4 Snow Removal Options for Compact Tractors 

Great video Tim. So much information to chew through. But tomorrow it looks like I’ll be breaking out the snow shovel. I guess I could duct tape it on the FEL.

I plow a lot of gravel at home and my cutting edge is a strip of old truck tire bolted to the bottom of the blade. It is the best solution I've come up with. About an inch sticking below the steel edge allows it to fold slightly and it doesn't dig into the gravel nearly as bad as anything I've tried.

I purchased a HLA snow pusher for my 1025r last year. I love it, so do my neighbors! I've used it in a few 12" plus snowfalls with no issue. Rear ballast is helpful and being able to push piles up is nice.

I run a 1500 snow pusher ,I love it. Also a 54 inch frontier blower mostly for weight. Studed chains as well,have a long steep gravel driveway. I live on the east coast of Canada, Nova Scotia,we get lots of snow ! I like all your reviews and have several attachment 's

Tim: Load up Johnny (your choice) and all the snow implements and take a little drive in the Ford to Vermont. By Tuesday evening we should 6-12 inches of snow. My driveway is 400 feet long, a combo of gravel and asphalt, and hilly. I won’t charge you for testing and may even buy the cheeseburgers (with Vermont Cabot cheese of course!)

Snow pushers are where it’s at these days... I plow for a school district in the winter and I use a 12” snow pusher on a 70hp New Holland TN70D and I absolutely love it.. it’s by far the fastest most efficient and effective way to plow large lots and long stretches.. now if you had a smaller driveway or a driveway with a lot of curves and bends then a snow pusher may not be the best for you because trying round a corner or a tight turn once your loaded with snow with a pushbox is very difficult and to be able to turn you would have to lift up on the pusher loosing the snow and missing the snow underneath in the process. So for a small driveway or a curved driveway I would go with a standard plow as you would be able to angle the snow off to the side as well as you would be able to turn while the plow is down much easier than you would with a pushbox loaded down with snow

For me I went with the snow thrower. Being in Minnesota we can get a lot of snow. Yes it’s a lot of money for the front mounted blower.

What I do up here is pack the drive the 1'st couple of snows & let it freeze in to protect the gravel. You just have to be careful till you get a good base.

Very informative video! I had a 1987 John Deere 318 and I had a snow plow on that. It had hydraulic up and down (I could lift the front tires off the ground) and it also had hydraulic angle. I put a 1" thick rubber cutting edge and aggy tires on the tractor so it would not scratch up my tar driveway. I also loaded the rear tires with about 15 gallons of windshield washer fluid with wheel weights plus my 25o pounds and I could push a foot of snow right across my lawn even though the 318 is only rear wheel drive.I loved it!

best option for hard surface is the brush/rotary broom. It spins and cleans the surface of all snow. Before you start to argue, this is what they use on the campus at University of Wyoming for sidwalks and areas between buildings in the winter. If your winter is not more severe than Wyoming, it will handle all your needs.

my dad bought a JD 140 in 1970 with a 54" hydraulic 2 way front blade. He kept that blade for 36 years through several JD tractors, the last being a 322 I think.

the other good thing of having a blade is it can be used in the summer time with pushing dirt and gravle projects and work

This is great conversation to have, my setup is fairly simple, snow pusher in front, rear blade off the 3point, get the best of both worlds

The edge tamers work. I use them for snow. Those and an angled blade in the rear. Snow blowers can do a good job in the right conditions but are slow. A front blade is nice. I may get a loader attached front blade some day. I used to think a box blade would be good but I'm not sure that would be good for a driveway.

I took 2” steel well pipe, cut it open and put it on like your pvc on my pickup blade. Works very well for not gouging into rock or grass, and lasts a good while before you wear through it.

Really good info on the less-extreme-condition snow removal gear! You see a lot more about how to get rid of 2ft at a time, but not the 3-6" that we get around here. And those are some darn good cats. :)

Great information! Love the cats.

Like the videos.Here in Southern Ontario we get the same weather.On my 1025R I use a 3 point blade.It works well on stone driveways use the rockshaft to set hight.OLd shcool cost 350.00canl

I use a piece of Composite Decking cut to bucket length and bolt it to my bucket in place of my Hardened Cutting Edge on my BX2380. Makes for a good wear edge that will not mar up any driveway or road surface. Usually can buy a 12ft piece from any home center for 20ish bucks and can get 3 cutting edges out of that. Surprisingly enough they last quite a while

You gotta love snow!

