# How To Ramp Snow?



## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

I've been googling for a few days and trying to find the answer here and on other forums, but no luck so far.

I recently moved up north after 32 years living places it just never snows, and my new house came with a plow truck. I've gotten the hang of plowing out my yard, but I'd like to make things as efficient as possible.

Watching the snow blowing through my yard, I can see where it gets built up when the snow banks are vertical. I would like to get the harsh edges turned into ramps so that the snow can just blow right on through without stopping. Problem is, I can't figure out how to make this happen with the plow. I have seen some houses around town with smooth ramped snow stacks, so I know its possible.

Is there a proper term for this? That would definitely help out my searches. If not, anyone able to link a video or something that shows how it is done?


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

to begin with always plow to the down wind side, i start upwind 3 ft on the grass after the ground is frozen, lift the blade a bit(although i have a gravel guard that helps keep the blade from digging in).....on down wind side same thing.


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## Jakedaawg (Dec 29, 2013)

I think you are refering to stacking. This is what the up button is for. As you are approaching the pile from the previous plowing you lift up the blade and it will push the snow higher. Be prepared to get really stuck as you learn. There is an art to it.

P.S. I mean REALLY stuck. As in needing another truck and a snap strap to get you out.


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## Jakedaawg (Dec 29, 2013)

By the way, love your screen name. Bob Ross was great, I miss watching him on PBS. "Lets just drop a little tree right here" and suddenly it would be there on his canvass.


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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

I've been doing the push up right at the end, but it doesn't make things smooth... it just makes the wall go higher. Should I be approaching slower? I'm not going super fast as is, but my forward motion is much quicker than the upward motion of the plow. Doesn't help that I've got a dually with traction issues. Even got chains on the outer two tires and I still spin them fairly regularly.

As far as direction goes, I'm really limited on that since I've got a highway's worth of snow bank built up along two sides of my house. Good news is that the natural direction of the ramps are perfect for the wind direction we have.

I've been using variations of this name for years... Helps keep the rage in check when some stupid troll starts up


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## Jakedaawg (Dec 29, 2013)

Maybe post a pic of the "ramped" pile you are trying to imitate, but I really think its just practice.

As far as the traction goes, I would think a dually would be tough to make stick. Maybe a half ton of ballast would help. I am a firm believer in tall skinny tires for plowing.


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## White Gardens (Oct 29, 2008)

If you really want to control the snow, a snow fence or wind break would be your better option.





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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

I'll have to get a pic of one of the yards up here. I tried google for about 30 minutes and can't even find a picture :/

With regards to snow fences, I don't know if it would help. I don't really have a good place in my yard to actually let the snow build up. Just trying to remove the obstacles I've put it in its way already. I might give it a try next year though to direct snow where it needs to go... way too much on the ground right now to even think of using it.


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## micklock (Jan 6, 2008)

something like this?


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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

Yes that is exactly what I'm trying to do. Whenever I try it just makes a bigger vertical "wall" out of the stack instead of sloping. Guess I'll just keep trying and go a little slower.


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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

Also, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get stuck at some point


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## micklock (Jan 6, 2008)

hit it with your plow straight and raised all the way until you bust over the top. If the piles are not to tall and your truck and plow are not to heavy you might not get stuck.


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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

I've been doing it in scoop position for clearing. I'm gonna have a 2 week vacation here starting next Monday, so I'll see if I can reshape it with straight blade.

Yard is kinda messed up right now because the truck wasn't running the first month and a half of winter... We had to use yooper scoopers, so the snow distribution isn't really optimal. Hopefully having some long days with nothing to do will give me a chance to rearrange the yard and make some nice sloped stacks.

Thanks for the advice guys. I shoulda just asked here instead of spending many hours trying to track it down myself.


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## leolkfrm (Mar 11, 2010)

sorry thought you were trying to control the drifting where you plow


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## carplowguy (Jan 5, 2015)

That Jeep in the has really wide tires and is much lighter then any dually. I don't believe you would be able to do that with most plow trucks unless your piles were very low. What works good for doing that is a skid steer with tracks... Get one of those to come build the piles. Then you might be able to drive up it with the plow truck if they are already built.


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## seville009 (Sep 9, 2002)

I think in that Jeep video he has older iced up snow under the pile. It's easy to make nice piles when the snow is light, but as soon as you get hit with a lot of heavy wet stuff, you're going to find that you end up eith just a wall if snow as a pile at some point. Have to then just use a skid or tractor to then push it all back and start all over again with new piles.


