Went to bed last night with bare ground. I haven't measured it yet. I'll guess 2 feet & it is coming down at an alarming rate. Mrs. B has a snow day, shes happier than one of her first graders! Trash can is 4' tall.
WOW!
Whoa! That's a pretty fair amount of snow!
Same monster storm in North East PA. Started yesterday @ ~3:00PM. Got only about 14"...hard to measure tho because the wind really moved it around. Gotta dig out the plow and get to work. Hey Willie B, What was the temp. last nite...got chilly here (~15 degrees)...I bet it was cold up your way...Beautiful today tho, like it always is after a NorEaster!
hey guys, good pictures. i didn't want to add a "like" because i know how much work it is to repeatedly do snow removal around a house/yard/driveway. up here in the Peace River area, we had a lot of bare ground here until 2 days ago, now we're getting more of the white stuff. the temp at 7:30 this morning is -19C (-2F) but its supposed to be warmer next week again
46* and overcast here in FL. Supposed to be sunny and 60 on Saturday. I guess you get used to it but I don't know how you deal with snow and don't care to join you. (insert response) We don't know how you deal with the threat of hurricanes (/insert response) LOL Hurricanes aren't a given in any one area. Snow seems to be a constant up north.
Yea but what's your wind chill? Bob
NH575E...We get the snow and the hurricanes in NJ. Get a little wind from the hurricanes up at my place in PA too. If I wasn't on vacation I would be working to give contractors supplies to help my employer get the lights on from yesterdays storm...I am glad I am on vacation .
We never see snow like that. The last 12" snow we had was in the late 80s. Loved it as a kid, pretty sure I wouldn't love it today. Willie, the amount of snow on your cab makes me chuckle. That is unreal! Do you guys have dedicated plows or will you use your backhoes?
boone, I have a dedicated plow truck that never leaves the property. The backhoe is handy too, especially when I get the plow truck stuck . If we have enough snow, the backhoe will stack it higher, so it will be used. The thing here is, the snow usually doesn't melt, so you need a place to put it.
I looked at some of the snow totals. About an hour by road south of me there is 30" of snow !!! ( Wolfeboro) Only 5" here and I'm good with that !
South Central AK reporting. Light snow accumulation this year, so far. Just enough to cover the dog turds in the backyard.
Here, I ran out of daylight. Up till 2:00PM it was miserable trying to see. Incredible fogging inside the cab. Defrost was NOT doing the job. I clear a neighborhood. I started a goal to clear room for our vehicles by beginning with neighbor driveways. Couldn't seem to accomplish that among the "me first" calls. I was working with 410C on next neighbor's driveway, when Seth came along. He was beside himself! Like me & everyone else, we downplayed this predicted storm. Seth had tried to clear it in Dorset (steep) with a skid steer. It didn't work! His neighbor, effeminate Carol (born male), needed help. While Seth's Fisher Minute Mount plow was here 9 miles away, he struggled with a skid steer on steep sidehill. His mood was not pleasant when he arrived here! He needed help to mount the plow. It is cruel sarcasm to name it "Minute Mount". It will be mounted some minute, usually 65 minutes, and every tool of savagery you can find. By 12:45 PM his plow was mounted. By 12:55 he was stuck!. This is tricky snow. Tire chains are everything. Otherwise, don't let it slip. Traction is OK until a tire slips, polishing the snow. The operative word is GENTLE. We then went to a retired couple. Their furnace blew smoke into the home. They had been cold since 7:00 AM. Their 800 foot driveway remained unplowed. Walking 800 feet through 3' deep snow might kill me, doing it several times to retrieve needed tools for sure, I'd die. Seth got greedy, tried to drive in in one pass. 50 feet into the driveway, he was buried! We shoveled an hour, then went for the backhoe. Got flagged down twice on the way. Today, everyone needed help, even us. Anyway, I did not get my driveway plowed before dark. I have to adjust the yardstick I placed on the deck this morning. Nancy buggered the depth shoveling. Trying to be fair, I'll call it at 34" or two Springer Spaniels high.
Many use pickups with plows. These days, town roads are plowed with pickups. Extreme years, (meaning cold enough that snow doesn't melt) they have to bring in a piece of heavy equipment to move back the snow banks. 10? times in my life we have had snows pickups couldn't plow. Two backhoes got their workouts today! I just posted where an 800 foot driveway near level overwhelmed a GMC 2500 pickup. The backhoe plowed around it, pulled it out, and plowed the driveway & around to the back of the house in 20 minutes. Something special in these storms to have a machine able to dig itself out, move itself sideways, and lift one end of a pickup, and swing it up onto the road. This snow can be like quicksand.
There is actually snow in the forecast for Christmas in CENTRAL ALABAMA.. Now I highly doubt it will happen but what the heck?
You guys have been getting cold and snow in Alberta for a while eh? Here in New Brunswick we have been really lucky. The ground has just started to freeze in the last 2 days. I can still see the top of the grass, or dog turd cover. Been hauling rock for the last 2 days. Our quarry is about half an hour away, and there is about a foot of snow there. Some day I'll have to get a smart phone so I can take pictures for aighead's boulder hunt post.
I said something very much like that last night.
