Snowblower for Wisconsin winters

[Sir Henry]

I bought a Simplicity P2132 snowblower today and will pick it up tomorrow. This will be my first ever season needing a blower and I’m not sure what to expect.

[North Country Gal]

That looks like a good choice. Should do the job.

Using a snowblower can be a real pain, but it depends on the type of snow and over what surfaces. Wet, slushy snow can be miserable to remove with a small snowblower and it seems we've been getting more and more of that kind of snow.

The worst headache, though, is using a snow blower on gravel driveways. Be sure to pick up plenty of extra shear pins and be prepared to learn how to get in and clear out stones when things lock up.

Our main snowblower is a Troybilt, two-stage (a must) with a 30" chute powered by an OV 357cc motor with electric start (big plus). It's rated to clear 18" of snow depth and it's done exactly that. We also have a smaller, less powerful blower that we use as a backup of for small areas, but we learned the hard way not to depend on the small stuff as our main blower.

Last year, Bill decided to go with an ATV and a plow and it works great, but we still need to use the snowblower along the edges as the snow builds up on the sides of the driveway over the course of the winter.

[dave77]

With gravel driveways you'll want to set the skid shoes to leave a little snow, once the snow packs in and freezes you can probably lower it some. Might need to get some traction sand to spread if it gets too icy. If your grass is fairly level you can also use the blower on it, I made trails all the time on the playground when I was working, grass might look a little ragged come Spring but it will recover pretty quickly. Also need to carry a short stick when your blowing wet, heavy snow as the discharge chute will clog up, get a couple of cans of snowplow wax and occasionally spray the chute and the augers, it will help a lot. Also depending on the design of your shear pins you may be able to just use cheap Grade 2 bolts instead of expensive factory shear pins, that's all we ever used at the schools.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=snow+plow+no ... doa-p_2_15

[GeoBoy]

Good for you Gene, Simplicity makes a great snowblower and the Velocity throwing system, formerly Power Boost, works fantastic.

[Sir Henry]

Thanks all for the comments. This is going to be a learning experience for me as I have a 300 yard uphill driveway to keep clear. The previous owners who were in their 80’s sold because they were not able to keep the driveway clear and were snowed in several times and had to have the county dig them out. They are now my neighbors.

Most of my neighbors are in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Since I’m one of the younger at 73 I help them out doing small chores and errands for them. I moved here knowing no one and was adopted as one of them. It’s nice to draw from their wisdom of living here all their lives. Many were born here.

[Hatchdog]

If your rear tractor blade has the mounts you could use a shoe like the attached. This helps with plowing on gravel but they will still dig into the gravel somewhat. I let my gravel driveway get a layer of compacted snow before I start plowing it so I don’t move all the gravel to the side. I understand you have that long uphill to deal with.

https://www.drpower.com/Power-Equipment ... 0000338690

[Sir Henry]

If your rear tractor blade has the mounts you could use a shoe like the attached. This helps with plowing on gravel but they will still dig into the gravel somewhat. I let my gravel driveway get a layer of compacted snow before I start plowing it so I don’t move all the gravel to the side. I understand you have that long uphill to deal with.

https://www.drpower.com/Power-Equipment ... 0000338690

It’s has skid shoes built in. It came at the lowest height and I’ll adjust it to the highest before using it.

73E6DB6A-B68E-41D9-9CBC-F10BABA08151.jpeg (138.18 KiB) Viewed 1065 times

This is where the gravel problem will be. The long driveway has much smaller gravel and shouldn’t be a problem.

0635A712-F52C-44B6-81F9-7BCB0F8023EA.jpeg (257.71 KiB) Viewed 1065 times

It has heated handles.

3BAF98FD-B0E0-44A5-B8DE-C91E2EBE3DC1.jpeg (397.48 KiB) Viewed 1065 times

[GeoBoy]

Oh Gene, better yet you bought the top of the line the Pro 2132, nice. Definitely raise the skid shoes all the way up for gravel until you get a nice snow base.

[Hatchdog]

If your rear tractor blade has the mounts you could use a shoe like the attached. This helps with plowing on gravel but they will still dig into the gravel somewhat. I let my gravel driveway get a layer of compacted snow before I start plowing it so I don’t move all the gravel to the side. I understand you have that long uphill to deal with.

https://www.drpower.com/Power-Equipment ... 0000338690

It’s has skid shoes built in. It came at the lowest height and I’ll adjust it to the highest before using it.
73E6DB6A-B68E-41D9-9CBC-F10BABA08151.jpeg
This is where the gravel problem will be. The long driveway has much smaller gravel and shouldn’t be a problem.
0635A712-F52C-44B6-81F9-7BCB0F8023EA.jpeg
It has heated handles.
3BAF98FD-B0E0-44A5-B8DE-C91E2EBE3DC1.jpeg

Yeah those built in skid shoes are wonderful. My neighbor uses his on the gravel and he had extensions welding on for additional height. I was more referring the the rear blade on your tractor. I wasn’t sure if you were planning on using the blower on the driveway or the tractor. Nice to have options and it looks like your set up very well.

[dave77]

If your rear tractor blade has the mounts you could use a shoe like the attached. This helps with plowing on gravel but they will still dig into the gravel somewhat. I let my gravel driveway get a layer of compacted snow before I start plowing it so I don’t move all the gravel to the side. I understand you have that long uphill to deal with.

https://www.drpower.com/Power-Equipment ... 0000338690

My Cub Cadet plow has similar shoes, a lot better on my gravel driveway and lawn than the rectangular shoes that were on my Craftmans plow.