Bill

2005 Kubota B7510
19 Months old.
Only 48 hours.
FEL
Rear Blade
60'' MMM
Really extra nice - Can't tell it from a new one.
$12300.

With weights and chains your X would handle snowblowing that area just fine, though the hitch, shaft, bearing, and blower will be pricey. There are as many tractor owners who think industrial tires work better in snow as there are ones who think turf tires have an advantage. The Kubota is a diesel CUT and a whole different league. If you go to machinefinder.com you will be able to get a feel for regional pricing for a 7100. A FEL, though my favorite of all attachments, isn't my first choice for snow removal (they will handle anything thrown at it, but aren't the fastest way of removing snow).

Cheers

JDFANATIC

Cheers

JDFANATIC
*********

I think you missed the point here JDFANATIC. It's one thing to blow a narrow drive. I'm trying to clear basically a small parking lot. I'll just be reblowing the same snow 2 or 3 times. Don't get me wrong there are places I would indeed use a blower. But in the middle of this lot it ain't going to work so well. Speed isn't really the goal here. If it was, the answer would be simple, just replace the truck. Few things will clear that area faster then a pickup truck with a full size blade on it. I'm really looking for a cheaper and more useful solution. A truck mounted snow blade has only one purpose. A FEL on the other hand can be used year round. And if it works anything like my old skid steer I used at work did. It would be an easy an fun process removing the snow.

The X465 with a blade might handle it most of the time. Thing is living on the shores of lake Erie we do at times get dumped on. That's why I wanted a bigger tractor so I won't get caught with too small a machine to handle whatever we get. I have an old Bolens H16 with both a blower and a blade,and I've run into situations where it just wouldn't push the enormous volume of snow we got. The blower might have work had I had it mounted at the time or felt well enough to mount it on the tractor. It still would have taken me forever to move it all. I ended up that time having a guy with a truck come in and remove the snow. He made a total mess of my driveway and the yard. Thats why I bought my own truck. I'm much more careful plowing when the yard is soft.

Thanks,

Bill

I'm sorry, I did miss the implications of the parking lot. Not trying to be smart, I guess the 10,800+ s.f. driveway I maintain is far too small to be anything more than annecdotal. But since you press the issue, I think a tractor/FEL combination will be even less productive than almost any other combination you conjure up. It will, of course, clear the snow, but to do so requires you drive forward until the bucket is full (yes, you can continue to do so past this point, but where is the snow going?), then lift the bucket, back up, turn, go foward, dump the snow, backup, turn, go foward, and then grab another bucket-load. From just the description I'm exhausted. The question is, are you?

Cheers,

JDFANATIC

Thanks,

Bill

Hello from the east end of Lake Ontario. Having also lived in Orchard Park on Lake Erie, I dare say we get a little more snow here in an average winter. Over the past 11 years we have cleared our 50'x50' parking area with a 1996 Troybilt 24" walk-behind with no problems. You simply have to go out and clear the snow when it is ~ 20", 24/7. It takes me ~30 minutes to clear along with walkways.

Front end loaders are only used in these parts to move snow banks further back. No people that I know of clear their snow only with a FEL, it is too much work.

Google "3 point hitch snowblower buffalo", you will get many hits. A single or double auger 3-point blower is very popular around here on utility tractors. SCUT and CUT tractors mostly use a front blower.

In reality, you only need a tractor that will throw the snow ~ 30'. A 2-stage blower should be able to accomplish this if you begin in the center. A 4WD CUT with a plow would also work. Since you lot is fairly level, I suspect it would be fine without chains (my driveway does have quite a slope and I don't use chains with my JD2210). Ice would be a challenge though.

Cheers

JDFANATIC

The B7100 is a serious tractor.
A loader is going to act like a big snow blade that you can lift. Many people use a loader successfully for clearing snow.

Actually a loader doesn't act like a big snow blade that you can lift. It acts like a big bucket that when filled has to be dumped as I described above, or will just push a bigger and bigger pile of snow in front of it. It also has the propensity to make really long tears in the lawn adjacient to the drive you are trying to clear. Trust me, I know. :)

Cheers

JDFANATIC

Isn't that what a blade does?
Clearly it doesnt push the snow on an angle like a blade, but it will push it off the drive.
You can get blades to fit on your FEL anyway.

The reason a blade angles is to furrow the snow off to the side. A FEL just keep piling it up in front of the bucket. Even a 4WD diesel CUT will struggle with a large pile to push after a while. You can do it, but it isn't the fastest or most efficient way of moving snow. I've even taken off my blower, thinking winter is over, and gotten caught with a surprise 20" snowfall. Though I could handle it with the FEL, on those occassions I still went through the effort to get the blower and hitch out and back on the tractor.

An angling plow on the FEL is the cat's meow, but it is pricey (requiring a 3rd SCV, plus the plow and mountion hardware).

Besides, what do you guys over there in England know about snow anyway? :)

Cheers

JDFANATIC