I was thinking 34" would give anything short of a tractor a fit. Bet that stuff sticks around awhile too. Better get your bread and milk. LOL
15 inches here in wyoming county PA....... a bit north and west got hammered. Binghamton NY, 45 miles due north, got 40+ inches. The heavy bands set up a bit more north and west of what they predicted. But no wind on the backside of the storm which is rare here.... that way the roads stay cleared. Spent the morning blowing snow from the neighbors sidewalks....
We were supposed to get 20" but only got about 10". Disappointing. I love snow and enjoy when we get 2 or more feet. I sure miss the central NY winters. I love clearing snow. I find it relaxing an therapeutic.
Growing up in Buffalo, now living 40 miles southeast in wyoming county, still the snow belt depending on how the wind blows off that big puddle we call Erie, we get surprised every now and then...last Big One I got stranded at my mom's house for 3 days...7 feet of snow overnight..good thing I get along with my mom...here in wny as in Willie B's backyard most folks are prepared for this crap..plenty of grub in the freezer, generators or some kind of heaters in case the power quits..I thought it was comical when I escaped from my mom's driveway that last storm,after the state of emergency was lifted and stores were opened, that just about everyone I saw dragging a sled down the newly opened roads were not stocking up on edible provisions, but most sleds were loaded with boxes of beer...some for me and some for the neighbor down the street who couldn't get out...now that's why they call Buffalo the city of good neighbors. Luckily we dodged the bullet this time, but as long as the lake is wide open....hold on to your hat it's coming our way sooner or later...
Grandfather always said, milk and eggs in the barn, molasses in the jug, and lots of flower in the barrel
Snow falling in the US. Pine Cones falling on Oz https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2721374381506390&set=a.1814484185528752
More like whiskey and a generator - gotta have priorities.
I sell generators, but my emergency machine is a Miller Bobcat 250. I start it if the refrigeration needs to catch up. Heat, water, cooking, and sewage don't require electricity. Gas lighting is a fun novelty, like remote camps in my youth. Now, a bottle of good bourbon would be a nice touch, I like ice in it. Dad talked of good everclear he got when training in the south before going to Italy in World War 2. He longed for the stuff. Up here, closest we come is apple brandy made from cider.
You crappin' in an outhouse Willie? Or you have one of them fancy digester systems?
He must have a conventional drain field..?? all gravity flow. Which by the way is the first question on the plumbers test..... answer "crap runs downhill" I just had our prop in NE Pa perk tested. The inspector liked my dirt! Said you can tell a ton about drainage thru soil just by the colors in the soil strata. Ours tested for the smallest sand mound (sq. ft.) you can have.... so my material cost will be lower( which of course is a relative term for sure). I asked him how many will test for a conventional system and he said maybe 2 out of 500. Here in Pa you need 60 inches of good soil for that. I hit bedrock at 30 inches in my test hole...... which I thought was good considering I'm just off the top of a ridge.
Willie B, Would snow work in that bourbon...I mean in a pinch . Believe it or not, we still have everclear in NJ..It is basically 99% alcohol. Gotta be careful with it, it will instantly disintegrate a foam cup, and in 5 min will eat through a wax covered paper cup...good stuff, buts makes people do crazy stuff...LOL In PA they have it too, but is not as high proof. I guess they water it down.
No, no outhouse. I have just a basic system I built. Most of my customers have pumped septic. No electricity, they'd have to use a bucket. One customer is on a lake. The previous owner replaced the septic system, leased land from owner on the other side of the road. Spent about $100,000. He died young, his sister tore down his camp. She built a house. I'll guess it has something to do with planning board in the town, she installed a hybrid toilet. It flushes the liquid, but bags up the ****. Dealing with bags of **** the rest of your life does NOT appeal to me! With all the rules these days what does one do with all the bags?
I used to say **** runs downhill. Now, by state law, it runs uphill, but that isn't the plumber's problem, it's the electrician's.
I believe it mostly gets watered before it is sold. A bit of gunpower on the edge of a plate, a teaspoon of liquor, leaving the powder dry. Light the powder. If it continues to burn with a nearly invisible flame it is over 50% alcohol, or 100 proof. The term proof comes from proving the alcohol content. I have a friend distills it three times, he gets to 160 proof (80% alcohol).
I've read that humanity learned the process of distillation and its use in separating alcohol long before we new how to make soap...... ........ priorities
Well I was wrong...The everclear is only 95% alcohol. Luckily I have a bottle in case the power goes off .
an old bartender here, long retired. He was in the Canadian navy. At one time, we actually had 3 aircraft carriers, the Bonaventure was the last one. He was an airframe tec, or aircraft mechanic. Not sure about today, but the Canadian navy used to let you drink on board ship. I think you were aloud an alotment of black rum a day. He said that when it was your birthday, your friends would gear you up with a bottle under your coat and a funnel. When they were given their cup from the XO, they would shake your hand as they passed by, wish you a happy birthday, and spill their cup into the funnel. Anyway he said one of the rotational duties was to report to the ships Dr and he would give you a stainless steel bowl filled with pure alcohol, to wash down everything in the room. It was your job to save as much as possible to get back to your bunk mates. Anything for a drink I guess. There was an incident where someone took alcohol from the air craft bay, not knowing it was poison, a few sailors died.
cuttin edge, My father-in-law was on the USS Renishaw in WWII. He told me the guys would drink the torpedo juice, which in turn killed them too.
