Ok guys ik it's spring but I think it would be a good topic to cover. I plow twp gravel roads here in eastern S.D I use a v- plow and a wing, here's some of the things I do when I plow if I get in deep snow make suer you keep your cut wide enough when busting through the drift so it don't fall In on you. I also see lots of guys who like to drag there wing in the ditch I don't I always keep my wing level with road base once snow get higher then the road bed I slope it up the guys who drag there wing just make more of a snow problem by making a ridge I try to go anywhere from 12 to 18mph while I plow snow.
I used to use grader's for plowing snow,,, now I don't even put wings on my graders anymore. I switch to tandem trucks because they can throw the snow much farther from the shoulder than a grader can. When the trucks can no longer keep it back, its time to bring the loaders in to push it back. I plow 3 townships and 51 miles of county roads.
plowing with trucks I currently plow for one township and blade for 3 townships, the township I plow for wants me to buy a plow truck w/sander. What would be a fair rate to charge for the truck ? We have about 57 miles of road to plow, some gravel roads & some paved. Thanks, Vernier
You need to charge at least $80 and hour to come out with a truck. The biggest deal is the hidden cost's. For instance the salt sand you need to haul for weight and spreading. That stuff wreck's havoc on a box, sander, and truck.... Gramps.
I agree on the abuse a truck gets with salt sand issues. I am looking @ a tandem plow truck, most of the township owned trucks are single axels around here, seems like they are forever running back to get another load. When you arent carrying much sand everyone tries to stretch their load to get more miles covered,with a tandem more sand could be put down & get better results. I am sure you have noticed the traveling public wants their roads plowed & sanded 10 minutes after the last smow flake hits the ground. Vernier
I charge about 95/hr for snow removal. For some reason, my townships want snow free roads:beatsme. That means running shoes on the plows on the gravel roads, which wear out after about 25 hrs( if your careful). A set of shoes will run you a couple hundred dollars so that needs to be factored in to your hourly costs. Also if you dont have a need for a truck during the summer, you also have the additional yearly license, insurance and DOT requirements. I run both a grader and a truck during the winter and find that the fuel costs are very similiar, The truck is a little less gallons/hr but I have to pay more for the on-road fuel so it comes out to a wash. I like trucks because they are a little faster and can carry some more weight but also need a grader for those tough spots.
I don't run shoe's anymore,,, belly blade's are the cats meow this time of the year... downside on a belly blade in warm sticky snow, some time's it'll build up under the truck clear to the engine compartment. Then you gotta stop, backup and use the front plow to get rid of the pile.
plowing with trucks I hear you biggrader! My plan is to get rid of my lowboy which sits most of the winter months, trade it on a tandem & tag trailer so I can still move my heavier equipment in the summer & plow in the winter with the same truck. Things don't make any money when the are just sitting around soaking up sunshine. What kind of plow trucks do you guys run ? Are they single axels or tandems? The county I live in plows with tri-axels so they get use of the truck pretty much year round. We are seeing more & more trucks being used around here, but as grandpa mentioned some of those wet heavy snows are hard to deal with, that's when a grader w/chains on shines. Vernier
Grandpa where did you get a truck with a belly blade? Oshkosh WT2206 from an airport? I always wondered how they would work.
Seems like most of the surplus municipal trucks from the mid 90's on have some form of belly blades on them these days. Not real hard to come by. What kind of cutting edge life do you guys get on your gravel roads?
Really I've never seen one in or around Buffalo,NY Or New York State. I look at all the auctions and have only seen them on old airport Oshkoshs. Where are they popular?
Like Silverado stated,, Most of the trucks here in Minnesota run belly blades. Of the six tandem's I run, two have the belly blades. The cutting edge's last surprisingly long. I get a season or better from an edge.
