Plowing snow with loader?

P.S. I have tire chains.

In those old books, I've also seen an interesting snow plow concept. Instead of the current practice of just trying to shove the snow to the side, it picked the snow up, and deposited it to the side over the snow already laying there. Essentially, the design was a flat surface like a wood plane blade, to lift the snow up. Then on top of that wood plane blade, you had a splitter that diverted the snow to either side. It apparently comes from snow plowing with horses and drag equipment.

When it's all said and done though, a good snowblower just might be better. If I can get mine going (broken, auction special) this year, I'll find out.

Probably can't 'plow', but you could scoop and dump...

You would be better served with a blade attached to the loader arms.

The guy I got my 8N from tried to use his loader to 'plow' snow and what he did most of the time was sit in the driveway with his rears off the ground spinning. They were loaded with Calcium Chloride and the rears had chains and it still lifted them too high for any real traction.

I have a 6 foot Fischer plow blade that I have rigged for 3-point for pushing backwards, but next year I am planning on attaching it to the Mohawk tube loader that came on her. I will re-attach the cylinders and use the controls that came with the blade and I will have a hydraulic lifting and rotating front snow plow.

I would say that you would be better off with a 16"x4"x6' beam bolted in place of your bucket.

I thought of doing that myself...Hmmm...Cheap and easy...

I have been given mixed advice on snow chains for the rear tires. Some swear they don't do any good with a front loader and snowplowing. Others say the N's are best for back-blading using the 3PTH. What's your "take" on this?

Do you think a Sherman Backhoe on an 850 will provide enough weight and that I really may not need chains? The 850 has a Dearborn tube type loader with a mid cylinder for front tilt.

Funny, how the board discussions are changing with the seasons now. In the spring there's a flurry of clean-up and restore questions. Summer is "my tractor quite runnning on a hot day or, when I was baling or chasing the wife around the yard", and now, in the fall discussions are focusing on winter operations, cold weather starting etc.

I am planning on a full photo documentation of the conversion of the loader.

I took the loader off in the first place due to a weak front king-pin, and everyones advice that the N's are not great as loaders (ie. wicked hard to steer and light rear end). The way I understand it, the weight of the loader is not the problem, but the weight of a full bucket of snow and/or dirt. Even with the rears loaded.
The way I am looking at my upcoming project, I will not be adding any weight to the arms themselves, just trading a blade for a bucket. I am hoping that the fact that I will not be lifting any weight, but just pushing it, will keep my rears and the chains digging. I agree that the scoop and dump method with a loader bucket (even with chains) is slow and a pain, but it can be done.

There was a used electric 7 foot Fischer on the local Radio Fleamarket last weekend for $500 complete, and a 6 foot hydraulic for $250 complete (neither had the bracket for the truck). When I hook mine to the arms, I will not be using the lift bracket (the part that usually stays attached to the front of the truck not the frame part). I will just be using the swing cylinders and the blade itself. I will use the loader cylinders to lift.

My Grandmother used to have a similar setup on a Farmall M. Sure wish I had the live hydraulics...