If I lived up there I think I would spring for a fully automated whole house generator. Being down here most of my outages occur in not so cold weather and it's never really bad enough I can't get outside to get it started. I got in before the price increase frenzy and got myself a military surplus MEP 803A. By the time i had it connected to the house with an interlock on the panel I was all in at two grand.
NH575E, WOW, you really stole that unit! When I live full time in PA I plan on an automated whole house unit that runs on propane. They aren't cheap tho! Willy B, You say you install them...Who makes a good one these days? Would you recommend liquid cooled? I will be getting propane because we don't have natural gas here.
I haven't done a darn thing to prep for winter aside from draining certain water lines that are freeze protected. Now that I say that, I'll get burned by it. Suppose I better start getting prepared for winter around here. @Willie B , great pics of the snow. Reminds me of when I lived in the UP. Lots of heavy snow that never melted until April.
Generac is the brand I sell. They make a great machine. They build their own engines optimized for long run time @ 3600 RPM. Briggs is competitively priced, but even regular service requires a good deal of disassembly. They use the same engine used on all sorts of other stuff, I do not consider a great engine. Briggs is vertical, any oil leakage ends up in the generator. I prefer the air cooled twin cylinder Generacs. Liquid cooled are very costly.
Thanks Willie B! When I am ready I will focus on Generac. Don't like the idea of oil leaking into the generator head!
Good pictures! I too have yet to properly prepared for winter snow. This reminds me I might want to think about getting the plows fixed. I haven't needed them for the last four or five years, but now that they are dismantled I might be in for a surprise. I better get to wrenching! PSA don't forget your diesel fuel additive. The fuel they sell in the midwestern states doesn't come with any extra winter additives. Freezing up sucks!
Generac seems popular around here. We don't have access to natural gas here, so they run off propane. we had a bad ice storm here a few years ago, followed by high winds. There were power crews here from all over, even Maine and New Hampshire. Some people were without power for 9 days. We were only 4. Made me miss my wood stove. They sold a boat load of Generacs that spring
Yeah, the spine of the Green Mountains gets SNOW! Last winter they had a major outage. Generators I ordered in October are scheduled to ship in early march. People mostly wait until it is too late, then want to buy. These are NOT like cars where a dealer has a lot full hoping to sell them.
Here ya go Willie ! 190 proof. Maybe they could ship it to a store near you. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Everclear-Grain-Alcohol-750-mL/188219711
Wallmart Online no less! In VT only the state, and a few franchised businesses are licensed to sell distilled alcohol. Beer & wine sellers are everywhere.
Speaking of things Everclear will tear up... I've used it to blow fire before. To do so I put probably less than half a shot in my mouth, hold the lighter out, and trumpet away! Well, I found out that it you do that 2 or 3 times in a row the lining of your mouth sloughs off after a day or two... I guess just burns it away! I need to look into a generator also, but boy do they seem expensive!
Got a bit of prep work done last Sunday for future snow removal. Don't have chains on backhoe yet, but at least the snowblower is ready to go. Bobcat has bucket on and parked in the barn as well. Even got a chance to put driveway edge markers in for the length of my 500ft driveway.
Hey Colson, Is that driveway paved??
Nope. Downhill to the road, all gravel. The feet are set to keep the blower an inch or so off the surface. It still picks up rocks occasionally, just need to be aware of where the chute is aimed. The tractor does really well with the chains on the drives. This is my fifth winter at this house and have used this tractor the entire time. we are in the lake effect snow area so this set up gets used quite regularly. A big plus for me: my wife likes to drive this tractor, and will go blow the driveway out willingly on her own.
I put chains on my little tractor's back tires too, just to be able to slog through the wet, sometimes muddy, grass. It's amazing how well they grip and make it through almost anything. It also helped when we were pulling honeysuckle out.
I bought a 410 2 wheel drive years ago. I reasoned a 14000 LB machine didn't need chains to plow snow. My driveway & all the neighbors have near level driveways. First storm I found myself 50 feet from the driveway, as it is a few feet in elevation lower than the driveway. I decided I was going to do damage, I went out and bought chains.
My 'driveway to be' is all gravel ( 'modified' it's called here)) at present.... had some thoughts of paving the 2 hills I have at some point. I was thinking of a "blower" set up like yours and wondered how it work on the a gravel drive. I will have well over 1000ft to deal with and I'm not sure how well a plow will deal with the surface. Thanks for the insight.
Most of the driveway is 22A spec (stabilizer/shoulder gravel depending on what they call it where you're from). It packs hard, has smaller gravel size in it and holds up quite well. At the top and bottom I have 1.25"- crushed stone mixed in with stabilizer. It drains better so it's not as soggy where we park during the spring thaw. My hill ranges from nearly flat at bottom up to 6.5% right before you crest the top. I do have washouts that form in that area, but the rest of the drive holds up real well. Even in the heaviest snows (over 12"), the tractor makes it through, just at a slower pace. Worst case, the bobcat, or backhoe can break a trail if I really need to. I don't like plowing; end up with too much gravel and sod wherever the snow pile melts. If I had a paved drive, I would definitely plow for the speed of it though.
