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Snowthrower or Blade? which is best


Bufford

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I bought a landlord 2110 a few years ago with a blade on it and had little problem pushing snow (as long as I moved it out of the way far enough, last year I ran out of space to put the stuff). Last fall I found a 32" snowthrower off of a 728 pretty cheap. It took me a while to make the adapter for my tractor, ran the belt off of the PTO, and think that I have it all ready to go. We have had little (no) snow in the twin cities until yesterday/last night. So I went out today for the first run of the snowblowers. It was windy, but for the most part I was not as impressed as I was hoping. Most of the snow I was blowing ended back in my face and down my coat. Has anyone ran both? Those that have, which one is the better way? I am thinking of putting the blower up for sale....
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Bufford, I use both a blade and a snowthrower. The key is to move fast enough to keep snow in the thrower and try not to blow it against the wind. I use the blade more than the thrower but only because of the way my property is laid out. I will use the blade to windrow the snow if it is a light snow fall, then use the blower to blow the windrow away. this works well for me with the blade on one tractor and the blower on another. The other thing you must remember, is that the wind we experienced in Minnesota today is typically not the norm. I would not get rid of the blower. Like you said, last winter I too ran out of places to pile it. Can always put the blower on and blow it in the neighbors yard when you run out of room to pile it. Ha Ha! Snowman in southern Mn.
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Steve, That's a good question. I've always wanted a snowblower for my 9020's but the front blade works so well, that I've never put it high on my priority list. I know I'm not comparing apples to apples, with a 728 vs. a 9020, but you'd think the power to weight ratio is similar. The 728 should do as well on a smaller scale Paul
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I prefer a snowthrower. The deflector should be angled down if the wind is blowing. If you have it pointing too straight up you will eat snow especially if the wind is wrong. Sometimes you will clog with wet snow with the chute deflector aim down too low. I like a blade when you get light snow since it is faster than a blower although I have run my blower with little snow at near top travel speed to feed sufficient snow to the thrower. Make sure to rotate the chute when you change direction..Blow the snow with the wind if you can..Keep the thrower. My opinion..Woody
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Though I realize most of you don't see your first snowfall, last to leave come spring 6 months later, the problem with blades is when the burm gets to high to roll it over you spend a lot of time making holes in to have somewhere to go with the snow, sound like you have a small investment so I'd say keep it for the next big one. Like Woody said, keep the chute pretty flat and it helps with the wind. My clearing in the forest causes the wind to whip around from all directions so I always turn white when blowing the stuff, sure beats a shovel..MPH
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I use the blade most of the time.When there is more snow than the tractor can push,I get out my Simplicity 2 wheel walking out with a 36" snowblower and 5 hp engine.[A href='http://www.simplicityva.com'][img src='http://www.simplicityva.com/winter/Image025.jpg'][/a]
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If you have the deflector chute pushed down make sure you have the piece of felt that covers the gap between the deflector and bottom chute. My 42" blower on my 7116 doesn't have the felt. It blows snow back into the grill of the tractor as well as out the chute.
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I have used both alot. I'd prefer a snowthrower for a concrete or blacktop driveway with a heckuvalot of snowfall only. I prefer the blade on a gravel drive and for most "typical" snowfalls. I found no very effective way, short of raising the thrower off the ground a couple of inches, to keep from throwing lots of gravel into the yard. Then I had to go back over the drive with the blade anyway to plow the 2" remaining on it. Also, a thrower is higher maintenance and harder to mount than a blade and you don't ever have to buy belts for a blade and they are about $200 cheaper on average and you can use the blade for pushing stuff other than snow....Brent
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For my money, a broom is better than a blade or thrower (up to 10"). http://home.att.net/~herb.niewender/sweepster/13.jpg
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For a blacktop or concrete driveway (like mine) a snowblower and a snowcab is the way to go. Can throw the snow far enough to not worry about buildup and, if worried about wind "blow back", stay "toasty" in the cab.
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Rather than deal with the "either - or" I finally have two tractors, and mount a blower on one and the HD dozer blade on the other. The blade is faster for light snows, but nothing beats the blower for anything above about 4".... I've also found that you'll tend to spin more with the dozer blade than the snowblower, which can scratch your paved driveway if you're using chains. It doesn't seriously damage it that much -- it just looks bad.... If I had to use only one, I'd keep the snowblower. As someone else posted, you can always drive faster for light snows. For big snows, a blade simply won't cut it... Last year, I had a 24" and a 28" snow to deal with -- there's no way I could have cleared it with the blade. Not only would I have had problems pushing it, but I'd have had no place to put it... as it was I had snow piles up to 6' high out into the yard about 20 feet where I was blowing it. To give you an idea -- my 4WD Ram pickup was parked on a pad off the street and the city snowplows put snow in the bed of it, over the tailgate, and it was over the hood on my B-210. This is the heavy stuff the plows pile up, not "powder. I'd cut into it with the blower as far as I could running parallel, then I'd have the 15 year old keep knocking the edges down, so I could pick it up and blow it away... This year, though, I've only used the snowblower once, and the blade a half-dozen times....
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