Only one mousie was harmed in the making of this video :-) Keep up the good work Tim :-)

Hi Tim, I have a back scraper blade. It does double duty as I utilize it to grade my gravel driveway in the summer and plow snow in the winter. Dragging a blade seems to allow a lighter tractor to track better. There is far less lateral force on the steering axle . My rig is pretty long with the loader up front and the scraper blade in back, but that isn't a issue in my application. Once I make a first pass, my tractor is in a cleared path because I am able to offset the blade. Just thought I would share this option. Thanks!

Just my personal preference I like a snow blower with a back blade to get what the blower can't get in tight areas.

Good evening big fan of the channel. I own a 1025r and I live in southern ILLINOIS and have a black top driveway. I had a polymer blade made and I drilled holes in my loader and mount the blade on the bottom of the loader. It works great and does not harm my driveway when clearing snow. The blade is also reversible when the first edge would wear out. The cost was about 150 I believe and it looks like it will last a long time. I have been using it since 2016.

You could use a grader blade on the 3 point hitch and the pusher on the loader thanks for the videos

Gettin' near winter, and I'm planning on upgrading my snow solution from my bucket to something else. So, re-watched this video. Thanks again!

Tim, I've tried the PVC pipe and it does work well for a while, but PVC gets brittle at low temps. If you like how that performs after the PVC breaks replace the with ABS pipe. The ABS won't get brittle at low temps and will last almost forever.

Morning, the cat and mouse is great, had my morning laugh. Back in 92 I bought A JD 265, no hyd. Snow blower (belt drive back then) snow dirt blade and mower. all are still in use. I use a 4 wheeler for pushing snow mostly, the Blower for deep or when it piles up. Going to find a replacement next year, or start using the tractor. Pusher would not work for me due to layout.

Hey Tim, Enjoyed the video. One item, I have always been told that you never put an angled blade on a front end loader, as they are not built for absorbing side loads, and you risk bending your loader.

I enjoy when channels cross over and support each other

Already had 2 feet of snow here in North Dakota

Kevin-Collingwood Ont The Blue Mountains. We got about two feet in the last two days of the deer hunt, tough walking then!I like a blower no muss no fuss, blades pile up too fast.

We already had a small taste of Snow. More Monday night. Thanks for Sharing about the Snow Tools. Happy Plowing.

I have almost the same issue with the driveway. I'm in Minnesota and I have a hard pack class 5 driveway that is about 800 feet long. And last year was the first year in that house. I was dreading plowing it the first couple times. But man did I luck out! We got 2 freezing rain events right in a row. And it NEVER thawed all winter. Of course the layer of ice under the snow made its own set of problems but ripping up my driveway was not one of them. This year we haven't gotten any plowable amount of snow yet. But luckily everything is frozen solid at 8 degrees! Anyway I had to plow my drive last year at the end of April after it started thawing out and my 1,000lb Blizzard was doing more harm than good. So I just lifted it about an inch or two off the drive and then left it at that. And when the wife complained. I simply took HUMMER up and down the drive and compacted all the remaining snow so she was happy. Happy wife, happy life!

on my tractor i do what you mentioned, set the curl then connect the plow angle hoses to that, so i can angle the plow and lift it with the loader. works for me.

We had some 10-20" snow storms here in CO recently which allowed me to test the yellow blade on my 400' inclined driveway. I have a liner on the bottom of the blade to minimize scraping and scratching of the asphalt. 1.) Going downhill or on level I was able to plow up to 15"" either straight ahead, or off to either side. More than that I either lost traction (in 4wd), or the snow would build up and start spilling over the top, or out both sides. 2.) Going up hill I lose traction with more than about 5-6", so my 1st pass is always down hill which gives me better traction for my 1st uphill pass. Fortunately, the house (and tractor) are at the top of the hill. 3.) A lot depends on how heavy the snow is. Heavier snow tends to pack up better so I could create straight-ahead piles that were 3-4' high. 4.) The most I could pile up off the sides was about 15-20". More than that and the snow would being to pile up in front of the blade instead of exiting the side, then the machine would get bogged down. 5.) The blizzard created a a dune field of 3-4' drifts across the lower 200' of the driveway, the blade was immediately overwhelmed, rode up over the snow and got the tractor stuck. 6.) After pulling the tractor out I replaced the blade with the loader and was able to clear the dune field in about an hr. The loader is much heavier than the blade and was able to push a lot more snow straight down the driveway. Where it piled up too deep I used the loader to lift, move the snow off to the side. I was surprised how well/fast that worked. 7.) I'm pretty confident that the blade, and loader can keep the driveway clear in snow depths up to 3-4 feet, maybe more. I'll use the blade in depths up to about 15" (which covers 90% of our storm events), the loader in deeper snows. 8.) The liner on the bottom of the blade is fairly stiff, It gives a good bite into lightly consolidated snowpack, but not so much in heavy consolidated snow/ice. It did a good job of preventing the blade from scratching the asphalt. I wish the pick-up snowplow guy I had do the driveway 2 years ago (before JD) had one on his blade. It scratched the heck out of the asphalt (in addition to taking out driveway markers, driveway lights).

