I will posting a video on using a box blade for snow removal as I do not have a blade and I actually love the box blade! It works good surprisingly! Thanks for showing the rear blade!
I believe people are thinking of a box blade when they say you're saying it backwards. When you lean it back it tends to float on the back blade (but you already knew that). You are explaining it correctly.
Rest assured GP, your explanation of the upper link adjustment was and is spot on. By extending you are increasing the ‘draught’ of the blade causing its own action to draw itself downward increasing the cut. Then the opposite is true as you shorten the link. Oh yeah draught is pronounced draft. Harry Ferguson used that concept in designing the three point lift to transfer that ‘load’ to the rear axle of the tractor giving it greater traction. Then he controlled that draught by the positioning of the lever on the draft control quadrant. Cliff notes version and not at all a perfect or complete description. LOL. Besides nobody uses that term anymore unless you’re talking beer. Awesome video again my friend.
LOL! maybe he coined the phrase while he was enjoying one too many Guiness, realizing that the more Guiness he drank, the more he kept drawing down under the table?. :)) LOL. Thanks T! Much appreciated. Hope you are keeping well and warm!
Very smart, and proper use to get your driveway in better shape for the spring. I bet your county could learn a thing or two from you. I know mine could.
@@GPOutdoors my only problem is changing from the carryall to the snow blade. All my stuff is older so a quick hitch won’t work. May have to check out a Pat’s quick hitch! Keep up the fun videos happening Gord!
@@davekana8388 Depending on the implement, you might be able to get some relatively cheap adapters. I've seen some good success, and others just failures. Worth the try in my opinion.
Hello Gord I use my rear blade all the time to scrape the driveways as I blow them out. I can back up to a garage door and pull the snow away so I can blow it out. I changed my cutting blade from the OEM steel blade to a UHMW blade mostly because the driveways I clean are pavement or concrete. The steel blade cuts down much better but but it marks up the pavement and actually cuts into the surface. I also found that the steel blade hooked up hard when it caught raised portions on the driveways where the UHMW blade slides over without hitting hard! The steel blade was also much noisier scraping across the concrete or pavement. The storms are missing us up here in the Soo but have succeeded in closing travel on Highway 17 for the last 5 days due to snow squalls off the Big Lake! Sunny in the Soo storming at Montreal River🤷🏻♂️
Thanks Orest! I didn't know they made the blade in a UHMW - that makes a lot of sense to me. It must be hectic up there with the constraint on traffic getting through. Take care and stay safe!
GP I have an L3901 with the same RB1672 rear blade and SPL1072 snow pusher that I use to clear snow on my half mile gravel driveway. I just added the skid shoe kit from landpride to the blade, and it has made maintaining the driveway in the winter much easier. I also have a hydraulic top link, and between it and the skid shoes raising the blade off the ground about an inch it keeps me from chewing up the stone. The hydraulic top link really makes finding that proper vertical angle for the blade much easier when I change the horizontal angle of the blade with the pin. I also will do knock outs in the snow walls made from the plow along the driveway every 50-75 feet or so to give the water somewhere to go during a melt to help prevent that ice skating rink affect. Hope this helps bud.
Good day thanks Douglas! That does help - get idea to do the knock-outs. I didn't think of that, but will give it a try soon. Thanks again- super helpful!!
@@GPOutdoors hope it helps. I just push back 1 blade width with it straight until my rear tires are on the edge of the driveway on both sides. I know the lows and highs of my driveway. As do you with yours so the placement is strategic. Have a good one.
I have the same situation here and also use a front blower / rear blade. There is really no need to let your base keep getting thicker. If, after establishing that initial base you were to re-adjust the skid shoes on the blower such that the scraper bar contacts the surface, subsequent passes with the blower would not increase the depth of the base because you would always be scraping back down to the initial base. Once warmer weather comes and you start sinking in to the base, you then re-adjust the blower skid shows back for more clearance. I made marks on the side of my blower housing for the various skid shoe positions so that I can make adjustments quickly with accurate repeatability.
