https://www.agricover.com/snowsport/180/
Between having this mounted to the rear and doing the DK2 on the front I’m leaning towards the DK2 for the extra money.
https://www.agricover.com/snowsport/180/
Between having this mounted to the rear and doing the DK2 on the front I’m leaning towards the DK2 for the extra money.
Except I’m reading the DK2 is not that great. Hm.
Harvey said:Except I’m reading the DK2 is not that great. Hm.
If you're just doing one or two driveways, check out the Fisher Homesteader or Western Suburbanite. They're the same plow but the Fisher is yellow and the Western is red.
Have you thought of calling around to plow guys? For the $20 my guy charges it would take quite a while to pay for a truck and plow.
Wally said:Have you thought of calling around to plow guys? For the $20 my guy charges it would take quite a while to pay for a truck and plow.
The cost, storage and maintenance needed for the truck alone, never mind the plow that sits for 10 months in a row, will probably FAR outweigh paying a local plow guy for even 10 or more plowable storms per winter. Plus you’d be “buying small” helping out the construction/landscaping companies make money in their slow season.
Unless you just want to get out and plow some snow, which has merits on its own, you are way better off to find a local guy with a small truck to plow your driveway. Around here that is usually the lawn care guys. They mow in the summer and plow in the winter. You can set up an arrangement where they come anytime you get a certain amount of snow, or call them when you need it. Keep in mind if you do the call when needed you get put on a list and they get to you when they can. If you have the same driver all the time, throwing a little extra cash his way puts you at the top of the list.
I put a plow on my riding mower. Without weights and with no way to modulate speed other than gear selection, as soon as it broke traction you couldnt get it back without completely stopping. Let off the clutch/brake the thing would just start slipping again. Of course blacktop at the old house was pretty slick when there was snow on it.
I literally tried it once and couldnt finish without grabbing a shovel.
Personally I'd go for some type of tracked military vehicle with a flame thrower, that way it could serve double-duty for killing spiders the rest of the year.
In reply to RossD :
Yeah, you need a heavy "Garden Tractor" for that sort of work, I've been using an old Simplicity 7114 this winter, weighs about 900lbs bare, maybe a little more on account of the bigger K341 that's been swapped in. With chains and no weights the 36" blade pushes anything I've put in front of it with minimal traction issues. If you're dealing with more than 6 inches or so your bite size does start to noticeably shrink, still beats shoveling or ramming a crappy single stage push blower around.
Also on that note, don't bother with a blower on a lightweight riding mower, the heavy blower makes steering impossible with the blower down, so running it it any sort of tight quarters really requires 4 arms (2 steering ,one shifting, one lifting) and gets annoying fast, BTDT.
Although now is not the time, hunt around for a "plow pig". 4x4 anything already set up. As long as it has heat, who cares about condition.
I have used my 1950 Ferguson TO20, with a back blade. Believe me that got old faster than the tractor.
The points about hiring a plow guy are well taken. I'd probably need to get my neighbor to buy into the idea though as about half the driveway is on his property. I have an easement that runs over their property for that half of the driveway and it's the end that leads onto the actual road, so there is no way a plow guy could avoid it. He used to be able to plow with his tractor, but he is laid up with an injury now and his wife has been shoveling some of the driveway instead.
At this point I'd lean towards that angle or maybe get that bigger blower with more features to make snowblowing less of a chore. My current blower is self propelled and it actually managed to blow us out of snowpocalypse a few years back, we got over three feet of snow during that storm, but it is a lot of work maneuvering it around, especially on the hilly parts.
Selling the neighbor's wife on not having to shovel sounds like it should be fairly easy. We have mandatory 12+ hour shifts when it snows and it's nice to just pull into a clear driveway when I get home. I just have to shovel the walk from the driveway to the house and I'm good.
Easement? What does the deed say?
My house sits off the main road by 200yd so I have a 200yd shared private drive. This is shared by my house and a 4 unit condo building. The deed actually says that though I 100% own all 200yd leading to the road, the condo development is responsible for all maintenance of the private drive.
They pay the bulk of the plow expenses and I just sign up with their guy to do my genuinely private portion since he is already here for them.
It's going to be interesting this summer when I plan to serve the condo with a formal letter expecting quite a bit of concrete repair/replacement of "my" private drive at their expense.
Wally said:Have you thought of calling around to plow guys? For the $20 my guy charges it would take quite a while to pay for a truck and plow.