In my youth the ground was frozen from early December to April 1. No need for shoes on a plow. These days the ground is usually not frozen. I use shoes on a plow, or a loader bucket to plow. I do not push snow past the boundaries of the driveway. Spring thaw, I back drag the driveway material back where it came from. As for hills, research the original Macadam. It was an involved specification of at least 10" depth on native soil. Crushed stone was specified as 2" X 1" X 1". In the day of horseshoes & wagon tires, this mix would get smashed together to form a hard surface. I use "1-3/4" Drainage stone". It works great if drivers use four wheel drive & drive with two wheels in center of a 15' wide travelled portion. Knuckleheads who bounce up a steep hill in two wheel drive, straddling the crown will bugger a nice road pretty quickly.
I watched a landscape company use a three point hitch snowblower in the subdivision next to me. It was quite effective. Similar to this one.
Rear blower is nice, really moves the snow, only problem is the stiff neck from looking backwards the entire time...thought about the front mount conversion kit for the massey 1428...quite pricey,and considering I have 3 hydraulic "snow shovels".I decided to save my loot...
a couple years ago i bought this. its been great! i thought about a 3-point hitch type but my neck and back muscles are old and creaky. i also got a 72" mid-mount mower and a front-end-loader with bucket and also 48" pallet forks. it has sure been handy. when we downsize i am definitely taking it with me
The city here has 2 loader mounted 365hp blowers. I think they move something like 3000 tons an hour. I know they can fill a tandem truck in about 30 second or less. I watched one open the side chute and blow snow out onto the river, quite a site
Very nice! I'm jealous
That's the cat's pajamas...same setup I was considering...gotta say , also a little jealous
This is the first time in 12 years that i will not be doing snow removal. No leaving my phone on at night and expecting a call at 2 am to go plow snow. I push snow in a 150hp tractor with a expanding 8 foot to 14 foot blade and a 108 inch double auger blower with a rotating drum and hydraulic shoot extension for loading trucks. It moves lots of snow. When we really need to move some snow will pull this old one out. It will eat up anything and has a incredibly low cost to run.
Now that's a bad mother, nice for cleaning up around the mail box
Now that is one sweet setup! I would love a cab on my tractor. A slightly bigger setup would be nice, although not essential, but more than once I've wished I had a cab after I got done clearing the drive. Being on top of a hill in the middle of a big field means we get strong winds all year long.
What a machine!!...... I guess you'd need to check snow drifts first?? Certainly tough to see right in front of you. There was a fella broke down or stuck on the side of a road in the southern tier of NY during their last 40 inch storm, and a plow came by and buried him deeper..... and out of sight to the tow truck driver who was coming to help. I guess they finally found him.... thank God for cell phones?
due to my wife's allergies, she cannot mow grass, but with the sealed cab with a/c, she can with no problem. so i thought i might as well get the snowblower too. i haven't regretted it what mailbox?
As I headed to bed last night it had been snowing for a bit, I looked at the weather to see that it was about done with maybe only an inch on the ground, so no big whoops. However, I've had this backhoe for a couple years now and no snow has been big enough, here in Dayton, for me to need to use it as a plow, regardless of how much I've wanted to. That leads me to some plowing questions... Are chains a requirement or will I do ok without, assuming I'm not trying to push feet of snow? Since it's a loader bucket, let's say with a driveway that leads straight to a garage do you scoop some then dump it or do you shove the snow out of the way as best as possible? In that same driveway scenario is it better to start at the garage and drag some of the snow back and then plow back towards the road? My personal driveway is easy as it's a straight shot with no garage in the way but I have some neighbors that that isn't the case with. Are there other plowing tips I should be aware of? My thoughts are to just float the bucket rather than try to really scrape the road or driveways, I assume that's a good move?
I'll assume you have warmer weather where the ground doesn't freeze. Back a couple inches from the cutting edge weld three 1/2" thick "shoes" under. This keeps the edge from scalping. Plowing with a loader, the rear wheels control the angle the cutting edge touches the ground. You will still scalp a bit. There will be driveway gravel in your snow pile. I build a pile of snow in one corner of the gravel area. Once thawed, I back drag the stone back where it belongs. I do not plow past the edges of the driveway. I scoop in front of a garage, until close to the building, then back drag the last away with door open. Tire chains are essential if anything is steep. 15000 LBS is a big hockey puck to be sliding down a hill. Less important if everything is level.
If you take a piece of pipe approx 2 1/2" dia and slit it lengthwise, then slip it over the full width of the bucket and tack weld it on, it will skip over the gravel and sod. If a TLB is 4wd you may not need chains unless it is icy
We plow with tractors, wheel loaders and backhoes. No one uses chains especially if its on asphalt or concrete. Only person i know who has chains on his tractor is my wife's uncle and he plows up north doing gravel driveways that a two wheel drive car has a hard time getting up in the summer.
Back drag from the door then lock a brake and spin around and plow outwards. Just roll the bucket back a bit and float the cutting edge if the ground is not frozen. If you have a direction the wind normally comes from put your piles on the other side of the driveway to help with wind drifts.