@@GPOutdoors With those long slots I assumed your skid shoes had infinite adjustment. My skids have long slots and I can adjust them anywhere from the scraper 3-inches off the ground down to the scraper blade touching the ground.
Great one two punch with the blower and blade. Temp here in Creek County Okla is 19 degrees with ice. Going into single digits later in week. We are not looking forward to that. Stay safe and warm.
You have gotten so good and manipulation of the blade and blower since I started watching your channel. One might think you enjoy playing in the snow..LOL Cheers and be well.
Good explanation on modifying the blade pitch and you're 100% correct. Another factor is blade angle: the sharper the angle the better the blade will cut. Your angle was shallow but doing a good job. With solid ice a sharper angle will give better results. I enjoy your channel and best regards from the Wyoming Rockies.
How's she goin'? I was never a fan of the back blade for snow plowing. But now that I have used it I think it's a great addition to the snow plow arsenal. The way you use your's is ideal for your conditions. The blower is great to keep the lane clear and the snow banks manageable. Then scrape the lane to reduce the snow depth. Great video and well edited!! I like all the camera angles. Thanks for sharing the info GP and take care!!
Good day Grampie! I thought you'd like it. It has its place, I think. You have a pretty long driveway too, I saw on your last video. I didn't realize it was that long. So happy you have the cab!!
GP - Glad to see you finally made it back. I don't think I'd ever leave that sanctuary if I didn't absolutely have too. Enjoy the solitude. Thanks for sharing.
I could watch snow roll off a blade all day long! You’re making me miss my tractor. We don’t get up to our place much in the winter. The only time I plow snow is only cause I want to, not cause I have to 😁
One of the few advantages of a rear mounted blower is the top link can be extended tilting the cutting edge in contact with the ground. Cuts like a knife!!!
Suzanne, are you saying the blower would do the same 'cutting' as the blower/blade combo GP is setup with? I have seen rear blower setups however I always thought the tractor was missing a front 3-point and the owner had to install it on the rear...
@@dhenschel4 Originally snowblowers on farm tractors started on the rear taking advantage of the exiting 3 pt hitch and pto. Front mounted blowers on tractors only became common all be it expensive occurrence in the last couple decades. 3 pt hitches on the front of tractors is rather unique. Yes a rear mount eliminates the need for the scraper blade but may not outweigh the disadvantage of operating the tractor in reverse particularly if you have kilometres of drive way to blow!
Excellent explanation. If my driveway was not so long , I would have bought a rear mount for sure. But my neck and back couldn't take doing this driveway. Thanks!
I never thought about the Top Link adjustment before GP. But after your explanation I have to agree, your exactly right. I have 2 Rear Remotes and 2 Detent valves, i could pick up a couple hydraulic pistons and have the same functions you got. Thats pretty handy you can angle your blade on the tractor from the seat. I could also have one for the top link as well. Thanks GP.
Morning Dean. Happy it was helpful. Great idea about the upper control arm adjustment. Something I have been thinking about on and off for a while. It is awfully nice being able to adjust without getting out of the cab. Take good care!
Again GP I am impressed with the hydraulic angle adjustment on your blade. It truly is a nice feature on the tractor. I can’t believe how well it works. Thanks again for the informative video! Wayne
@@GPOutdoors GP, I forgot to mention that after telling you that I had not needed my snow blower or to use my tractor...we got 8 inches of snow that night. lol. Because I did all the preseason maintenance on the blower it started right up and worked great. Now we are getting several light snows predicted for the next week or so. Nothing major, just enough to make me really start wanting spring to arrive. cheers
Hey Gord, how are you doin?. A snow blade with skid shoes will also leave a layer of snow. What if you got your base established, then every storm or every other storm drop the blade while you are blowing to keep it from getting too thick? I was going to ask how you liked the chains then I saw you were in 2WD the whole time. I'd like to have a set of chains like that for the L4240, minus the studs. That is really nice that you can angle your blade from in the cab. That really speeds up the process. I am looking for a 8' truck plow to convert to a loader mounted plow.
