Somebody had several of these on eBay last winter: A fairly traditional (yet small) snow plow mounted on a single axel with a lawnmower-like handle bar. No power, you just push the thing along and take passes at your snow; it shoves it all off to the side. Anyway, now I can't find any anywhere. Anyone remember this? Anyone ever tried one of these? Anybody think I'm nuts?
...or even cheaper, like the one I have.
Thanks Rich! That sure looks like what I'm looking for. In about two months I find out how well it works!
The maker isn't nuts, the buyers probably are. I have moved a lot of snow over the years. It takes power to move much. A walk behind like that isn't going to move anything except an inch or two of dry, powdery snow. Looks to me like another of those things you find cluttering up storage space with years of dust on them.
Harry K
Wow, you guys must not get much snow.
Not every snowfall is a blizzard. Here in NY, we get snowfalls of 1" or less at times. There's no sense pulling out the snowblower and wasting gas for those times. Even when the snowfall is greater, you still need a shovel to clean up places where the snowblower won't reach.
if this is what i think it is, they dont work any better than a show shovel. if the snow is light enough that you could just push it out of the way, the shovel will work and you dont need a special tool. if its too thick to just push it through, you need a shovel to move it out of the way once you get a pile anyway, hence you dont need it.
in short, imho, useless.
randy
The problem with a standard snow shovel is, you end up having to lift and throw snow. I have one of those big wide push-shovels and it works pretty good, but since it's square-angled you just wind up making a bigger and bigger pile in front of you. If the blade were angled like a plow it would (in theory) shove the snow off to the side with each pass, never moving a LOT of snow each time. Kinda like a side-discharge lawn mower, working from the center and always blowing out. Now how this works in the real world, I have no idea, but it SOUNDS good.
Also, we might get a foot of snow in a single drop, but you can always go out a couple of times as it's falling and knock it back.
after 2-3 passes you end up with a big pile of snow to move. just like a side discharge mower starts to bog down once it hits a few passes worth of grass clippings on the lawn, you have to move all the snow from the first passes plus the new snow. so each pass = more snow to move at once.
i think its easier just to work across the driveway sideways and push it straight to the edge to begin with instead of working the direction of the driveway trying to angle the snow...
this is just my opinion...
randy
And after the first snow fall you are stuck as you have no room to 'push' any more snow so it is resort to the shovel anyhow.
Harry K
well i got lots of room on the side so i dont have that problem.. i just push it a ways off and leave room for later. if you dont have room, it wont work very well..
randy
Or even cheaper...
I use a 30" or 36" 1x10, that I put a "handle" on (just a 2x4) and some braces. I cut the 2x4 at an angle and attached the 1x10 so it's perpendicular to the driveway, when I'm pushing snow. Add a couple of braces and you've got yourself a snow pusher. And assuming these are scrap wood peices, it's pretty dang cheap!
Depending on the consistency of the snow, I can push up to 2 inches of snow and have my driveway cleared in a matter of minutes. If it's just a dusting (inch or less), it works fantastic! Or, I can push it into a pile and have the kids "scoop" the pile off to the side. They think it's fun!
It looks a little like this (from the side):
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