# OTurn mower



## Naturallight (Oct 19, 2016)

Anybody every try a plow on the front end or snow blower attachment? Just a thought. I have 400 ft. of gravel driveway that I have been clearing for ten years with an ATV plow. Thinking about buying a big walk behind? Any advice would be welcome.


----------



## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

Many riding mowers aren't powerful enough to handle a plow or snowblower attachment. Two potential issues:
1. It might simply not have the power.
2. even if it does, you could easily blow out the transmission, because its not designed for that kind of use.

Many "riding mowers" are designed with only enough engine and transmission power to power mower blades, and carry the weight of a rider, anything beyond that could over-tax the machine and kill it. Traditionally, there were (and still are) two categories:

1. Garden Tractor: the more powerful option. Can be used as a riding mower, but is also designed to handle a front plow/blade, snowblower attachment, pull a rear garden plow, pull a roto-tiller, pull a dump cart, etc.

2. Lawn Tractor: at first glance, it looks about the same..but its only designed to be a riding mower, and nothing else. trying to use it for anything beyond mowing will likely quickly kill the transmission.

not sure where a zero-turn mower would fall in that catagory, but I would guess the majority of zero-turn mowers are not designed to be used in snow..I wouldnt try it.

Scot


----------



## Naturallight (Oct 19, 2016)

Thanks Scot! That makes sense to me. Had not thought about the power issue.


----------



## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

I have no experience with that, but I have seen a few manufacturers that sell aftermarket snowblower attachments and or blades for various brands RIDE ON zero turn mowers. There are some videos of them in use if you google or go to youtube.

My guess is depending on the engine and transmission (or hydro motors and pumps) they may be able to handle it.

One of my (probably never get to) projects is a ride on tracked snowblower (using a Zero Turn Mower as a base).

Toro has the GroundMaster 7200 series that turns into a Plow or Snowblower









https://www.toro.com/en/sports-fields-municipalities/rotary-mowers/groundsmaster-7200

Walker has a mower that can handle a snowblower from the factory, and I think that I've read good reviews on it.










The Walker H12 Two-Stage Snowblower

Again, this may be units that have Heavy (or Very Heavy) Duty transmissions.. :blush::blush:


----------



## PEWOHIO (Aug 17, 2017)

I'd err on the side of caution here too. Your mower is not made from plowing / towing in most cases! Don't risk it. Shop for a snowblower instead or keep using your ATV.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

I have about 400 ft of gravel too. Big thing for me is to let it snow once or twice and drive on it to pack it down a bit and let it freeze so the blowers skids have something to ride on and less chance to dig in and or suck in some of that gravel and grind it through the machine and then toss it at speed out the chute !! I also set the skids so there is a good 1/2" to 3/4" gap between the floor and the scraper when I'm setting it up. On the 32" machines I tend to go closer to the 3/4" gap because of the length and hitting the ridge in the center of the driveway. On the smaller blower like the 24" I can get away with the 1/2" gap.


----------



## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

:welcome: to SBF PEWOHIO


----------



## Spectrum (Jan 6, 2013)

Just the stress put on the front end of the mower when the blower is lifted is enough for me to just say no. It's tough enough on purpose specific garden tractors.

Pete


----------



## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

As I stated before IMO if it is fitted to a garden tractor or to a ZTR mower with a heavy duty transmission or heavy duty hydro motors and pumps it will likely be able to handle it just fine.....


----------

