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Suggestions for Snow removal equipment attachments

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paluvsjoshua
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 61 White Mountains - New Hampshire
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2004-06-05          87821

Any suggestions for driveway snow removal equipment. Own 5 acres rolling hills. Clay based soil with 12" of top soil (soft when wet). New 250 foot road grade gravel driveway (hard pack), with 5% pitch down and 's' curve from street level. Wind driven mountain top with plenty of wind driven snow. Currenly own 13 hp MTD snow thrower but would like to make use of new JD4115 tractor (Turf Tires) and most likely with the amount of snow in the New Hampshire mountains, I will get that chance. Would a rear blade on the JD4115 be an effective add on? Will probably need the FEL for moving snow piles if needed? Any suggestions are welcome.

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-06-06          87824

IMO On a gravel drive use a front mount hyd angle blade, you may need a set of tire chains and some weight on back as well. ....

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paluvsjoshua
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 61 White Mountains - New Hampshire
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2004-06-06          87828

Thanks Grinder, I had already checked the retail pricing for JD quick hitch front blade $455 + $531 for the front quick hitch and hyd lift + $148 for hyd angling. All totaled $1134 retail price. I suppose with the quick hitch feature I could set up the FEL if needed in no time. What do you think would be a fair price for that setup? ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-06-07          87915

If you already have a FEL on your machine my suggestion would be to use a small pickup type plow mounted in place of the bucket. The extra weight of the FEL on the front end makes a big improvement in traction even without chains. It also makes stacking and detail work MUCH easier since the blade is farther out in front where you have a better view of it.

Best of luck. ....

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paluvsjoshua
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 61 White Mountains - New Hampshire
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2004-06-07          87925

Thanks Murf. That's another idea I was pondering. How would the blade attach to the FEL and could I angle the blade? Would like the blade to attach and detach as simply as possible to make use of the FEL when needed. ....

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Oliver
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 210 Massachusetts
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2004-06-07          87926

We maintain the walks on campus with an L3130 and a Curtis blade. We take the bucket off and attach the blade. The blade can be angled manually; you can add hydroulics to angle the blade but we have not found it to be necessary.

We did not get a quick-attach bucket -- I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS OPTION. We do not have a heated building for the tractor, and let me tell you it is no fun wrestling with the bucket or blade on a cold day (on those days, I put my administrator hat back on and head to my warm office -- at work I'm definitely a fair-weather tractor driver!)

This set-up works really well, especially in conjunction with the sander that is attached to the 3PH. ....

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paluvsjoshua
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 61 White Mountains - New Hampshire
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2004-06-07          87928

Your right Oliver - the quick attach would be essential. Called Curtis and for that package ( 5' manual blade w/quick attach would be $1760 retail. Will call my dealer to find what thier price would be. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-06-08          88051

Oliver, Kubota sells an adapter to make a 'regular' bucket & FEL into0 aquick-attach setup, it requires no modifications to either at all, it is just a smallish bracket that goes between the two and acts as a connector.

paluvsjoshua, I would look at a snow blade for a pickup truck, they sell them seperately from the mounting hardware, I'm sure you will find it is a better blade for less money, you could definitely get a good used balde for about half of that cost, WITH power angling.

We run them commercially with no problems at all.

Best of luck. ....

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Oliver
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 210 Massachusetts
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2004-06-08          88055

Thanks for the info, Murf. I will look into getting an adapter well before the snow falls again next season. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-06-08          88057

Oliver, I use the adapter all the time, it is what allows me to easily change over to my multi-pupose tool holder (pic. # 18).

It only requires the removal of 2 pins to do the change over and it's design is such that there is no manipulating of the implement at all, the FEL does all the work.

I have also found it is a LOT easier to drop the bucket than the entire FEL for times when I have to get into a tight spot, or for heavy lifting.

Best of luck. ....

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yooperpete
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1413 Northern Michigan
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2004-06-08          88060

I think there is entirely too much talk about snow for this time of year when it finally has reached the high 80's.

If your putting a blade on the FEL with a tilt, don't you have to be careful about putting to much side thrust on the loader frame causing it to twist if your pushing deep/wet or packed snow? ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2004-06-08          88062

I was thinking of it as 'mental air conditioning', and no I don't mean the breeze that blows in one ear and out the other as my wife asserts there is.

Pete, while there is some concern about the lateral or torsional forces on the FEL arms, the front of the machine is light enough that the front tires lose traction and skid sideways long before that much force accumulates.

In 20+ years of doing it we have never had any problems yet.

BTW, summer has arrived in Toronto too, it is 90 deg. F. and high humidity here, 101 deg. F. with the 'humidex', still no match for the A/C on the Kubota, I cut 15 acres of hay this morning in cool comfort.

Best of luck. ....

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harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY
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2004-06-08          88088

Awesome exchange! Just think 11 more days and they start getting shorter. We'll be playing in snow B4 long... ....

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paluvsjoshua
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 61 White Mountains - New Hampshire
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2004-06-08          88090

Looks like attaching a Curtis blade to the FEL of my JD4115 just got too expensive. Curtis quoted $1760 (full retail) for the blade and quick attach. My dealer wants the full retail price for the blade plus several hours to align and weld the quick attach to the blade. Looking at over $2000.00 ....

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wigglybridge
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 82 Vermont
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2004-06-08          88113

Blower on the back, bucket on the front. Unstoppable on my 700' gravel drive that looks like the trek from Namche Bazaar to Everest Base Camp. No worries about pushing the banks back if we get a big winter. ....

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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2004-06-09          88132

The Deere front blade is sturdy, well designed and easy to attach/detach. Mine was priced at $1,000 new with the tractor.

It is not as big as the Curtis blade but it is also designed to push dirt. ....

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grinder
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 677 central Maine
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2004-06-10          88217

Wiggley
I agree with your blowew and bucket, I like mine. Do you have any trouble picking up rocks in the freeze and thaw
cycle? ....

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wigglybridge
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 82 Vermont
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2004-06-10          88239

Grinder -- having been through one winter with it, I wouldn't claim categorical knowledge!

But the only tricky part seemed to be before the ground froze solid, the blower would pick up some gravel. I might try using the rear blade next year if we get some early snows again while the ground is soft.

Some of that could also have been that it was my first time using a 3-pt hitch... and I'd only had the tractor 2 weeks, most of which was spent building the shed for it. So I wasn't what you might call the most experienced operator!

But I now can't imagine doing snow any other way. Even pro's with BIG trucks have had to give up and bring in tractors/loaders some of our winters. And they always had to drive up here and plow down, so the drive was a packed mess when they got done, which of course turned to ice in the first thaw/freeze. Yuck. ....

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itsgottobegreen
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 329 Mt. Airy, MD
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2004-06-10          88285

After finding out what curtis wanted for a plow. I decide to go built my own. I took a snow plow off a kubota front mount mower. Cut and rewelded the frame so it would mount to loader arms on my B7500. I use the tilt hydraulic on the loader to angle the blade. I also have a 51" New Metero Snow blower on the back. Its great for both light and deep snows.

A loader mounted plow can't take the same amount of stress as a frame mounted plow. So you have to be care full with them. ....

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paluvsjoshua
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 61 White Mountains - New Hampshire
TractorPoint Premium Member -- 5 Tractors = Very Frequent Poster

2004-06-12          88367

After careful consideration of costs and all of your input, I thought it best considering the grade I have with the driveway, to go with the JD front blade for snow removal and dirt grading, also changed my Turf Tires to R4's before delivery. Thanks so much for all your suggestions and help! Happy tractoring!! ....

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