That HLA1500 has my interest!!! Some years we get LOTS of snow up here in northern Wisc. Looks like the perfect companion for my Frontier SB1148 snow blower.

We get about a half an inch of snow every ten years or so, but here I am watching snow removal equipment lol. Oh and it’s gone the next day as soon as the sun comes up.

Hey Tim , that was pretty cool . The little cat caught a mouse ! Also , the frontier manually angling loader mounted front blade does not require a fork frame to mount it . It goes directly onto the quick attach .

Yep up here in upper WA state we only get 1 maybe 2 inches of snow if we're lucky, but there are those years that you get a bunch, like last year we got a foot of snow!! I was out in the early morning with my snow shovel before school, now I have a JD 317 with 4-way blade and a quad that I am going to be looking at blades for Tuesday!! Can't wait for snow to plow, am also completely totally not innocent of watching snow plowing videos. Thanks again for another great video, I wish you many inches of snow to plow this year 😁

When you push snow on gravel leave the snow banks on the gravel so you can spread it out when it melts so it's not on your grass.

We don't get much snow down here in Arkansas, but do get more ice during the Winter months and we can remove it easily with just the tractor and bucket. When I was living in Michigan we could have used the blades like the ones you showed him. The county and cities up there used equipment to clear the sidewalks and streets going to the schools and they used blades on the front of trucks and still use them.

Tim and Christy, thanks for the video. I live in southern Indiana and as you know not much snow the past few years. Got a new kubota bx2380 mmm and front loader this spring. I didn't want to spend a lot more money on the front hitch & snow plow for the amount of snow we get. Watched your video and ordered the Edge Tamers and used the ttwt discount. Tim & Christy thanks for the information and discount. 😊 Keep up the good work and God bless!

Good vid...I have been thinking about what to get for 8 years now...and every year I end up using the loader. Mostly I just do not want to store another attachment.

Just used the FEL for the third time this week. Chopped an asphalt patch up, ugh! I guess it's time to get the plow. Thanks for all the great info once again Tim. You are always so helpful.

Tim Ken did a good job of explaining the difference between the attachments God Bless PaK

Tim should be a salesman he really knows what he’s talking about

Really like your channel. Wife and I watch regularly. Going to get the edgetammers. I bought the isotunes. Love them. Nice to see a good Christian family doing well. God Bless.

Loved the video. I knew I couldn't just use the bucket on my gravel drive. I just ordered the edge tamers w/lifting arms. Hopefully they get here before our first snow..

14:04 the kitten caught a mouse.

Great video but nothing beats a snowblower for snow removal in the snow belt but understand why you opt for the plow set up where you are.

Appreciate the video. I was really considering a snowblower but I think a snowpusher or blade will suffice. Huge savings.

Im outside Syracuse, NY. Our average snowfall is 124 inches but the record is 192. There always seemsnto be one or 2 events with 18 to 24 inches at a time. I dont usually bother if its less than 6 since 2 of my 3 vehicles are 4x4. We are always in the top 5 cities in the US for snow. I have plowed and blown snow with almost anything you can think of. Last year I moved from a 425 with the 47 inch blower to a 1025 with a 54 inch blower. This winter I will be using a 2025 with the 54. I have a hard packed stone drive but the skids on the 54 are too narrow and always cut in. Im going to replace them with wider ones. I have always waited to clear snow until the ground is frozen or a base of hard packed snow is built up. That will prevent scraping up loose stone. In your situation, unless you like buying toys (who doesnt??) I would go with the Edgetamers on your bucket. I bought a set of the wider ones and they work great. I took off the blower but was still prepared for the odd late snow fall. If I only got a few snowfalls and a few inches each time AND I was worried about spending, it would be ideal

The ballast added behind the rear tires is the main problem with the front tires lifting when in float mode with a bucket, blade or pusher. Rear tires act like a fulcrum teter totter style. More weight further out like your backhoe the worse it will do it. Rim guard the front and rear tires like I believe you already have and maybe even wheel weights it becomes a lot better pusher. I live in Maine and we get a decent amount of snow. I had a rear mounted weight originally and couldn't go up a small hill in my driveway without the wheels lifting constantly. Loaded tires and front chains for when it gets icy is all I've ever used since. I have a 40 horse New Holland and it's a great snow mover.