@Willie B We'll have frozen ground here eventually, but not the permafrost you guy are deal with, I'm sure. I'm not real worried about scalping my gravel drive as there ain't much left there anyway but I like your and @56wrench trick to not scalp! Luckily the only steep stuff around here is in my own yard, and it's just a few 30-50' stretches that don't need snow removal, so I think my 4x4 will be ok, unless icy, which I agree with the 15000lb. hockey puck comment, that sound scary as ****! @Don.S Great call on placing the snow on the right side of the drift! I probably wouldn't have thought of that! Thanks guys! Happy New Year!
That's what I tried to say.
I live the only gentle pitched neighborhood in VT. I do six driveways, all near level. They run perpendicular to a hill up a town road. One is a bowl. there is always one corner of the bucket digging in. In my youth, only time the ground wasn't frozen was autumn. These days it is hardly ever frozen. A snow plow sits on shoes. It floats left or right to lay on the ground. A backhoe, or loader bucket is always parallel to the rear axle. it will dig in if it can. I'm sure pavement is easier, but I've never plowed pavement with a loader.
Pavement is nice until you catch a sewer or water shut off or even a bad ashphalt patch can be no fun. Most of my parking lots were all paved but i did do a gravel road, driveways and a few gravel parking lots.
@aighead Like @Don.S , we mostly plow with 4x4 tractors and no chains. Only guys running chains are using older 2wd equipment, like my backhoe. Without the chains, my backhoe is useless in the winter. With them, I can plow through a snowed in field to go cut wood if I want to. They are handy and a great resource, to have,but I wouldn't need them if I had a 4x4 TLB or tractor. I always back drag away from buildings until there is room to get the tractor in and push to the pile. With my small snowblower tractor, I can go parallel with the building and blow it away quite easily.
reminds me of when i used to be the lead hand in the public works shop of a small city. our jd 772bh caught a manhole ring during snow removal. normally it was 2-3" recessed, but with the frost heaves it was 2" protruding. ripped the moldboard right off. the damage was about $50,000. bent moldboard, broken sideshift casting, broken hyd ram, broken circle and twisted draft frame. a couple years later they caught another manhole ring with the old cat 120G. only $30,000 damage that time. after that the insurance company said "next time, we're not covering that kind of damage" so the public works dept became more proactive in repairing and monitoring manhole rings . also, they started replacing the old style with the monolithic( rounded edge) ones. occasionally they would break a tooth off the circle and i would weld in a replacement if they happened to catch something off centre or towards the outer end of the moldboard. also we only put half the bolts in the cutting edges so they would pop the edge off instead of damaging other stuff
Heres what im playing the snow with this year. Not real efficient ,but fun
Colson, I too have ring chains on my580c, pretty much unstoppable even in icy,hilly terrain...I also have a 4WD tractor that works great for fresh snow on level ground...but add a little ice with a pinch of incline and chains are a must, like Willie B says ag tires on ice is like a 4WD hockey puck....Also had a propane truck slide sideways down my driveway once, almost wound up in the creek that runs through the yard...that was before I had the Case, we had to pull it out with the neighbors 4440 deere w/chains...
The first December after I bought my property I got my truck stuck in my driveway. We had freezing rain all day that turned to heavy wet snow that night. The next day was horrible and my hill was a giant ice slide. Back end of truck slid off the drive and I was plumb stuck. Got the bobcat down there, hooked up to truck, couldn't budge it. Poor bobcat just couldn't get any traction. So, I get the backhoe out. I didn't own chains yet. I get near my truck, and then proceed to slide about 40 ft past my truck down the hill and partially off the driveway. Now my truck is stuck, and the backhoe is stuck and blocking the driveway completely. I call my grandpa, said I need a big gun. He gets the 8440 started and warming up for me. I go pick it up and drive it to my place. I drive through the field, past the backhoe, and line up on the truck. Hook up and tow the truck up the hill, no issue. Head back down for the backhoe. Hook up and proceed to just spin out. Thick ice underneath and that big tractor just couldn't get a bite. I start crab walking and end up partially in the field where it finally hooks up and jerks backhoe loose and back onto driveway. At this point, my 4" tow strap snaps. My step-dad in the backhoe points it downhill and drives for the flat spot at the bottom. I ended up driving it to my neighbors house and parking it by their barn while I waited for newly ordered chains to arrive. After I put chains on that 310A, that hill was no match and the chains helped tear up the ice and give everyone better traction. I haven't put them on yet this year, but I should. I'm sure things will change and I'll wish it was ready to go.
Always a prediction. I chain up, then a friend 4 miles away calls with an emergency. I dump 300 LBS of chains, then hate myself next day.
8440! game, set, match..."now that's a tractor" the but without the jewelry, my tractor can't get no traction...I've actually been eyeballin' a set of 17.5 diamond style chains instead of the ring chains for smoother ride on the hoe, that's what I run on my other two "snow shovels"... adapted those from 24.5 truck chains, they work excellent.......And remember, **** Poor Preperation blah, blah, blah.....
