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Can you Snow blow with turfs?

6K views 33 replies 22 participants last post by  farmer69 
#1 ·
I have 2 bolt on wheel weights and 6 suitcase weights on with my 47" blower. Does it have a chance with turfs or should I get the HDAPS now and save myself some grief.....:thanku:
 
#6 ·
:ditto: You will need chains but with them you can handle just about any surface, even ice.
 
#7 ·
Well it is 2WD and I do have some smaill driveway slopes... I can't use chains because I have decorative concrete and I am not going to take a chance and scratch it up with chains.... Just hoping that much weight would do it....:dunno:
 
#10 ·
#8 ·
Well it might just do it, its a heavy machine and you have a good amount of weight on the back
 
#9 ·
I ran my X540 and 47" blower last year without chains as a test. It does have HDAPs and I had 4 suitcase weights. I did not like the way it handled my short paved driveway that has a slit grade. The rear end felt way too light, even with diff lock I would spin often and go no where it seemed. Happened mainly when in reverse backing up the slight grade. So I added the 50# wheel weights, that helped quite a bit. This year I will put the chains on and it will be perfect. If I were you, I'd lower the air pressure in the rear turfs and try it out if chains are out of the question. Then you could always load your tires and I bet with that much weight you would be happy (until you got on ice). If that dont work, trade in the X700 for an X728.
 
#11 ·
There are 2 possible traction improvements over what you have, and neither involves a change of tires or addition of chains. However, one of them does require a 3PH.

Load the tires with Rimguard and get a back blade.

But first, I'd try what you already have and see if the additional help is really needed. I load the tires on my snow equipment as a matter of course, then start piling on the weight.
 
#13 ·
I tried chainless HDAPS on the X485. With six suitcase weights it worked great until an ice storm came through. On ice it was pretty worthless without chains. Threw on the chains and went back to blowin'.
 
#14 ·
not even a chance with turfs and no chains!

the first snow where the tires are sitting on almost dry pavement it might work but once you are going over packed snow or ICE your done.

HDAPs are not even a guarantee of no chains depending on how hilly or icy...

4WD would help... its what my buddy had to do with a decorative driveway... problem is the 4WD did not protect his decorative driveway from his scrapper bar and skid shoes... :(



Here are turfs (with CHAINS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dyoup-StaA



.
 
#16 ·
Do chains really tear up concrete if you don't spin them?
Also has anyone had experience with these rubber chains? Do they really work well enough?:thanku:
 
#19 ·
#17 ·
I was able to plow with my previous X534. I used 4 suitcase weights on the back and 50lb wheel weights. The only time I had trouble was after a heavy snow storm that dropped very slushy snow for the first couple of inches followed by another 5 inches of normal snow. Just couldn't get down to a clean surface that the tires could get traction on and push all that weight.

I do agree that chains or not. You are going to scratch up the decorative concrete drive with the blower skids and scraper. The best alternative that I know of is a plow with a rubber strip bolted to the scraper edge. That's what I used all last winter on my new setup. Worked great at cleaning all the way down to clean pavement if you get to it before anything packs the snow down. The rubber horse stall mat I used to make the scraper does a fine job and holds up well but it's still too flexible to scrape hard packed stuff. It' entirely up to you but if it were me I would NOT drop a blower on that drive even once. It will scratch it up. Good luck with whatever you decide! :thThumbsU
 
#18 ·
I never use chains...I snowblew fro years with my Cub single stage, had both rear turffs loaded with washer fluid, wheel weights and a 50# bag of sand under the seat and a 70# lathe chuck bolted on the ball mount. I live in the northeast near Syracuse and again NEVER used chains !
 
#20 ·
Your gunna mark the driveway up either way. Be it tire chains or like others have said with the scraper bar, thats just life.... btw whats a decorative concrete driveway look like. I have a concrete driveway... how do I decorate it?
 
