Gravel / Bluestone Plowing / Blowing thoughts and ideas

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

@ebinmaine, @WVHillbilly520H

@BeninCT

I'm starting this in order not to hijack another thread.  My drive and private road is gravel and bluestone so requires special measures for plowing and blowing.

 

On my plow blade I've got a piece of heavy rubber mat sandwiched between the wear bar and the blade along with 2" gray PVC slotted and shoved over the blade.  The PVC stays in place on it's own for straight plowing but if the blade is angled they tend to slide off now and then.  Need to come up with a way to hold it in place better that's easy enough to change them out when they wear down, or another method altogether for keeping the blade edge above the rocks.  I'm thinking of installing mushrooms on the back of the blade instead, keeping the rubber sweep.

 

Can ya dig the caution tape?  That's more for me working around the shop so I don't bang my shins into the corners!

 

 

 

Same sort of idea on the blower but these are angle iron cut into a point and bent up at the front like Santa's sleigh.  This has also got a rubber 'sweep' on it.  This works VERY well!

I also cut up my old front Carlisles and bolted the pieces to the impeller blades.  Haven't had a chance to use it with those in place yet but looking forward to see if there's the huge improvement the internet claims there will be!

 

 

 

And finally, I've broken several of the cheap plastic chutes so I decided to apply some 'armor' this time:

Hopefully the rocks that do get picked up will not crack the plastic or wear the ends off the rivets.

 

 

How about it all y'all?  Got any neat tips / tricks / hints you use to keep from breaking windows and shattering vinyl siding and generally making a mess that needs to be raked back into the road after Spring thaw?

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

With the snow blower you have to keep the  skids adjusted as low as they go for maximum scraper height, and the top deflector pointed down to only throw short distances, there is a wire stone "deflector" that was used on the WH tall chute singles but its was mediocre at best. As I posted in the other thread the skid shoes for the blade if you have the factory carriage bolt holes... If you lock closely at the blade with black shoes in back of it is another blade you can see the holes for mounting.

[JoeM 7,871]

A friend of mine gave me this broom attachment a few years ago and it worked great on the limestone gravel. It needed to be a little better built as it came apart once.

This year I got the rubber like you have and some 5 inch wide adjustable skid shoes on the plow but have not really used it. 

Not enough snow here to use the blower but who knows maybe later.

[ebinmaine 67,317]

We've been successful over the last couple seasons with just tilting the plow forward an extra pin setting. 

You can see that about 8 to 12 seconds in. 

I do have a set of shoes but really haven't needed them just yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[squonk 41,040]

Shoes on the plow. Remove the blower skids and install pneumatic wheels

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

16 minutes ago, squonk said:

Remove the blower skids and install pneumatic wheels

One a walk behind? 

[Darb1964 1,042]

I've never used skids on my wheel horse, but when I plowed with my truck I would get rid of them first thing I did, they doug in  big time when not frozen. The blade I could go by feel. The tires I think would work good. I avoided stone drive ways at all cost, new ones especially.

[Ed Kennell 38,034]

I replaced my blower with a 54" plow.    Using my anti sway bar I can adjust the plow to any minimum height.   When plowing stone roads, I set it 1-2" above level.   It still rolls up a few stones, but they aren't 20 feet in the lawns or bouncing off vehicles and houses.

[cschannuth 3,816]

It took me 20 years to get my driveway paved doing it a little bit at a time myself over the years. But before that it was covered with rock. I made my driveway purposely extrawide so that when I would plow snow I would actually start in the middle and plow to the outside so that the snow and gravel would pile up along the edge of the driveway. When the snow would melt, I would simply take my snow blade and spread the windrows of gravel from the outside back towards the middle of the driveway. It’s a little unconventional I guess but it worked well for me.

[ebinmaine 67,317]

4 hours ago, cschannuth said:

It took me 20 years to get my driveway paved doing it a little bit at a time myself over the years. But before that it was covered with rock. I made my driveway purposely extrawide so that when I would plow snow I would actually start in the middle and plow to the outside so that the snow and gravel would pile up along the edge of the driveway. When the snow would melt, I would simply take my snow blade and spread the windrows of gravel from the outside back towards the middle of the driveway. It’s a little unconventional I guess but it worked well for me.

Actually an excellent idea

[SylvanLakeWH 25,501]

I have had occasion to plow snow off grass for temporary parking purposes. I set my height adjustment to about 1/2” off ground when blade is lowered. Occasionally would bite in on uneven areas but worked pretty well...

[squonk 41,040]

12 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

One a walk behind? 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

2 hours ago, squonk said:

Pretty sure his is a walkbehind blower.

[squonk 41,040]

I put wheels on a walk behind years ago. Worked good. Stole them off a push mower.