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## theplowmeister (Nov 14, 2006)

That is not ramping Snow. This is one of my smaller ramps...
http://www.the-plowmeister.com/assets/images/Boss_snowplow/stacking%20snow.mov


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## White Gardens (Oct 29, 2008)

With a couple of rural properties we do, there is generally only on direction where the snow will drift in from.

Not sure if that is the same situation where you are at, but if that's the case, just make sure your piles are down wind from the the driveway. This will make sure you don't create a windbreak with the piles and cause more drifting.





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## Flyboy77 (Jun 23, 2014)

I couldn't open the other video.
Here's a youtube of a tall stack and a pickup, pretty awesome! Props to this guy.


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## IPLOWSNO (Oct 11, 2008)

See what's making the ramps at the other locations I bet it's a wheeler if they are really tall ramps!!


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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

Pretty sure my truck is gonna have a hard time making smooth ramps. F-SuperDuty with a diesel, and a couple hundred pounds of "ballast" (e.g. any random junk I could find to throw in the back of it so I'm not sliding around as much). Still going to give it a try... If I can at least get some smaller ramps to lead up to the stacks it should help keep the snow blowing through a little better.

This is the first thing that popped up from a google search on 'skid steer': http://stonekor.com/product/jcb-320t-eco-skid-steer/

$164,705.00 :O

Realistically though, a normal skid steer isn't in the cards anytime soon 

Watching the snow blowing through last night, I think I'm more concerned with ramping the old scoop piles than with the stacks I've been building. Here's a ghetto diagram of my yard:










Dark Blue - Leftovers from road crews, about 5 feet high and unmovable at this point.
Light Blue - Plow stacks
Yellow - Scoop 'stacks'
Pink - Wind direction (usually from one of those two directions)

The biggest snow build up I'm seeing right now is along the long scoop stack at the left of the pic. After plowing it ends up being a 1-2' vertical windrow that causes snow to build up. I'm not really seeing much snow buildup around the base of my plow stacks though. Maybe I'm just complicating things more than I should... This whole moving snow thing is still pretty new to me. I think if I smooth out that ridge that I'll get more snow blowing through the yard instead of sticking.

I did freak my wife out yesterday doing a back drag out of the garage. She was sure I was about to slam the plow into her precious SUV.


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## carplowguy (Jan 5, 2015)

Always fun to scare the wife! Is there no one in your area who does work with a skid steer that can come in and reshape your piles? I wasn't suggesting you buy one in any case, just rent or hire one. 

Doesn't sound like your in too bad of shape just yet, you should see how big my piles are getting already!

Happy plowing!


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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

I might be able to find someone here with a skidsteer, but I'd much prefer to see what I can do on my own. Didn't even think of renting one.

My coworkers in Texas keep asking me "Why do you have to plow everyday?" I didn't understand either until I moved up here. If I wait two days it will triple the amount of time it takes me to plow out the yard... Daily plows only take 30-40 minutes now... Hopefully quicker once I get the yard reshaped.


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## Mr.Markus (Jan 7, 2010)

Ask JDDave...


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## Zigblazer (Aug 1, 2010)

What I've found is that it really depends on the temp. I did a little plowing when I lived down by Rochester, MN, and had no problem building ramps most of the time. Since I moved up North I have been struggling to get a decent ramp built between my house and garage where I actually need one. My yard drops quickly past the house and garage (6' drop over 24') and it is an easy place to push the snow to, but there isn't any extra room before it drops off. Once I drop over the edge it is very hard to back up onto the driveway again. Between the house and garage is also where the snow drifts the worst.

Back to the ramps. The main difference in snow from Roch area to here is the temp that most of the snow comes, and temp the day after. There it would be close to freezing when snowing and for a day after for most of the storms. We also frequently had freezing rain, icy roads, warm days to melt some snow before re-freezing. Just like building a snowman you need that wet compactable snow. Lift the plow when you get to the ramp area, and slowly pack it in until it is strong enough to drive up.

Here we get snow around freezing sometimes, but not often. Except for this year we've had freezing rain twice in the 7 winters we've lived up here. Snow comes at lower temps and the temp drops quick at night (-19F now). Day temps are 5-10 degrees colder than Roch, but nights are an average of 15-25 degrees colder. This light, fluffy, and dry snow doesn't stick to itself well. We couldn't make a snowman now if we tried. When trying to stack this with my heavy truck it just pushes out from under the tires and I sink. I think it would take a lighter vehicle with larger tires to pack this snow. 

I also noticed blowing snow is more of a problem here. It doesn't just blow around when it is snowing. Anytime it gets windy, I could have to go out and plow again. All that said we've had a few pitiful winters the last few years. We had a decent snowfall last winter, but this one has been a disappointment.