#21 ·
Residential area Property Home House Building


Heres a pic of my drive way, The concrete is pretty normal but I have some bucks in pouring those colored diamonds in the middle.... Note that my X7 is not for this house but is just visiting here for the winter.......
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
View attachment 180707

Heres a pic of my drive way, The concrete is pretty normal but I have some bucks in pouring those colored diamonds in the middle.... Note that my X7 is not for this house but is just visiting here for the winter.......
Disregarding all else in that picture- I would sell a kidney, half my liver for that driveway. It is imaculate. :fing32:
 
#22 · (Edited)
Interesting thread. I am running a 955 Deere with turfs with its 59 inch front snowblower. My neighbor, a retired shipyard machinist, now has many Kubotas(B7100, B7200) and Deeres (650, x300), plus he has a good collection of Farmalls. He gave me a pair of plastic blower skids that are approx. 1/2 inch thick and 3x8 inches long. I haven't had a chance to look at mounting them yet but it sounds like something that might protect your driveway while clearing it of snow. They also might wear down really fast on concrete...
Re the turfs: generally I am okay but there are times when I can simply get stuck in the right circumstances(wet icy snow, slight upgrade, etc) and I can and will get stuck. I have to plow thoughtfully! If I need new tires some day I will be inclined to put on industrials for a bit better traction, but not the damage of herring bone Ag tires.
 
#23 ·
Well a Compact that a different story from a Garden tractor You can usually get away with turfs:thThumbsU
 
#25 ·
Cub Cadet is now featuring some skids that aren't supposed to be marking. They're called Cool Blue and as you might imagine they are blue. Saw them at a dealers the other day and I didn't reach down to touch them but they looked like plastic. That might do the trick.
http://www.cubcadet.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10051_14101_36807_27656_-1_600000_27659

OTOH, if you live near a restaurant supply store you might consider trying to buy some commercial kitchen cutting board material and use that instead.
http://www.cuttingboardworld.com/pageb.html
It's a thought.
 
#26 ·
There is a company that Make's skid shoes for the Deere snowblower That won't Mark either I'll see if I can Find the Link:thThumbsU
 
#29 ·
The ones I'm thinking of are Made Of Hard Rubber I think:thThumbsU
 
#31 ·
Chains only mark up the driveway if you spin . I had been more worried about this until I noticed the scratch marks age and are less noticable with time. We are talking surface scratching with chains, not tearing out chunks or 'tearing it up' as some state. I have a circle drive, steep hill both ways and with turfs chains and 200 lbs wt do fine.

With your flat drive, wt and chains and if you pay attention you will rarely mark it up. When you do, it will be surface scratches that will age and will fade much quicker than I ever thought.

my two cents from > 22 years of 2 wheel drive blowiing with turfs and chains on hills.

Mark aka Yamadoo
 
#32 ·
Chains only mark up the driveway if you spin . I had been more worried about this until I noticed the scratch marks age and are less noticable with time. We are talking surface scratching with chains, not tearing out chunks or 'tearing it up' as some state. I have a circle drive, steep hill both ways and with turfs chains and 200 lbs wt do fine.

With your flat drive, wt and chains and if you pay attention you will rarely mark it up. When you do, it will be surface scratches that will age and will fade much quicker than I ever thought.

my two cents from > 22 years of 2 wheel drive blowiing with turfs and chains on hills.

Mark aka Yamadoo
 
#33 ·
There's always OAK. Cut out a nice chunk, (the beauty is that you can make it as wide or as long as you want) polish/sand smooth the contact edge then, and here's a tip, heat the bearing face with a bernzomatic torch or similar and rub paraffin on it. The heat allows the wood to soak up the paraffin and it'll last longer.
This way you can make it as wide and as long as you want. You can take them off every now and again and re-wax them.
As a plus at the end of the year you've got a fire starter.

again, just a thought.
 
#34 ·
I don't think chains would mark up a concrete driveway too bad, but I would not want to use them on a decorative or a stamped concrete finish they would ruin it. They are usually alot slipperier too, just like a glass or glazed finish. i know you have to be **** careful when walking on them with snow or water is present.
 
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