I've got a couple of old Mn DOT trucks back when you could buy them for a song. Boxes are shot but they still run good. Both of ours dont have belly blades, one is 92 , the other a 94. Most of them on the state auction sales now are in the 96-98 range and I would say 75% have belly blades. I've had the 92 for 10 years and changed 1 set of cutting edges, but I have gone through tons of shoes. Thats the trade-off. Nothing worse than graveling roads in the summer and graveling ditches in the winter. (Unless your gramps and get paid to do both!!)lol
Yeah, I was gonna say somewhere around 96 they seemed to become standard. I plow for MN/DOT (dont hold that against me, lol) and all of our trucks have underbodies now. Seems like the majority of the county trucks in the three countys around me are running them now as well, though most of theirs are fixed and not the hydraulic turning type like the state runs. Big grader, I would imagine you've thought of it but can a guy build up the bottom of those shoes with a wear plate periodicaly or is that impractical?
Do guys just use metela shoes on your one ways I got the same thing on my v plows I just cut up my old cutting edges and weld them on to the shoes they seem to last pretty good I think ya could do the same on your shoes on your one ways if ya had the scrap blades laying around
We cut up old cutting edges and use them to build up the shoes on our V-plows. They seem to last quite a while that way. We build them up every other year. If there was a lot of snow to move the previous winter, then it's once a year.
Glad that works for ya to D&G you guys have a busy winter this last yr I had to got out 3 times all winter sad part is I've already ben out 3 times in the month of April just don't want to quit snowing here had another 3 inches today won't have to plow this stuff though ready to start blading again.
This weather is crazy isn't it? This winter was definitely busier than last winter, but not like 2 years ago. I can't remember how many times I've been out on the townships, but most of the time I was just driving around until I found a drift it seemed like. There were some decent sized drifts out there. This was my first winter with the 163H, and the front wheel assist was nice!
Yes it's unreal and I bet your in love with that AWD on the 163 turns a blade in to a whole new piece of equipment doesn't it? I'm currently operating 3 blades for local twps I got one 772CH and 2 CAT 140M AWDs series 2 I love the front wheel drive so much easier plowing snow. My dad has his own business and he blades 6 townships he has a 140G and a 140H was a big change from running the old G to getting in to a brand new M with AWD
The AWD is nice, I never had to put the chains on this winter. How do you like those Ms? I want to try one out so bad. And I though it was nice stepping up from the 140G to the 163H haha. We have a 143H and a 163H. I blade 3 townships, but I'm trying to pick up another one.
I absolutely love the Ms there so nice to opearat. I've ben running and M for 2 yrs now I will say it was really hard for me to make the change from a steering wheel to the joystick controll but once you get it learned you will never want to go back that's the way I am now but I change back in forth to different machines regulary. The visabillth is amazing and I've put in a 14hr day on the M and wasn't strained when I quit you know as good as I do you put in a 14hr day in a machine with a steering wheel and levers your wore out.
I know what you mean about blading for a 14 hour day and being worn out at night. I've done that more than a few times haha
Yep the 14 hr days are going to be starting up for me again pretty soon will have all 3 off my twps wanting to blade and have to help my dad to going to be some long days ahead for me you ever get down towards the Humboldt S.D area if ya do I could let ya try out Humboldt's twp M sometime.
Had to chuckle,,,, came in from snowplowing and seen the title of this thread,,,"Technique's" LOL... with the ground thawing, the snow as heavy as dirt the best technique is anyway that works.... god that was a pain in the arse.
I hate having to move snow this time of yr always a pain in the rear to move and seems to make a big mess out of everything I actually was out blading today got a whole 3 hrs in until it started raining hope to be back out again tomorrow
Went out yesterday morning & srcraped the blacktop, it was all gone this morning. These townships want their roads bladed 10 min. after it stops raining (all three of them) how do you guys explain to them they will get done asap? With all of the late snow & rain the potholes have gotten bad. Supposed to be sunny & close to 70 on Sunday, let the fun begin!!!!!
I'd tell them you will get them as soon as ya can I just tell them I can only run one blade at once. I will get over all 3 of my twps in a week just got to run 14 hrs a day thank god for good lights I get a lot of use out of mine.