HELP! Club Cadet 1440 or Plow Truck???
 

Hi all - brand new to the forum. We're moving to Maine (White Mts.) and need snow removal advice. We have a 500' very steep driveway which we'd like to plow ourselves. We have two choices: a pickup truck with plow (an old beater we'd buy that wouldn't even be street worthy and would be used exclusively for plowing) or a small tractor with a snow blower atttachment. We currently have an opportunity to buy a Cub Cadet 1440 with 700 hrs (ca. 1995) in exc. condition that includes a 44" 2-stage snow blower, weights/chains. This tractor is ready-to-go condition, and is 14 hp, hydrostatic drive. Would this be as good or better than a pickup w/plow? Am I making a mistake not getting a 4x4 drive? I am concerned about the steepness of the driveway and the quantity of snow. Is this thing going to be hard for me to learn to operate? I am a total novice, female, and not exactly a youngster (to put it mildly)! Is there a cab available as an add-on for this size tractor?
Anxiously awaiting your two cents - the seller has many interested folks and is "holding" it for us til tonight.
Price is $2175 (also includes 42" mower deck w/3 rear bagging system) - is this fair?
G. Berry

I'll be curious to hear what people familiar with that king of snow have to say. Although I LOVE the old Cubs, I think I'd lean more toward the old beater.... ??

I ended up not getting it, and in fact am now looking for an old but reliable plow truck. Basically my driveway is apparently too steep to handle a small tractor w/o 4wd, even with weights and chains. I guess it's better to find out this stuff before sinking in a lot of money for the wrong thing! Thanks anyhow
G. Berry

A steep 500' driveway in the White Mts of Maine would be too much for a 1440. I plowed my steep 300' drive in CT with my 1210 for years but finally broke down and bought a Kubota BX 2200 with a loader to do the job. Then I built a plow for that. Sold that rig a couple years ago and bought a BX2660 and built a plow for it. Should have done it years ago.

There is not really such a thing as an old reliable plow truck, In my part of the allegheny mts. even new plow trucks are beat pretty bad in four or five years. They go bad a lot faster when you leave them sit. I would be in the market for a good 4x4 tractor with a loader and plow Or at least a back blade because you can only push so much snow so far and occasionally you need the loader to push the piles back or move them elsewhere so you have room to push the next snow.
Buy an older wheel loader or a skid steer with a cab. Al tho they cost a bit more,if you decide it would be a job for someone else they are easy to sell.

o-well
 

When I lived in Montana, My dad's friend plowed with a '70 1 ton Chevy 4x4. This was in the very NW cornner of the state. He even got paid by the county of Lincolin to keep the road we lived on open, called the West Fisher River rd. . Up there the dirt roads turned to ice and if you didnot have tire chains you were helpless. Any hoot, that would have been too much for a snow blower, I would have used the plow.

2150 for a 1440 is outrageous. I would not pay over 1000 for one with a snowblower. I could get a nice Super for that price and put a snowblower on it.