$20 doesn't get a driveway plowed around here. I have a plow and, while I will occasionally plow someone's driveway for free, I wouldn't commit to the job on a regular basis for less than $40 or more.
In my case, I live on a short dirt road; dead end with five houses on it. We are low priority for the town. I need to be on the road for work for my 24 hour shift at 6:30 in the morning, I can't count on anyone else to have the job done by then. And sometimes, I need to plow my way out to the main paved road. On the flip side, if it snows all night while I'm at work, I may need to plow my way into my driveway the next morning when I am highly motivated to get inside. I'm in a fairly unique situation, but I need to own that plow.
Harvey said:He used to be able to plow with his tractor, but he is laid up with an injury now and his wife has been shoveling some of the driveway instead.
Why are you not driving his tractor while he can't?
I have one of the few trucks with built in attachments for a plow or snowblower, it also has a winch and dual locking differentials. Sorry, I don't have a pic of it with the plow attached. I pay somebody else to clear my snow but on the rare occasion where they don't show up in time, I have a modified snowblower that will chuck snow 2 yards over
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John Welsh said:Harvey said:He used to be able to plow with his tractor, but he is laid up with an injury now and his wife has been shoveling some of the driveway instead.
Why are you not driving his tractor while he can't?
Not my tractor. No invite. If his wife isn’t driving it then I don’t think I’m gonna be doing it.
John Welsh said:Easement? What does the deed say?
My house sits off the main road by 200yd so I have a 200yd shared private drive. This is shared by my house and a 4 unit condo building. The deed actually says that though I 100% own all 200yd leading to the road, the condo development is responsible for all maintenance of the private drive.
They pay the bulk of the plow expenses and I just sign up with their guy to do my genuinely private portion since he is already here for them.
It's going to be interesting this summer when I plan to serve the condo with a formal letter expecting quite a bit of concrete repair/replacement of "my" private drive at their expense.
They are responsible for that segment of the driveway, but I try to help out as for many years he would plow our driveway.
In reply to Harvey :
They have not asked you to drive the tractor. The plowing of that portion is their responsibility.
Maybe this older couple has too much pride to ASK YOU to cover their responsibility. Perhaps YOU SHOULD OFFER to drive the tractor for them.
Harvey said:Woody said:Harvey said:In reply to Woody :
You have good ideas. I want to subscribe to your newsletter.
Your driveway + parking area is about as large as mine, but the problem is mine is partly on a hill. That's where most of the work comes in. I also share part of my driveway with the neighbor and his part is all uneven gravel. I try to help out with that too.
Full disclosure:
I have a Fisher Homesteader plow on my Tacoma. I just use the snowblower for the sidewalk, patio and to clear a path out in the yard for the dog to poop.
I spent about 20 years plowing with a Jacobsen tractor. I even had a front mounted snowblower on it for a while. Tractors really suck for snow management. You need the plow for light storms and the snowblower for big ones. After using the snowblower, you need to clean up with the plow. The swap over is a fairly huge job. They are way too light to get any kind of traction. Plan on plowing several times through the course of the storm to keep the snow at a manageable level.
I couldn't wait to get a roof and a heater. I bought a four cylinder Jeep and the plow. Everything became awesomer. Eventually, I swapped that plow over to the Tacoma.
I think you guys are pointing me in the right direction. I really don’t want to be outside.
Now I’m thinking, could I do the rear hitch thing or would that make me nuts and be almost expensive as doing the custom front mount plow.
I don't think you would need a true custom front mount, just a modified F150 or Expedition mount. Or maybe even an unmodified F150 or Expedition mount. Seriously, who remembers that Lincoln made the Navigator? Probably not the plow makers.
Woody said:In my case, I live on a short dirt road; dead end with five houses on it. We are low priority for the town. I need to be on the road for work for my 24 hour shift at 6:30 in the morning, I can't count on anyone else to have the job done by then. And sometimes, I need to plow my way out to the main paved road. On the flip side, if it snows all night while I'm at work, I may need to plow my way into my driveway the next morning when I am highly motivated to get inside. I'm in a fairly unique situation, but I need to own that plow.
Woody said:$20 doesn't get a driveway plowed around here. I have a plow and, while I will occasionally plow someone's driveway for free, I wouldn't commit to the job on a regular basis for less than $40 or more.
