Snow removal.

[First-light]

So I have a quad 400 King Quad it's 14 years old. I would rather now push snow with it but is an option. I have a Massey 1835M 

That will move a house! lol Those with experience with a bigger tractor what options do you like that won't break the bank. Right now I have two small steel skis bolted onto the bucket. Its ok. Im finding dragging the bucket backwards works good. With that thought what about a blade? Thoughts? 

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, First-light said:

So I have a quad 400 King Quad it's 14 years old. I would rather now push snow with it but is an option. I have a Massey 1835M 

That will move a house! lol Those with experience with a bigger tractor what options do you like that won't break the bank. Right now I have two small steel skis bolted onto the bucket. Its ok. Im finding dragging the bucket backwards works good. With that thought what about a blade? Thoughts? 

I like a back blade facing backwards.  Mine has shoes on it and doesn’t dig into the stone driveways too bad.  I have a rear light on the tractor, in addition to the headlights, because most of my plowing is done in the dark.  I move most of the snow with that and use the front loader bucket, mostly just for pushing up the banks at the ends of the driveways.  

The front loader pushes snow the best, in the “float” position, which is accessed by pushing the hydraulic control lever all the way forward until the bucket lowers all the way and trips the internal hydraulic detent switch.  That allows the leveled bucket to ”float” over uneven surfaces.  

I can’t stand any type of snowblower.  They are only good with light fluffy snow and when you have very limited space for storing it.  I’ve got plenty of that.  I’ll be heading out after lunch, to bucket the big snowbanks that have built up at the ends of the driveways, into the middle of our front yard.  That’s always a fun job.  

Edited February 22 by wolc123

[avg. joe]

Snow blower. I bought mine several years ago and will not do without. I tell everybody that if I have to limit myself to one 3 pt attachment for the tractor, the snow blower wins. Plus there are no piles or banks that build up. I guess to each his own.

[Four Seasons]

1 hour ago, avg. joe said:

Snow blower. I bought mine several years ago and will not do without. I tell everybody that if I have to limit myself to one 3 pt attachment for the tractor, the snow blower wins. Plus there are no piles or banks that build up. I guess to each his own.

No your 110% spot on. I have a beast of a 7ft blower on a 75hp tractor and a 4ft on a smaller Deere 1025R. I clean up 30 acres of deer pens and laneways on Top of the driveway and around the barns. After 3 days of 30-40mph winds last week I had 4-5ft heavy blown In banks that the blower laughed at. I would love to see someone deal with my kind of snow with a bucket and back blade. Blower wins every time. 

[Doc]

Years ago, I had a Ford 8N with a back-blade and with a 1000' driveway, and a wide area up by where the cars are parked, I would wind up with a hell of a stiff neck after plowing from trying to look behind to see where I was going.

I have to ask about you guys that use a bucket. When you are dealing with wet heavy snow, don't you find the bucket loading up and packing with snow? Also there is no way to tilt the bucket to throw the snow off to the side. Isn't that true?  

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

Years ago, I had a Ford 8N with a back-blade and with a 1000' driveway, and a wide area up by where the cars are parked, I would wind up with a hell of a stiff neck after plowing from trying to look behind to see where I was going.

I have to ask about you guys that use a bucket. When you are dealing with wet heavy snow, don't you find the bucket loading up and packing with snow? Also there is no way to tilt the bucket to throw the snow off to the side. Isn't that true?  

My father in law had a big on the back of his 125 hp cabbed 2 wd tractor, back when he lived in WNY.  He must not have cared for it too much because now that he’s moved up to the NW corner of the Adirondack park, and takes care of the snow removal for the roads and about 25 residences, around a little lake up there, he gets by with a big hydraulic adjustable v-plow on an open station 65 hp 4wd tractor.  
 

That plow mounts in place of the loader bucket on the loader frame and is controlled with the bucket control levers and maybe one additional remote cylinder.  I think it’s about 9 ft wife when straight, and tilts to ether side or forward or backward facing V.
 

