Go BottomSnowblowing on the cheap
 | kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5764 NW Oregon 
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2008-12-21 158777
Is there such a thing?
For each of the last five years snowfall has been heavier than the year before. Yet we've had a few years with no snow at all.
I've been using the bucket to clear a driveway pad and a 100 foot driveway but the spoils are at 10 feet high now and it's still snowing.
I hate spending money on an implement that will go unused 99% of the time. So, is there a cheap way to blow snow? It doesn't even need to be tractor operated (Blasphemy!)
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 | earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-12-22 158778
Okay--take a d-e-e-p breath---hold it! Purse your lips, point toward the snow and exhale! And repeat.
How's that for cheap?
Have you considered mounting a truck snow plow blade on your bucket to gain extra height and outward reach?
Just a thought: don't make it rigid like I did for my skid steer--I was going about fast-walking speed when I hit a big catch basin cover. It didn't move. Machine weighs over 8,000 and stopped INSTANTLY before I realized what happened.
When I regained consciousness (not kidding) my head and neck were jammed under the cab wiper system up against the door window (yeah, I should have worn the seat belt). My glasses were bent, and my neck still cracks when I turn my head---and this was 4 days ago. My scalp looks I was in a bad car accident. DOH! And there's more! The plow's cutting edge was ripped out and pushed back about 3 inches and the plow mouldboard itself twisted and bent backward---looks sort like the highway plows that have one end taller than the other. ....
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 | hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 3583 iowa
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2008-12-22 158780
KW; Maybe you have a neighbor who loves to plow/blow snow and bake him/her lots of cookies. I plowed for several years with a pickup plow for cookies, who ever made the best cookies got plowed first. Merry christmas. Frank. ....
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 | Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-12-22 158783
Ken, you could try to find an old single stage blower up around Seattle or Vancouver, BC. Or if you have someone locally who can do fabricating trade them some IT work for it, a new website maybe?
There used to be a lot of them in areas where there is (except for this year) rarely any snow.
They are just a horizontal shaft with curved rubber paddles (usually made from scrap conveyor belting) and as it rotates it flings the snow up along the upper housing and some side-to-side slats direct it.
It's what Toro and Honda used as the basis for their little walk-behind jobs. They work VERY well for clearing light snow and Ok for the occasional dump.
Best of luck. ....
Link: Toro Single Stage Snowblowers
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| kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-12-22 158785
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Frank, we so rarely get this kind of snow that nobody here has a blower. I'm sort of unique since I have the equivalent of a high tech shovel :)
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 | auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2008-12-22 158786
I have a 1000' driveway here in Canada, and a lot of elderly neighbors, so this area I can talk about.
After using various ones on various tractors, I decided that blowers aren't worth the cost, effort, storage space, and slow moving speed. I rely on a rear blade, which costs little and has year-round uses. (True, I didn't need tire chains so much with the blower, and do need them with the blade.) Here are the blade modifications I made:
-A crank on one of the vertical hitch arms lets me adjust the one-side higher-lower without dismounting. -I rejigged the pivot so I have a bigger angle (one side forward, the other rearward). -I adjust the horizontal hitch arms so the extreme-angled blade is exactly behind the wheels, not extending outside of the track. Thus, if going straight ahead, if my tires don't hit anything, I know the blade won't snag anything. -Added heavy weights to the blade (don't have power-down). -Rounded off the ends of the bottom of the scraper or whatever it's called on the bottom, so I don't snag uneven sidewalks or whatever. -Hard to explain but I reinforced the weak spot on the holding frame so that when hard pushing in reverse nothing bends or breaks. -I increased the effective height of the blade (by bolting metal wings on) so when pulling or especially reverse-pushing a lot of snow, it doesn't so much spill over the top. (-I keep trying various snow-release coatings, but none has impressed me so far.)
The only weakness to relying on the blade is that eventually the shoulders (they're called spoils?) build up so high that maybe once or twice a season I use the bucket to move them. Hope that helps.
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| kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-12-22 158787
This particular snow is cold and dry and the wind blows it everywhere. That gave me an idea that maybe a leaf blower would blow it. My leaf blower hasn't been started for a few years but if I can get it going it's worth a try.
A rear blade with a Murf pipe on it may be a good way to go but I'll keep an eye out for a cheap single stage blower.
Spoils? I dunno, it works for dirt why not snow? :)
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| earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2008-12-22 158791
Windrows = spoils ....
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| Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999 Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-12-22 158793
Ken, if you rarely get much snow a plow will work fine for you, the problem my 'neighbour' Auerbach is talking about is the snow bank along the driveway left after plowing.
If you plow a number of times like we have to here, the plow can't do anything but shove it over, it doesn't lift it. The snow then freezes into a big frozen lump, so the next time you plow the pile gets wider, not taller. If you have something like a long driveway, or in my case a runway, you have to be sure to plow it wide enough that after a whole season of plowing it's still wide enough to be usable.
For a better idea of why a blower, which sends the snow a further distance and far away from the edge of the driveway, have a look at my picture # 16 and you can see why a plow would be useless with high snow banks.
Best of luck.
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| auerbach
Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 2168 West of Toronto
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2008-12-22 158794
A few inches of dry, light snow would respond to a leaf blower and would be ideal where you can't get a tractor in, like stairs or a narrow curved walkway. But 8" of wet, icey, compacted snow would be slow going. ....
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 | harvey
Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 1550 Moravia, NY 
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2008-12-22 158795
We call em Snowbanks. I would not bother with a single stage blower no matter how cheap.
Start on the side of the pile and start pushing it back out of the way.
I've got back blades with alot of "engineering" done to it and I've found for all but the lightest of snow the blower is the way to go. I refuse to handle snow 2 or 3 times. I do not have the time to fool with it.
Yup I can do a quickie with blade a couple of times but the blower comes out to move it permenant. Pushing and pushing and re pushing makes no sense to me. Been there and done it! ....
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 | candoarms
Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1932 North Dakota
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2008-12-22 158799
Kwschumm,
If you don't normally get this much snow, I'd stay with the loader and bucket for the winter. If you find yourself fighting the snow again next winter, it might be time to invest in some snow removal equipment.
The cheapest way to go is to use what you have, and make do. If you decide to invest in a blower, get yourself a good one. You'll never regret having the right tool for the job.
You don't have to buy a new blower. They're often available at auctions. Look for a used one this coming summer. See if you can find one that fits your budget.
Joel ....
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