Hi Ron,
I live on 10 acres of woods on the top of a mountain, in southern NY,
with a 500' gravel driveway. I used to use an Allis Chalmers D14 Farm
Tractor with a back blade. Never worked well. I replaced it with a used
walk behind 32" 5/10? hp John Deere snow blower (biggest one). Works
very well. Up and down the driveway twice, and it's done. Also does
walks and gets around parked cars, mail boxes, etc.
When you get to Buffalo, stop by the highway dept's garage and take a
look at the snowplow trucks. There's a reason they as big as they are.
If you want to push snow, you need something big. The snow is going to
be just as deep in your driveway as it is on the highway.
The biggest problem is that, in Buffalo, the snow doesn't melt during
the course of the winter. The piles on the sides of the driveway build
up, and there's no place to go with the snow except to push it all the
way down the drive -- all of it. How much snow will you be pushing by
the time you get to the end of the driveway? And then what do you do
with it when (if) you get there? Push it up your neighbor's driveway?
Three feet deep for 150 ft is a lot of snow.
I grew up near Toledo. There is a big, big difference between northern
Ohio and southern NY -- not to mention Buffalo. Buffalo is the snow
capital of the universe. Buy the biggest walk behind snow blower you can
find -- in Buffalo, not Cincinnati. And then you'll buy a bigger one the
following year.
Grass is grass. Walking is good for you -- adds years to your life :-)
Buy a cheap push mower and walk fast. Lots more years to tinker in the
garage :-) My neighbor has 5 acres, and does it with a push mower. He's
strong and thin. Your call. :-)
Don
Ron Horwitz wrote:
>
> I am going to be moving from Cincinnati to Buffalo
> shortly. In Cincinnati I had a push mower (which is
> not worth moving) to cut 0.5 acres and our snow was
> never bad enough for more than a good ole shovel. I
> will be moving into a house with one acre of flat,
> open yard (only one tree island to maneuver around)
> and 150' of driveway. I am trying to decide how to
> handle the outside chores so as to maximize shop
> tinker time. Do the snow plows that attach to riding
> mowers work effectively or are they worthless? Am I
> better off to get a dedicated lawn mower and a snow
> blower? What about the new snow plows that fit into a
> front receiver and don't have in-cab controls? Can
> they be angled enough to push to the side or do they
> just push straight ahead?
>
> If anyone has any comments I'd love to hear them. I
> don't have an overabundance of storage space or the
> sheer size requirements to go looking for an older
> tractor, etc. I feel like I'm stuck in a 'tweener.
> Big enough to need a plan, small enough to need
> something fairly sedate.
>
> Thanks,
> Ron
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