Morning Roger. That's a good idea and would help keep it at a reasonable level throughout the winter. Thanks! I got these from a place in the US called tirechainsrequired dot com - Aquiline chains - you can get the box pattern without the studs. Nice to hear from you - have a good week out there and stay safe!
I've just discovered your channel and I'm really enjoying your videos. It's -47c with the wind chill here in Wpg. this morning (-35c without) and there is something mesmerizing about sitting here with my coffee and watching you blow snow. I tell you. I am not going out today. No way.
Nice work GP. Even with the top link in, you were still getting good engagement with the blade. I agree with you on blade tipped in at the top is for dragging, laid back is for cutting.
Great explanation on when/why to use the rear blade! I have one and only used it once for snow. My driveway is small (3 car lengths), I plow with the loader bucket & the extra length of the rear blade got in the way (kept hitting things with it when turning!) I'll find dirt uses for it this spring
You hit it right on the head. Leaving that snow there only results in slush and ice in the spring. The more you get now the shorter the slush season will be.
Hope you don't mind but A word of caution for those with Pats hitch while pushing heavy snow banks back in reverse. The heavy snow can release the spring latch and allow the blade to fold under your rig. Lucky I was looking at it when it released and at that was inches from major trouble.
Thanks very much for sharing this CS! Always appreciate helpful advice and folks sharing experience which helps all of us. Really happy to hear you caught it in time. Thanks again!
Having hydraulic angling on the rear blade makes it infinitely easier to use, especially with a cab tractor. Seems you've come up with a setup between the blower, rear blade and spreader that works great for your application.
GP, thanks for finally doing this video - and you are right in your description of aggressiveness of the blade, at least I agree. So people may use another description of angle aggressiveness but I don't know what that might be. Also, the swing control you have on the blade is a nice feature. I have only seen manual controls in the few small blades I have seen, but this looks really nice. I wanted to mention I saw another video of blower/blade combination as I was interested in finding out why you would use the two at the same time, and he was able to swing the blade out to the side and run the blower and blade in the same pass and doing twice as much work. It looked like a great use of the combo, however you do have cleanup at the start and end of your passes with this design. Just an fyi. Have a great week!
God day David! I saw the same video I believe. He has a nice model that allows you to swing the blade out to the sides really easily (mine takes a bit of work- removing and re tightening carriage bolts etc). I think in big areas it may be helpful but in a single lane driveway as I have here, I don't think it would help much. I do, at times blow the snow while blading behind so the snow from the blade ends up in the next pass coming back. Blowing and blading at the same time. When I do that I can only effectively do one side and then the next time I clear the snow, I do it in reverse _ I will try to do a video on it at some point. Thanks and all the best!
@@GPOutdoors GP, thanks for replying. I have seen you run the blade with the snowblower, however you are the first I have seen run it behind the tractor running a snowblower and that sparked my curiosity. One thought - you could run the first pass with the blade behind with no snowblower, then the next pass would blow that pile with the blade swung out pushing to the outside of the drive on the way back, and you are done! You saved one driveway length of use on the blower thereby extending its life. There are likely issues of snow piling up and the blade being too short, but just thinking some options for you. Good luck!
Hi G.P. you're doing the projects I like doing. I'm glad to see we're going to be able to see some night blowing. I've been curious as how it looks blowing at night. Your channel is great don't change a thing. Have a great day see you after dark. Thanks for sharing
Hi Gord! Great camera angles on the rear blade! You are right about the angle of attack on the rear blade. Having the rear remotes for controlling the blade is great: you get to stay in that warm cab and adjust the angle from inside. Thanks for sharing!
As always, great vid on demonstrating how to use equipment, and a huge thanks to you and all the great youtubers for taking the time to make these awesome videos that help the masses figure it out. Keep up the great work!
