Need advice on lawn care and snow removal equipment

In the past I had a 3/4 acre yard and decent sized driveway. I took care of the lawn with a John Deere rider and the snow with a ATV and plow. I got sick of destroying the grass around the edges of the driveway and some years running out of space to put the snow, so I bought an Ariens blower. 2 years ago, I sold all this equipment when I moved to CA. Fast forward a bit and I’m now back in WI and about to close on a house so I need to re-equip. The new house will have a 1.5 acre lawn and a lot more driveway and parking space to plow. I can’t decide if I should go with the Deere rider and an Ariens blower again, or get a rider that I can both mow and blow with. I’ve never used a rider with a snow blower attachment, so I’m not sure how well they work, and how much of a pain it is to switch over from grass to snow. I’d appreciate any insights from others with similar situations.

Thanks!

I’d go compact tractor depending on how much you’re looking to spend. Talk about a handy piece of equipment mow, plow, etc..

I have a John Deere tractor and blower attachment. It works very well for longer stretches of driveway, but not ideal if you have to turn around a lot. I think if you can turn around in the street and come back up, making mostly straight passes it would work well.

My driveway is 750 ft so I use the tractor/ blower for most of the length and then also have a Toro blower to clean up near the house better. But then again, I’m pretty particular about my snow management.

I also bought a 4 wheeler last year, that came with a plow, so I am experimenting with that also. So far, I like the plow for smaller snowfalls, but I don’t think anything can beat the blower for heavy snow years.

Oh – and it usually takes me 45 minutes to an hour to change over. Part of that is I take my time and inspect stuff, clean, ect. Drop the mower deck, have a spot to store it, clean it off. Change blades. Put the blower attachment on, tire chains, weights. I also have a bagger, so I have to deal with that stuff too. LOL.

Compact diesel 4×4 tractor with a 54 inch deck and a front or rear mount blower. One tool to take care of any job you need done, find one with a bucket and get a 3 point receiver hitch and your golden.

I’ve had/have a couple of kubota bx’s. Removal of the mower deck is 3 pins and shaft, rear mount blower is just hooking up a 3 point. Pretty easy.

Prices on lightly used compact tractors vs pricing out new green mowers is surprisingly beneficial considering how much more machine you are getting/available attachments.

Not sure on your budget, but a zero turn will cut your good size lawn in a hurry, then maybe a compact tractor the rest, depending on what you want to do. Northern Tool has a nice 25HP 4WD tractor for $11.500. I bought one 6-7 years back and do all my snow removal and a ton of other things with it.

IMO what this comes down to is how much is it worth to you to do your snow removal from the seat of a tractor?

Gold plated solution would be the compact tractor, for sure. But unlikely that you’ll be happy with that as a mower too, unless you have a lot of wide open mowing with no trees. So a ZTR mower and a compact tractor would be an awesome combo, but at a signifcant cost.

My neighbor has an all-hyrdro Deere garden tractor with a blower and it’s pretty impressive. Much better than the old belt driven models and heavy enough that with chains it doesn’t struggle for traction. But Deere really knows how to charge for this stuff. It’s good, but it’s spendy.

I have never been impressed with the lower end belt driven snowblowers on lawn tractors. Next to useless in wet snow and if you get drifting or deep snow they don’t have the traction. A walk behind would be faster and more effective.

If you think the size of your driveway is doable with a walk-behind, you can move a LOT of snow and throw it a long way with a good Ariens walk-behind. Get the add-on “cab” and it’s not even all that uncomfortable. A 28 or 30 inch machine will clear a lot of driveway quickly. Also, how many times a year would you estimate you’ll actually have to use the blower? 6-9 times per year is what I’d guess I use mine looking at a 5 year average.

Also storage situation may have some impact on what you do.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

IMO what this comes down to is how much is it worth to you to do your snow removal from the seat of a tractor?

Gold plated solution would be the compact tractor, for sure. But unlikely that you’ll be happy with that as a mower too, unless you have a lot of wide open mowing with no trees. So a ZTR mower and a compact tractor would be an awesome combo, but at a signifcant cost.

My neighbor has an all-hyrdro Deere garden tractor with a blower and it’s pretty impressive. Much better than the old belt driven models and heavy enough that with chains it doesn’t struggle for traction. But Deere really knows how to charge for this stuff. It’s good, but it’s spendy.

I have never been impressed with the lower end belt driven snowblowers on lawn tractors. Next to useless in wet snow and if you get drifting or deep snow they don’t have the traction. A walk behind would be faster and more effective.

If you think the size of your driveway is doable with a walk-behind, you can move a LOT of snow and throw it a long way with a good Ariens walk-behind. Get the add-on “cab” and it’s not even all that uncomfortable. A 28 or 30 inch machine will clear a lot of driveway quickly. Also, how many times a year would you estimate you’ll actually have to use the blower? 6-9 times per year is what I’d guess I use mine looking at a 5 year average.

Also storage situation may have some impact on what you do.

Grouse

Grouse is pretty close on his estimates on snowfalls. I plow snow commercially and 10 to 12 is the average plows per winter here in SW Wi. Some of those are maybe an inch where a blower probably is a waste of time. A blade or a shovel would be quicker and cleaner. A compact tractor has as many attachments as you care to buy. Blade, mower, blower, tiller, bagger, etc you get the idea. Only problem is switchover time.

I’m not into storing and maintaining all these engines, etc. Get a good ZTR mower and hire out your snowplowing. We have a guy for $25 a time. Usually runs about $200/year. I know I know over X number of years a snow thrower will pay for itself based on that number, but then you have to be home, have to do the work, and maintain and store the damn thing.

Skip the snowblower!

Eight years ago, when I retired up North, I bought a 1995 John Deer 178, with a 38″ Blower and a Mower Deck for about $1800 off of Craigslist. The swap over is about 30 minutes each way.

Over the years I have spent about $200 on belts and misc. part. My property sounds a lot like your original property.

The tractor works great cutting grass and moving snow over 4″ (there is a learning curve).

My wife likes the yard to look like a park and the driveway clean.

I have a small 2 cycle walk behind blower I use for 2 to 4 inches of snow and a high power back back leaf blower I use for anything less.

“A happy wife is a happy life” – Lets Fish