What is best for pushin snow

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country53
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What is best for pushin snow

Post by country53 » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:08 pm

I own a 420 JD w/#62 blade, a 50hp bobcat and a 82hp Kubota front end loader, a parking lot about 100ft x 200ft. Which would be best for pushing snow? I never had to push much snow.

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Lavoy
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Post by Lavoy » Tue Mar 10, 2015 5:32 pm

It will vary widely based on conditions, temp, snow density, snow depth etc., there is really no one answer. At 35 degrees, sunny day, 12" + of heavy wet snow, anything with rubber tires is utterly useless. Light fluffy snow at cold temp, either of the wheel loaders will outwork the crawler.
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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Wed Mar 11, 2015 4:40 am

Hi,

I used to choose based on what I was clearing.

Linear plowing, like a driveway, I used the crawler/dozer over 3" no matter what the state of the snow was.

The mouth of the road and the parking/swing area up at the house would get roughed in using the crawler if it was wet snow. Then, piled using the tractor/loader. If it was fluffy, then just the loader. As Lavoy already pointed out.

This, when I lived in NY. Here in NC then crawler has played in the snow just once. We usually only get a couple inches. Even up to 6" means no plowing. The entire area is shut down for days. We wait for it to melt. That one time we got 12" and I could not resist. Of course once I get to the end of my dirt road there is an unplowed paved State road, so we go nowhere. :P

I never used a skid steer loader for snow plowing.

Stan
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Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

Scottyb
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Post by Scottyb » Wed Mar 11, 2015 9:51 am

For snow, it comes down to Attachments and obstacles in the way. That Kubota will work real well if you put a snowblower on the front, (dry snow best) however you might need to blow some of the snow twice to move it 100 feet ! Otherwise tractors take too much room to turn around and both the crawler and the Bobcat turn on a dime. If you have a few cars left in the lot, light posts or other things to work around then the Bobcat is the clear winner.
Get a BIG snow bucket and a bonus, is a snow blade that is closed on both ends (box blade)in big open lots pushes a ton of snow without leaving a ridge on either side. (I put tire chains on my skidsteers, you can get away with just the back wheels but I prefer all 4. ) The Crawler, is good for the long driveway. I often start with my 450c dozer just to push out the driveway and have a little Deere play time but my Skidsteers do most of the work.
For me chains on a skidsteer with the right attachments is the clear winner. My skidsteers are the best little buddies that a crawler could ever have. Mine are only 30 hp.! ps. do up your seatbelt when pushing snow with a skidsteer!
450`s c-dozer 6 way, b-loader.
350`s c-loader + ripper, b-loader with winch arch. B-loader with dozer pads
backhoe attachment.
1010 loader with forks for round bales
a few 610 Bobcats. many attachments

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notmeu
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Post by notmeu » Wed Mar 11, 2015 10:21 am

Scottyb wrote:For snow, it comes down to Attachments and obstacles in the way. That Kubota will work real well if you put a snowblower on the front, (dry snow best) however you might need to blow some of the snow twice to move it 100 feet !

I have a neighbor that has a big Kubota with a 6' snowblower on the front. He does the 5 houses on our street. It has a heated cab, he's always wearing a tee shirt when he's out moving snow(show off!). That big machine is really nice for moving snow on the driveways but he cannot get into walkways and smaller area's, which sucks. I'll try to follow him around town with my 42" snowblower on my toro wheelhorse tractor, (Notice I say try, that thing is amazingly fast!) and do the walkways and paths to the outdoor wood stoves. It works out really well tag teaming it like this.
1956 JD420, gearmatic 8a winch, custom 6 way blade and FOPS.

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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Wed Mar 11, 2015 11:28 am

Hi,

BTW, it is Sunny and 80F in the Raleigh NC area today. And, here we are talking about moving snow around.... :P

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

Scottyb
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Post by Scottyb » Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:38 pm

Stan, that heat would feel very nice for a change. But, march historically is our "most snow" month of the winter. Chains stay on the skidsteers until mid April.
Lots of snow yet. We just had a great weekend of sledding, there was still 2+ feet of soft snow in the countryside at the cabin just a few days ago, before the above seasonal weather that has just began. Now the sun shines hot when it gets above freezing in the daytime so the sleds are in the shed until we get a fresh dump. We will.
I love snow clearing. An acreage at the lake, two business locations and, a corner lot home in the city gives me a day off to be on the equipment every time we get more than a few inches at a time. I keep a Small Bobcat 610 at each location and just move my 76 inch snow bucket around. I have a 48 inch bucket as well that I keep a very sharp edge on for scraping sidewalks at my retail store.

