Ron Horwitz wrote:
> Do the snow plows that attach to riding
> mowers work effectively or are they worthless?
Worthless. In a big snow you won't be able to move at all, and after
about two or three small snows, you won't be able to put the snow
anywhere because you'll be hemmed in by the banks made by the first two
snows. You need a snowblower to throw it over the banks.
(a week ago, my banks were six feet tall, you can't plough up that
with a lawn tractor... I'm in Ottawa, but Buffalo isn't far away and
with lake-effect it can be worse)
I have a walk behind 7hp 27" two stage. For my short wide suburban
driveway (three cars wide and two deep) that suits me fine and throws
easily from the middle driveway over the sides.
For a 150' driveway, you'll want more power, because mine only inches
forward during the deepest snows. For me, it just adds 10 minutes, for
you, you'd die of exposure before you finished the first pass.
You'll also want more width, so you don't have so many passes to do.
Translation: Get the biggest walk-behind you can.
Alternatively, pause a year, and get a service contract for the first
year, half your neighbors will have one so ask them. Then decide when
you've lived through it once.
The guys who do it for a living in rural areas usually have big
pickups with hydraulic ploughs. In dense areas like mine, they either
have those and drag the snow out in reverse, or have a flatbed with a
zippy little four wheel drive vehicle with a two stage thrower on the
front, they park at the end of the street and do two or three clients
and then pack up and go away.
--
Trevor Boicey, P. Eng.
Ottawa, Canada, tboicey@brit.ca
ICQ #17432933 http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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