# Dirt blade vs Snow Blade



## Vic Bunn (Jan 21, 2018)

What is the difference between a regular grader type blade and a snow blade. I have a 6' King Kutter blade on the back of my 9N Ford and it works fine for plowing snow, provided it's not too deep. If too deep, it will pile up snow under the tractor. My neighbor won't buy one for plowing snow because King Kutter doesn't sell "snow blades". My understanding between the two is that snow blades have lighter blades & frames than "dirt" blades. Are there other differences?


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## pogobill (Jan 31, 2012)

I didn't know there was a difference. What you say does make sense, but I've only referred to them all as "back blades". If your neighbour thinks he needs a different blade for clearing snow, he's got more money than I got! I think the heavier the build of the blade, the better the quality in my opinion. I have a bargain brand back blade made out of thin light square tube, and after I did a little ditching in the paddock with it, the blade swivel bolt pulled through the frame. I replaced the original washer on the swivel bolt with a cast plumbing flange that's about the same diameter as the frame is wide. I use it now and again for snow these days!


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## Vic Bunn (Jan 21, 2018)

I share your thoughts! I use the Ford for cleanup after plowing 1/2 mile of steep easement with one of my TD-14s. I've told the neighbor that sometimes wet snow sticks to the blade. I believe he thinks that it won't stick to a "snow" blade, even though he has a "dirt" blade clipped to the front end loader on his 34 horse Kubota with no chains on the tires and has said that snow has never stuck to it. He complains that it spins a lot. Duh!


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## DK35vince (Jan 22, 2006)

To me the difference is snowblades generally go on the front of the tractor with skid shoes and trip springs
Never heard of a snow blade made for the rear that was different from the standard rear blade.


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## jhngardner367 (Apr 5, 2011)

DK35vince said:


> To me the difference is snowblades generally go on the front of the tractor with skid shoes and trip springs
> Never heard of a snow blade made for the rear that was different from the standard rear blade.
> View attachment 36864


You are correct.
Also, A dirt blade usually doesn't have as great a curve,and are heavier.
The reason for the trip springs ,is to protect the frame of the tractor from a sudden stop,if you hit something.
As for the back blades most are used as a "draw" blade(pulled,to level with),and spun around,and the tractor driven in reverse,to push snow.
This isn't used,much these days, since many have FELs,or they just have quick - change mounts,to go from one type,to the other.


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## pYLON1357 (Dec 2, 2016)

I have a 6 foot Ford back blade on my B-414. this is what I use to keep my 500+ meter drive way open in the winter. I have never had an issue with it except that when we get a good dumping of snow, I cant clear it with the blade, I have to use my little 4 foot bucket and spend 11 hours clearing snow. 

I had looked for a good used 6 foot blower but too expensive for me. Maybe next year.


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## Vic Bunn (Jan 21, 2018)

pYLON1357 said:


> I have a 6 foot Ford back blade on my B-414. this is what I use to keep my 500+ meter drive way open in the winter. I have never had an issue with it except that when we get a good dumping of snow, I cant clear it with the blade, I have to use my little 4 foot bucket and spend 11 hours clearing snow.
> 
> I had looked for a good used 6 foot blower but too expensive for me. Maybe next year.


Just in case you've never used a blower before and you intend to put it on a tractor (as opposed to a walk behind) make sure that the tractor has a live power takeoff. When you are driving the blower into the snow and a little too much gets into the throat you'll want to stop the tractor but not the blower. If it was to stop, you have to take the tractor out of gear and start the blower up again. Here's where you run a chance of breaking the shear bolt.


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## Guest (Jan 26, 2018)

I've mentioned many times that I grew up with my Dad's 9N. One attachment he had
was a "front mounted" snow plow. I'm pretty sure it was "home made". The blade was so heavy that I always thought it started life on a smallish bulldozer. The blade had a swivel plate attached so it could be swiveled left, right, or straight. This all was raised or lowered by cables looped over pulleys mounted on the front axle with heavy brackets and the cable ran to the 3 point hitch. the back of the frame for this monster was attached at the stabilizer brackets on the rear axle. X cross bracing kept everything in line, more or less.
As a teen living in lake effect snow country, I made mucho bongo bucks with this afterschool and on Saturdays and Sundays, November thru March. It was not heavily curved as modern plows are, but with some sanding, priming, sanding, primer, sanding, and a couple of top coats, it became slick and snow sticking was not a problem.
He had a set of "mud chains" I could put on when dealing with sheet ice, but loaded tires provided adequate traction on snow.
The most serious design deficiency was that the lift cable only gave me a 6" lift with freshly set cables, and in use the cables would stretch (or the cable clamps would slip) and the 6" would deteriorate to 4" or even 3". This left the plow "bottomed out" and the 4" front tires sunk into the snow behind the blade......"STUCK"! Time to shovel and burning daylight.
This was all in the days before 2 out of 3 pickups on the highway were 4 wheel drive with a plow on the front. In the 60's Ford was selling a back blade, quite heavily made and taller than what you see on dealers lots now, and i talked my Dad into buying one of those. Looking back I wish we could have made a front frame and installed an electric winch to lift the front mounted plow......but they were not common
either, and of course, the 9N was 6 volts.
Now, at the juncture of the tidal plain and piedmont regions of North Carolina, the dinky rusty back blade serves as we don't get any snow for 2 or 3 years in a row, and maybe only a few inches in an off year. In 20 years here, we had a foot only once.


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## Vic Bunn (Jan 21, 2018)

Graysonr said:


> I've mentioned many times that I grew up with my Dad's 9N. One attachment he had
> was a "front mounted" snow plow. I'm pretty sure it was "home made". The blade was so heavy that I always thought it started life on a smallish bulldozer. The blade had a swivel plate attached so it could be swiveled left, right, or straight. This all was raised or lowered by cables looped over pulleys mounted on the front axle with heavy brackets and the cable ran to the 3 point hitch. the back of the frame for this monster was attached at the stabilizer brackets on the rear axle. X cross bracing kept everything in line, more or less.
> As a teen living in lake effect snow country, I made mucho bongo bucks with this afterschool and on Saturdays and Sundays, November thru March. It was not heavily curved as modern plows are, but with some sanding, priming, sanding, primer, sanding, and a couple of top coats, it became slick and snow sticking was not a problem.
> He had a set of "mud chains" I could put on when dealing with sheet ice, but loaded tires provided adequate traction on snow.
> ...


We didn't have any kind of plow on our farm in upstate New York growing up in the 40's & 50's. We took the milk cans out to the road or down into the meadow, depending on where the milk truck could get to. We walked the same path from the house to the barn all winter, never vering to the right or left or we would sink. One job my brother & I had after walking a three mile trap line was to stick a shovel into the snow until we hit the outhouse roof. We then would shovel down until we could pry the door open enough to get inside.


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## jwalden (11 mo ago)

What is the difference between a regular grader type blade and a snow blade. I have a 6' King Kutter blade on the back of my 9N Ford and it works fine for plowing snow, provided it's not too deep. If too deep, it will pile up snow under the tractor. My neighbor won't buy one for plowing snow because King Kutter doesn't sell "snow blades". My understanding between the two is that snow blades have lighter blades & frames than "dirt" blades. Are there other differences?


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