice... blower for sure!
On the front I run an ssqa blade or bucket, and blade or blower on the rear.


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PaulL said:

Big question is what else you'd really use a blade for. I don't have a blade so I don't miss it - I do everything with my bucket. When I put the lawn in I might have used a blade (but used a land plane for most things instead), if you have a gravel drive a box blade is more likely to be useful, and I now have basically nothing I'd use a blade for.

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A front blade pushing, doesn’t smooth out a surface like dragging a land plane or box blade can. The front tends to bounce and hop more, so it creates a bit of an uneven surface.
You can use your loader bucket to dump material, than use the bottom of the bucket to “back blade” the material, that works better than trying to push it flat.

Used a rear blower on open station for many years. Front or rear mount, you end up wearing way too much snow.

Open station, blade is more practical, but you need front hydraulic outlet.

Also can do light grading with blade.