Like you, we live on a private road, and our driveways connect ( 4 residences on the road ) We maintain the road and our driveways ourselves. My driveway is a grade towards the lake, and yes it will ice up. I have a pto driven sander that I use to look after the ice buildup on the road and my driveway. The scraper would work for the road but due to how my driveway is laid out, scraping it is out of the question. Sanding/salt works best for us here.
Good morning - thanks Rick. Great example of how we all have different conditions to tend with and can find what works best for each of us. Thanks for sharing!
I don't have a rear blade yet but for now I really like using my box blade to remove snow. I do think a blade is better for the job but my box blade and bucket do all I need. Great camera views as always keep up the good videos.
Good morning Gord, really enjoyed this morning’s video. Looks like you got the driveway cleared out and ready for the next round to hit ! We are going to be just south of the coming storms but will get a hard freeze for a couple three days? I’m going to check on the pipes and windy areas and mulch out a ditch today just to keep things flowing. You guys be safe and keep up the great videos. Fred 👍👍👏🏻👏🏻
Another great and informative video GP! I finally got to use my LX3310 with a rear blower a few days ago. Man is that heated cab great to have now! I ended up drilling new holes for the skid plate mounting so the skid plates are even with the scraper blade. I have an asphalt driveway so try to clean all of the snow off of it. Cheers from MA!
Thats great D! Sounds like you loved it. So nice to have the heat - and I keep forgetting I have wiper blades to clear water/snow off the front and back windshields. LOL. Have a great week and hope we both get a good deep snowfall to get out and play in!
Hello GP. Another nice video with great information.What a nice set up you have. I find I use both the snowblower and rear blade more often than not. The rear blade cleans up any crumbs the snow blower has left behind, cutting down the amount of time it takes us to plow our runway. Thanks for sharing.
Great vid GP.. I see you got away back into the woods(your happy place)! But not very nice of you to blade the driveway in shorts and a T-shirt.. have a good week...
G P at the end of the video try using front snow blower and the rear blade at the same time. I do that on a 1025r John deere I have turf tires and no chains and my driveway is very hilly, just try it out. Great videos.
Thanks John! I will give it a whirl soon - I did it a few times with the old B2601 but haven't tried it yet with this one. Thanks again - have a great week!
I have just got my self a new kubota lx4020 with a rear blade also, my dealer told me that the actually boom of the blade, or the part coming out that actually holds the blade should be close to if not level with the ground, but when I have it set at that and I raise my 3 point hitch up I don’t seam to have my blade to high in the air for traveling. do you know how to remedy this if so let me know 👍, love your channel your the reason I went orange 🍊🍊
Good morning and congrats on the new tractor! Having the boom level or angled will provide different results when blading. If you want the blade to be higher off the ground when travelling, then just make the top link of your 3 point hitch shorter (turn it clockwise to retract it) and it will cause the unit to raise higher off the ground when you lift it. But generally mine does not lift very high off the ground overall compared to other attachments. Hope that helps - all the best!
Hello Gord, I would like to talk about your Blade Pitch Cutting segment. If you want to (cut) you Roll the top of the blade Forward until the cutting edge is 90 degrees to the ground for deep cutting. If you want to test this fact, put a weight on your blade with it tilted way back and then tilt it full forward. You will quickly see the difference the full forward angle will do for cutting. I know it seems reverse to what you think it should be. Next time a grader goes by watch and you will see his cutting edge will be 90 degrees to the ground. You will hear experienced operators say if they pitch the blade back it compresses the snow rather than cutting it which in turn makes ice. Not very safe. Thanks for your videos
Good morning Claude! Thanks for the great info. I think that makes sense - if I extend the control arm too far back, the cutting edge is not as sharp to the ground, so to speak, and as I shorten it a little bit at a time, there is a point where it digs better and then as I continue to shorten it further, it changes to dig less and scrape more. At least that is what I have experienced over time learning how to adjust it in my driveway during the summer grading. Thanks again Claude!
@@GPOutdoors Good morning to you as well sir. The other thing I noticed in your video is the blade is bouncing. You can see it in the cut it leaves behind. Roll the pitch angle Forward a little more. It is hard with a 3 point hitch because you can not use down pressure.
