# Snow Blower - or Snow Plow - any advice?



## NMMountainMan (Nov 28, 2018)

Hi, 

I live in the Northern NM mountains, I get about 2 - 6' of annual snow - can vary widely! 

My dirt driveway is 550 long, (about 1/10 of a mile) 3/4rths is very steep. It is a rough at times mountain road with some ruts at times. I did just hire a guy to smooth it, but it's still a pretty rugged road! 

I am very close to coughing up $8000 out the door price for a Western pro plow to put on my 3/4 ton Ford truck. Now, I know this will work, but I am wondering if there is a snow blower out there, that is heavy duty enough for this long of a driveway, and can handle the steep rough in spot incline?

Any advice would sure be appreciated. I have an appointment to get the plow on this weekend, but the EIGHT GRAND part has me having second thoughts......


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

NMMountainMan said:


> Hi,
> 
> I live in the Northern NM mountains, I get about 2 - 6' of annual snow - can vary widely!
> 
> ...


what do all your neighbors do with similar circumstances? maybe some of you can trade work for plow service or some kind of barter. a Tracked big Honda HSS1332 could probably handle it but you would have to be careful with scraping dirt.


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## 132619 (Nov 20, 2018)

toro powermax 1432/38844 is another big dog workhorse


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## dadnjesse (Nov 24, 2015)

Sounds like your paying about 3000.00 for the install.


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

Plow


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## vinnycom (Nov 6, 2017)

plow


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

:welcome: to SBF NMMountainMan

Plow on the truck is nice, heated cab, radio, power steering, maybe heated seat. If you get the 6' do you have the room to plow the snow out of your way or will the berm be a problem ??
If that Ford is your daily driver you'll also be carrying all that weight on the front end of your vehicle, hard on the shocks and other components, burns extra gas, harder to park and something to get used to when maneuvering so you don't take someones quarter panel or bumper off.
Any chance you might be able to get a neighbor or two to pay you to plow their driveway to offset that 8K ??

If you had a riding mower for the lawn have you considered a blower for that ?? If the snow gets deep it might be nice to be able to literally blow it up and over.

I've been doing a 300' flat gravel driveway with a pretty skimpy 24" Troy. It gets the job done but this year I'll be using a 1332 Toro. Less passes and back in the house sooner :grin:
If it's steep you'd be much better served with something with tracks in a walk behind. I'd also suggest something in a 32" or 36" wide range as yours is so long you don't want to make any more passes than you have to.

.


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## texmt (Nov 28, 2018)

As Mr Frog said... gotta have a place to put that 6' of snow when plowing. Neighbors here sometimes wind up scraping the side mirrors on their way down the drive because of the piles left.


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## cranman (Jan 23, 2016)

plow


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## 1132le (Feb 23, 2017)

John Deere 425 with a blower and heated cab


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

Before you wander into plow land,


Find the local toro contractor equipment dealer and look at the tracked diesel Toro Dingos that can use the Bradco hydraulic drive snow blower.

The rubebr tracked Dingo is a rear round use stand on machine that can do many jobs and the 2 stage snow thrower is just one of them. 

Use the snow blower and the snow is gone, use the plow and it just builds up and builds up and then fills back in when the snow is wind driven.

I would see how the numbers look after you make a potential $4,000.00 down payment for a small tracked diesel or gas Toro Dingo with a 4-5 foot Bradco hydraulic snow blower.

They are small enough to put in a garage and also toss a good tarp over to hold the heat in while you use a space heater to warm the oil and engine up for an hour before you start them. 

If you get stuck with the truck and plow and you may not get a wrecker and you will be out of luck
then


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## russkat (Feb 25, 2015)

Plow... My neighbor plowed his 1/4 long driveway in 2 passes, then the apron by the garage.
10-15 minutes and it's done! Of course he let it warm up first, warm/cozy inside.
Ran it with skinny tires and chains on all four.

He found an ugly, but mechanically sound IH Scout II with plow for a couple grand.
No insurance or plates on it since it never leaves the property.


That's what I would do


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## Bob E (Jun 9, 2014)

Yeah, around here you could find a pretty decent older truck with a plow for half the price of the plow your looking at.


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## Lunta (Dec 14, 2017)

I would be tempted with a small tractor. Blade on the front and blower on the rear PTO.

For the cost, you could buy many years of "paying a contractor to do it".


