Blade Or Bucket For Snow removal

Bought a small Kubota with a bucket. one of the tasks will be snow removal. had been using a ford 2000 with a back blade. moved snow OK as long as I took reasonable bites and didn't try to exceed the traction limits. but then there was the twisting around in the seat to see what I was doing. so I figured it would be better to have the snow mover in the front.

friend of mine looked it over and said I was crazy if I thought I was going to move snow with a bucket. he claimed the only way to move snow is with a blade. but then again he's one of those guys that always has the right way of doing things and any other way is flat out wrong.

don't have a huge area to remove snow from but it is a pretty irregular shape. and some spots can get 3' high drifts in them. I'm thinking I should be able to push some with the bucket and when it gets to be too much to push pick it up and drop it off to the edge. can't do that with a blade.

so is one way really much better than the other? or just a matter of personal preference?

I've used both. There are a whole lot of variables. I think its mostly which tool is most comfortable for you. Tires, I believe, are most important. Even on 4wd tractors, if they had R4 industrial tires they were less than ideal.

I much prefer the front push blade.

I would use the bucket you already have for the first year. See how it works. Bill

You would be better off with a bucket, for the reason you mentioned. There are a couple choices when it comes to blades, ie, a straight blade or a snow box. I never saw the usefulness of a straight blade on a loader; the snow box would definitely be better but you cant steer it when its full of snow. If you have to do a lot of turning you will find this a problem. A large general purpose bucket will move more snow than a straight blade because you are always carrying extra yardage of snow vs what spills off the sides of a straight blade.

A bucket on the front and put your blade on the back. You'll then have both bases covered. I get by with just a bucket but I don't get the snow here we used to when I was a kid. Ideally a blade that fits on the front of your loader would be real nice.

Depends on what you get for snow.

A blade works best when there is some place for the snow to go off to the side. Once the banks get so deep, you can only push straight ahead, and that only works until the pile in front of the blade gets so big, then you're stuck.

At least with a bucket you can scoop some of that snow up and move it off to the side. Though a bucket naturally becomes a "V-plow" as the pile builds up in front of it and rounds off.

Here, East of Buffalo, we can sometimes get a foot or two feet of snow in a single snowfall. Trying to move that much snow with a blade, you better have a Cat D6 or larger behind it or you're not going anywhere. Sometimes all you can do is scoop and dump, scoop and dump.

The downside to a bucket is there's always snow dribbling off both sides once the bucket gets full, and final cleanup can be frustrating.

I bought one of those 8' box pushers last year and it worked okay but I could tell it is going to be a problem in heavy snow.

The bucket is not ideal- but it will definitely move snow. I think this question has a lot of variables. Are you going to be continually moving snow all winter or just from the occasional storm? If it s just occasional just use the bucket. I have about 1.5 miles of driveway to plow, a fairly large hay corral and pathways up to hay feeders to plow- I just use a bucket and back blade combo.

Both could be made to work, and there are lots of different opinions, with none of them being wrong.

My thoughts (for what they count): For long driveways with lots of snow, buckets are a complete pain, as you can only push so much, then you have to carry and dump it. If you have a lot of snow, this can take a lot of time and really wear on you (and your clutch).

Blades are only a pain if trying to push straight because (as mentioned) you can only go so far before you have to push it off to the side. But I don't know why you'd ever have a blade pushing straight and not angled.

We now use blowers at both farms, but before we had them we had best luck with a rear blade set at a good angle to plow off to one side, and the sway chains tightened up to make sure it goes past the tractor wheel on that side. For drifts up to about 8'' deep, you could drive forward with it (using either our Kubota 4WD or a Ford 5000 with chains). Up one side of the driveway, down the other, and you're done. Might do three or four passes at the start of the year to make it nice and wide so it doesn't crowd in by the end of the year. In really, really deep snow would you have to go backwards, which was a pain, but as long as you had the blade angled you didn't have to stop. During a heavy snowfall it was far better to go out once or twice while it was snowing and take a few minutes to clear the driveway before it built up too much.

