Snowblowing with the John Deere 2320 has revolutionized how we take care of our property in the winter. Recently we had a heck of a storm. By that, I mean we got over 36″ of snow in the span of a week. 24″ of that came within 48 hours. The John Deere 2320 tractor with the 47″ front mount snowblower was up to the task.
We bought this tractor late last winter. The catalyst was another big storm that completely buried our driveway. Over 36″ of snow combined with drifting caused massive problems for us.
Even though we have a plow truck, it was not able to punch through the snow. There was simply too much volume. Or maybe I’m just not a good enough plow operator. Either way, we had to hire a CAT loader to come dig us out – to the tune of a $600 bill.
So we decided to shell out for this John Deere 2320 with a soft sided cab and a front mount 47″ snowblower. Ideally, I had wanted a larger tractor with a factory hard sided cab. But a tractor like that would have cost double what we paid; we just couldn’t afford it.
How did the John Deere 2320 do?
This storm was forecasted well in advance. We had prepared and gotten extra fuel for both the tractor and the plow truck. Bre left early for work so she wouldn’t get stuck driving in the snow. It’s a good thing she did too because they ended up closing a lot of the roads.
After nine hours of plowing I ended up getting the plow truck stuck. That’s a euphemism really because I completely buried it. It was snowing so hard that I couldn’t even see the driveway. By the time I was able to run back to the house there wasn’t any point to trying to shovel it out or even drag it out with my truck.
I abandoned it.
I then turned to our new “toy” to see how it would fare. At that point, the snow was coming down hard but it was still manageable. A few inches at a time. I made about six passes, but every time I finished one I had to start again.
I quickly realized that since the snow was forecasted to continue for another 12 hours I would run out of fuel, and then we’d be in big trouble. I made the scary decision to shut it down for the night, let the snow come, and try to get out in the morning.
Bre called me in the morning after her shift ended, and I told her my plan was to wait until the snow was done before I attempted to get out. She had to resort to sleeping at work for the weekend as it took me the entire day to make our driveway passable.
The first pass out to the road took two hours. Every subsequent pass got easier, but it was still time-consuming as the snow was over two feet deep!
In all, it took me around 8 hours to clean up the driveway.
Here are my takeaways
First, this tractor did impressively well. I thought that a tractor this size would have a much harder time moving that amount of snow. It performed exactly as I had hoped it would.
Secondly, we need new tires. The main issue I had was traction control. While it does have differential lock and independent braking to assist steering, what slowed me down the most was simply the fact that I could not move the snow fast enough (as simple as that sounds).
I had to keep the tractor moving at a snail’s pace, for if I stopped to let the blower catch up, then the tires would spin out and I’d have to back up and start again. If I went too fast, the blower would just bog down. Often times, I’d have to raise the blower up to clear the top half, and then repeat for the bottom.
All that said, I am extremely happy for this purchase. It exceeded my expectations and were it not for a few things I would be completely happy with this going forward.
So, what’s our plan?
In a perfect world, we’ll pay off this tractor and trade it in for a larger one with a factory cab. We still use the plow truck to clean the majority of the snow. The snowblower and the tractor are used for deep snow, such as this storm, and to clean up the edges of the driveway from encroaching.
Going forward, I don’t know how many more years of service we’ll get out of the plow truck. It is in rough shape. Instead of having to invest in another piece of equipment to maintain, I’d prefer to have one tractor that’s stuited for both tasks – plowing and snow blowing.
In order for us to plow with the tractor, I think we need a larger one for more weight and more horsepower to move the snow. Also, since we plow much more often than snow blow, it would probably suit us better to have a front mount, hydraulic plow and a rear, three point snowblower.
And lastly, it’s probably selfish but I really want to have a factory, hard-sided cab. While our soft sided cab does a decent job of retaining the heat from our little heater, I still get cold. It sure would be nice to stay warm. I mean, if we’re going to upgrade let’s go all out, right?!
That said, I still don’t know if upgrading and spending that kind of money is the prudent thing to do. As I mentioned in a previous post, my goal is to earn enough money in the next 12 months from all of my side ventures to cover the cost of a new (to us) tractor.
That would be around $25,000. God has helped set us on the right path towards this goal, and I pray for continued success to help us achieve it.