 I also gave him my old 3/4 ton 4wd Chevy pickup, which he fixed up and mounted a plow on.  He used that the first 2 years up there, but has been using the open tractor more the last 3 or 4 years.  
 

He may be wishing for a blower and the cabbed tractor now, with all the snow the have been getting this year, but I haven’t heard.  They are a little north of the usual Lake Ontario snow belt, so maybe it’s not been too bad, where they are.  

The first year up there, the drifting was always horrible across the road on the north end of the lake, which runs north-south.  The next few years, I helped him put a snow fence across the beach on that end, which helped a lot but was also a lot of work (mostly for me driving the posts). 
 

The last few years, we have laid out a bunch of floating docks across that end, after pulling them out of the water in the fall, with his tractor.  They work almost as well as the snow fence and no extra work required.  How nice it is to not need to drive all those damn snow fence posts with the pile-driver when I’m up there on my annual October early ML huntcation.  

I also used a back blade on my 8n for the first few years at our house.  I was a lot younger then and it didn’t bother my neck that much.  It does a little more now but it’s a lot faster with the bigger blade on the back of my larger 4wd tractor.  
 

I do prefer plowing the lighter snows with the front blade on my old Farmall Cub.  Too bad it, and that old Ford are both broken down right now.  It’s a real challenge keeping those two brand of tractors running. Owning them certainly has given me appreciation for always having at least one John Deere available, for getting the real work done.  
 

I’ve never had too much trouble with the bucket loading up with snow on my John Deere 4120 loader tractor.  It usually all shakes out pretty good when I dump it.  I just finished moving two mountains of it from the ends of our driveways in fact.  
 

That bucket holds about 1/2 face cord of firewood, which I hauled up to the house from the woodshed after I finished moving the snow.  There was hardly any snow stuck in there, after a couple hours spent moving it.  

It also works good for moving butcher waste back to my coyote/crow bait carcass pile:

 

Edited February 22 by wolc123

[First-light]

7 hours ago, wolc123 said:

I like a back blade facing backwards.  Mine has shoes on it and doesn’t dig into the stone driveways too bad.  I have a rear light on the tractor, in addition to the headlights, because most of my plowing is done in the dark.  I move most of the snow with that and use the front loader bucket, mostly just for pushing up the banks at the ends of the driveways.  

The front loader pushes snow the best, in the “float” position, which is accessed by pushing the hydraulic control lever all the way forward until the bucket lowers all the way and trips the internal hydraulic detent switch.  That allows the leveled bucket to ”float” over uneven surfaces.  

I can’t stand any type of snowblower.  They are only good with light fluffy snow and when you have very limited space for storing it.  I’ve got plenty of that.  I’ll be heading out after lunch, to bucket the big snowbanks that have built up at the ends of the driveways, into the middle of our front yard.  That’s always a fun job.  

Great info!

 

[landtracdeerhunter]

I have a loader for my front wheel assist farm tractor, that was bought new in 2004.  I purchased it from out of my inventory. I usually leave it off, most of the year including winter. It's so dam awkward and ties the tractor up to much for other purposes I use the tractor for. It's also tougher on the front axle bearings running up and down the road, leaving the loader on..  I use a rear three point hitch back blade on a bank run gravel driveway for like 30 years now. it will dig in and grade some of the driveway into the lawn, when no frost or ice present, if not careful. Neighbors get that from pickups and four wheelies.

The tractors are so much money today, it's really difficult to justify purchasing one; at least in my book it does. Someone mentioned a Ford 9N with a blade for clearing snow. They work for a few inches at a time. If you have ice under the tires, they hardly get out of their own way with the  three point blade up. One tire spinning, hit the brake and the other tire will spin. Manufactures come a long way when differential lock was developed. Now with front wheel assist tractors, differential locks not used to much.

One thing I always ran by my customers; the horse power you think you will need, move up to the next hp.class. You can never have to much, but to little does no good at all.

