# Sidewalk machine upgrades



## rick W (Dec 17, 2015)

This has been discussed lots but just figured i would post for those interested or have better ideas. I find a read a lot of things on here where people discuss the pros and cons of various stuff.

Been doing this a long time. Never owned a small tractor with a cab. Just too cheap i guess since we are not a high snow area. We have a few properties that have many thousands of linear feet of walks...most being 48-60" wide, grass on sides and not perfectly level so they sit with puddles once melted. In my area, we don't get many heavy snows but lots of ice type events and drifting and refreezing. Salting and touch ups are extensive, there are times i have cleared and salted 5 times in a few hours. They are high profile places that demand heavy service.

Been doing them with shovels, blowers, atv, pails with salt, liquids etc. Last year we did buy a walk behind bauman drop spreader. Awesome improvement over 5 gal pail of salt, stupid money but wise upgrade. Sidewalks are always the crappy job so i have found myself doing them most of the time while my key guys run what they are good at. Truly sucks and sometimes when I finish a long stretch and its really blowing...i look back...see it all drifting right over again and i swear i start to tear up. Its horrible, haha. Last year brand new atv was a huge PITA. Brine sprayer went down many times, winch and various clamps and pins and welds let us down. Warn"pro plow" my ass. Horrible. From a $ point of view, a toro paddle blower, a good shovel and bauman drop spreader is the cheapest solution but too old and tired to do that over and over anymore or try and count on sidewalk guys to show up and actually work hard. Sooo started looking. Kubota rtv is an ideal machine, just a good foot too wide so no go. Ventrac 3400 and SSV are beautiful but really big $ 
Kubota has always served me way better than our deere stuff...it just has (sorry if that offends). Snowrator does not have the best reviews but fits the tight areas and mission the best and was $10K less than an SSV in my area.
So, we spent big this year, will not tell the wife the totals but my back will be happy.

Sold the atv, pro plow setup.
Bought one snowrator (it has the latest upgrades and i confirmed with them directly i will get the other upgrades they are working on(controller and new plow) That is excellent that they will take care of issues. All i can ask of a company. It being so compact really fits one job ideally that has some tight spots and i would not want to run a cab or longer wheelbase tractor in.

Bought a new Kubota bx2680 and found they offer a brand new factory (not really but labelled kubota) cab for it with loader, broom, blade and bauman drop salter. Not a crazy amount more than an ssv and cheaper than a 3400 ventrac. Made sense in my head.
So,not saying this is the perfect solution but i think it is the most practical for me on my unique properties, being how narrow the walks are.

Big fun in that it all showed up and we now have lots of fun shop work pimping it up and training. Surely a big improvement over hand work and atv, but will see. Always fun getting shiny new stuff. Figures crossed it all works as advertised.







.


----------



## jdelec (Jan 18, 2018)

We purchased a snowrator this year expecting delivery first week of December.(Toro now owns snowrator so geting one this year was almost impossible) Hopefully it will be easier to maneuver than the Bobcat s70 we currently use on our 1.7 miles of crisscrossing sidewalks. We tried the kubota you mentioned and found it is a pain in the A** to turn from one perpendicular walk to another. We like the size of the Ventrac 3400 and it does look like the ultimate for 48 inch walks but a very knowledgeable person that works on these things said stay away. Evidently the Ventrac 3400 is a maintenance nightmare.


----------



## rick W (Dec 17, 2015)

Being playing on the snowrator at the shop and friends and staff are all excited. Will see. To be able to maneuver in the tight areas and do the narrow walks will be huge. It is a pretty cool machine.

The kubota will be used at the big, much more open and lots of long runs location. 
As for the ventrac i have never heard any bad things. I do know steiner had a disaster series of machine at one point but thought ventrac made topshelf stuff? Hard spending $40k on a tiny tractor that looks like it was made 40 years ago but really good quality stuff no? First negative thing i have heard.


----------



## Nick B (Dec 26, 2014)

We have 4 Snowrators good machines. Going to be a struggle to get parts if you need them until the conversion in done. Sounds like they are going to be branded as Boss soon. But we are already having issues getting parts. I think once they get things back on track it will be fine but I would be a little concerned to get anymore until they get things figured out. Also bought some SSV's this year and I'm guessing parts will be an issue with them also. But haven't dealt with them in that yet.


----------



## wishfull (Nov 22, 2017)

We're using a John Deere X749 all wheel steer mostly with either a hydraulic angle blade or a broom. Has a hard cab with heater and the crew loves it. Also use X748's but the AWS is preferred. Has sped up production in most areas by 25%. Use big pack pack blowers for real tight areas and steps. Use walk behind spreaders and hand salt tight areas & steps. Like Deere cause we can usually get parts overnight when required.


----------



## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

wishfull said:


> We're using a John Deere X749 all wheel steer mostly with either a hydraulic angle blade or a broom. Has a hard cab with heater and the crew loves it. Also use X748's but the AWS is preferred. Has sped up production in most areas by 25%. Use big pack pack blowers for real tight areas and steps. Use walk behind spreaders and hand salt tight areas & steps. Like Deere cause we can usually get parts overnight when required.


Deere needs to make the 1025 in an AWS version.


----------



## wishfull (Nov 22, 2017)

I agree Mark except the cabs are too high to get under a bunch of awnings and signs in the older areas of our town. Lenght has always been an issue as well but AWS would alleviate that.


----------