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## CarbineMan (Jan 8, 2018)

We have a 675’ gravel driveway with large turnaround at Mount Sunapee, NH. Average seasonal snowfall is 130”. Last season was 150”.

Driveway is normally plowed by a neighbor with an F250. Takes him about 10 minutes for a foot snowfall. If he isn’t around we use a Kubota L3200 tractor, probably takes 20 minutes. The tractor has R4’s tires with Ofa chains, a 55” bucket with Edge Tamers.

It so happens that earlier this week our power line came down in a foot of very heavy snow. The tractor was behind the powerline so I had to use a walk-behind. We have an Ariens RapidTrak Pro 28, new last year. 21 lb ft of torque, hydro drive.

The first pass took me 15 minutes. Other passes would have been a little faster if I hadn’t kept breaking shear pins. Broke 4 and only had one spare left.

But even if that hadn’t happened you are looking at well over an hour. It was not fun.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

2-6 feet annually?

not very much


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## northeast (Dec 29, 2017)

CarbineMan said:


> We have a 675’ gravel driveway with large turnaround at Mount Sunapee, NH. Average seasonal snowfall is 130”. Last season was 150”.
> 
> Driveway is normally plowed by a neighbor with an F250. Takes him about 10 minutes for a foot snowfall. If he isn’t around we use a Kubota L3200 tractor, probably takes 20 minutes. The tractor has R4’s tires with Ofa chains, a 55” bucket with Edge Tamers.
> 
> ...


Thanks for this information breaking shear pins is quite a nuisance.


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## NMMountainMan (Nov 28, 2018)

Thank you for all the replies!

Sounds like the general opinion is get the plow! What got me thinking about a snow blower, is a friend of mine has a friend (yeah, great third hand info) that he has seen using a snow blower to do a road exactly like mine. 

If money wasn't a concern, I would get the plow, no questions or concerns, it's the **** 8 grand that's troubling me, where as I know any snow blower will be a **** of a lot cheaper - but where as I have a life-time of plowing experience, I have ZERO snow blower experience!

Let me answer some questions asked - 

No - I don't get the snow you folks in other parts of the country do - here in the Southern Rocky Mountains, the past decade snows have dropped dramatically. In the past 15 years, I have seen 3' snows, only a few times, BUT all predictions and early snows look like we might actually have a "real" winter this year, with maybe 6' total or more......time will tell. My driveway unfortunately though, faces north, meaning NO melting from now till early March. Whatever snow comes, STAYS. The road is already snow packed now. 

Concerning neighbors - I'm in a fairly remote, off grid location, over an hour away from a city, no nearby neighbors within a few miles that have plows - believe me, I have called around looking for a "mountain plow guy" before I decided to cough up the 8 grand for a Western Plow!!

3K for the install? YIKES......the actual quote from the plow dealer is $6700 - BUT, you have to add tax, price of a rental car (the place is 3 hours from me, and I have to leave Truck there for a few days), and other expenses, so 8K is the actual bottom line of what I will be out for the plow. There are other Western plows that are a bit cheaper - but for my rough dirt road, the dealer recommended the pro plow.

Regarding where to push the show - my driveway has a STEEP drop off, so as long as I am VERY CAREFUL, I can just push the berm off the edge! It's a steep dangerous road for city folks not used to driving steep 4 wheel drive roads. I'm used to it, having driven these type roads all my life. Stuck out tongue winking eye

The Truck I would be putting it on, is not my daily driver. It's my work truck that I just use for hauling wood, building materials, etc. It's a Ford F-250, 4x4, V-10, 8' bed supercab. Although it's a 2001, it only has 48K miles, and in great shape.

My options at this point, are going ahead with the plow install I have scheduled for TOMORROW, or get some sort of a snow blower, or leave my two trucks at the top of my driveway, and don't plow at all....(huge risk with vehicle thefts in this part of the country), OR......the real hardcore option, SHOVEL IT......but I'm in my late 50's with a back that ain't that great, and this really isn't a viable option to shovel 1/10 of a mile.....believe me, I have tried, and usually give out after about 100' or so......Grin

I was so hoping everyone here would chime in with " get this such and such snow blower for under 2K"......but it doesn't look that is an option! 

Thanks again for any and all future replies to this thread - much appreciated!


