Sidewalk Arsenal

[Rat_Power_78]

Whats everyone's preferred equipment choice for sidewalk work, specifically in tighter areas? What have you found to work well, and what was unsuccessful? Looks like I will be adding more sidewalks this year than I have done in the past, so Im looking for peoples opinions.

[IC-Smoke]

a shovel!




I use a BX24 Kubota with the backhoe removed which works pretty good! it can stack the snow and has enough grunt to push back packed piles if needed. Also comes in handy when you have to remove snow piles from tight spots and dump in a dump trailer.

[Triple L]

John Deere 3720 with front mount snowblower and epoke drop salter

[MIDTOWNPC]

Atv with 60" blade works great.

[RLM]

We currently use walk behind blowers & shovels. I have (and still have) used ATV's as well. ATV was great for long straight walks once you had tighter areas the manuferablity was an issue. For the walks we currently do our setup works well. I've tried to cut back on walks, as a primarily snow company i have a tough time staffing a sidewalk crew.

[ANA Proscapes]

We use 32" snow blowers and shovels and back breaking labor. Plus we keep all of our side walk crews in box trucks so all there equipment and ice melt stay dry. We do mostly condos and small commercial properties so this works well for us. But I have been lookin at a Hugh sidewalk only contract and I've been lookin in to using ventracs for it. Any feed back on the ventrac?

[Maclawnco]

got a z-plug recently and also got the snow plow. Have a zero turn atv plow with hydro spreader. Should do well but cant confirm.

[Rat_Power_78]

I like the idea of using a box truck for transport-we use one for our Landscape crew and its like having a shed on wheels. Definetly makes sense for a sidewalk crew. For those of you using an ATV with a blade, do you run into any issues with running out of room and needing to push back piles on heavy snow years? To those using a bucket, do you get any resistance from your clients? There are a few places here that wont let you use a bucket on sidewalks for fear of damage to the sidewalks, lawn, sprinkler heads, etc.

I'm not real thrilled with taking on any sidewalks. Call me lazy if you want, but I prefer to work smarter not harder which usually means using equipment as much as possible.

[ANA Proscapes]

I'm not a big fan of sidewalks either, but it's around $70,000 bid and it's a 3 yr contract. Kinda hard to pass it up.

[Glenn Lawn Care]

A shovel or snow blower. If the sidewalk is big enough I will put my truck on it.

[born2farm]

We primarily use single stage blowers and shovels. Since I purchased some of The Snowplow shovels I find my guys using them the most. I also have an ATV with a 50in blade and wings that make it almost 70in. It rarely gets used.

[Rat_Power_78]

Originally Posted by ANA Proscapes

I'm not a big fan of sidewalks either, but it's around $70,000 bid and it's a 3 yr contract. Kinda hard to pass it up.

Damn... That must be a lot of sidewalk...

[ANA Proscapes]

Originally Posted by Rat_Power_78

Damn... That must be a lot of sidewalk...

Sure is. There's multiple properties. Most of them are large in size but are close to each other. I have a plan for it if we get it.

[dunlaps lawncare]

snow blowers and shovels but then again i also have the snowplow shovels

[Bossman 92]

For you guys using the snowplow shovels, how do you like them and what size do you guys run?

[born2farm]

Originally Posted by Bossman 92

For you guys using the snowplow shovels, how do you like them and what size do you guys run?

I run a couple of the 28in pushers. I think it was a promotional size you could get for a while. They may still have them. I know they make a 30in now. I'm probably going to pick up some of the 36in Snowplow Shovels for a new account with some wide open walks. Much quicker then blowers on light snow.

[merrimacmill]

Originally Posted by born2farm

I run a couple of the 28in pushers. I think it was a promotional size you could get for a while. They may still have them. I know they make a 30in now. I'm probably going to pick up some of the 36in Snowplow Shovels for a new account with some wide open walks. Much quicker then blowers on light snow.

Do you find that they are hard to push due to how wide they are? I've only heard great things about them, and am considering the purchase of a bunch of them. I am debating if I should buy some wider for real light snows, and some narrower for the average/heavier snows.

[born2farm]

Originally Posted by merrimacmill

Do you find that they are hard to push due to how wide they are? I've only heard great things about them, and am considering the purchase of a bunch of them. I am debating if I should buy some wider for real light snows, and some narrower for the average/heavier snows.

We have never had an issue with them being hard to push. We use them up to about 5in, that's when I usually see the guys grabbing the blowers. Most of our sidewalk heavy accounts are zero tolerance or 1in trigger so heavy snow accumulation is rarely an issue. In the past we used the wide steel blade shovels and I will never go back. These are much lighter in turn making them quicker to use. Plus they will not ruin your day if you hit an uneven part of a sidewalk...if you know what I mean. These shovels are the best money I have spent on my sidewalk crew. I dont think you will be dissapointed.

I do not know what size walks you deal with, but I think the 28in is as small as I would go for all around use. Maybe some 36 or 48's for the larger properties. If you look on there site, look under "specials". They still have 28in shovels listed as a new size. Not sure if that offer is still available, but for $10 less than the 30in I think I'd go that route. To me another 2in isn't worth $10.

[ryde307]

We switched to snow plow shovels last season. Well worth it. The are not good at deep snow but that is what we use the blowers for.

For smaller snow amounts up to 3-4" they are fast. We have 28"s and 30"s I believe and alot of time wish for bigger. I would get a mix 2 guys on a crew would get 2 30's 1 larger and 2 blowers something like that.

[dunlaps lawncare]

i love them