We keep getting blasted with huge snowfalls each winter and my box blade doesn't really cut it for clearing snow off my gravel driveway. I have no loader on my tractor. I think I want to get an angle blade. 6' probably. Are the $700 tractor supply ones good or are there other brands I should be looking at? Any sort of front plow type things that would work on a tractor with no loader?
Gotta have some weight...clearing wet heavy snow with the blade at an angle likes to shove the tractor sideways... pita
Too expensive and overkill. I'm in KY not Michigan. I'm actually wondering if a pickup truck plow would work. I feel like it would be child's play to fabricate a mounting plate to go between the plow and the tractor and I'm seeing used plows for not a ton of money. Saw one fully articulating unit for $300 a couple hours from here.
Well, now, that's an interesting idea! I'd never thought about that. Although you'd have to be careful how you mount the front bracket, as a lot of tractors don't have much of a frame on the front, and I don't believe you'd want to apply that much force to the front axle itself. Hmmm...
Like anything, you get what you pay for. The cheaper blades are will work well for snow. More $$ will get you features like the ability to offset, tilt, skid shoes, and a parking stand. This may or may not be useful for you. I would recommend getting a blade that covers your tractor width when it is angled. My tractor is 70” wide across the back tires. An 7 foot blade just covers the width.
Having experience in the moving snow with tractor and plowing.. tractor on gravel driveway that are not frozen solid are PiTA. one of my favorite contractors moved to Kentucky and he knows snow.. our joint opinion, what he did on trip north to see grandchildren if ya have a pickup 3/4 ton bigger Go north buy a used 6-7 foot straight plow and a set of rear tire chains even if you spent a grand you would make it back opening your friends and neighbors
My tractor has bare frame sticking out the front that the bumper attaches too. It uses bolts that are probably 1" diameter. Far more sturdy than anything on the front of a pickup truck. Good tip. It gets around fine on the snow. Better than my 4runner with 3-peak mountain snowflake LT tires which was completely stranded last winter until I plowed with my box blade. Which actually works but the problem is the box fills up and then you have to keep dumping it and it's a huge headache and ends up getting gravel into the grass. I think my plan is to get a angle blade if I can't find a truck plow.
A rear blade on a gravel drive way is how we used to clear snow growing up. Lots of raking in the spring to get all the gravel out of the yard. In hindsight if we would have just make some runners to keep it an inch or so off the ground it would have been a lot better. A truck plow on the front of a tractor would be WAY better.
Renting a power broom for 1/2 a day makes quick work of the springtime gravel in the yard problem...works really well! But shoes do pretty well to prevent the issue to begin with...other than leaving a thin coat of snow that sometimes turns into a layer of ice.
As a long time gravel drive snow fighter my best advice for any method is to have a place 'on' the driveway to pile so that gravel can be recovered. Any snow taken off the drive will also take stone.
If I bought a 3pt blade I would want the ability to tilt ends up and down. I borrowed a friend’s leinbach with all the adjustments and I preferred it to my unit that only has angle adjustment.
Look into the snowsport plows. I have one and put it in my bobcat. It has a thick neoprene cutting edge that leaves the rock behind and doesn’t peel grass. Another option is to weld a pipe to the bottom of the plow to let it ride over the stones.