[wolc123]

3 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

I have a loader for my front wheel assist farm tractor, that was bought new in 2004.  I purchased it from out of my inventory. I usually leave it off, most of the year including winter. It's so dam awkward and ties the tractor up to much for other purposes I use the tractor for. It's also tougher on the front axle bearings running up and down the road, leaving the loader on..  I use a rear three point hitch back blade on a bank run gravel driveway for like 30 years now. it will dig in and grade some of the driveway into the lawn, when no frost or ice present, if not careful. Neighbors get that from pickups and four wheelies.

The tractors are so much money today, it's really difficult to justify purchasing one; at least in my book it does. Someone mentioned a Ford 9N with a blade for clearing snow. They work for a few inches at a time. If you have ice under the tires, they hardly get out of their own way with the  three point blade up. One tire spinning, hit the brake and the other tire will spin. Manufactures come a long way when differential lock was developed. Now with front wheel assist tractors, differential locks not used to much.

One thing I always ran by my customers; the horse power you think you will need, move up to the next hp.class. You can never have to much, but to little does no good at all.

The 9n’s were geared too low in reverse for plowing with a backward facing back blade.  The 8n’s were perfect though (same ratio as 3rd in forward while the 9n was the same as 1st).  I used one for many years for snowplowing that way and it worked great with loaded rear R1 tires with chains.  Much better than it did with a factory front plow.  That took too much weight off of the back end.  

[landtracdeerhunter]

19 hours ago, wolc123 said:

The 9n’s were geared too low in reverse for plowing with a backward facing back blade.  The 8n’s were perfect though (same ratio as 3rd in forward while the 9n was the same as 1st).  I used one for many years for snowplowing that way and it worked great with loaded rear R1 tires with chains.  Much better than it did with a factory front plow.  That took too much weight off of the back end.  

Long history here, with the pre Golden Jubilee era. Made a good living off those tractors, not so many years ago. You might know the name, Owen, Yoder Brothers, long since gone.  I still have a few N's on the place, just for old times sake. I will be rebuilding my grandfather's  1942, 2 N in the future, 

[airedale]

Living in snow country with a long driveway and snow removal around the house and barnyard has forced me to look at every angle for removing it. Shovels, regular walk behind snow blowers, trucks with power angle plows, I have settled on a mid size tractor that can utilize quick attach implements for the loader and a three point blower for the rear. I have a power angle plow mounted on the loader most of the winter, along with the blower it has been the best all around solution for me.

Al

[wolc123]

4 hours ago, landtracdeerhunter said:

Long history here, with the pre Golden Jubilee era. Made a good living off those tractors, not so many years ago. You might know the name, Owen, Yoder Brothers, long since gone.  I still have a few N's on the place, just for old times sake. I will be rebuilding my grandfather's  1942, 2 N in the future, 

I’ve still got the original sales receipt and product catalog from there for my 51 8n (I’m the second owner).  My dad moved off the family farm in Wolcottsburg, to a little place outside of Swormsville, after he got married to my mom.  Our neighbor across the street at that house bought that 8n brand new from Yoders.  
 

Those Fords were for the rich folks back then.  That neighbor was the top paid union guy at “the gyp”, the largest employer in our town at that time.  Grandpa couldn’t afford a Ford, so he went with a new JD M from Choats in Alden.  
 

Dad would drive grandpas JD , M, with its mounted 2-bottom plow, home to plow our little garden every spring, and then he would borrow the neighbors Ford 8n with its 3 point disk, to work it down.  
 

When that neighbor passed away, his widow offered it to me at a good price, back in the mid 1980’s.  That was my first tractor.  He had only used it on his small garden snd ours, so it had very few hours on it.  
 

I’m hoping I can get it running in time for spring plowing this year.  It really is fun to plow with.  It plowed better the last couple years than it likely ever did, because I accidentally drained the calcium out of the furrow side rear tire.  That evened the traction and it pulls almost perfectly even now. 
 

