# Looking for better ways to clear residential driveways



## 32vld (Feb 4, 2011)

Have a 24 troy bilt and a craftsman 28. My son and I will clean drives for two car garage 24 x 60 or 12 x 60 one car.

We want to remove snow faster then we are now doing.

I don't see how a 44" plow on my JD riding mower is going to move snow banks left behind by plow trucks. JD has a 48" mower mount snowblower. Has anyone used one of these?

I had to clean up a 3 x5 in front of a mail box area that was blocked by a frozen over 4' snow bank that had a 2' frozen snow bank underneath from the previous storm. I have my doubts that the JD could push the 48" hard enough into that pile to remove it.

A dealer wanted $6800 for a four wheel drive quad with a plow.

For that kind of money I could get a plow for my jeep wrangler. And my jeep could do a lot more.


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## PowersTree (Jan 9, 2006)

A garden tractor with a plow is useless.

A garden tractor with a blower would be better.

Plow on the Jeep would be best.


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## DaySpring Services (Feb 1, 2005)

If your going to get a blower for your tractor check out Bercomac Snowblowers. I've never seen one in person, but seen videos and heard some good stuff about them!


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## wild bill (Feb 10, 2007)

*blower*

we have a old farm king with a 48" blower and it has chewed some serious snow since 1979 and still going strong .just got done with 18" in iowa blizzard .


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## peterng (Apr 13, 2006)

I think it's more a matter of how d you transport it , time involved with loading/unloading, maintenance. We get a fair bit of snow up here and you need a plow for EOD and a single stage blower for unplowable driveways. The single stage weigh 80 lbs, they take seconds to load/unload. 

They're an accessory to my plows. They enable me. charge accordingly. It's all about time, transport times, load unload times etc. The plowing/blowing/shovelling is a small amout of the time without a tight route, thoughtfull workers and the proper equipment.

I'll aim for $120/hr. Never hit it. that's 4 customers at $30/hr ideally. transit and clearing times in 15 minutes on one client, best be quick at it.
Pete


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## 32vld (Feb 4, 2011)

I live in a suburban area where most homes sit on a 1/4 acre to 1 acre. There are some estate sized plots just north of where I currently have customers.

This leaves me with a lot of drives that get closed up by the hwy dept plow trucks.

Wild Bill, getting a 48" snow blower would let me do a 1 car drive in two passes and blow the snow onto their lawn. Being the plots are close I would have to work hard to find a place to push the snow out on the street.

I want to get in and out faster because I have lost jobs because I couldn't get there fast enough (though these were people that called me for the first time, 6 hours after the snow stopped and didn't want to hear that I had people ahead of them).

So how would your 48" blower do at the street end with a two car wide driveway that was plowbanked up and frozen? Could it clear out a 4' high frozen plowbank, and how long would it take?

I have a 4x8 habor freight trailer, jeep wrangler ul, a GMC yukon xl, and my son has a chevy colorado crew cab. We can fit both blowers in the PU now, a 48" tractor blower would need to use our trailer. /SIZE]


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## jchart06 (Feb 5, 2011)

I have found (especialy for small intown drives) using my 45" walk behind snowblower (for deep snow) and my 2007 honda rubicon with 52" cycle country v-plow (for light snow) do a much better job then my truck (customer satifaction garentees you for the job the following year) and its just as fast as the truck cause you dont have to do as much shoveling in places where you cant get the blade on the truck to. but it can only be as fast with the right set up for hauling or you waste more time unloading and loading, i haul the snowblower in the bed and use a 2 position snowmobile trailer for the atv.


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## wild bill (Feb 10, 2007)

*blower*

it goes through frozen crust pretty good of course ice it will not cut through .but in area's where you get a lot of snow you can throw it further away and not have real high banks and it get's tight maneuvering with a plow my hd get's tight.you run out of places to put the snow ,
it would be nice to have a two stage blower ,we only have a single stage blower

you need chain's on it a trailer would be the only hassle ,hauling it around .our's is only a 16 hp and it is only used on the property .time is not a issue but it chew's through it fast.


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## IHI (Nov 22, 2003)

Backblade and front blade for the jeep....it'd be a resi plowing monster


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## STIHL GUY (Sep 22, 2009)

i think a plow on the jeep would be your best bet. it would be able to move a lot more snow


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## peterng (Apr 13, 2006)

ditto. backblade is a must for those light plows.
Pete


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## PowersTree (Jan 9, 2006)

Ive plowed for years. Quit my job two years ago, and have been blowing all my jobs with single stage toros for the past two years. Just bought a new truck thats being fitted with a plow, but most of the jobs I have now, I will continue to use the blowers. Two guys with two blowers is faster on a lot of these small city driveways that I have aquired. And the customers love it. 

But, this theroy only works on the smaller city driveways. You get much bigger than a few thousand sq ft, and your wasting time.


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