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This spring, I gotta think about next winter:

I can get my hands on a 55 gal plastic barrel (weight thought here), and am thinking about cutting it in half. I can fabricate a lightweight frame for it, too.

My question is: Will a variable speed tractor (one with the sliding center pulley) work to plow snow? It has a hi-lo range.......

11 hp briggs.....will find the right belts soon.......

It is not necessarily the type of drive or your HP...
Gearing will help.

Your biggest obstacle could well be ground clearance... The larger the tires the better the foot print and the more weight you can load on to help with traction...

Depending on the weight & depth of the snow, you may get buy with what ever you have to put to work...

For 55 gallon plastic, check at your local pop bottling plants, they generally have hundreds that rotate in & out... Someone there should be able to fix you up, or point you to their salvager... :smile:KennyV

twall said:

This spring, I gotta think about next winter:

I can get my hands on a 55 gal plastic barrel (weight thought here), and am thinking about cutting it in half. I can fabricate a lightweight frame for it, too.

My question is: Will a variable speed tractor (one with the sliding center pulley) work to plow snow? It has a hi-lo range.......

11 hp briggs.....will find the right belts soon.......

Click to expand...

Power will not be as much an issue as traction will be...I think you will need to replace the rear tires with a type that have a bar tread or install chains. My old 318 had a front plow, I had liquid weight in the rear tires, chains, wheel weights, 100 pounds of barbell weights hanging off the back, but when the blade was pushing enough heavy wet snow it would stop the tractor dead as a rear tire (no diff lock) spun...very frustrating.

Thanks

Kenny - I can already get one from work (55gal.drum). The coolant we use comes in them.

JD - I was wondering about that. Don't think I can get bar cleats in this size, but I was wondering about fourwheeler tires that have the bar cleats on them, and loading them. Not sure how well it'd work. I know the variable speed is variable in both high and low range.

Would it be better to go slow, or use high range, and use momentum?

twall said:

Thanks

Kenny - I can already get one from work (55gal.drum). The coolant we use comes in them.

JD - I was wondering about that. Don't think I can get bar cleats in this size, but I was wondering about fourwheeler tires that have the bar cleats on them, and loading them. Not sure how well it'd work. I know the variable speed is variable in both high and low range.

Would it be better to go slow, or use high range, and use momentum?

Click to expand...

If you think your plow frame setup can handle the impact, go with high range and momentum. A lot of times that is the only way I can break thru packed or drifted stuff here. My older JD did reasonably well in wet snow when I did that, but it was very heavy...with all the weight of tractor and ballast, with me aboard, it weighed almost 1500 pounds. With an angle blade, getting a head start and bashing into a big pile gets the white stuff moving off the blade quicker. A number of places sell tiller tires in the size 13X5.00, they are bar tread type. Will attach a pic of the ones I put on my big blower.

Will be going on this tractor (my kid's a bit little to do the plowin yet, tho....:wink

twall said:

Will be going on this tractor (my kid's a bit little to do the plowin yet, tho....:wink

Click to expand...

OOOPS...thought you were going to use your rear engine rider to push snow...lol. Just load the tires on that machine in the pic and use chains. Just posted some pics on the snow removal forum about a really unique old Craftsman setup I have still, bet you have never seen one like it.

Oh, CUTE KID. Wish I were that good looking...:laughing:

twall said:

This spring, I gotta think about next winter:

I can get my hands on a 55 gal plastic barrel (weight thought here), and am thinking about cutting it in half. I can fabricate a lightweight frame for it, too.

My question is: Will a variable speed tractor (one with the sliding center pulley) work to plow snow? It has a hi-lo range.......

11 hp briggs.....will find the right belts soon.......

Click to expand...

A local (loco) landscaper modified his zero turn with bagger to remove snow.

Now depending on the amount or type of snow you get this may or may not work.

John

"Never argue with a fool. Someone watching may not be able to tell the difference."* Anonymous :laughing:

For several years I used a 14HP MTD with a plow to clear about 260' of asphalt drive. I would agree with some of the earlier comments: HP won't be the issue, but traction will be. I had a set of chains given to me (wrong size, but some repair links and additional small piece of chain fixed that). It worked very well, until we had a snow that was topped by a freezing rain...my neighbor had to clear that with his skidsteer.

I dont think that a plastic barrel will hold up very well......I would look for a used blade on Craigslist ...might even find a whole tractor, with chains and weights.......never know...I paid $50 for this one.

poncho62 said:

I dont think that a plastic barrel will hold up very well......I would look for a used blade on Craigslist ...might even find a whole tractor, with chains and weights.......never know...I paid $50 for this one.

Click to expand...

I always keep my eyes open......as far as CL, I've never found anything I can pick up locally. No sence driving hundreds of miles......and I also don't own a truck. :wink:

As far as the barrel goes, I am just going to use it as the curved piece. I'm gonna make a leading edge and supports out of steel. But, using the plastic as the back of the plow will save on weight.

I wish I had snow to plow.

rer said:

I wish I had snow to plow.

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No, :laughing: no you DON'T. Believe me.......:laughing: