Blade for snow removal

wforpm

Member
Has anyone used a rear blade for snow removal ? If so what size ( 5' , 6' or 7' )is best and are tire chains needed ?
Also , what brand ? Are TSC blades any good ?
 
Lots of folks here use a rear blade. It does work, but you'll also have a sore neck/back by the time you're done if your driveway is large.

Any good solid blade will work. As for width, make sure that even when it's angled, it still sticks beyond both of your rear tires. I've got an 8 ft with offset capability on my TO-35 and it works great. It's also seriously heavy, so it holds itself down quite nicely. Really should build a set of shoes for it though, as I can quickly go from plowing snow to plowing driveway if I don't keep an eye on it.

I don't have chains, but I do have loaded rears and rear wheel weights. At times chains might be handy. But not having them does encourage me to think about what I'm doing to make sure I don't get stuck.
 
That is a 7' blade it puts it out beyond the rear wheels and the 8n handles it fine.It works well straight as shown or on an angle. I havn't tried turning it backwards yet but I can push with it the way it is.
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I use a rear blade, I just flip the blade around so that I drive backwards if the snow is deep. If the snow is not deep (4" or so) then I just drive forward and have it roll off the blade. Driving forward does not give a neck ache.
TSC rear blades? Get a heavy duty blade. Do not go cheap.
 
I have a TO30 and I do snow removal with a 6 foot blade on the rear. I also turn mine around backwards, but for a different reason: my driveway is all gravel and if I have it the normal way, it removes way too much gravel. That makes for quite the clean up come spring. It's a pretty big driveway and is on a slope which complicates things.

Don't have chains, but think they are in my future. I can remove 6 inches easily, but someday I'll need those chains.
 
I got a $250 7' back blade at TSC and ran it for one season behind
the 35, before I got the loader. It would bend if you hit any kind of
frozen bump in the ground, both the blade itself and the pivot bent.
In the spring I sold it for $50 to someone who thought he could
straighten it out and use it. If you were on pavement and solemnly
swore that you would never go off it I think that blade might have
been okay, but I was not impressed. There are some older heavy
blades out there that I would recommend much more highly.
Zach
 
I've got a really heavy duty Ford blade that I bought a couple years ago. Paid $200 for it, in kinda rough shape but with a nice, newer heavy duty cutting edge. I think it's a 7', it is just a little bit wider than my rear tires when straight but when angled it's a bit narrower. That doesn't seem to have too much of a negative impact on my snow removal. It's behind a TO35 with loaded rear tires, no chains. I used it for the first time yesterday. We had our first snowfall, a very heavy, wet one. I put two coats of rust paint on about a month or two ago and the snow just slid right off of it when angled. I was pretty excited, it did a nice job and was much easier and tidier than using the front end loader on the 202.
I have no worries about it's sturdiness as I have used it in some pretty rough, stump laden terrain and it will rip smaller stumps up in a few passes. I'd look for a good heavy older one that maybe needs a bit of work and some paint. Mine's not pretty but it works well.
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I didn't get too much of a chance to use it, just a few quick passes up and down the driveway. It did seem to have the desired effect of leveling without causing high and low spots. Hopefully next summer we'll be getting a lot of fill in for one of my wife's horse riding areas so it will be put to good use then. Don't think I'll be needing it for snow plowing.
 
It's a generic rust paint called Armor Coat which I bought at Canadian Tire. Put it on with a brush after a quick cleaning with a wire brush and a wipedown with....hmmm, what the heck did I use, I'll have to think about that. Two coats with 12 hours between coats and let it dry for a few weeks before doing anything with it. We'll see how it holds up. It took probably a week, maybe more before it was fingernail dent proof. The wet, sticky snow just seemed to glide right off it which was my main reason for painting it.
Here's what it looked like before.

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I use an old dearborn 6' blade. The older blades are heavy and don't bend up like the new junk they are now selling. I don't need chains.

Kirk
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I have about $150 in this setup. I fitted an existing plow from an old tractair tractor and made it fir on my 30. It installs with no wrenches and has one pin which enables the load to be tranfered to the drawbar attachment point.
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Well my rear attachment pic does not want to load up. This shows where the front cylinder mount slides off to allow for under hood/gas access.
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I'd echo what many others have said - Buy the biggest, heaviest blade the tractor will pick up. More weight over the rear wheels is a good thing.

Chains make a heck of a difference. I remember one time I saw the neighbor's pickup truck stuck in the ditch at the bottom of the hill near our house. He wasn't around the truck, and no one answered the phone at their house.

I had chains and a blade on my 35. I put my Wife in the pickup truck and pulled it up the hill to his house. About the time we got there he showed up in a 200 HP MFWD tractor. He figured he'd need one that big to pull the truck up the hill.

You shoulda seen the look on his face...
 
The only blade I have ever used is a 5 foot Howse, or what ever they are called! Not too pleased, seems really weak, like just the right thing would bend it... Another thing is that all of the nuts and bolts on it loosen up and the frame flexes really bad! I wouldn't buy a new one, I would like to find a Dearborn or something close to it! Bryce
 
Kirk, that thing must be unstoppable!! :eek:
I saw one last winter with tracks like that not too far from here. I keep meaning to stop in and ask about it but I haven't had the time and can't remember exactly which house it was at. Hope I see it out working again soon.
 
Haven't got stuck yet. I have a V-plow for the front of it just haven't got around to putting it on.
 

I use a rear grader blade. But, chains are a must! Even on flat ground. I can not move snow without chains!

Jor
 

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