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## Steve70 (Nov 12, 2018)

If you have room to move the snow off the sides for the entire winter, what some do here is just get an old beater plow truck to use only in the winter. Many use a V type plow like a BOSS. Minimal investment and save the cost of a new one and the weight on the front end of your driver truck

If you don't have room to move the snow off to the side without room issues as the winter drags on.. then many here use enclosed tractors with a 4 or 5 foot snowblower attachment. Many Kubotas around here set up just like that


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## russkat (Feb 25, 2015)

NMMountainMan said:


> Thank you for all the replies!
> 
> 
> I was so hoping everyone here would chime in with " get this such and such snow blower for under 2K"......but it doesn't look that is an option!



If you wanted to try a snowblower, I go with this 2011 Honda HS1132TAS
https://denver.craigslist.org/grd/d/honda-hs1332tas-snowblower/6760182968.html
If it does not work as well as you hope, you should have no problem selling it.
Or even this Honda HS1132 for $775.00 (good price)
https://boulder.craigslist.org/grd/d/honda-snow-blower/6747484794.html


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

*snow etc*



NMMountainMan said:


> Thank you for all the replies!
> 
> Sounds like the general opinion is get the plow! What got me thinking about a snow blower, is a friend of mine has a friend (yeah, great third hand info) that he has seen using a snow blower to do a road exactly like mine.
> 
> ...


=====================================================

The only way your going to get a low cost snow blower is to buy 2 wheel drive lawn mower to mount it on and buying chains for both lawn mowers 

In this case you want two lawn mowers with snow blowers with one as a spare with 2 sets of snow chains and two snow blowers. These belt drive snowblowers leave a lot to be desired though and they eat belts. 


The larger TORO DINGO models are rubber track drive units in gas and diesel. 
With the boom mounted Hydraulic drive BRADCO two stage snow blower it will let you cut out deep snow pack in stages and maintain snow packed road at the same time.


I would wait and find a TORO DINGO dealer TODAY and see how much the largest diesel powered tracked TORO Dingo and 5 foot Bradco 2 stage snow thrower would cost to lease for a year.
The purchase cost would certainly justify obtaining a lease cost estimate and if you like the machine after a year you could buy it.

Having a multipurpose tool carrier like the Toro Dingo that you can rent tools for would only want me to try and lease or buy one. 

If you stake your access road to delineate the edge you always have to worry about the stakes being buried by drifting snow and snow pack. The Toro Dingo will be slower than the plow but you will have over 200 degrees of visibility to take advantage of while working to clear the road versus the blind spots created by the truck and the plow itself. 


There are three Toro Dingo dealers in Albuquerque, NM

Sun Belt Rentals 595-415-7712

Hertz Equipment 595-344-5500

Titan Machinery 505-342-2566

They may have rental returns/expensed/depriciated machines that they are looking to sell too.


I wish you luck


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## northpole (Nov 29, 2018)

I'd recommend to get a small tractor and mount a front mount blower to it instead of spending $8k for a truck mounted one.


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## jrom (Jan 10, 2014)

Both of those look like great deals on one hack of a snow blower. The $775 HS1132 would be hard for me to pass up if it were in my neck of the woods.

Good finds there and thank you for posting them. Nothing like those deals around here.



russkat said:


> If you wanted to try a snowblower, I go with this 2011 Honda HS1132TAS
> https://denver.craigslist.org/grd/d/honda-hs1332tas-snowblower/6760182968.html
> If it does not work as well as you hope, you should have no problem selling it.
> Or even this Honda HS1132 for $775.00 (good price)
> https://boulder.craigslist.org/grd/d/honda-snow-blower/6747484794.html


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## 132619 (Nov 20, 2018)

i have a question the plow dealer will ask before they sell the plow. does the truck have the factory plow prep.package? IE springs, alternator and a few other items. i had tried to get one on my 05 f250, NO GO no plow package


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

Products - B.E.A.R. Fabrication ....best of both worlds ?


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## 69ariens (Jan 29, 2011)

I would go with plow . But find another dealer. A 8 foot straight blade around here would be installed and tax mid 5g's. My 9 ft boss v plow installed was only $6400. Last winter. That dealer is way over priced.


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## leonz (Dec 12, 2014)

The problem with the truck mounted snow blowers like the B.E.A.R. or old hanson units is power and lack of it.

In a set up like the B.E.A.R. units the hydraulic power packs are very expensive and can reach 30 plus thousand dollars. 