We use the blowers now because there are a couple of other driveways we do where a blade wouldn't work (short, awkwardly-shaped), but for our own long driveways I often wish I had the blade back on. In 8'' or shallower snow you could clear the whole driveway in less than 5 minutes driving forward with a blade behind you, whereas the blower is slower, makes you drive backwards, and covers you in snow if the wind's blowing the wrong direction and you don't have a cab.

This post was edited by DanielW on 09/13/2023 at 07:45 am.

Dont know where youre located but here on the prairies of SW MN we sometimes get s lot of snow. I have a FWA with a loader on front and a snow blower on back to handle just about any snow we get. A back blade in two to three foot drifts would be a non starter.

You didn't say what model you have, I have an older BX model with about a 4 foot bucket. Two years ago I found a 4foot blade from a garden tractor, free. It just fit inside of my bucket. 4 clips welded on blade and some holes drilled and a neat blade. It worked great last year, just roll the bucket back and let her float. Roll forward and get gravel. Joe

I also have a small Kubota with a loader (B7200). I put a scraper blade on the back and have the best of both worlds. If we get whacked with a real snowstorm, I'll probably have to scoop it out one bucket at a time with the loader, but if it's less than a foot I can usually go faster with the scraper. I'm in the process of making a v-plow that will install on the front of the bucket in just a couple minutes. We don't get a lot of snow here in North East Maryland, but I thought it would be a fun project anyway.

It will depend on the type of snow you get.

Here a blade is useless most of the time, dad used one for 3 years and it was miserable.

Snow blower is the tool of choice 90% of the time.

In very hard blown or soft sloppy snow the bucket is better. But a big bucket, the tiny buckets dont move much.

Last winter was a bucket type of winter, my modest sized blower couldnt get through the rain froze hard snows we got.

In a low snow region I can see a blade working fine. But not here in a typical prairie winds southern MN winter.

Snow blower.

Big bucket.

Small bucket.

Blade if its all you got.

Paul

Snow removal is a total waste of money. You know it's gonna melt in the end, but you have to deal with it. There is no right or wrong really, what ever is the most efficient at the time. Light snow a back blade angled and drive through it is pretty efficient. Deep snow a blower is more efficient. Maybe you don't get enough deep snow to warrant a blower, than a front end loader is all you need. Assuming you bought a tractor with hydrostatic you can buck it out at a slight angle to the drive, and just take stabs at it. You don't necessarily have to dump that bucket everytime either, that gets time consuming, just use it like blade.
Here, just south of mpls, I use a x739 JD with a broom for up to 2.5, then use a blower on it up to whatever until it drifts over 20. Then I use a 60hp mfd Massey Fergson with a loader and 84 double auger blower.

8 foot blower, and 200 HP
Jim

I have it all. Back blade, front angle dozer blade, FEL, snow blower. Light snow, I use the FEL. Heavy deep snow I use the blower on a 180 hp tractor. Rarely use the dozer blade and havent used a back blade in nearly 30 years.

I have a snow pusher I use on my Ford 655A TLB. It is by far the handiest method I've used. You can push like a blade. With the huge runners it floats nicely, so there's no gouges. And also gather so much more than a blade, and you can make a huge pile with it if you want to. I suppose of one had a really long driveway and simply wanted to roll snow off to the side, this would be its down fall.

Bucket has been the best way to do it around here. Have used a small cat with a straight blade for a couple of years but went back to a bucket on a tractor as soon as I could.

The snow that you normally get will determine what type of snow removal equipment will work best for you. If your snows completely melts between storms, a blade is all you need. If the ground is frozen from November through April and any snow you get stays until next Spring, a loader and 7 foot snow bucket or 7 foot or wider snow blower will be needed after the snow gets deep. High wind areas that leave 3 inches of snow in the fields and 3 feet deep drifts in the yards every time the wind blows will also require at least a snow bucket, but a snow blower is much more effective at reducing re-drifting.

Your choice no right way. When we had the Cat running for snow duty I could just set the bucket and drive it would just roll off the side as I went. Only used it in the bigger snows with more than a foot on the level. For other use we use the loader or the 806 with a front blade the angled blade amkes working along building easier but you have to make several trips with clean up to get done with the bucket it will push more snow before it leaves trails to clean up so about a wash. Though the loader is not as heavy for plowing snow it does a pretty good job.