I was just wondering about how long it takes all you snow plowers out there to plow a single driveway. Now I know all driveways are different, but for the average neighborhood driveway(50feet?) how long does it take you from start to finish. I've never actually timed my self, but i'm guessing you could do 5 or six driveways an hour including the time it takes to collect the money. I was just curious because i wonder how efficient my methods are. Thanks for any info

 

Well let me start by saying there are many variables that need to be addresed such as the depth of the snow , wether it is a light snow or a heavy snow and so on and so on. Plowing snow is an art form as far as Im concerned. I have a friend who has been plowing snow for years and I honestly beleive I could shovel some of the driveways he does by hand faster than he does with his pickup truck, he has no organized plan when he starts a job he just flys into it like a madman. But just for the sake of things lets supose you have a driveway 100 feet deep by 20 feet wide which is typical for my area. Look at the drive from the road and figure out where people and vehicles have to travel in the given space. The snow has to be moved to an area where it will not create problems later, usually as far away from the dwelling as possible. Remember that it will probably snow again and push it back as far as possible. Also be considerate of the neighbors and dont pile it up where it will be a pain in their ***. What I usually do is open up a center down the middle of the drive with my plow angled away from the house. When I reach the end I turn around and come back out pushing back the opposite side and so on and so on untill the main part of the drive is cleared this saves time and ellimninates re anling the plow, thus saving time. When that is done i clean up any extra areas such as sidewalks and in front of garage doors and mailboxes. The big thing here is to plan your next move before your done with the one your doing. Kind of like playing pool. Beleive me 60 seconds of planning can cut the time spent plowing conssiderably and make for a much better looking job. My grizzly can move a hell of alot of snow very quickly and clean up better than any pickup I ever owned. And people really appreciate the thorough job it does. Plus they usually feel sorry for you out there freezing your *** off and invite you in for Coffee. Good luck and I hope this information helped Hambone.

 

I agree with hambone, planning is definitely a must. There is however a difference in plows as well. I use a 60" MOOSE County plow which makes a real big difference for banking and plowing in deep snow. We just got over 2 feet of snow in 2 days. My driveways total approx. 2000 feet x 20 feet wide and I have 2 turn around areas of about 50' x 100', so planning is a must or you'll do twice as much work. For driveways I will make one run up the center with the blade straight, then angle off each side evenly. We get too much snow to angle everything to one side.
I have some snow plowing tips on my website ATV Zoneunder tech tips.
Ohhh and Have a blast.

 

I totally agree with hambone and bigred... It truely depends on the size of the plow and the thickness of the snow, but it also depends on the size ATV that you will be useing... If you have a 300cc ATV with a 60" plow on it, it will probably take you a bit long due to the extra weight that the ATV has to push around with less power getting to the tires. Where as, if you have a 600cc ATV with a 60" plow it probably wont make a ton of difference. Also, a good extra to buy (or make) when you get your plow is a good set of chains. If you have good tires, such as vampires, or mudbugs, or something with good bite, it probably wont make much difference with chains, but if you are running straight stocks, you might want to grab a pair to slap on the tires.
Now there is the debate whether or not you need tires on all fours or not. Now if (for some wierd reason) you are useing a 2x4 to plow with, you would only need chains for the back tires, due to the fact that the front tires do nothing but steer, and the chains would just add extra resistance. A friend of mine has a 300 explorer 4x4, and was going to put just chains on the back tires. I told him he should go with all four tires being chained. I feel that chains really aren't that much money when you compare them to the price that you probably paid for your ATV, so I would go all the way with four sets.

WOW, I GOT WAY OFF SUBJECT, LOL LOL LOL.... Sry about that fellas'...
But anyway, maybe it will help you with time in the long run!!!

-Have fun, and keep all fours on the ground...

-LOng live the king, baby!
-2000 King Quad
-97 honda 300 4x4 (plow, four sets of chains)
check out my web page and some other good links at
http://atvmudbog16450.tripod.com/atvpower/

 

I dont think the chains are a big prob on a 4x4, hence i have a kingquad myself with a a 60 inch moose plow and i dont have a prob pushing the white stuff around at all. As a matter of fact I can get my drive done with just 3 pushes, I just choose to play a bit with it. I did 4 drives yesterday and it only took me 20 mins max.