We got our first significant snow this morning, so I hooked up the backblade and plowed. For some reason, the snow really didn't want to go off to the side despite the angle on the blade. It preferred to stick to the blade and make a snow mountain behind the tractor. This made plowing this morning take twice as long. Now that I'm done, I'm gonna go and chip off all the ice and snow. But I'm thinking that there has to be something I can put on the blade that will make ice not stick to it. Any suggestions?
For some reason, I think spraying with wd-40 or a PAM type cooking spray may help. Sorta forgotten memory from hearing something when I lived in Colorado. AngieM2
Paul- By chance was the blade in the sun before you started using it, or somewhere it may have been a little warmer than everything else? I've noticed on my shovel (yes, I know there's a little bit of difference between a shovel and a tractor blade), if it's a little warm (from being in the sun or on the back porch) when I start, snow seems to stick to it. If it was buried in a snowbank (as cold as the rest of the snow), it seems to work better. Or was it the other way around?? Other than that, a good shot of Pam spray, or maybe fill a garden sprayer with some light oil and lube it up before you start? John (64 degrees and sunny here in Pennsylvania, otherwise I'd go out and do an experiment to help you out!)
Yep, I was just readin' about your 11" in the paper. I'm about 100 miles north of you and we just got a skiff, less than an inch...weird huh? I imagine it is a pretty wet snow, so the garden sprayer is a good idea using plain old diesel fuel.
We have about five inches. It sounds like the temperation won't go over freezing for a while and more snow is expected. So it seems the smart thing to do is to clear what there is now and get ready for more. I got most of the ice and mud off of the blade with the help of an old screwdriver and a propane torch. The pam idea sounds the best, although I'm kinda thinking I should get the surface a bit cleaner first ...
How about ordinary car wax? If waxing your shower walls (only the walls, NEVER THE FLOOR!) makes it sheet off, wouldn't it work here? We Texans don't know didly 'bout snow though . . .
PAUL check with your local farm supply and ask for SLIPPLATE it is a graphite based material used on the inside of gravity flow wagons ect. to make the grain flow smoothly.
We get alot of snow here. Ive never had that problem with my snow plow, but when we get about three feet of snow on the roof I find myself up there shoveling for the next four hours. It is made alot harder because the snow sticks to the shovel. So I started trying things. It was my experience that oils like Pam helped for awhile but didnt stay with it to long. Next I tried candle wax. It worked realwell, but you had to heat up the shovel to melt the wax, which is easy on a shovel, not so easy on a snow plow. I think I would try the car wax. At work we use the SLIPPLATE on a woodchip bin it seems to help but would be a bit spendy as compared to wax. I hope my ramblings may be of some help.
Paul, You are right in that you should clean up the blade before applying any lubricant. And, any lubricant will do. Also as mentioned, if the blade is warm for some reason build up will occur. YMMV
Waxing skiis keeps snow from sticking to them, might try going over the blade with a block of parrafin. Eric