Don't have a tractor, but after the 2016 winter of having 2 feet of snow in my driveway for about a month, I thought well maybe a snow blower would be great, so I bought the snow blower attachment for my lawn tractor. Then last winter we had hardly any snow, barely enough to even try the snow blower LOL. However, I do now have the snow blower if I need it, and since its just an attachment there isn't any issues just storing it for long periods when the winter isn't bad enough to even need it. So I'm actually thinking of getting a blade for my lawn tractor, plus I could use it to push gravel and dirt around too.

I use the pvc pipe option on my 1026R 60" bucket. I have used the mode for the past 6 years after seeing the idea in an issue of Farm Show. It is by far a more frugal solution to the snow/gravel driveway conundrum. I could purchase 2" dia pvc pipe for the next 100 years for the cost of one of the more elegant, technological plow /pusher options. To each his own poison.

I have a 1023e with bucket and add on skis. Works great for amount of snow we get in pacific NWest

Another very educational video! Tim, due to your previous videos and expert advice, I too joined you guys and just took delivery of a new 1025R with 120R loader, JD canopy, and 60" belly mower. I had them add the Load-N-Go brackets to the deck per your suggestion to facilitate easy cleaning of the underside. Now I have to find a home for my garage kept and lightly used JD 717A commercial zero turn with only 328 hours on it. At our new house, I needed a "swiss army knife" and not just a fast grass cutter. i went and toured the Ventrac factory, researched their machines, but found that a "Johnny" would be of more benefit to me and my small 4.5 acres here in VA. We don't have the snow issues as much, but I still have a Polaris ACE with a blade for that purpose, unless of course it does get deep! I will be continuing to watch for your advice and checking out the implements and accessories you recommend. Keep up the good work!

Great video Tim love all the information you gave to ken. In the video Ken said that he used a blade before and loves the snow pusher, if he really wants to get his bang for his buck I would say he should get a front blade and a rear box blade for the 3 point hitch. I have both of them for my Kubota bx and I love both of them. I mostly you the blade for doing long stretches and the box blade for getting right up next to a garage door and pulling that snow away from the garage. They both work great for what I do during the winter!

I purchased a 60’” HLA pusher last year for my 1025. My drive is all cement. I wouldn’t use anything else. It works great. I put some ballast on the rear just to take some weight off the front axle, but it’s not necessary.

I bolted two pieces of angle iron in the bucket and pinned an old 8' western plow to the angle iron. The chain was hooked to a hook on top of the bucket in the center, manual angle but the whole system cost about a hundred bucks. This was done on a 1982(?) JD 750 I don't like making a ton of passes and I'm cheap !

I had been using the bucket with the Edge Tamers, but I found there was usually a quarter inch of snow left on the driveway, which would get compacted, freeze and turn into ice. I found the box blade would clear the driveway better than the bucket + Edge Tamers. I would do one pass with the bucket and then I would use the box blade for the rest of the drive way. The snow pile I created was easily pushed away with the bucket.

If it was me, I'd go with s blade on the front and the box unit on the rear. Best of both worlds in my opinion.

I hate my large gravel laneway and i have to build up and pack the first couple snow falls to get a base but then when it gets mild and melts or get to much snow to pack for a base i end up making a large mess of gravel everywhere. I have a 3520 JD loader and pto blower . also I have worked for a snow removal company in the past and I still have not found a good way to plow on top of loose gravel only one beast option to do is get it paved or chip and tar it .

Good video Tim lots of good info, love the kitties nice touch.

My dad just got a brand new Express Steel 8 foot snow pusher for his John Deere 5325 and Express Steel has free shipping. I am hoping for a lot of snow here in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania this winter to try it out!

That blade is killer !!!!

Tim could you buy a few truck loads of fines and have the driver empty them out along the drive and mix them in with the power rake? Interesting and well-done snow removal video, you did a great job, I love the Bible verses at the end of the video too, thanks

I could watch the cats play with the mice-rat all day super cute

In North Dakota, we get a average of 45 to 60" of snow and the box type blade but on a bigger scale is used extensively here in the commercial setting mostly on pay loaders for larger parking lots

Very informative ... the cats stole the show :) Great video.

grew up on a farm using a 3 point angle blade to plow snow. The best way I have seen to work a gravel drive is to turn the blade around and push/pull with the back side. The cutting edge won't dig doing it this way. It will ride up over the top of the gravel.

I see the gang reel mowers in the back ground!!! I’ll have to send you a pic of my gang reel set up!