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## FordFisherman (Dec 5, 2007)

theplowmeister;1923411 said:


> That is not ramping Snow. This is one of my smaller ramps...
> http://www.the-plowmeister.com/assets/images/Boss_snowplow/stacking%20snow.mov


WOW!! I think I just saw Bigfoot!!


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## ppkgmsy (Jan 18, 2008)

I don't know if mine is a similar situation and I'm hardly an expert because I've only been plowing about 8 years, but this is a subject that is dear to my heart. We have a driveway that's about 450ft long and slopes downhill. I plow down the drive and try to construct a huge ramp at the bottom so my son can sled over it. He calls the ramp the "butt buster hill."

With some practice, I've learned the hang of it is to find the rate of raising the plow in relation to the speed of driving forward. Raise the plow too fast and the snow peaks without sloping. Raise it too slow and, like the other guys pointed out, you're bound to get stuck (ask me how I know!).


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## micklock (Jan 6, 2008)

ppkgmsy;1927156 said:


> With some practice, I've learned the hang of it is to find the rate of raising the plow in relation to the speed of driving forward. Raise the plow too fast and the snow peaks without sloping. Raise it too slow and, like the other guys pointed out, you're bound to get stuck (ask me how I know!).


timing is key and takes a little practice, in the video I posted at 1:25 mark I lifted the blade a little late or I was going a little to fast and my blade tripped.


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## carplowguy (Jan 5, 2015)

Well we are having a little melting during the day here so I figured it would be the best time to try this as my pile may actually freeze solid. I had a pile with a 4.5' banked edge so what I did is build a small pile stacked about 2.5' directly in front of the big pile. Then I just set my blade about 1' off the ground and gently pushed it into the bank... Don't think of explainedthis well but I was able to make a ramp this way, it is pretty steep, about 45 degrees but I 'm hoping if it freezes I can drive at least a little ways up it so i can build my pile higher. 

My blade is winch controlled so it is only about half the speed of hydraulics, a little more challenging to build a ramp so this worked best for me. The key is not to push the second pile back too far, when you back away the loose snow piled against the blade will fall down and form the ramp. Now i can keep adding more to the bottom to make a longer & less steep ramp. Still not convinced it won't sink, I have skinny tires & lots of weight on them, but fun to try!


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## bobross (Jan 5, 2015)

After dealing with a truck that won't start, I ended up fighting with a plow that wouldn't move. Found out it was low on hydraulic fluid. Topped it off and it ran better than ever, but by the end of my plow session it was starting to get saggy again.

With that said, taking it slow I was able to shape my stack into more of a ramp, but its not smooth yet. Figure a couple more snowfalls and I should have it ramped properly then I'll get my wife to snap a video for me.

@carplowguy - What kind of plow do you have? A winch operated plow sounds perfect for a little survivalist vehicle I've got in the works.


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## Jakedaawg (Dec 29, 2013)

He made a pretty cool home built plow. Thats the winch thing. There is a thread on it somewhere.

As far as rtamping goes, now that I understand what you are trying to accomplish what you nee to do is not lift your blade so fast like you are trying to stack. lift it slower while moving forward and your stack will not be so steep. You WILL get stuck unless you can pack it and freeze it.

Better yet would be to not put snow where it will cause an undesirable drift.


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## Jakedaawg (Dec 29, 2013)

Looking at the picture, why cant you just push it all forward down the left edge? Park the wife in the nice barn. Call it good?


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## carplowguy (Jan 5, 2015)

bobross;1934755 said:


> After dealing with a truck that won't start, I ended up fighting with a plow that wouldn't move. Found out it was low on hydraulic fluid. Topped it off and it ran better than ever, but by the end of my plow session it was starting to get saggy again.
> 
> With that said, taking it slow I was able to shape my stack into more of a ramp, but its not smooth yet. Figure a couple more snowfalls and I should have it ramped properly then I'll get my wife to snap a video for me.
> 
> @carplowguy - What kind of plow do you have? A winch operated plow sounds perfect for a little survivalist vehicle I've got in the works.


Here is my thread on it: http://www.plowsite.com/showthread.php?t=159891

Which I realize now I probably posted in the wrong area but I was new here at the time Lol!

Lots of the cheaper plow kits and ATV plows use a winch to raise and lower the blade. My winch is just a 2,000 lbs ATV winch and then I ran it thru a pulley to get a good angle. I have it lifting at a point where it picks the blade up pretty quick. The disadvantage is I have to get out of the car to change my blade angle.

If you do use a winch for an application like this, don't leave a full spool of cable on. I just have around 4' of cable , otherwise it criss crosses, jams etc. then the cable wears quick too. It works flawless with the short cable so far.


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