characterboat
New member
Ahoy. Long time listener first time caller.
I'm in need of a new snow clearing solution and wondering about the practicality of using my 1650, also what would work best.
It's a rural driveway in need of a redo, single lane with two parking spaces, rutted gravel fading into the lawn, about 125 yards long with a short steep hill at one end. For the last several years I've been using a Craftsman/Husqvarna 24" two stage blower and it used to take me an hour but now it takes three or four, it's wearing out and the snow is wetter. Last winter the snow was so wet I couldn't do anything with it. Two problems it's always had is that it amplifies the unevenness of the driveway with each clearing and it needs several inches of snow to be effective. That means the frequent light snows we tend to get accumulate. It seems like a job for a blade to me and I'm sure my 1650 could do 90% of what we get but once or twice most years we get an 18" dump overnight with a drift twice that depth out by the road. I'm not sure if I could get enough traction to deal with that effectively. We're near Ottawa, Canada.
Here's the different thoughts I've got, open to other suggestions:
-Pay someone with a truck or farm tractor to do it.
-Buy a beater truck to do it.
-Put a blade on the tractor.
-Put a blower on the tractor.
-Get a bucket for the tractor?
-Other suggestions?
I like to be self-sufficient so if I can take the money I'd put into paying someone and invest in useful equipment that would be ideal. If I'm considering a beater plow truck it might be worth considering a bucket, which would be ridiculously handy for other things but might be a pain to mount and unmount? The blade seems like the better solution than the blower, less maintenance and potentially other uses, but I'm open to compelling arguments otherwise.
Anyway, thanks in advance for the two cents!
I'm in need of a new snow clearing solution and wondering about the practicality of using my 1650, also what would work best.
It's a rural driveway in need of a redo, single lane with two parking spaces, rutted gravel fading into the lawn, about 125 yards long with a short steep hill at one end. For the last several years I've been using a Craftsman/Husqvarna 24" two stage blower and it used to take me an hour but now it takes three or four, it's wearing out and the snow is wetter. Last winter the snow was so wet I couldn't do anything with it. Two problems it's always had is that it amplifies the unevenness of the driveway with each clearing and it needs several inches of snow to be effective. That means the frequent light snows we tend to get accumulate. It seems like a job for a blade to me and I'm sure my 1650 could do 90% of what we get but once or twice most years we get an 18" dump overnight with a drift twice that depth out by the road. I'm not sure if I could get enough traction to deal with that effectively. We're near Ottawa, Canada.
Here's the different thoughts I've got, open to other suggestions:
-Pay someone with a truck or farm tractor to do it.
-Buy a beater truck to do it.
-Put a blade on the tractor.
-Put a blower on the tractor.
-Get a bucket for the tractor?
-Other suggestions?
I like to be self-sufficient so if I can take the money I'd put into paying someone and invest in useful equipment that would be ideal. If I'm considering a beater plow truck it might be worth considering a bucket, which would be ridiculously handy for other things but might be a pain to mount and unmount? The blade seems like the better solution than the blower, less maintenance and potentially other uses, but I'm open to compelling arguments otherwise.
Anyway, thanks in advance for the two cents!