Go BottomSnow Removal with a Woods Rear Blade on a Gravel Draveway
 | bialecki
Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 60 Southern Connecticut 
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2007-12-04 148958
I recently purchased a Woods 72" rear Blade with skids shoes to plow snow from my gravel driveway. I have a Kubota B7800, however the tractor does not have position control, only a 1/4" valve for positioning 3 pt hitch implements. Any recommendations.
I see DennisCTB has the same Woods rear blade and noticed in his pictures he uses the swivel feature of the rear blade. Dennis do you mean you remove the pin and let the blade find its natural position while plowing?
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 | candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota 
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2007-12-04 148959
Bialecki,
I've found that it isn't necessary to remove ALL of the snow from the driveway. If you leave an inch or snow on top, that's no big deal. Any vehicle will be able to move through an inch or two of snow.
If you have a gravel drive, you'll find that leaving a bit of snow behind will actually save you a pile of work in the Spring, as you won't be moving gravel off into the grass. As you drive over the snow, it will pack down hard, leaving you a base to work with next time around with the grader blade.
Use your blade like you would a grader. Angle the blade slightly so that you can push the snow off to one side of the driveway. You can position the blade angle fairly steep for deeper snow, or fairly shallow for light snow.....but you will have to lock it in place.
Joel ....
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 | DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ 
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2007-12-04 148960
Bialecki,
Yes I pull the pin that allows the blade to float side to side. I have a paved drive and that made it bite less, don't know how that would work on gravel though.
I also have the Woods shoes for the blade, they were a waste of money for me as I bought them before I discovered the pull the pin idea ( I got it from either EW or Onace). The shoes (two big upside down steel mushrooms) scratch up the paved drive real bad, they are more meant for smoothing dirt.
Dennis ....
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| DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ
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2007-12-04 148961
I only use the Woods blade for light dusting, slush, and to clean up what the front blower does not get.
When I have been forced to use it on a real snow fall because I have not installed the blower yet, IMHO the rear blade is miserable to use as the sole snow removal tool.
As soon as I use it I get my butt in gear and install the front blower ;)
My drive is 1000 feet long and about 15,000 square feet, on a small driveway a loader and a blade are fine.
....
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 | earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2007-12-04 148963
Dennis, Yup, in my parts when it comes to snow plowing with a truck or anything else for that matter, you can always tell a newbie by the fact they leave their plow or blade shoes on. Like you eluded to, they tend to make more of a mess on gravel by leaving deep gouges in the roadway since they float by design. And they also float or drop downward too and dig even deeper. And like I mentioned in earlier posts on this, if they're hanging down they're liable to get hung up on something and either get bent, cause damage to something else,---or, like I found when I was a newbie---get caught on a pothole at 40-45 miles an hour and practically take the plow off. It did shear the shoe off though and bend the mount.
I haven't tried it but I'm thinking that gage wheels on the blade might be effective on a gravel drive to get that first layer of hardpack going. After the hardpack sets up the wheels wouldn't be necessary most likely. ....
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| bialecki
Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 60 Southern Connecticut
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2007-12-05 148976
Thanks, the responses are exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the tips on the shoes, based on what you state they will actually drive the blade downward as they trench into the gravel making a big mess. One of my concerns is that the rear blade on my Kubota B-7800, as hooked up to the 3 pt hitch, the hitch does not have a float position, it is a simple up down control with little position control. So as I plow I most likely will have to continuously monitor the depth of the blade. I guess experience and practice is what I need. ....
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| DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ
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2007-12-05 148977
I had a flat short 200 foot gravel drive that I did with a front blade for years. The key is the word "Hardpack". You need to keep the blade up to leave some snow to be compacted into the gravel to form a frozen mass. Once this is done you can drop the blade on the "Hardpack" and glide over it.
All of this is fine if your drive is flat and you either have enough gravel sticking up through the frozen driveway, or you have sanded it. If you have a slope on the drive this is not fun, too much fiddling around for me, main reason I paved my 10% grade 1000 foot drive, makes it very easy.
Your 3ph only controls the position the blade is being held at. The blade is held at that point by its weight. So when I drop my blade to the full down position it glides sligthtly up and down to follow the smooth imperfections in my paved driveway. There is nothing to stop the blade from lifting, just its weight.