A while back I was just cleaning up with a 610 around the neighborhood for fun and a senior ran out of her place with a package. She said that she wanted to give me something for the times I have cleared out the driveway and handed me a 10 lb frozen beef roast. I thanked her, stuck it between my legs on the seat and kept on going. Things of all kinds show up in the mailbox as well. Not necessary but appreciated. I might be the only guy in the whole city that has a bobcat in the back yard. People think it is odd unless they come from the country like me, then it makes perfect sense to them.
450`s c-dozer 6 way, b-loader.
350`s c-loader + ripper, b-loader with winch arch. B-loader with dozer pads
backhoe attachment.
1010 loader with forks for round bales
a few 610 Bobcats. many attachments

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Stan Disbrow
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Post by Stan Disbrow » Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:33 am

Hi,

Back in 1994, I came from the mountains of NY to Raleigh NC for work reasons. I did not know this move was going to be permanent or not, so I rented a house on the North side of Raleigh. It had a postage stamp for a back yard, but I brought one tractor with a front end loader and a back blade and parked it in the back yard. There was a little shed, so I loaded it with a couple pulling chains, a couple chain saws, a few gas cans, a portable generator, etc.

The neighbors thought I was crazy. Then hurricane Fran hit in September. Then, they figured out that kind of stuff can be even more handy in the City than it is in the Country. There was lots of tree work to do, and if were waiting for the City to get to us, it would have been two weeks.

I also found out I was not alone in having some stuff to work with. It seems there were quite a few other 'crazy folks' around. ;)

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

country53
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Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:59 pm
Location: Kentucky

What is best for pushin snow

Post by country53 » Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:52 pm

Thanks for all of the input. Next time we have 12+ inches believe I'll try the 420.

oldtanker
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Re: What is best for pushin snow

Post by oldtanker » Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:30 am

country53 wrote:I own a 420 JD w/#62 blade, a 50hp bobcat and a 82hp Kubota front end loader, a parking lot about 100ft x 200ft. Which would be best for pushing snow? I never had to push much snow.
Just noticed this one but I'll toss in my 2 cents. Having pushed and piled snow with a verity of equipment and being pretty close to Lavoy where most of our snow is lite and fluffy.....for a long drive a blower. The bigger the better. Larger areas like a parking lot a 4 wheel loader of skid steer with a snow pusher blade as described or a snow bucket. Smaller drives when a big tractor isn't needed a compact or garden tractor with a blower. A dozer would be my last pick because even a dozer can skid on packed snow and because of the traction when it slips it's generally bad.

In areas with wet heavy snow a push blade of some type has worked best in my experience. Blowers tend to plug up pretty fast with the wet stuff.

For those who have never had to deal with snow if a person is pushing snow with blade or bucket you have to plan with the first snow where you are going to stack the snow. Often a novice won't push it back far enough and runs out of places to push it. That's one of the reasons I like a blower. It picks it up and moves it pretty far back.

I use a 125 PTO HP tractor with a 8' 2 stage blower here in west MN. I had a 3/4 ton pickup with a plow for a while but plowing snow was something a pickup was never really designed for. I have a tractor loader backhoe that's my backup should something break on the big tractor but I seldom have to use it.

Another option would be to have a bunch of kids an just buy shovels and cocoa :twisted: :twisted: !

Rick

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Tigerhaze
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Post by Tigerhaze » Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:30 pm

If doing a smaller parking area, I like using a skid steer or front end loader with bucket- the reason is with a blade you have to start berming the pushed now and that gets tough once you build up a snow wall- with the bucket you can continue to dump over that wall and not build up the snow as high in one spot. However a bucket isn't practical for larger parking areas and a blade is probably the better choice. FYI I live where it is almost always wet heavy snow so a blower would only be practical a couple times a snow season.
(1) JD Straight 450 crawler dozer with manual outside blade; (2) JD 2010 diesel crawler loaders; (1) JD 2010 diesel dozer with hydraulic 6-way blade; (2) Model 50 backhoe attachments, misc. other construction equipment

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