A Guide to Choose a Snowplow or Snowblower for Your Driveway

The 2009-2010 winter was probably the worst winter season we've seen in the eastern US since the 1970's. If you are like me, you are thinking about an easier way to get rid of the snow on your driveway.  This year, you will be ready for the snow with a snowplow or snow blower. But which one is right for you and which one should you get? In this hub I will show you the choices I've discovered and how each one has advantages and disadvantages. For the record, my driveway is about 900 ft. long and is on a hill. A rather steep hill at that. This past spring, we paved our driveway to make it easier to clear it when we get snow. There have been other advantages of having a paved driveway, but so far, clearing the snow has been the biggest!

The problem with clearing a gravel driveway is that you can never get all the snow off.  But, if you do get all the snow off, you end up with piles of gravels everywhere when the snow melts.  Not to mention you scrape the gravel off your driveway, and have mud spots that make a mess.

Not only will paving your driveway be beneficial in the winter, it will add value to your property, make it easier on vehicles to drive on, and keep erosion at a minimum. 

Determining if you should use a snowplow or snow blower depends on how much snow you will be clearing and how deep it will be. A snow blower works well when you are clearing a smaller driveway and tight spaces. I have cleared a large parking lot with a snow blower when there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground and it took about 2 hours. The same job could have been done with a snowplow in about 10 minutes.

However, I also had to clear sidewalks and a snowplow would have been too big. Also you must consider that snow blowers have the ability to clear deep snow better than a lawn mower with a snowplow. Especially when snow drifts.

A lawnmower can remove some snow when using a snowplow.  It all depends on how deep the snow is, the angle of the snow blade (angles or straight), if the tractor has chains and weights, and how big the mower is. 

Adding chains to your tires will help a lot, and adding weights to the back of the mower will help hold traction as well.  However, remember that when pushing snow straight, a mower will not be able to push much.  Therefore it will be better to angle your blade like the guy in the video on this page does.

Also, it is quite hard on a lawn mower when pushing snow.  It can handle it, but just don't overwork your mower. 

My solution for this year is to purchase a 4x4 ATV and get a plow attachment to go with it.  I could use a ATV on my land and will use it for more things than just plowing snow.  Having a 4X4 ATV is the key element though when you are pushing snow. 

We have 2 2X4 four wheelers on our farms that have a hard time going up a hill in more than 4-5 inches of snow.  We also had a Polaris 4X4 several years back that would go anywhere in 12 inches of snow. 

My plan is to get a plow I can angle and move with a pretty decent amount of speed down my driveway, throwing the snow to the side.  An ATV is much faster than a lawnmower, and I don't want to spend all morning before going to work clearing my driveway.