# Sidewalk plowing with a rear mount tractor snowblower



## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

I have a commercial job that has added a new area to plow around a new building. It is expected to open for business in late March or in April of this year. I may or may not have to plow these new areas this season, but will definitely be plowing next season. There is about 600 ' of 5' wide sidewalk and about 400 ' of 8' wide sidewalk along with a 10,000 sq./ft courtyard with nothing heavier than 2500 lb vehicle allowed on the concrete to plow. I have a 40 hp New Holland tractor with a 8' Pro Teck pusher and 7' rear blade on the site already. This tractor will plow the courtyard, but is too big on the 5' sidewalks. I am looking at a smaller New Holland Tractor 28 hp with a 5' plow on front loader and a 52" pto rear mount blower on back, and 5' rear blade to pull snow away from other areas. This smaller tractor will also be needed to load bulk salt into a spreader on a larger tractor to spread on asphalt driveways and parking areas. My question is ? anyone using a tractor rear mount snowblower for larger sidelwalks 5' and up?


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## CaptainSmokey (Nov 19, 2009)

get your self a Atv with a plow on it and it will do the job


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## buckwheat_la (Oct 11, 2009)

i am going to try the same thing, i have a 23 hp machine i am going to put a 46 inch rear pto drive snow blower, and trying it on residential driveways and sidewalks


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## RJ lindblom (Sep 21, 2006)

It might be more money... With either the 23 or 28 HP tractors why not use a front mount blower? I am not a fan of rear mounted snow blowers. On the back you could mount a spreader for salt and weight. I think a front mount blower would be more productive.


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

RJ lindblom;964602 said:


> It might be more money... With either the 23 or 28 HP tractors why not use a front mount blower? I am not a fan of rear mounted snow blowers. On the back you could mount a spreader for salt and weight. I think a front mount blower would be more productive.


The reason I don't want a front mount snowblower ( if you read the post) I need the loader to load bulk rock salt into a spreader on a larger tractor.I would like to have a loader mounted quick attach snowblower ie. like the new Frontier model from John Deere, but the smallest size is a 72" much too large for that tractor and way too big for a 5' sidewalk.


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

CaptainSmokey;964386 said:


> get your self a Atv with a plow on it and it will do the job


I have NO USE FOR AN ATV in my business and do not want a toy to play with. With a small tractor I could use it to mow in the summer and other landscaping jobs on a small scale.


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## JohnDeere2320 (Dec 12, 2009)

What is the overall width of you 40hp new holland tractor? Is the footprint wider than 5 foot? You may be able to get a 5 foot rear mount blower for your bigger tractor and just remove the rear blade and out the blower on for sidewalks, unless this is the bigger tractor you were talking about loading salt into. If you are set on getting a newer smaller tractor then by all means, but it could make it harder transporting unless you leave it on site and than can open up a whole new can of worms. 

I guess what im trying to say don't get a whole new machine just for these sidewalks, but if you can run it all summer and all winter it may be a worthwile investment.


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## R.M Hanson (Nov 14, 2005)

I do this very thing with my little tractor. We have a small 25hp. cub cadet compact tractor, and run a 60in. snow-blower on the back for sidewalks. This lets you still use the loader on the front to load, or to push yourself out of the snow if you get stuck. (very important) It also allows the ability to raise the blower up a couple of feet, back into a drift, then drive forward, lower the blower to the ground and repeat. We have blown through drifts about 5 feet deep before in this fashion, it works great. Please feel free to ask me any questions.


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

JohnDeere2320;964822 said:


> What is the overall width of you 40hp new holland tractor? Is the footprint wider than 5 foot? You may be able to get a 5 foot rear mount blower for your bigger tractor and just remove the rear blade and out the blower on for sidewalks, unless this is the bigger tractor you were talking about loading salt into. If you are set on getting a newer smaller tractor then by all means, but it could make it harder transporting unless you leave it on site and than can open up a whole new can of worms.
> 
> I guess what im trying to say don't get a whole new machine just for these sidewalks, but if you can run it all summer and all winter it may be a worthwile investment.


The rear wheel width on the 2310 New Holland 40hp tractor with R-3 tires (Turf Type) is 70 " much too wide for a 5' sidewalk. That size tractor would need a 72' rear blower. I just sold a 66." blower because it was too narrow for the 2310 and much too big for the 1110 , I am looking at. I like the Meteor 51" blower, but am advised on other sites that unit may not be the best for commericial use. Most often recommended is the Blizzard model B-54 with a cutting width of 54"> Incidentally the rear tread width on the NH 1110 with R-3 tires is 52" I also looked at the Woods S-52 but that blower is priced at $3000.00 , $800.00 more than the Meteor and $600.00 more than the Blizzard. The smallest NH rear mount is 62" again the price is over $3000.00. I will not have have to transport to site as I have inside storage for the smaller tractors. As far as needing the loader to load bulk salt in to my 80hp NH with Vicon spreader, that will take the place of my Dingo Mini-Skidsteer which we now load with, which is not the warmest job on a cold early morning!!!!!