You might want to drag your blade in the o-O-( position instead of normal o-O-) until you get the gravel frozen solid. That way you can drop it all the way down in light snow and mix some gravel in it as well.
You also need to experiment with your top link to change the angle of the blade to minimize its bite. ....
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| earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2007-12-05 148979
Dennis: I like that o-O-( o-O-)
What else ya got?
How about:
Disk harrow: o-O-..
2-bottom plow: o-O-;;
FEL: >-o-O
MMM: o=O
PHD: o-O-|
Skid steer: >OO
Trailer: --o- --oo-
Garden tractor: .-o
Push mower: ../ ....
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| DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ
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2007-12-05 148981
Over the years I have used the ../ but liked the .=O better, then when I got the o=O it was nirvana.
So EW when r u going to take the >OO and load it on the --oo- or do you need the the >o-O for your next job.
EW not sure if symbolic speak will take off here in the US after all!
jis sayings all. Nice job on the symbols! ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2007-12-05 148983
Merry Christmas.....
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##
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Best of luck. ....
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| DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2707 NorthWest NJ
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2007-12-05 148985
Murf, your tree got messed up because my program removes all those nice spaces you put in there.
............db
...........d$b
.........,di$$,
........ d$$$$ib
.........d$$$$$b
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...........##
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| earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2007-12-05 148987
Murf are you making a Christmas-is-too-commercialized (-commercialised, eh?) statement by using dollar signs?
Or is it because yousguys are finally at par (or thereabouts) with our dollar? ....
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| earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2007-12-05 148989
Dennis I need to put two pumps on the >-o-O/> instead. ....
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 | DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2007-12-05 148991
OOOOO, I think I agree with Dennis. If you want to get REALLY frustrated, that rear blade trying to remove snow from a gravel drive is one way to do it.
Every time I have tried it I just drive the skid shoes into the gravel and start peeling up the driveway.
It would have worked better back in Alaska where the ground froze real hard and for six months at a time.
On the other hand, a rear blade with the skid shoes is very good on a paved drive as long as you set the skids to clear any cracks or irregularities in the paving.
My front blade works better than a rear blade because there is more control over the height and it is much easier to monitor.
Even there, the skid shoes are worthless. I just set the blade to leave an inch or so of snow behind.
....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2007-12-06 149009
No, in the original design it was mostly the 'at' sign as used in email addresses, but the symbol tripped some default code that I was pimping a website so I had to change them all.
But I am liking the dollar shift, just bought a place in Floreeeda counting on the shift back making for some decent appreciation.
Might even go there one day and see the place..... ;)
Best of luck. ....
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| bialecki
Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 60 Southern Connecticut
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2007-12-07 149062
I found a slightly used Kubota snow blower with hydraulic chute control for ~$3,000 (9 months old) is it worth the investment for a few storms a year in Connecticut that we receive or should I just use my rear blade. Also I plan on keeping the B7800 for a long time. ....
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| candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2007-12-07 149072
Bialecki,
I have no idea how often you might use the thing, or whether or not it's something you can easily afford right now.
Personally, I would never spend that much money on a blower. Used blowers are common, and can be had at great savings. And since there's very little that can wear out, or break, (a chain or sprocket) used blowers are the way to go. Besides that, blowers generally see very few hours of use in most parts of the U.S.
A blower may be a good investment for you, as you could easily earn a considerable amount of extra money with it after the major storms hit your area.
Joel ....
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| bialecki
Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 60 Southern Connecticut
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2007-12-08 149076
Actually I thought the same, the payback is infinite on such an item seeing I don't use the tractor for a living. However your feedback about blowers being readily available helps confirm my decision not to buy one. ....
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 | Hettric
Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 133 MA
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2007-12-08 149077
As Candoarms suggested, I had thought a snowblower (and of course a larger tractor) might allow some small return, used in a casual way locally. When I thought to ask my insurance agent about liability coverage and registering for "over the road", was told "commercial policy" 2K plus! What do others do? ....
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| bialecki
Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 60 Southern Connecticut
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2007-12-08 149087
In todays-day-and-age unless you are in it full time the extra liability and insurance which one would need, especially in the Northeast sometimes just doesn't warrant going into business for yourself part-time. I could see it where I live, a driveway gets scuffed-up or broken slightly the owners of the driveway will come after the guy with the plow, etc. ....
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