Pros and cons of snow removal options

[bird dogger]

I disagree that using a rear mounted snowblower with a mirror is anything like backing up a trailer.
Backing up with a trailer: if you want the trailer to veer to the left, you have to turn your steering wheel to the right (clockwise). If you want the trailer to veer to the right....you turn your steering wheel to the left (counter clockwise). All of which is due to the pivot point at the ball hitch. It can get confusing, no doubt.

A rear snowblower mounted to your tractor's 3 pt hitch does not pivot like a trailer when turning. When you're looking in the mirror and you want the blower to veer to your left.....you turn the steering wheel to the left. If you want the blower to veer to the right....you turn the steering wheel to the right. It's no different than backing your vehicle into a parking spot.

It's very intuitive and the learning curve is extremely brief. (No tricks needed as in trying to remember which way to turn the steering wheel while backing up a trailer to have it go where you want it to.)

You use the steering wheel the same way with mirrors and a 3 pt blower as you do driving forward with no mirrors. Either way: turn left and the blower goes left ...... turn right and the blower goes right.

 

[dan’s kubby]

Great post!

I love my plow, but any chance to use my tractor is good with me!

 

[dvto2]

Depends where you live. Here in northern Connecticut, we used to get 12” snow on a regular basis and it would stay through the winter. Now it’s rare to get that much, and when we do, it’s too warm to stay, and it gums up my snowblower, so i just added a straight blade to my bucket and don’t even put the blower on. Getting off the tractor to clear out the snow blower is a huge pima, and it’s worth the trade off of backing the tractor up after dumping a load of snow at this point. This works for my 600’ off driveway.

 

[top gnome]

I have used a backblade, bucket and now I have a plow with a hyd angle on the kubota the plow works great because you can still pile the snow 6 feet high or better I have 1/4 mile of driveway with heavy bush on and ditches on both side and few turn outs. But like others we have gotten very little snow and what we get is mostly ice. 10 years ago we got almost 4 ft in one week. now I use the plow once the last two winters and probably did not really need to.

 

[DustyRusty]

You are discussing snow in the middle of a heat wave! I will check back on this topic when the temperature drops below 40 degrees.

 

[Bearcatrp]

I was glad I sold my walk behind snow blower and bought my 1880. Just using the back blade works like a charm no matter if the snow is sticky or slick.

 

[airbiscuit]

I've tried lots of options (depending on age and budget)

The Snowplow "Original Snow Pusher - worth the cost
8hp walk behind - snowblower effective, but a workout
2 cycle Rubber Paddle Snowblower - works way better, and easier than I ever would have thought
Plow truck - probably the fastest of all, but kind of rots away sitting most of the year
Rear blade - cheap and relatively effective
ATV with Plow - plows fast and pushes a lot of snow. Need a place to push it;
3pt - rear push snowblower - very effective but don't like backing up all the time
3pt Rear Pull Snowblower - best option ever for me. Done in 1/2 the time