Plows on Lawn tractors?

13 years ago

SO who plows here? I notice on the youtuber they all recomend chains. I was wondering who may own the sears plow? a few locals are unloading some and curious about the quality. I figured I could rig up something to make it fit my john deere L111. The John Deere model is a bit pricey.
Cheers

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Comments (3)

krnuttle
13 years ago
I believe that any ground engaging equipment should not be used on a lawn tractor. The extra stain of the load on the transmission can cause significant damage.

As I understand what you want to do would place a significant load on the transmission.
rustyj14
13 years ago
By all means, don't send a boy out to do a man's job! The current advertising gimmick, advertising a Garden tractor, is just that. Still belt driven, still only a grass cutter, still not strong enough to use for snow plowing! You might be able to plow several incches of snow, without damage, but heavy snow will usually be too much for even the current crop of so-called "garden tractors"! JMHO: Rusty Jones
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grass1950
13 years ago
I owned the Sears 42" blade. Bought it with the purchase of a Craftsman DYS 4000 24hp/hydro/T10 lawn tractor. I prefer plowing to snowblowing as I end up wearing less snow and get a cleaner drive. The plow is not heavy duty. Even slight ramming with the plow will bend the mount. Chains are a must and wheel weights are recommended. You will not be able to push a full blade bite more than a distance of 20-30 feet if snow is over 1 to 2 inches deep of medium wet snow. Steel chains will tear up the surface of the drive. Rubber chains will protect the drive surface but they are only about 60% as effective as steel chains and will cost about $125.
Can it be done? With proper planning, yes. I even plowed 14" of snowfall off 1800 sq ft of driveway. Took almost 4 hours, but I did it.
I did this for 2 seasons. Both seasons we got below average snowfall. I no longer own the tractor as I could tell the plowing was too much for the transaxle. I could tell by the change in the sound/pitch that it was under stress and it was not worth ruining a perfectly good mower just to plow. I replaced it with a much larger, much more expensive scut just so I could plow without problems. Bottom line, I would not recommend plowing with a lawn tracotr and although I have no personal experience to base this on, except for extrapulation, I doubt that most hydro "garden tractors" would be able to handle it without damage to the tranny either (maybe a serviceable K70+?). Much more bang for the buck to keep the lawn tractor for mowing and buy a two stage snowthrower for winter. If my back and knees were better, that's the route I would have gone.