Good works tractor has a power angle plow that fits in place of the bucket

Living in the primary snowbelt of Ohio I have found that a back blade is the best option. The Everything Attachments Extreme Blade works great for me .It offsets for close quarter work and is rolled, unlike the cheap farm store blades Call Travis He will hook you up with a great tool at a great price

Nice job, Tim. Thank you!

Very neat product! Also, better the mouse in the cat than in the house!

Good information on the snow removal options for Ken's Johnny. Stay safe.

I like my 54in blade with wings. Tractors short and it’s fast using a blade. The crazy Wisconsin winters we get im thinking of getting a snowblower to now for big snows and blow snow over the piles from the blade. The frontier loader blade has a hydraulic angle kit for it now. Not sure how much that kit costs

I LOVE The SNOW & Cant Wait To See It.. I Realy Hope We Get A Good One ..As In Knee Deep To A Giraffe !! But Hey Thts Just Me !

Hi Tim and Ken, you guys discussed a lot of great options. Looking forward to see what Ken decides to buy.

look who we had on the screen tom and jerry show was on oh those cats are so cute

Here in eastern PA we generally do not get too much snow, 2" to 4" at a time most times. But then there are the 6" to 8" snow storms, then the 8" to 12" snow storms we get about once or twice a winter, then there are the over 12" storms that we get maybe once a year or every other year, but then we get those rare 24" to over 30" record snow falls similar to what we are getting today February 1, 2021. I Wish I had the money to get a John deer 1025R and a few attachments to mow our 3.5 acres and to clear snow from our 400 foot gravel driveway, but it looks like I am going to have to get my walk behind mower fixed and shovel our 400 foot gravel driveway, UGH!! We used to have a John Deere 265 with a front mounted snow blower and rear tire chains to remove snow from our driveway, but the engine went out on it a few years ago and we did not have the money to get it fixed. Great information, now I know what to look for, if I ever get a tractor.

My solution for with loose gravel is a read blade. And just push backward with it.

That little guy is going to be a great mouser!

Those $100 shoes for the loader bucket are looking better and better. Basically makes your bucket function exactly like the $1500 snow pusher. I don't understand why you'd want to spend any more than that to do exactly the same job. I suppose if you can't push straight, you have to get an angle blade. Luckily our side-load garage on the new house we're building should give me plenty of room to push straight.

Here in Canada, nobody ever uses a angle blade on a tractor. side wing blades with a snowblower will get you thru pretty much any storm.

The 54” quick hitch. I always have to carry extra fittings. Snow pact snaps them

Do you think you could talk about a real winter like Maine and gravel driveway and 1000+ foot driveway that be great thank you

I have a 2720 with a small 72” pusher and a rear snowblower. The pusher is good but they don’t bite as well as a metal blade. I would think that using a pusher on a 1025 would be harder because you don’t have split breaks... I constantly use my breaks to steer when using my pusher. I also have a gravel drive and when the ground is softer I like to use the pusher because I can adjust the tilt and curl and use the skid shoes to adjust the cutting edge so it won’t bite to hard into the gravel. If the ground is frozen I’ll just use the bucket. Now granted I use my tractor professionally for landscaping so I have a lot more hours running the unit then most and use my bucket everyday so my cutting edge is worn in so I don’t have sharp corners that bite into the asphalt.

Trust the rubber edge it will clear with out noise or damage to pavements

7,200 Subscribers away from 100k! I said months ago that you would hit the mark by the end of the year and it's getting close.😬

I think this episode should be pushed out every week until January. It will help those of us that don't have anything other than a bucket, something to reconsider after every storm. Any ideas for the Northeast?

I’ve used my loader with 4 in one bucket in the past (4 series JD) and works fine, but the stone is an issue. That also allows higher stacking with bigger snows and drifting we so I have a new 7 foot box blade I’m going to try this winter as well. I’m interested to try the PVC on the box blade to see if that’s more forgiving with the stone driveway.

I have a JD 316 with 54 inch plow and Kubota BX 25 with 60 inch Land Pride snow pusher. After two full winters to compare , the snow pusher cut my time on comparable snows by about two thirds start to finish. I found ballast weight and momentum to be key for my subcompact tractor to work the best. Ouch on the snow pusher pricing I paid $600.00 brand new on a leftover in the month of June .

Is back dragging not hard on the tilt cylinders. Thats the only downfall i see to the snow pusher. I live in Northern Ontario. Blower is a necessity here. I also run the edge tammers on my bucket and they work great. I have the 1023. Love it !

I love the cats!

I use a metal pipe for snow on lawns and eye rounded the ends too

My grandpa uses the pvc pipe on his Case compact tractor works good but It can break after a while

I have a 6 foot snow pusher and a 4 foot 3 point snowblower