After viewing your video on back blades I checked the manual on my Frontier RB2172H .The only thing the manual says about the top link is to adjust it until the frame is level , that’s it . They list a part number for purchasing optional skid shoes to keep the blade from digging in , which I have . So the Land Pride does not work the same as a Frontier back blade I take it .
Good day Alton. I think they do. I took a quick look at the manual online for your blade and yes, I don't see it explained anywhere. But my google search also pulled up the manual for the Frontier RB50 series of rear blades and you will find the same explanation I mentioned on the right side of page 11, in that operator's manual. I am not familiar with Frontier but both series of blades (Frontier RB 50 and RB21xxH) appear to have the same general design, but I am assuming they are made for different classes or sizes of tractors? Hope that helps a bit. Have a great week out there!
@@GPOutdoors Thank you for your quick response . I did fined that manual on the RB50 and you are correct . I’m not sure why JD does not include that information on the blade I have . Looks like I will have to ask my dealer why they don’t include that information on all the manuals for their back blades . I do use my back blade on gravel , my concrete driveway and blacktop street . So my situation is different than yours . Will probably have to fined a middle adjustment that will work OK on all the different surfaces I plow .
You're most welcome Alton - I adjust mine differently and often I will have to jump off and go back and adjust once or twice until I get it right when I use it -summer and winter. I guess the ground conditions are different sometimes. Have a great week and all the best!
Also GP, now is a good time to start cutting back the banks in case you get a ton of snow. I think you have mentioned before to watch out with piling snow so as not to narrow your driveway. You might notice on the highways that crews also prepare for the 'big melt' by clearing channels where water might pool to allow it to drain off the road. All the best.
Good day and thanks Dan. That is a very smart idea - thanks! I may give it a try and see if it makes a difference once we start the thaw in March. Thanks again and all the best!
Hey GP You should consider adding hydraulic top link to adjust tilt of the blade from inside the nice warm cab. You could use the spare rear hydraulic remote to control it. I see tractor supply has hydraulic top link that adjust from 20 to 28 inches.
I was going to recommend a hydraulic top link also. I have one on mind. Princess auto has it also. I know you are close to the Hamilton one. You have the spare ports for it. It works great not only with rear blade but also with the chipper. The chipper is always not level on different ground levels.
Very very interesting. Thanks! I understood what you were saying about adjusting the top link. Still, it looks like the blade digs in pretty well. How much do you think you’re removing off the top with each pass? From the video, it looks like a fair amount.
Hi Larry. It's pretty surprising how much you see coming up. LOL. I adjust it as I go. If I am not seeing a little bit of surface once in a while then I will adjust it a little more aggressive and if I am seeing too much, then I back it off. Cheers!
Great camera work and excellent explanation of how you use your rear blade. Just curious, how long do you estimate it would take to scrape and blow your driveway, as you did in this video, without any of the filming? Just straight tractor time. Would have liked to see a shot of your farm gate snow base clearance after the scraping to roughly see how much base you removed. Also, what attachments have you used that second rear remote on? Thanks for making this video! Steve from Minnesota
Good day Steve. LOL. Sorry about that - I forgot to get the finished shot of the gate before I drove away. I am not sure - I haven't cleared it without filming and I move the cameras around alot but i would say around 1 1/2 hours. I haven't used the second remote yet but I bought one 'normal' one and the second one has a detent - Thinking about a hydraulic upper control arm perhaps. I understand that many rear splitters require the detent remote to operate properly. And not sure what is needed for a dump trailer so I figured it was best to put them both in. Have a great week Steve!
I think that is one advantage to a rear blower vs a front blower. Whenever I would get a base built up I would tip out the blower by turning out the top link and that makes the blower bite in better. I can blow down to gravel or leave just a thin base by doing that. I don't think geometry of a front blower allows that approach.