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## lilbear (Dec 30, 2009)

i recently sold my 553 bobcat had 5 foot blade well uder your weight limit and could switch to bucket to load this was amazingly fast i did alot of hard to get to areas small apartments and area such as u r talking about with blade angled would push 4foot 8 or so unit was 4 foot wide about 900lbs blade was 150lbs and bucket was 200lbs 5 foot wide standard big money with right equipment for tight areas also did some shipping receving places that had lot of trouble finding guy to push big money with these guys usually money was no object beings how they would shut down cause forktruck couldnt get to product outside


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## lilbear (Dec 30, 2009)

also they make a snow blower for this unit that i had the pleasure to use a couple of times i think it was made by quick way epuipment this thing was bad to the bone and i used this unit for landscaping during the summer time with a custom made harely rake they didnt make them at the time i got my machine


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## RJ lindblom (Sep 21, 2006)

Another thought to maybe kick around for sidewalks, how about a zero turn mower with a blade on the front? Perhaps a used Walker with blower and perhaps a JRCO blade?

It would require retaining the 40 HP tractor to load the salter.


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## wellnermp (Dec 15, 2009)

We have a 60" Farm King 3pt blower on our 35hp Deere. It's awesome, throws the snow a mile! I thought the rear mount would be annoying, but it's actually not that bad. We use it for driveways, small parking lots, etc.


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

RJ lindblom;965680 said:


> Another thought to maybe kick around for sidewalks, how about a zero turn mower with a blade on the front? Perhaps a used Walker with blower and perhaps a JRCO blade?
> 
> It would require retaining the 40 HP tractor to load the salter.


I am not into the mowing scene, with that type of-mower I would have no use for the mower in the summer. The bucket on the NH 40hp is 72' wide much too wide to load that Vicon spreader.Thanks for your input.


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## RJ lindblom (Sep 21, 2006)

bluejlandscaper;966002 said:


> I am not into the mowing scene, with that type of-mower I would have no use for the mower in the summer. The bucket on the NH 40hp is 72' wide much too wide to load that Vicon spreader.Thanks for your input.


Makes sense.


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## heather lawn spray (Mar 11, 2003)

We have the baby Bobcat 463 with 44" bucket and SB150 blower
Bobcat is 2400 lbs, heated cab, Quik-tach can be changed in a few minutes.Bucket can load to about 7.5 feet, 5 cu ft at a time. We load our 1.5 yard salter in 6 scoops.

Change over to blower is 2 couplers 2 locking levers and electrical connection, Bucket is 2 locking levers. We load the salter truck, swap the bucket to the blower and send the 463 and SB150 blower out with one of the trucks


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## buckwheat_la (Oct 11, 2009)

heather lawn spray;966087 said:


> We have the baby Bobcat 463 with 44" bucket and SB150 blower
> Bobcat is 2400 lbs, heated cab, Quik-tach can be changed in a few minutes.Bucket can load to about 7.5 feet, 5 cu ft at a time. We load our 1.5 yard salter in 6 scoops.
> 
> Change over to blower is 2 couplers 2 locking levers and electrical connection, Bucket is 2 locking levers. We load the salter truck, swap the bucket to the blower and send the 463 and SB150 blower out with one of the trucks


sounds like a great little system, i would love to see a pic of the bobcat and blower


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## heather lawn spray (Mar 11, 2003)

over in the photo section, I thinks it's posting

www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=80000


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

Just an update on this thread. I am awaiting the arrival of this NH tractor model 1030, 28hp with loader, undermount mower and rear mount snowblower. The tractor will also have a cab installed as soon as the cab arrives from the manufacturer in 8-10 weeks. I have added a picture of the tractor with a similiar snowblower.


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## WIPensFan (Jan 31, 2009)

That's a great looking little tractor, but the blower seems big for it. At only 28 HP I would think in heavy snow you will be at a snails pace, not to mention looking backwards for long periods of time.


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## lumps (Sep 3, 2005)

bluejlandscaper;966002 said:


> I am not into the mowing scene, with that type of-mower I would have no use for the mower in the summer.





bluejlandscaper;966002 said:


> With a small tractor I could use it to mow in the summer


Um, which is it?