[ohiofarmer 3,265]

   My buddy and I have a plan because he has a big driveway and I don't.  We have not gotten a big snow in probably three years, His son hauls trash for an outdoor equipment seller and they threw out a nice Ahrends snowblower  . New price $600. i told the son that he could have my old car for scrap to trade on that machine---it's like new.  i figure that machine is so nice and probably heavier than what they build now, so that may be why it was sold for scrap.that's because dealers would rather sell new stuff Anyway, Rick has the 853 bobcat skid steer that is mine and storing it inside, so that is a win-win. If we do ever have a really big snow, then i can have access to my own machine. Meanwhile, Covid put the car for snowblower trade on hold.

  Bobcats are notorious for tearing up gravel, so what i always did was to run it straight with the blade up above the wheel prints at about 6 inches. If the gravel was not frozen, I just pressed the bucket down for a skid pad and made that a turn around spot. Usually it might turn cold after the storm, and then all we had to do was take off the drifts.

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

18 hours ago, JoeM said:

broom attachment

 

I thought about a brush too!  TSC had the cheap brooms like that for a couple bucks.  I use them in the shop all the time so I picked up a few.  Might give that a try unless my brain forgets and sweeps the thought under the rug! 

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

19 hours ago, squonk said:

Remove the blower skids and install pneumatic wheels

 

Actually, the blower does pretty well.  The only time there's an issue is with a wet snow before there's a hard freeze and I'm going too fast.  Then I end up pulling up chunks of the wet snow with the rocks embedded.  I don't think there any way around that though.

 

I DID give thought to tires / wheels on the end of the plow blade though!

 

In fact, the rubber sweep and the 2" PVC pipe works fairly well too.  Best / and cheap like me / thing I've tried yet.  So good in fact that I'm considering putting a full length across the bottom of the blade.  I think it might 'ride up' and pack the snow though so I might need to go to solid link so I can provide some down force.

 

4 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

his is a walkbehind blower.

 

Indeed it is, POS Craftsman / Murray with the really crappy gear box on the auger drive.  Next time it breaks I'm pulling the engine and scrapping it.  Or maybe I'll put a piece of plywood on the front and use it as a walk behind plow.  I only use it for the walks so I don't tear them up with the tahr chains.

Edited January 28, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[Ed Kennell 38,034]

2 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

wheels on the end of the plow blade though!

 

         

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

19 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

 

         

 

I actually have something like that 'in stock'!  "Hello, my name is Jeff and I'm a hoarder!"

 

I guess the trick is going to be figuring out a way to make them easily height adjustable.  Shouldn't be a problem I think, and worth a try!  (Winter might be over by then!)

Edited January 28, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[ebinmaine 67,317]

17 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

I actually have something like that 'in stock'!  "Hello, my name is Jeff and I'm a *******

 

very intelligent well thought out forward thinking person who saves things that may be of use at a later date in the future which is not right now in this present

[ohiofarmer 3,265]

Under implements and accessories, ed in Post 12 describes a lower limit adjustment for those who have a stabilizer bar for a front plow side stabilizer.   Might be as good as the wheel idea for some of us. 

  Never do you guys run out of ideas.   I have even had thoughts of mounting a walk behind blower on the front of a tractor, but then I have a single stage Wheel horse buried in back of the Barn.Anyway, we just had a prediction of a maybe big maybe not storm. so time to finish up the 520 platform. See ya in the shop. Bring beer.

[ohiofarmer 3,265]

4 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Pretty sure his is a walkbehind blower.

 

 That is one cool paint job on that C-145

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

37 minutes ago, ohiofarmer said:

 

 That is one cool paint job on that C-145

That's @squonk's not mine, I seem to be one of those 520H lovers, where i haven't had a bucket load of issuses, actually just a thimbles worth, knock on a wooden .

[ebinmaine 67,317]

50 minutes ago, ohiofarmer said:

I have even had thoughts of mounting a walk behind blower on the front of a tractor

Me too.

I've got that 38" cut 13 hp simplicity commercial snowblower sitting around not doing anything.

Add a couple of small wings on the sides and I'd have a 4-ft cut snow blower. 

 

 

I've tried to sell it but I just get so flustericated dealing with the humans I took it off the market...

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

I seem to be one of those 520H lovers, where i haven't had a bucket load of issuses

 

Do we suppose that's because you understand how to do appropriate maintenance?

[pfrederi 17,681]

1 hour ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

That's @squonk's not mine, I seem to be one of those 520H lovers, where i haven't had a bucket load of issuses, actually just a thimbles worth, knock on a wooden .

 

I will wager your 520's live indoors.  so many used ones for sale you see have obviously spent a long time outside