Does any one use their back hoe to plow snow from streets. If so, what kind of blade or attachment do you use?
I think most just use the standard bucket. A wider snow bucket would be nice. Have also seen angle blades mounted. Make sure you have a bolt on edge or you'll ruin your bucket.
I've heard an angle blade on a backhoe is not a great combination. A little different on a truck where you're going faster, or a loader where the weight is balanced better. For snow with a backhoe, hills make a big difference.
I have a 770’ driveway and have to usually plow the street in front of it as it’s a town road on the border of another town. I realize there are people on here that don’t like plowing with a backhoe but I like the way mine is set up and have know issues with angling or hills,
I plowed the "neighborhood" a couple times last winter. This was basically just cleaning up my street which is about a mile and a half stretch and I found, with just the normal loader bucket, it was a less than fun experience. It worked and kept my low to the ground car out of trouble and the neighbors appreciated it but it took probably 5 or more trips to do the lane and a half wide road. The spill over off the sides once the bucket fills up is probably the biggest problem, though you can push a lot of snow with a full bucket. I thought of, but haven't tried, some kind of reinforced sheet of plywood that could hang from my forklift bar, to close the bucket up, and hopefully mitigate some of the spill over, or at least make some cleaner passes. I don't know if it'll work. I'm cheap.
One time I was plowing snow, in the plan we were working in, with the backhoe. I caught a valve box that was sticking up about 3/4 of an inch above the asphalt. Nearly put me through the windshield.
Yes this^ It helps to know your neighborhood *really* well. Looks like that plow on the backhoe above has the trip feature.
This happened at the gas utility part of the utility I work for (not plowing snow, driving to jobsite)...The driver DID go through the winshield, and was injured. The frame on the machine was tweeked.
Yep, I thought of trying to put in a strut so I could have more down pressure but decided against it as I would just tear something up lol.
yup nope. Valve box, Frame and grate, they will all ruin your day. That trip feature is priceless!!
Snow removal insurance is higher because things can be hidden under snow. Hitting an obstacle in a skid steer going slow can still propel you into the windshield at the speed of light. I'd always go real slow on new jobs to find out if there's hidden obstacles. Have seen a few operators just go full speed ahead with the front wheels a foot off the ground and the bucket tilted almost full dump. Then they wonder why there cylinders are bent.
I run a 10’ dymax blade on my 420. Typically just push banks back with it. My pickup is faster for small storms.
We used to clamp a piece of earthmover tyre in the 4 in 1 bucket for light snowfalls. this one on the tractor was very good, shown here clearing mud from a road during a forestry operation to clamp a piece of earthmover tyre in the 4 in 1 bucket
Never seen tires used like that before but blades with a rubber edge are used for cleaning corrals in dairy barns and finished surfaces.
I think this is a German idea, it is very good for moving even light snow, no castor wheels to wear out. We used it in a local steelworks on a snow clearing contract we had, it would clear all the snow from the road so the road salt we were spreading behind the tractor, was working directly onto the road surface
Very slick!
The only place I see backhoes used around here is in parking lots with a pusher bucket. Never seen them used for clearing streets. I've got over 40 years in commercial snow removal. That being said my buddy welded some ears to the floor of his backhoe bucket to mount a 10 foot Western plow and then attached the lift chain to the top of the bucket. That absorbed the impact from irregularities. As mentioned, the combination of the blade being so far out in front and lack of weight on the front it tends to get pushed around a lot.
I got this plow off marketplacea couple years ago, old dumptruck plow that previous owner welded up "brackets" to chain on to bucket. Makes quick plowing of a foot of snow on my quarter mile driveway.