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

That blower in the picture is a farm king 60" blower. I got that picture from the cab manufactuer. They said that the tractor had no problem running that blower in 12" of heavy snow. I am getting a 51" or 52" blower because at 60" that blower is too big for some of the sidewalks I will be working on.
As far as blowing in reverse no problem. Use to have a 60" and a 66" rear mount blowers that we used on other tractors over the years to widen sidewalks when the Vee plow could no longer push back the snow buildup


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

WIPensFan;995619 said:


> That's a great looking little tractor, but the blower seems big for it. At only 28 HP I would think in heavy snow you will be at a snails pace, not to mention looking backwards for long periods of time.


 That blower in the picture is a farm king 60" blower that the cab manufacturer said had no problem working with a 12" snowfall. I will be getting a 51" or 52" blower because at 60" that blower is too big for some of my sidewalks I will be doing.
As far as working in reverse with the blower, no problem, as I have worked with 60" and 66" rear blowers on other tractors in the past.


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

lumps;995775 said:


> Um, which is it?


 I do not do any type of residental mowing. We do only rought cut mowing with tractors. I will be getting a new job of irregular cutting of a 3-4 acre property in the next year which will only be cut 1-2 times a month. That's where I will be using the under mount mower and on my own property.


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## Grn Mtn (Sep 21, 2004)

bluejlandscaper;964379 said:


> ...with nothing heavier than 2500 lb vehicle allowed on the concrete to plow.....


its this kind of ignorance that drives me crazy, they need to give you a ground pressure rating, not overall weight. heck, the ASV Vertical Lift skidder is 10,500lbs but only has 3.4 psi!


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## Going Commercial (Oct 15, 2008)

How can you plow the courtyard with the 40 hp or the 28 hp? I believe both tractors are heavier than 2500lbs without any attachments. I have the NH TC 30 with a loader on it, and it sucks trying to move snow. I have no idea about a plow. I also have the R - industrial tires. I also have considered putting a rear mount blower if I land some of the accounts I am bidding on for next year. My tires are also loaded with calcium for added weight.


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

Going Commercial;998135 said:


> How can you plow the courtyard with the 40 hp or the 28 hp? I believe both tractors are heavier than 2500lbs without any attachments. I have the NH TC 30 with a loader on it, and it sucks trying to move snow. I have no idea about a plow. I also have the R - industrial tires. I also have considered putting a rear mount blower if I land some of the accounts I am bidding on for next year. My tires are also loaded with calcium for added weight.


The NH2310 does weigh more than 2500lbs but it will never be weighet up by the owners. The 28 hp NH will weigh about 2300lbs with the loader, cab , rear blower.
The 2310 NH has turf tires loaded with no- rust ballast. I use a Pro-tec 8' skid steer attach snow pusher. The machine pushes awesome snow. No trouble pushing 150-200' 6-8". If the snow is deeper push only a 1/2 width. The secret is knowing what you are doing. I have been doing snowplowing and removal for over 40 years! I have tons of experience on all kinds of equipment.
You are using R-4 tires on your 30hp NH. Switch to R-3 turf types and load them and your tractor will perform for you too. Turf type tires will perform much better in snow than R-4 or R-1 (Ag types) I know because I have tried them all! The next time you see a large loader look at the tires you will see Radials that look like large turf type tires.


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## Ramairfreak98ss (Aug 17, 2005)

CaptainSmokey;964386 said:


> get your self a Atv with a plow on it and it will do the job


yeah if your pushing 4"

I have a 1500lb tractor with 48" bucket and cant "plow" sidewalks in nj in these last two monster storms.

Best bet would be a rear mounted blower, id have eaten up these jobs in record time instead of beating the crap out of us having to bucket each scoop out of the way.


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## Bill Hoskinson (Jan 12, 2010)

I have a 3720 John Deere Cab Tractor that I have an 8' snow bucket on the loader, and a 6ft 3pt hitch angle broom mounted on the back.

I wouldn't own a snow blower even if it were free.


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## bluejlandscaper (Mar 2, 2008)

Bill Hoskinson;999178 said:


> I have a 3720 John Deere Cab Tractor that I have an 8' snow bucket on the loader, and a 6ft 3pt hitch angle broom mounted on the back.
> 
> I wouldn't own a snow blower even if it were free.


Every piece of equipment has it's place in snow plowing and removal operations. If a rear mount broom works for you, use it to your advantage. I have used a broom on the front of a Dingo mini-skidsteer in the past. For light falls it worked fine.
On my tractors I have used rear blades, box blades and snowblowers. Each one has a place in my snow fighting arsenal of equipment


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