# Pusher vs. Plow vs. Bucket for Skid Steer



## HeartlandOKC

This will be our 2nd year for seriously doing ice and snow. We've shoveled drives here and there in the past for people who really needed it but now we're stepping it up. 

My question is how much more productive can you be with a box pusher or plow on a skid steer as opposed to a bucket? In Oklahoma we maybe get 1 or 2 big snow storms a year and the rest is ice. 

We have two skid steers and I'm trying to see if I can justify buying a pusher or plow for one. We will run two F250 plow trucks and pull the skid steers behind them. At this point, I'm leaning towards just using the buckets. If we had many years like last year(somewhere around 30" of snow) I would definitely go for it but I'm unsure at this point. Opinions?


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## Brian Young

HeartlandOKC;1072056 said:


> This will be our 2nd year for seriously doing ice and snow. We've shoveled drives here and there in the past for people who really needed it but now we're stepping it up.
> 
> My question is how much more productive can you be with a box pusher or plow on a skid steer as opposed to a bucket? In Oklahoma we maybe get 1 or 2 big snow storms a year and the rest is ice.
> 
> We have two skid steers and I'm trying to see if I can justify buying a pusher or plow for one. We will run two F250 plow trucks and pull the skid steers behind them. At this point, I'm leaning towards just using the buckets. If we had many years like last year(somewhere around 30" of snow) I would definitely go for it but I'm unsure at this point. Opinions?


 What kind of work are you doing? all residential or a mix of things?


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## cold_and_tired

I like my pusher for doing the long commercial lots but they are about worthless for shorter driveways. I'm building a plow this year that should make back dragging the driveways a lot faster than the regular dirt bucket.

I worked with In2Toys and his skid last year. One machine had the plow and the other had the pusher. It was an awesome sight to see!


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## HeartlandOKC

Brian Young;1072085 said:


> What kind of work are you doing? all residential or a mix of things?


Sorry... should have included that. We don't do much residential. Mainly box stores and smaller commercial buildings.


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## Brian Young

HeartlandOKC;1072130 said:


> Sorry... should have included that. We don't do much residential. Mainly box stores and smaller commercial buildings.


Trailering the skids would be a very inefficient way to get around. But I think a push box would be the most efficient way to move snow in those types of lots. If you cant swing the cost right now look at a 8,9 or 10ft plow. Ive seen a bunch on ebay for 1/3 of the price of a push box.


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## HeartlandOKC

Brian Young;1072141 said:


> Trailering the skids would be a very inefficient way to get around. But I think a push box would be the most efficient way to move snow in those types of lots. If you cant swing the cost right now look at a 8,9 or 10ft plow. Ive seen a bunch on ebay for 1/3 of the price of a push box.


Thanks. I'll check them out...

...and how do you get your skids around if you don't trailer them?


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## EvenCutLawnCare

HeartlandOKC;1072144 said:


> Thanks. I'll check them out...
> 
> ...and how do you get your skids around if you don't trailer them?


Find a couple used plows and build mounting brackets for the skids. We drive them from lot to lot. Around here most our commercial stuff is in two condensed areas, if they are outlying contracts we do them with trucks or backhoes.


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## cold_and_tired

My contracts are all within a reasonable (less than 2 miles) distance from each other. Therefore, I dont do any trailering. Keep in mind that you have to weigh the time chaining down the machine (4-5 minutes) versus time that you will save by having the right machine for the job. I started five years ago with a single plow truck and have since been able to cut my plow times almost in half by using skid steers and the appropriate attachment.

If you have a 2-speed machine, I would say go with a box. You can use high gear until you start filling up with snow. I push my box with a single speed because we are using plows to windrow in front of it. Pushing anything less than a 4-5" snowfall with a box and a single speed skid is too inefficient for me.

If you only have a single speed, I would say to go with the widest plow you can get and then add wings. If it starts getting heavy, you can angle to drop some snow.

I found a cheap 8.5' plow that I am converting for use with the skid. Total cost will be under $500. It was too cheap to not do it.

The only time I use a bucket is for stacking snow. Even then, I wish I had a 102" snow bucket to do it with.


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## EvenCutLawnCare

cold_and_tired;1072171 said:



> I found a cheap 8.5' plow that I am converting for use with the skid. Total cost will be under $500. It was too cheap to not do it.
> 
> The only time I use a bucket is for stacking snow. Even then, I wish I had a 102" snow bucket to do it with.


I did the same thing and had about 225 in mine, but I got a killer deal on the plow. All you need is the mounting plate and hydraulic hoses. The first one I did, I used my fork mast and mounted the plow to it. It worked really well except i didnt devise a way to be able to put any down pressure.


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## jomama45

Unless you have great dental insurance and don't care about max. efficiency, skip the bucket. Bucket's are risky when it comes to damaging property, your equipment, and personel. In probably 2-3 good storms, or maybe even one, you could probably pay off a decent used pusher or plow.

For me, considering I work my route solo, and intend to do everything to keep it that way, I personally prefer a plow with wings to the pusher I've used a few times. Simply put, the plow scrapes the bad sections of asphalt that I plow, as well as backdrags faster. If things were differnet on the accounts that I plow, I may very well prefer a pusher, especially if the skid was supported by other equipment.

One other bonus to a pusher is that they're extremely simple, with very little to go wrong & break, compared to a plow that has alot more moving parts.


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## Brian Young

HeartlandOKC;1072144 said:


> Thanks. I'll check them out...
> 
> ...and how do you get your skids around if you don't trailer them?


Well I meant trailering them from site to site to plow each storm. I thought you were saying you were going to trailer them every storm from site to site. BTW I just drive mine around town like every body else, even to the store for milk.....J/K. BTW just went through ebay "snow pusher" section and found several under 1500 bucks


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## msu1510

we have a 10' pusher on our 72hp bobcat skid steer. the pusher has a back drag attachment on it which makes it great for pulling out parking spots. It has saved us a lot of time per lot since we switched from a standard angle blade. good luck


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## ford6.9

msu1510;1073751 said:


> we have a 10' pusher on our 72hp bobcat skid steer. the pusher has a back drag attachment on it which makes it great for pulling out parking spots. It has saved us a lot of time per lot since we switched from a standard angle blade. good luck


what bobcat is that on? S250? 873?


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## msu1510

its the 873 turbo.


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## snowtech

put a push box on the skid steer. you will be 3-5 times faster than just a bucket


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## RLS

snowtech;1074038 said:


> put a push box on the skid steer. you will be 3-5 times faster than just a bucket


I am currently debating whether to buy bucket or push box. What are the reasons that the push box is faster than the bucket? Do they both clean down just as good?

Great thread by the way...thanks everybody!


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## cold_and_tired

RLS;1075078 said:


> I am currently debating whether to buy bucket or push box. What are the reasons that the push box is faster than the bucket? Do they both clean down just as good?
> 
> Great thread by the way...thanks everybody!


An 8 foot pusher will hold 5-7 cubic yards of snow. You aren't going to do that with any skid steer bucket.

Pushers with steel trip edges will clean just as good as a bucket without the risk of hitting a manhole cover or other obstacle and jamming your head through the front glass.


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## jomama45

cold_and_tired;1075942 said:


> An 8 foot pusher will hold 5-7 cubic yards of snow. You aren't going to do that with any skid steer bucket.
> 
> Pushers with steel trip edges will clean just as good as a bucket without the risk of hitting a manhole cover or other obstacle and jamming your head through the front glass.


100% agreed, plus it's far quicker to empty a pusher than to wait for the bucket to completely dump "most" of the snow out.


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