Our little yanmar 15 hp 4x4 tractor, ag tires, with the 6’ snow plow on the front could only plow down our hill if there was more than 4” of wet snow and struggled on the flats. Put chains on the rear (16” vbar truck chains) and I could plow most of the driveway. It struggled on the uphill and I would have to turn off to the side to unload the blade. Added chains to the front axel and I would go anywhere. Pulled the work van and my 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser up the hill more than once when they slide down the hill backwards and into the ditch with the little chained up tractor. Cam
I agree even a heavy machine on ice can become a huge hockey puck. I always ran chains on my tiny tractor with the snow pusher. It works great, but it can score up asphalt and concrete finishes. I'm still behind the times on preparing my snow removal equipment. Maybe this will be the push to get on it today! Only word of caution I have is be careful if the ground isn't frozen solid. My gravel driveway has not seen a solid freeze in several years. I have a truck plow with feet, but the last time I used it I relocated several pieces of gravel. I'd rather leave the plow sitting instead of creating a mess. My tiny tractor works great because the blade is so light weight, but will still push gravel if it isn't frozen under a nice layer of ice. I imagine the larger heavy bucket of the tractor would be more challenging. I use the truck as a 'plow' without the blade. On the lighter snows I pack the snow down by driving back and forth over the fresh snow. I do this multiple times to create a flat even layer of packed snow and ice. I step over a tire width at a time until the drive is flat. This will help prepare a nice surface for the plow to ride on if it stays cold enough. Unless we have another winter as cold as 2014 I doubt my drive will stay frozen here in the midwest.
i agree about the hockey puck reference, that's why we weld caulks on track pads
I pack my driveway, too because I plow with a snowcat. And my driveway is mostly stone. 1977 Bombardier Skidozer with Ford 300-6. Radiator leaks bad at the top but is exceptionally hard to remove so I have some other ways to get it done and save that for the big storms. Can only run it about 15 minutes. I used to work grooming at a ski area and we even welded caulks on machines like this. The machines that are 12-14 feet wide nowadays don't get the caulks cause they are less likely to go over sideways.
Now that's a cool machine!!
Pixie, you've got an excavator! snatch that cab off that Muskeg and replace the radiator and make that cool machine friggin awesome! Just nuts and bolts man....just think of what you could do with that machine if you could run it indefinitely and didn't have to worry about it overheating or even more crucial, freezing when someone just adds " a little" water to get it back in the driveway...that's a cool addition to your arsenal of stuff...
Yes, that's what it needs is the cab removed. But first the dashboard and all the stuff that's bolted to the cab. These tracked things can be hard to unbolt the cab alone cause some of the nuts are way inside so you can't reach the nut and the bolt at the same time... have to jamb vice-grips underneath somehow. It's only last year that it started to leak really bad and I just " plowed" with the excavator I've had the cab off my Muskeg cause that's the only way to look inside the differential and check the brake/steering bands. It wasn't that much fun .
So which one is the Muskeg , the little green "tank" or the red Skidozer...You've got two! Oh I'm a little jealous right now...
The green one is the Muskeg. It has those bars and an outside carrier because it has 16 wheels. 4 pairs each side and side by side sprockets. It's a '72 (?) with a 318. Both have industrial engines. Makes finding carbs fun... Muskegs go in dirt. This is an specially light Muskeg. It's a "Tractor" model. Most have diesels and solid tires. Most are also "Carrier" models with the engine under the cab, a V-drive and a flat rear deck. Skidozers are a snow vehicle. Used for grooming and ski area work.The town closed off in winter the rest of the dirt road I live on so can;'t go on any adventures up at the powerlines anymore .
I used to own a Max atv 6 wheeler..Big hemlock ate that one...Also had tracks for winter camping, could also be registered as a snowmobile with the tracks, so we could ride the trails in winter, and in warm weather that little "tank" could drive/swim across ponds and creeks, it was a cool toy as well till the tree fell on it..
I guess I'm a little obsessed with tracks. Have them on an ATV as well. I have a large piece of land. Bought my ex-husband and still best friend a set so we could go off in the woods in winter. Cut trails. Had a blast with them. We'd take a little stove and make lunch where you couldn't hear anything but clumps of snow falling out of the trees.
I finally got the small Wheelhorse prepared for winter weather. It snowed today, but was also above freezing. I was really itching to get this tractor prepared to plow snow. Don't worry Ohio. Now that I'm prepared it probably won't snow enough to use the plow. Not that I would be disappointed.
@Flat Thunder Channel - I'm in Ohio and have had the same feeling since I've had my backhoe...
This is my snow removal tool. Used the loader bucket last 2 years, now living on property in North Idaho full time. Found the 11' blade already modded for attachment to a backhoe. Clears 9 feet wide. But I had it blocked in with the 16" snow we had so the loader bucket has done all the hard this season.
Serious unit there, nice set up.
Now you got your chance! I got out yesterday to move some snow. About to head out again this evening. Snow plow man!
I rigged a 9' blade like that on a Case 580K. I found I couldn't angle the blade much at all, it'd push the front wheels sideways. I don't plow road, only driveways. Bucket only is more efficient. I would like a 12' snow pusher.
