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Like I said last week, I don’t like unitaskers – tools that have only one purpose. Some of them are unavoidable; others can be turned into something more useful by adding to them just a bit. My Huskee LT42 lawn tractor was essentially useful during Spring, Summer, and early Autumn. By adding a lawn sweeper last year, I was able to keep from parking it until late Fall or early Winter. This year, I added the MTD 46-inch snow blade, extending my tractor’s usefulness to all year-round.

Acquisition and Assembly

Getting a hold of the snow blade was simplicity itself – I looked it up on Amazon and ordered it. With our Prime membership, it arrived pretty quickly. Then came the more difficult part: I had to move it, mildly torn box and all, from the front porch down into the shop. At almost 70 pounds, getting the somewhat unwieldy carton down to the shop wasn’t the easiest thing to do all week. It wasn’t terrible, though.

Like anyone else with a “some assembly required” acquisition, I inventoried the parts. I found that one of the carriage bolts that attaches the skids was, of course, missing. I rarely get anything with all the right parts included – do you? Maybe it’s just my luck. A quick trip to the local hardware store later, I had a replacement.

Assembly wasn’t very difficult. The instructions were clear – the only thing I had to really figure out was how the plow attaches to the front of my particular brand/model of mower. Instructions helped, but only after I had an idea which of three options to try. Bolted the bracket to the plow, attached the bottom half of the handle, and that was about it. After adding two bolts to the front of the tractor, I was in business.

That was all about a month and a half ago…the real test came when we actually had some snow on the ground!

Attaching and Using

Attaching the snow blade on a cold morning was surprisingly easy. The attachment points make it easy; hang the bracket on the two bolts, lift the front of the bracket a bit and pivot the spring-loaded pins into their appropriate mounting points. I store the blade with the upper half of the handle detached, so once the plow is mounted I add the upper handle and raise the blade. After manually setting the plow to a 25-degree angle, I’m ready to get started (if I have the tire chains handy).

I’m impressed – it was easy to assemble, does a good job, and is easy to use. I’m glad I invested in this tool. My friends say it looks like I’m riding a toy when I’m running it, but I don’t mind.

Maybe it’s the newness of the blade; maybe it’s because I’m still enjoying winters and all they entail, but I enjoy clearing off the driveway.