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Ice Breaker Attachment Ques.


gjh

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I live on the coast in Mass & we very frequently get a transition fromrain to snow & vice versa. I can't always get out with my plow & clear it before the cars run over it. Once they do it packs it down & makes it almost impossible to break up the layer of ice below the snow. I've got about 400'of gravel drive going up a slight hill so it's important I get it cleared. I even put a 30lb weight on my plow frame to try & get more down pressure. How sharp should the cutting blade be? Does anyone know of an attachment I could push or drag along to break up the ice & finish with my plow?? Maybe a pin that slides down on the plow to chip into the ice? Thanks for any help.
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Hi Gary, if your new welcome to the club.... Sounds like my driveway, gravel, slight incline. I guess i would be concerned with ripping up the gravel and making a mess of the drive. When spring comes you dont want the rains and melt to wash it down to the end or off the sides and or any new potholes to form.....What about a seed/fertilizer spreader with fine gravel in it, or a little salt mix. I dont get the Ice problem very often but if I did id look for a way to spread gravel a small amount does wonders..Maybe scrape what you can then spread? It might be easier on both the driveway and the machine?????? You could mix a batch of salt and gravel in the fall and keep it in a garbage can in the garage for winter use..... Dougm
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Gary, I don't know of any attachments for breaking up ice. A thought occurs to me, how about a large lawn roller with spikes. sort of like a medevial mace... Steve
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The county plows my driveway but i dont let them plow around the house, that i do with my tractor. I make them wait till the ground is frozen enough so that the plow wont tear things up. Dougm ][img]/club2/attach/Dougm/Dugs_0017.jpg[/img]
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i think MPH (marty) posted once in the old version of the club that he used his ground plow for break out ice, and then went back with reg. plow and cleaned up. if i remember correctly the topic was..................."snow peas".
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Yea, I did do that Rob. More because of spring fever and wantting to play with the plow I got the Oct before then anything else. I was hoping the 6 month hard packed snow 'glacier snow as I call it' would clean the rust off some. Think one of serrated grader blades Herb came with would do better but after seeing the state run the highways up here with the graders I'm not so sure, they don't do a whole lot, but that could be another story in itself..Ice is about like concrete, not sure its a garden tractor media at all. MPH
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Here in central mass I prefer a layer of ice on the driveway just the blower doesn't pick up the gravel. Right now it's kinda like a skating rink.LOL Nothing but a warm day or a salt sand mix is gonna get rid of it now....
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Know what you mean Reed, I didn't get a chance to plow the remaining crud up the last couple of days, so now it looks like it may be there for a while. Might have to go down to the "highway barn" and get some 5-gal buckets of sand....
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So I could tell customers, I tried one of my serrated grader blades on ice. They don't work well for breaking up ice. If you add enough weight to break the ice, you also tear up the gravel. Like Doug suggetsed, speading sand & salt works best on ice. I have also used my lawn revitalizer successfully. When hammer knives are added, it's like a kitchen ice chipper. The guide wheels even permit it to be used on blacktop.
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Why not something like this....load it with salt and gravel and let the tractor and spreader do the work......Im sure the gates could be set just right. Or maybe a rotary spreader could be pulled... http://www.simpletractors.com/images/new_in_1957/wb_spreader.jpg Id love to have BOTH these units....cute.
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Thanks for all the input guys; I should have been a little more clear. I actually have 150' of paved driveway off the house & 300' of a gravel driveway/right of way to the main road I maintain. How about breaking up the ice on the bit. drive? Again, could it be my cutting edge needs to be sharpened? I agree I do like the snow pack on the drive so I can use the blower, I just do the sand thing to keep from sliding off the edge of the drive way into my friends boat!
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Gary, Cutting edges are typically 1/4"-1/2" thick (no sharp or knife edge). What I think you need is more weight. Your blade probably weights 50-100 pounds. The blades used for highway clearing are 300-1000 pounds. Your tractor would never be able to push that. Plus, even highway blades have a problem once snow is packed and frozen. Car tire treads are usually 5' apart, plenty of room to plow in between and outside tire tracks. Once the sun hits the blacktop it will melt the packed down areas. How long are you waiting to plow? If you wait until the entire width is packed down, or melted and refroze..... good luck! If you don't want to use sand & salt, a revitalizer is the only practical method I can think of to break the ice without harming the blacktop. I don't think you want to pull a moldboard plow or harrow over blacktop if you expect to have it long.
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I know this will sound little strange to alot of people but it works ..go to your local agri fertilizer dealer buy what they call 0-0-60...spread it on the driveway or lane like you would the salt...wont hurt anything ,melts ice like crazy..the only thing is that the grass loves it ..makes it grow like crazy in the spring ..Ive did it for years because Ive worked with fertizers for 21 years and I just take it home when I want free. But its very inexpensive and it goes a long way..its not a restricted product, another name for it is Potash...but dont go to a farm store or a nursery for it, their mark up is unreal. Its around $40 a ton in reallity so 3 or 4 dollars should buy you a 5 gallon bucket of it. Marc..
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