I only have 1000' to clear, bottom half is shared and gets done by the neighbors before I get to it some times, but alot of it is narrow and not room to dump bucket off to the side. Does push around some but with the light snow fall so far this year I haven't really been able to test it much. If the plow doesn't work out in the long run I can send it down the road... I can pivot the blade straight or about 30° each way. And all my snow needs to go to one side so that works out.
@Flat Thunder Channel Nope... We only ended up with about an inch. I texted the new neighbors the night before and asked if they wanted their driveway cleared and they said yes, until the morning came to find not much snow at all... I drive the "sportiest" car on my road and if I can get through anyone can.
Weird you must have missed the incoming snow storm. We got about 4-6 inches. It's difficult to gage with all the drifting. I cleared the driveway two times and got to verify the functionality of the little garden tractor. That's good enough for me this season.... Bring on the sunshine
Finally got a strong winter storm here followed by 12 hours of lake effect and high winds for a sustained period. Kids had no school yesterday. I cleared my driveway twice before lunch yesterday and it was drifted shut before 5pm again. I waited it out and got it cleared today. View looking down the drive towards road. The upper half drifts horribly. Had 12 to 18" in spots . Piles are getting quite big given we are like 36" behind average snowfall Used both machines to clear out today. The snowblower clears the long section of driveway faster with less passes than the bobcat does. Also gets the snow away from the driveway. The bobcat clears the large parking area faster and can scrape down to really clear the area. Chains on both machines are a requirement. Really makes a difference in their performance, especially going uphill.
I got out yesterday to do my first "plowing" to take care of the few inches we got Monday night. It worked out but was barely, barely enough to try to clear. I guess it was a good practice run. My tiny little dumps from the loader, after clearing a couple hundred feet of snow were quite sad. I think I made more progress with the tire tracks packing everything down.
Loader bucket stays parallel to the rear axle. Always one corner or the other not touching the ground. You miss a lot with bucket only, not to mention scalping. My own driveway is pretty good to avoid scalping, but my neighbor's is like plowing out a bowl. Coming off the paved road which is steep, the driveway is immediately level where it meets the road, but dips to let water run along the edge of the road. I have to be 20 feet into the driveway before the cutting edge levels out to scrape it clean. Then the rest is the opposite of a crown, more a hollow. From my observations winters are warmer these days. In a younger time, the ground froze & stayed frozen until spring. My driveway is frozen right now, first this winter, but the neighbor's is not. To limit spring clean up, I don't plow past the gravel limits, and pile all my snow in one pile. Once it melts, just drag it back where it belongs.
I learned real fast that clean stone is not your friend when plowing. The wife likes it tho. The stone with dust...we call it modified but I kno in some areas they call it something different...packs nicely and doesnt get plowed away like the clean rock. The question becomes, do I keep the wife happy but shovel stone every spring or do I make me happy and use modified...o think u all kno the answer
Swetz, perhaps you should sit the Mrs. down and explain the importance of a good binder in the substrate for optimal driveway health, that should work....Yeah, when pigs fly...
LOL!!
I use the screened 3/4. Local asphalt plant takes the gravel off the top, sells it. The blacktop is made from blasted ledge, crushed. The 3/4" has a bit of fine in it, but the top surface is 3/4" with rounded corners. I find tracking is minimal. I don't plow past the edges of the driveway & I have a place I stockpile snow. After spring melt, it's easy to backdrag it & spread it out. Another blast quarry sells calcium carbonate (limestone) It is a terribly soft stone. The Pack Mix is all sizes of aggregate. I can buy it 1" minus, down to 1/4" minus. The stuff is awful! It packs hard, but crumbles under tires, always chalky powder, muddy when it rains. I do use their 1-3/4" washed Drainage Stone. It packs like McAdam
Willie, you're in the green mountain state..Isn't that green limestone? I've got several chunks that I have "procured" over the years when I used to run N.E. w/the big truck...that crap seems very hard and resembles the limestone they mine from the quarries here in WNY which is not soft at all, and with the powder packs the best of all the material round these parts..crusher run gravel (with powder) is second best and is much cheaper....
No, the stuff I'm talking about is calcium carbonate with impurities of magnesium or something else. Most is white, some is tinted grey. When it is metamorphosed it becomes marble, harder, but only 1/15 the crush resistance of granite. Marble headstones were once common here, they are very hard to read, they weather so. The closest limestone Quarry was once called "White Pigment Corporation". These days most of their product is processed into "limestone slurry". I don't know what it is used for. I don't know, never heard of green limestone. The Western edge of VT, and East New York have a row of slate quarries some green. West VT has granite some green.
Thought the french called the area 'green mountains'..... not sure why, but I assumed it had to do with mountains being tree covered... and not so much some of the colored granite?? Limestone areas south of us in Pa..... used in concrete making in the Lehigh Valley...which also contains the "slate belt" where lots of slate was pulled from the ground .... and parts of Pa have lots of stone homes of limestone block. Not sure what the 'lime; material thats used in Ag settings is..... used to "sweeten" soil I think is the term?
Wallingford Crushed Stone sells literally mountains of the stuff as land lime. Finely ground limestone.
