OT— Snowblower for stone trail.

641Dave · Nov 17, 2014

Here's one out of the blue. I have a friend about to move to Colorado and he just asked me what kind of snow blower he should get. First off, the only reason he's asking a Texas about a snowblower is because he's a Texan too.

Anyway, he's confused about the kinds of snowblowers and now so am I. He has some sidewalk but the rest of the areas he'll need to clear are from the house, to the shop and that is a stone trail.

He won't have to clear much area wise, but the place near Gunnison, Co and gets ALLOT of snow.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

RESLLS · Nov 17, 2014

I welded part of a trailer spring to the runners on
my wife's brothers. Made a set of skis for it. 1/4
mile long gravel drive. 2 stage Ariens. Said it
works great. Keeps it from digging in. Moving to
Colorado would get a 2 stage with 8 or 9 horse.

mkirsch · Nov 17, 2014

What do you/he mean by "all the kinds of snowblowers?" There are really only two "kinds" of snowblowers, single stage and two stage.

If you're talking about Colorado, you definitely want a two stage.

After that the question is what size? That depends on how much space he wants to keep clear, how much snow he gets, and whether he wants to walk or ride.

At the bare minimum, I would recommend at least a 30" machine. It will have the power to blow snow over banks several feet high if you get a lot of snow.

Blowing snow out of stone/gravel driveways can be done, but you can't clear them down to bare stone as you could with an asphalt driveway. You have to let an ice pack build up on the stones by setting the runners on the snowblower up high enough to clear the stones for the first couple of passes. Then you can set them back down and scrape the ice pack smooth. Just don't point the chute at anything important.

SW3 · Nov 17, 2014

I maintain a 1/2 mile gravel driveway and nicer
loose rock up to the house and buildings. The first
few snowfalls you just have to leave the snow blower
in the shed. Pack the first few snowfalls down with
your vehicles. Pack down the whole thing. Now you
have a base and your snow blower will ride on top.
It is no fun picking rocks out of the lawn in the
spring.

Fudd · Nov 17, 2014

Tell him to forget the snowblower as the rocks will
beat it to death. I use an old 76 Scout with a
blade and all 4 wheels chained up. Except in the
spring the snow is always powder and plows easily.
I do have a JD 50 with a loader for a backup for the
6 foot snowfalls.

showcrop · Nov 18, 2014

Put down a couple inches of 3/4 crusher run on top of the stones and pack it. The crusher run will pack as hard as concrete, and the fines will wash off the top so that tracking of sand into the house after a little while will be negligible. There is no need to let a dangerous base of ice build up. Your snow blowers have shoes that they slide on. 1/4 inch off the gravel is plenty of clearance, and the sun and dry winter air will evaporate that in a couple days.

641Dave · Nov 18, 2014

Thanks for your help fellas.

OT— Snowblower for stone trail.

641Dave

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RESLLS

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mkirsch

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SW3

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Fudd

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showcrop

Well-known Member

641Dave

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