The old hanson snow blowers now made by snogo suffer from the lack of power as the engine mounted units do not have enough torque at high idle.

A snow blower or snow thrower powered with a "hydraulic power pack" powered with an engine loses efficiency as the systems create a huge amount of heat which translates to thinner oil and less energy available PLUS the power to run the hydraulic power packs. 

The other nasty thing is that if you blow a hose and cannot travel to get a hose your out of luck.

The toro dingo units have a large hydraulic reservoir and are designed with enough oil storage and flow to power a 2 stage Bradco snow blower or a Meteor 1048 single stage snow thrower.


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## kenora (Aug 29, 2018)

I'm mystified with the pricing... I'm in Kenora NW Ontario Canukistan  the annual snowfall here is between 48-80 inches and the temps are a bit lower than those you will experience.

I have been clearing (my driveway) a quarter mile of dirt road with several parking areas and off shoots for 15 years with an ATV and a 60 inch plow.. my road is STEEP, rising about 40 ft at a 20% grade. I have trees on both sides of my road so that it starts to look like a luge track most springs due the encroaching snow banks. A couple of years ago I got an old (99 Ford Explorer 4.0 SOHC 4x4 with 350000km) and mounted a 84" snowbear (bought used for $600) on the exploder. The mount was easy and it has changed snow clearing 10000000000%. 
It's no F250 4x4 that's for sure but it plows uphill in all but the deepest snow (then I need to claw my way uphill in 4x4 (always low range) and clear downhill, in a warm cab, listening to the crappy local radio station with a coffee in my hand.
Total cost about $2000 (Cdn) for the used truck, mount and plow.
I still use the ATV for finer work around buildings and parking lots and have a (used) Craftsman 10/32 trac-plus blower ($260 Cdn) for walkways. 
This is on Cdn shield rock and gravel etc and often at -30c.
You are spending too much.... just saying...

ps;If and when the Exploder goes to the scrap yard the plow will go on the next truck...


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## jeffwoehrle (Oct 30, 2018)

Agree with kenora above. Used truck and plow to stay on the property. That length of drive would take too long to blow, IMO...


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

Not sure if I missed it, but does the OP have a ATV, Tractor, or stout ride on mower?

I vote for a plow of some sort, wether it’s your truck or quad. 

That’s a lot of road to snowblower, plus plows hold their value really well if kept nice. I’m also surprised by $8000 though. 

Ive installed a couple plows and it wasn’t very difficult and a lift wasn’t nessesary. Helpful but not nessesary.


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## cranman (Jan 23, 2016)

I have a half mile of unpaved road going to my cranberry bogs, and I use a 70 hp 4 wheel drive tractor to keep it open. 8 ft plow bolted on the bucket....a 36 inch or 32 inch blower for the 300 ft of paved road to my shop and the 24 inch Ariens for the small driveway and dog area.


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## CarbineMan (Jan 8, 2018)

Think OP is in a “Buy once, cry once” situation but since he has the truck that’s going to be more cost effective than a tractor.

At Mount Sunapee ordinarily our neighbor plows the driveway. He has an F250 with a sander on the back. It doesn’t take him more than 20 minutes to do the whole drive, including the turn around (pretty large) and just to make a pass up and down probably 10 minutes or less.

We have a 32hp Diesel hydrostatic drive 4WD Kubota tractor with a 55” Bucket and Edge Tamers (basically extended skids). We also have Ofa H pattern studded chains on the rear and diamond pattern studded chains on the front. We don’t use a plow because we use the FEL to push back the banks at the top: we get huge plow berms from the state trucks. Some people use a back blade but we have a weight box mounted. If we had to do it all the time I’d probably buy a SSQD plow.

We push the snow until the bucket overflows (50-100’), pick it up, dump it off the side, and keep going. This easily takes 2-3X as long as the plow truck. So he’s got a great solution.


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## CarbineMan (Jan 8, 2018)

Someone suggested an 11hp Honda walk-behind. We own a 2015 Honda HS928T, a 2004 Ariens 1124 Pro, and a 2017 RapidTrak Pro. Note the Honda has been redesigned to address some of the shortcomings. 

Along with wimpy shear pins, aluminum gearbox, smaller auger and impeller, no grip heaters, and a small auger housing, the skids are light duty and are mounted behind the bucket. We’ve moved them to the bucket. We like the Honda in the city but now that they have hydrostatic drive available, bought the Ariens instead of another Honda.


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