Got my cheap truck plow mounted to an old skid steer mount plate I had laying around. Nothing pretty, but it sure moves snow a heck of a lot faster than a bucket ever could. I need to weld on an arm that sticks out for the chain to mount to next, but it worked like this for now. I think I'm going to make this a multi-purpose attachment plate. Add a pair of bolt on bale spear tines above the plow mount tabs. And centered in the middle I can weld on a 2" receiver to be able to move trailers around the yard. We'll see how far I get with it later this week.
Finally got to my PA house. While I was gone they got over 2 feet of snow in 3 storms. Fired up the tractor that has been sitting for over 2 months without a start. It cranked slow (15 degrees F. outside) but fired right off, and it was not plugged in in any way for the 2 months. I prefer to use my plow truck to clear the driveway, because it makes quick work of the snow, as stated above by Colson04, but there is no substitute for ability of stacking by the loader. We have had a lot of snow this winter so far, and expecting more Monday into Tuesday, so the stacking becomes mandatory.
Didn't you get some of this white stuff back home in Jersey?? You could take some home with you?!..... as much as you want.... This is shaping up to be one of 'those' winter seasons.... white until March.... then mud! That cab sure looks comfy.... and warm! Nothing like it this time of year. Mon-Tues looks like a mixed bag..... wish it would snow.... or rain...either one, but ice is not fun
Hey T-town, We have plenty of the white stuff in NJ...I have been shoveling 3 driveways in NJ every storm . I actually talked myself into going home to NJ yesterday afternoon when they (news) kept saying the ice was going to be bad. Not sure if you got the ice up there last nite, but we got nothing in NJ, and now I am kicking myself for not staying. The mud....there goes my shop. Not going to be able to get it done with the mud . I was doing well in the early fall, then it started raining and we had mud, so I was shut down. I just really hate having my machine outside! The cab was nice and warm...this is the first time I ever put the heat on, and it nearly cooked me out...I took off my jacket and put it on low and it was still comfy. The A/C doesn't work, so it is not so comfy in the summer. I opened all the glass, and it was still hot last summer. The point being, open cab would be nice in the summer, and closed in the winter...LOL. I charged the A/C when I got the machine and it was sweet for a week. Someday I will have to track down the leak. I am not looking forward to ripping into it as it is under the seat. Maybe I will get lucky and it will be a line or hose up by the compressor....naaa, not with my luck
Very innovative conversion Colson ! A long time ago I watched a YouTube video of a Bobcat with big tire with a cutout, mounted on it pushing snow. It moved a lot of snow in very little time.
Freezing mist...??!! Not much here (Wyoming County)... but some to our east ( where your prop is?). The next bout will also be "on the edge" as far as snow/crap line.... we might see 4 to 8 here and no mix...... where your place should see less snow and more crap. East coast events are so hard to nail down as far as the 'track' is concerned.... The question being "how much we getting?".... ...... and the answer being..."we'll know when its over!" As for closed cab...... I like the barrier between me and the tree limbs... My "A/C" only kicks in at 25mph when I open the window... and I don't get there too often. If we had no snow cover, I would be taking down some trees and moving the brush to piles.... but with the white cover I will have to wait on that. But my heater does not let me "take my coat off".. actually the heater core/fan doubles as my cup holder.
We have used those tire scrapers for cleaning the alleyways in the barn for years. A local company, Mensch Manufacutring, makes them about 10 miles from my house. My experience with the tire scraper led me to keep them in the barn and stick to the bucket for outside work. They dont have a cutting edge so they tend to ride over the snow and leave a lot behind you that you can't push off with the scraper. Same thing when scraping our outdoor lot in the winter time. It just smears the manure and rides over top the frozen stuff where a bucket with smooth edge will cut the frozen manure loose and push it away. But, those tire scrapers are fantastic for scraping manure out of the barns. We get about 2 years out of the pusher tire, and 10-12 months out of the back blade tire strip across the top before replacing it. By the time the big tire is worn down to nothing, the steel frame is rotten from the manure and you just buy a complete new scraper.
I worked for a garbage company before and that's what they used to clean the transfer station floor at the end of the day, a big loader tire cut in half mounted to a heavy duty frame that the loader bucket just slid into like a snow pusher..worked like a giant squeegee and didn't tear up the concrete floor..pretty slick..
Same reason they work great for manure in barns. Just slick the floor clean with no damage. Before I can remember, my dad said they used a box blade behind tractor, and eventually moved up a skid steer and an oversized bucket. They burned through cutting edges very fast and the box blades and buckets didn't last very long due to the corrosion.
There are more cows in our county than people, so I'm no stranger to shoveling manure...You can't just visit a feller doing chores and drink beer in the barn without being put to work...
I once bought one of those skid steer loaders cheap! Next day, I fully understood why I did not want it. I called my friend, said I'm delivering a $20,000 skid steer, I want $2000, Cash was waiting. He pawned it off on his brother. His brother pawned it off on his daughter. It was too rusty to function.
I used one during my days at the dairy farm. It worked great for cleaning out the barns. I remember thinking at the time, 20 plus years ago, this was a pretty ingenius attachment. It essentially recycles old tractor tires! Brilliant!
believe it or not those tire scrapers do a fair job of smoothing out a gravel driveway
Kinda like dragging a couple of pine trees up and down the driveway with a tractor...Best driveway broom out there...