In my case, I live on a short dirt road; dead end with five houses on it. We are low priority for the town. I need to be on the road for work for my 24 hour shift at 6:30 in the morning, I can't count on anyone else to have the job done by then. And sometimes, I need to plow my way out to the main paved road. On the flip side, if it snows all night while I'm at work, I may need to plow my way into my driveway the next morning when I am highly motivated to get inside. I'm in a fairly unique situation, but I need to own that plow.
I live in the same area as Woody and Harvey, and have been watching this thread with interest. Plowing is at least $40 a pop around here, and I have a 275 ft long driveway with a 60' x 25' "T" at the end of it, so it would be significantly more. One of the other challenges is finding someone reliable to plow. I tried that years ago and after so many no-shows at our old place, I just bought a 28" snowblower.
I've looked through the other options (Garden Tractor/blade/snowblower attachment, beater plow truck) over the years and haven't come up with anything that worked from a cost/time/convenience factor. I have a co-worker who has an old Simplicity tractor with a snowblower attachment that he swears by, but his driveway is perfectly flat and mine isn't.
Right now I'm stuck with the snowblower, but it takes almost as long to clear 2-3" of snow than it does to clear 8-10". Being able to take a couple of passes with some kind of plow/tractor for a lighter storm would be great. I'm still looking for a solution, if I find one I'll post it.
1 actually want a plow more for the road by my place than my act all driveway. The road is only plowed to about 1 1/2 car lanes. With a truck it is a serious pita dealing with any kind of other traffic. . I want a plow to widen the road in frount of my house as well as the intersection my house sits on as there are several storm drains there that of not kept open will flood my two nabors and then dump water in to the lower part of my property.
Jeeps are my favorite vehicles for plowing driveways. I moved a shocking amount of snow with my four cylinder ‘97 with a 6’8” poly plow in 4-low. The short wheelbase really helps when you need to turn the thing around or push the piles off the side of the driveway.
Woody said:Jeeps are my favorite vehicles for plowing driveways. I moved a shocking amount of snow with my four cylinder‘96 with a 6’8” poly plow in 4-low. The short wheelbase really helps when you need to turn the thing around or push the piles off the side of the driveway.
I was driving last night and saw at least two different houses that had a Jeep parked out front with a plow in front of them.
Woody said:Harvey said:Woody said:Harvey said:In reply to Woody :
You have good ideas. I want to subscribe to your newsletter.
Your driveway + parking area is about as large as mine, but the problem is mine is partly on a hill. That's where most of the work comes in. I also share part of my driveway with the neighbor and his part is all uneven gravel. I try to help out with that too.
Full disclosure:
I have a Fisher Homesteader plow on my Tacoma. I just use the snowblower for the sidewalk, patio and to clear a path out in the yard for the dog to poop.
I spent about 20 years plowing with a Jacobsen tractor. I even had a front mounted snowblower on it for a while. Tractors really suck for snow management. You need the plow for light storms and the snowblower for big ones. After using the snowblower, you need to clean up with the plow. The swap over is a fairly huge job. They are way too light to get any kind of traction. Plan on plowing several times through the course of the storm to keep the snow at a manageable level.
I couldn't wait to get a roof and a heater. I bought a four cylinder Jeep and the plow. Everything became awesomer. Eventually, I swapped that plow over to the Tacoma.
I think you guys are pointing me in the right direction. I really don’t want to be outside.
Now I’m thinking, could I do the rear hitch thing or would that make me nuts and be almost expensive as doing the custom front mount plow.
I don't think you would need a true custom front mount, just a modified F150 or Expedition mount. Or maybe even an unmodified F150 or Expedition mount. Seriously, who remembers that Lincoln made the Navigator? Probably not the plow makers.
I called the Curt guys and they don't make one due to low demand and because it has to be different from every other hitch of that line for some reason I'm not clear on (gonna try to get more detail on that). But for instance they make one for the 2007 and up Navigator and the Expedition of my year (2004) which should be the same basic truck.
John Welsh said:In reply to Harvey :
They have not asked you to drive the tractor. The plowing of that portion is their responsibility.
Maybe this older couple has too much pride to ASK YOU to cover their responsibility. Perhaps YOU SHOULD OFFER to drive the tractor for them.
Ehhhh, I've made offers on other things before. It's a fine line between polite and pushy sometimes. The other problem is that it's not a new tractor that just starts on a dime. There might be troubleshooting to do and it might be more of a pain than it's worth both for him and for me, but I'll double check. It's not exactly the best solution for reasons the other folks have noted. It's not really going to do much if it gets above say 5 inches.
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