Hi Chad. Great point and a drawback of the front blower. You are correct - it doesn't, so I need the blade to do that. However, Guy's front mount blower on his L series you have seen previously, does articulate that way and allows him to dig it in, like yours. Thanks for the great points.
Hi Chad. It was made here in Ontario for Kubota. I did a couple of videos on it last winter and the name of the manufacturer is in those videos. I can't remember it myself.
Thanks for the rear blade video. Are you operating the hydraulic tilt using the 3rd function you would otherwise use for your grapple, or does your tractor have additional rear remotes?
Hey GP, It's been a while since I've checked in! Thought about you yesterday, as I was clearing my driveway with my open station New Holland. I bet you're loving that cabbed LX! Great video as usual. Take care friend. Peace.
Hello Gord, I like the way you use the tractor with both implements, but after blading/ scraping the driveway, do you go back over it with the blower to remove as much loose snow as possible? And if not do you think that leaf blower would do the trick of removing the loos stuff?
Good morning Pat. Yes indeed - I left it this time and came back and blew it out that night - you will see it on the weekend! Hope you are keeping well.
What is your thought on a blackboard as only tool for snow? Budget and space is for one snow attachment, non front blower. Similar region, 400' gravel driveway. Thoughts?
Good day! I would go with a BX model but that would be best answered by a dealer for sure. My brother has a BX2680 and loves it (he has about 1 1/2 acres and does those things with it as well as mowing). Good luck!
GP, good explanation (once again!) on maintaining a driveway. I'm liking the rear blade, and have a question. Since the rear blade has hydraulics for left and right swing, can it still manually pivot on the 3 point to extend outside the rear tires for a wider foot print also?
Morning John. Great question - yes indeed. I can still move it out on either side and can still pivot the blade down for grading. However, I am not able to spin the blade around 180 degrees but I never have a need to do that. Cheers!
Morning Gord! Great video - excellent camera shots showing how well that blade is cutting the packed snow! I’m curious about those skid shoes on the blower: could they be removed completely once you have the hard frozen base to allow the blower to scrape down to the hard base? I realize that’s not possible in the early part of the year but now that you have that icy base, I’m wondering if that might prevent the perpetual snow build up when blowing. I have a old Agro Trend 72” rear blower with no skids shoes (not sure of the vintage but I’d guess 70’s - still works great!). There are small flat steel sections on the blower side-wall bottom edges (not the full edge - only about 6” long and 3/4” wide ) that help distribute the weight of the blower A BIT, but they are vertically flush with the scraping edge of the auger housing. In other words, they don’t elevate the cutting edge of the auger housing and there is no other elevation adjustment. Needless to say, with a gravel driveway and some sharp hills, it’s tricky to avoid it being a gravel shaver before the ground is fully frozen! Before the ground freezes, I have to lengthen my top link to angle the blower so it doesn’t cut into the gravel, but once I have a hard frozen base, I shorten the top link and allow the auger housing leading edge to scrape the surface. At that point, It leaves very little, if any, snow and there is almost no build-up. Just wondering if you could do the same with your blower by fully removing the skid shoes. Cheers and best wishes to the family and neighbours!
GP, great video. I use a rear blade for snow removal, but flip the blade around and go backwards, is that incorrect? How do you push the snow into a bank with a forward blade setup??
Hi Tony. I have tried using the blade backward only a couple of times but didn't find it too helpful overall for me here, so I don't do it anymore. I don't have a need to push the snow into a pile anywhere (except when I blade it like I did today) - I just always use my blower and I always blade forward - but several subscribers say they use it backwards as you do.
looked pretty darn relaxing to me. cant beat the time at the cabin. just curious what do you do for a living down in the city you sometimes talk about ?
You're probably mentioned it on other videos, but remind me again why you're in two-wheel drive rather than four-wheel drive? I figured it may have to do with the chains. Looking forward to see how those lights work at night.
Would it help any during the warmer temperatures if you use the rear blade to cut some channels Into the woods for drainage? Get it a way from the drive way and have area's that will thaw forst?
