S250 Bobcat so around 4 tons. I guess probably closer to 5 with tire tracks and attachment and me. Trying to figure if a 10ft snow pusher would be too much. Have a 7ft bucket, so 8ft doesn't seem like much more work being done. I realize the pusher will hold more though.
My Deere 332G with studs on the back tires can start to slow down if using a 8 foot bucket and heavy snow that tends to push in front of bucket. If surface is anything uneven in my experience the narrower bucket or pusher will do a better job. It all depends on the style of lot and distance to push. No real correct answer for every situaton. I like the 7-8 foot wide but could only justify 1 for the job. It all depends. Simon C
Why not a 12-footer? Go BIG or go home!
This is my experience as well. I have a huge 10' FFC snow pusher box that I used to push snow commercially with. I used a CASE 465 with chains on all 4. That big box was a great way to wear out a set of chains pushing heavy snow. Even as heavy as that SSL was, the box at times was just too much when you had heavy snow and filled that big box up. If you could hook up with solid ground it worked, but if it was icy at all, even with chains it became hard to push. Sometimes that box worked great, other times not so much.
I have the 8 foot pusher for my 287b Cat skidsteer and it will move a lot of snow. Maneuverability with the 10 foot might be an issue because the machine has no trouble in a straight line but turning gets tough with it fully loaded. With a pusher you can’t just pick it up to turn as you’d lose your load.
I think it would be better to use an 8' so it will work in more conditions like heavy wet snow. It would suck if had a job where the 10' couldn't push more than a few feet.
What kind of snow do you have, and how much at a clip typically? I have a 9' Kage on a Cat 262 with 255*22.5 snow tires. I would say that about maxes things out for that machine, but if things get too heavy I can drop the box and just use the blade. If you have big lots and you don't get heavy wet snow much a bigger box could work well, especially if you are always on it. If you find yourself trying to push 8" of heavy spring snow though you will be putting the bucket back on. Get a pusher that articulates whatever size you go with . . .
Fairly rare, but I have a 7ft bucket and 6ft blower
Then why are you asking. Going 3' wider and pushing at least 3 times more than the bucket might prove difficult over longer distances. I think an 8' foot is still going to push at least double of a 7' foot snow bucket. If there are packed/icy trouble spots, a narrower blade will handle it easier.
Kind of the whole point of a forum eh? Would go tits up pretty quick if no one posted questions or shared thoughts.
I think you were looking for people to agree with you on a 10' and discounted the replies suggesting an 8' might be a better choice for varying conditions.
Perhaps Icehole discounted the replies from posters with no actual experience in the matter . . .
If you read the replies, the general consensus is a 10' may be too wide.
It may be, but if he is up there in deep cold country where all you really ever get is powder, 10' could be great. Consensus is a fickle and unreliable advisor . . .
It's often based on experience too.
Everybody on the Internet is experienced . . .
In what is the question.
We ran a 12' shop made pusher on an L50 Volvo loader and if the snow was wet or heavy we could not make it full blade width from one end to the other of our lot. Traction seems to be the mitigating factor in most cases when snow is involved. The being said if we were to use the dozer trick of pushing everything to a central "funnel" then all was good. Just could not get greedy. It was great if it was a light fluffy 2" snowfall, speed up clearing by at lease a full hour. In short if the snow is light get greedy, if it is wet n heavy take small bites because unless you are running a 988K you WILL bog down in heavy snow. you have to balance speed and efficiency against additional load on your machine. Life is always a trade off.
Picked up the 8ft. Got ar400 skids and the thicker rubber. Shipped was about $2500. Left for work the day after I picked it up at the port so haven't used it. One thing I hadn't thought about was how close the cutting edge is to the tires. Means stacking won't work like a pusher on a loader I think.
Pics? Brand? I guess I missed where you disclosed what you were ordering. I find old snow pushers come across Marketplace regularly and have considered getting one for the farm. Everyone says "the loaders have buckets, they're fine", but then everyone complains about how long plowing snow takes. We also have 10 rental houses and a second farm down the road to plow where we raise our heifers. On a light snow, plowing doesn't matter, but then we can also get lake effect storms that drop 6-12" overnight and then you spend the entire next day plowing snow because we only have regular buckets on the equipment.
Express Steel. No pics, I'm at work 600 miles away till around Christmas. Have a video with me showing, but it's like 15 mins with also other stuff and was for my Dad. The ones I'd found used were price more than new or too small or beat up andnot cheap for needing g fixed.
Lesser 48 was free shipping so would be like $2100 for you guys. Looks decently built. Didn't expect Arctic Sectional or Metalpless quality (they're like 12-15k). Paint is meh, several areas it's barely not rusting. I got it black so easy to rattle can. I have a bucket from them, it's got way better paint. It's like a texture finish and still looks great after ~3 years.
My 8 footer came today. I have a narrow and undulating ( water bar just ahead of the truck) partly stone driveway. This brand; CL Fabrication in Iowa has the most articulation in all directions while maintaining a reasonable weight ( 1000 for an 8' >> one other was 1600 which seemed over the top) $2800 plus $1400 shipping. You can see my previous sucsessful plow behind the trailer. It has a serious radiator leak and I haven't gotten around to taking the cab off to get it out.... I got chains for the tracks. Only have one installed on each track so far.
I'm going into the 3rd winter after buying the Case to plow my driveway.....and I haven't used it yet.
Well worth the money then!
You guys out East are getting snow, out here it will most likely be brown for Christmas and I didn't even have to buy a snow pusher to make it happen. It has been a long time that we have been able to work this late into the year. We do need some moisture, so hopefully in comes later in the snow year. Good call on the 8' pusher. If I were to do it again, I would get an 8 instead of a 10.
We're headed to the Pinedale area today to start a project, so --- it will probably get colder than heck right away. We need the snow but this has been nice!
Man, that's a town I haven't been to in years. I made a lot of money chasing drilling rigs around the Pinedale area, picking up and laying down tools early on in my Drilling career.
I was not aware that chains for your tracks were available, so I looked it up. Looks like a pretty great concept. You will have to let us know how the chains are working for you. Perhaps a few photos too on how yours are mounted. Chains for Tracks- Snow Chains for Skid Steers & Tracked Vehicles Looking to enhance traction for your tracked vehicle? Our patented chain design is made specifically for icy and muddy conditions so you can get the job done! chainsfortracks.com
Somehow those track chains just seem like a bad idea; like a good way to tear the track when they grab something under the snow. I have never used them, so just speculating . . .
Well... we had about 16" of snow on the ground. Now it's slush with the 2" of rain and by the day after tomorrow it will be a skating rink so the chains should get a good test ! I have the same JCB as in those pics and videos. I set them in the dents of the track tread. They could be more aggressive by offsetting them slightly. I'm more worried abot them wearing on frozen dirt and pavement. Acoals : what the heck is under the snow in your yard ??? !!!
Those chains seem rather expensive for what they are. Looks like they wouldn't be hard to make yourself if you had a torch and a vice to bend the end pieces.
That area is always cold!
That's about what I paid for mine from ES something ir another with shipping to AK Doesn't float, but neither does my bucket and that worked fine, just slow going.
Oh, lots of wonderful things . . .
It was surprisingly nice yesterday afternoon with about 30 degrees and less than 20 mph wind! The Wind River range: And just for Colson!
Dunno, it's har dly bigger than my bucket. And close to the tires, so not much snow piling. Will see I guess. Snow is about all melted, been crazy warm the last couple weeks. Rain and temps in the 30s and 40s. Broken a record high yesterday even.