It’s got some mysterious electrics issue going on.  I’m hoping that a new 6 volt coil I bought at NAPA corrects it.  Like I always say, the best thing about owning an old Ford and Farnall (my cub had a similar issue now also) is the appreciation they give me for always having a JD available to get the work done.  

[landtracdeerhunter]

Ford 1951 8N would make that a side mount distributor. Redesign of the camshaft, front timing cover, as a result of the best kept secret  by the Ford tractor dealers for decades. I converted many to 12 volts just to eliminate the generator. I can understand, keeping it 6 volt however. I rebuilt several generators over the years. 

Simple electrical system. Most that would go wrong would be the in line resistor to the coil. I did have a cap short out along with the internal lead going to the points break sometimes though. Bad connections and or bad grounds always to be considered on these antiques. Coils would last forever on side mounts, so it seemed. 

Edited Wednesday at 02:09 PM by landtracdeerhunter

[airedale]

If money was no object I think a track loader with a high flow snowblower would be the ultimate snow removal machine.

Al

[Doc]

WOW! What a beast.

[wolc123]

On 2/26/2025 at 8:46 AM, landtracdeerhunter said:

Ford 1951 8N would make that a side mount distributor. Redesign of the camshaft, front timing cover, as a result of the best kept secret  by the Ford tractor dealers for decades. I converted many to 12 volts just to eliminate the generator. I can understand, keeping it 6 volt however. I rebuilt several generators over the years. 

Simple electrical system. Most that would go wrong would be the in line resistor to the coil. I did have a cap short out along with the internal lead going to the points break sometimes though. Bad connections and or bad grounds always to be considered on these antiques. Coils would last forever on side mounts, so it seemed. 

I’m hoping we get some warmer weather on the weekends, so I can comfortably work out on the barn on my broken down antique Ford and Farmall tractors.  Too darn cold again today and tomorrow looks to be worse.  I just fetched another bucket full of firewood from the woodshed up to the house with my John Deere loader tractor.

 I’m hoping to get at least one of those two antique tractors  running, so I won’t have to do all of my planting work, with the John Deere.  I especially like the old Ford 8n for plowing, because  it has hydraulic “draft position”, which the JD lacks.  That makes it much easier to maintain uniform plow depth.  

A nice thing about plowing with the 4wd JD  though, is that the mud holes don’t even slow it down.  It will easily pull that little 2x12” moldboard plow  thru standing water.  My low lying farm sometimes takes a as long time to dry out in the spring.  The JD also has great hydraulic power on the loader, and that has always been able to pull or push me out when I get too deep in the mud for it’s loaded R1 tires.  
 

The old 2wd Ford 8n also has a little more ground clearance, so I liked that better for cultivating sweetcorn.  It’s been pulling my  3 point cultivator crooked, since I leaked all the calcium out of one rear tire, so now I mostly use the Deere for that also.  I always use the Deere cultivating my rr fieldcorn, because I run a 12 volt sprayer with it (the Ford is still 6 volt). I apply roundup to the rows at the same time I’m cultivating with that.  The 2 sprayer nozzles are up on the loader frame. 

[landtracdeerhunter]

On 2/22/2025 at 2:39 PM, Doc said:

Years ago, I had a Ford 8N with a back-blade and with a 1000' driveway, and a wide area up by where the cars are parked, I would wind up with a hell of a stiff neck after plowing from trying to look behind to see where I was going.

I have to ask about you guys that use a bucket. When you are dealing with wet heavy snow, don't you find the bucket loading up and packing with snow? Also there is no way to tilt the bucket to throw the snow off to the side. Isn't that true?  

Today, they have hydraulic blades that mount on the front of the boom, to angle side to side. Can also tip the blade forward with the bucket hydraulic cylinders to make great snow igloos. If you want to invest the money in these compact tractors, they make anything a skid steer can use.