# Strategy for fighting into a snow bank?



## bwright1818 (Dec 2, 2014)

What do you guys do about hard pack snow banks, such as those left by the plow at the end of your driveway? I have a lot of problems with this. I have had a 5/24 and two 10/32s which were absolutely brutal, trying to drive them into a bank. I had to push and lift and shove side-to-side so much, that it would almost have been easier to shovel. The whole idea of thrashing around at weird angles with a flailing, on-the-governor, splash-lubricated, 4-stroke engine doesn't sit well with me, either.

On the other hand, although I didn't run it last year in the big storms, I seem to remember that my old, 60's, 10ML60D, with the open-bucket front end, just gnawed right into these piles like it was nothing. Is the whole problem with this that the newer machines, with their safer, but fully enclosed bucket sides, have to be pushed into the bank before the rakes will grab hold of anything?

I will be sixty next year and my back isn't what it once was; that's for sure. Do I need to lose my "newer," 70s machines and go for the old, open bucket ones?

Thanks,
Bill


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## 69ariens (Jan 29, 2011)

The best thing to do is let the blower do it's job, drive blower into it a little at a time , if the tires are spinning ,stop. When the snow slows down from the chute move the blower a head till you get wheel spin again. Last winter I watched my friend run his new ariens into the plow windrow and he would let the tires spin the whole time and try to force the blower threw the bank. After i showed him how to it the right way. He told after all the years blowing his drive and killing him self , its no work to do it now. Simple let the blower do the job, don't force it.


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## micah68kj (Oct 8, 2011)

Something I used to do when we had EOD problems was to either attack it from the side, cutting a small slice each time, moving slowly forward, parallel with street. Other method was to use a good, stout shovel such as a quarry shovel and break some of it up, blow it away and repeat the process. The very best plan of attack though, is to get to it as soon as you can before it freezes into a solid mass. As Scott pointed out..... Let your machine do its job.


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## SnowG (Dec 5, 2014)

I think Joe has the right approach. If you are open to getting a new machine then I would suggest you consider track drive. They have much less tendency to climb and much better traction, and they will do much more work for you. 
If the bank is frozen, the only solution is to chop it up with a grub axe and/or stout shovel then blow the chunks away.


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## dbcooper (Oct 2, 2014)

Let the blower do its job slowly...but.....I find the two following approaches helpful.


Get at the EOD soon after the plow runs by, the pile is more likely to be a tad softer, in other words try to get at it before it become one big frozen pile.

When we get lager snowfalls I have also taken the snow blower to the road before the plow truck and cleared about 2 car lengths in the the direction the plow comes from. That make for a little EOD mess. I do this mostly because I don't want to go out again! If you live on a busy road this wont work of coarse!


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## sscotsman (Dec 8, 2010)

I generally do the EOD in half-bucket cuts, if its more than a foot tall (which it almost always is..) that's how my old Ariens likes to tackle it.

Scot


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## BullFrog (Oct 14, 2015)

If need be I usually break up hard snow banks with a shovel first.


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## GtWtNorth (Feb 5, 2014)

+1 for Joe's approach. Charging & swinging will just wear you & your machine out prematurely.


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I have always heard the open bucket designs dig into hard packed stuff better. It does make sense since, as you say, the new safer ones need the sides shoved in before the augers grab anything.


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## Kielbasa (Dec 21, 2013)

At times, these kind of jobs are for the old fashioned ice chopper and snow lifter shovel and you have to bust your backside. Unfortunately, every so often they come up on us.


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## JnC (Feb 21, 2014)

All good ideas, half bucket seem to work best if you have a conventional snow blower. 

If you are open to the idea of buying a new machine then look at something with hydrostatic transmission. 

I didnt realize what a godsend HSTs are till I had one, especially when dealing with hard packed and EOD snow.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Tracks and good serrated augers like Honda and Yamaha have are the best way to attack a snowbank in my experience, if the augers are not serrated they will not bite into the snow and the blower just wants to climb or wheels would just slip (wheel models).

:blowerhug:


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## Kiss4aFrog (Nov 3, 2013)

The best thing is get to it as soon as you can so it doens't get a chance to freeze. There are a lot of us that will do part of the street as a defense from getting a pile at the EOD


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## dbert (Aug 25, 2013)

hsblowersfan said:


> Tracks and good serrated augers like Honda and Yamaha have are the best way to attack a snowbank in my experience, if the augers are not serrated they will not bite into the snow and the blower just wants to climb or wheels would just slip (wheel models).
> :blowerhug:


Ah. Thanks hsbfan. I just had a light come on and feel silly. I simply hadn't considered the augers beating down on hard snow was causing the machine to climb. Duh. Awhile back (in the delorean thread) I located a video of a snow blower almost exactly like mine, but had somehow (we didn't figure that part out) had some serious modification done at the gearbox so that the augers rotated upward on the front side tossing snow up and over the augers to feed the impeller. At least now I have some reason why someone may have went to all that work to change the direction of auger rotation.


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## ewhenn (Sep 21, 2015)

See, what you need is a Chevy big block V8 blower that moves snow 100" feet away.


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## BullFrog (Oct 14, 2015)

It's probably a real bear to try and get that thing up into the service position though.


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## bwright1818 (Dec 2, 2014)

Well, I am a very patient person; so I would be glad to let the machine do its job....It's just that you could stand there all day long, trying to let it feather into the bank by itself, and it would go nowhere. The trouble seems to be that the bucket sides, scraper blade, skids, etc, all come up against something before the rakes do. If you don't shove the machine around, absolutely nothing will happen.

I will keep in mind the golden rule to get it before it freezes. I am also going to put my old, take-no-prisoners, 6/24 up against my 1024 SHO and see who wins, in a EOD situation. I bet it will be the machine with the half-bucket sides!


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## Shryp (Jan 1, 2011)

I wonder if you can cut the sides back on the newer machines without compromising the bucket strength too much.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

Notice this on the canadian models....... wonder why they don't have full bucket sides...... :smiley-confused009::smiley-confused009::smiley-confused009: I think a few of us know the answer.....


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## PixMan (Feb 14, 2015)

EOD piles are a problem?

Eh...I hadn't noticed.


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## bwright1818 (Dec 2, 2014)

Shryp said:


> I wonder if you can cut the sides back on the newer machines without compromising the bucket strength too much.


If it turns out that indeed, the old 6/24 does better into pile than my other models, I have a 10/32 that will turn into a sacrificial lamb, to find out just what you're saying. It is ugly and needs a bunch of welding, anyway. Okay, now I know I am getting a bit crazy because I can't WAIT for a huge storm, to experiment....


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## canadagoose (Dec 5, 2014)

:biggrin: I have tracks and 3 stages this year . I think I'll be just fine


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## skutflut (Oct 16, 2015)

hsblowersfan said:


> Notice this on the canadian models....... wonder why they don't have full bucket sides...... :smiley-confused009::smiley-confused009::smiley-confused009: I think a few of us know the answer.....



That Honda is one gnarly looking machine. If I were a snowbank, I would run for cover.


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