Snow Gave the BX23 a good snow workout - stuck twice...

[jim_wilson]

Woke up this morning to almost whiteout conditions and about 20" of snow on the ground. It didn't stop falling until about 3:00 this afternoon. Once the snow stopped I got out the BX23 and started in on clearing up the snow. I keep the tractor in one of those temporary garage structures in my backyard and just to get to the driveway I have to clear a path. That was when I first got stuck - I have a pretty narrow area I can get thru to the driveway that has holes on both sides, and the snow was so deep I got one of the rear wheels off into the hole and darn tractor wasn't going anywhere. The tractor was high sided on the ground and the rear tire that was in the hole was just spinning in the snow. I finally managed to get the tractor out by using the factory jack from our Volkswagen Passat to jack up the side of the tractor that was stuck and get a board under it. That gave me enough traction to back the BX out of the hole.

 

[aardvark]

You must have been doing something wrong, I've never gotten my BX23 stuck in the snow. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[jim_wilson]

A shot of the BX in the shelter before I pulled it out and made it earn it's keep

 

[Junkman]

I am surprised that you couldn't get it free by engaging the 4 wheel drive unit and powering your way out. Last year when I was pushing snow with the loader on my BX22, there were a few times that i got it "off the road" and was able to get back on with the 4 wheel drive engaged. The only difference between yours and mine, was that I had the Kubota weigh box on the rear with 500+ pounds of lead in it. I believe that this is the first time that anyone has ever admitted getting their BX stuck in snow. Guess that we will have to send you back to BX operators snowplowing school for another semester..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jim_wilson]

Last time I checked the news they were saying that 24+ inches had fallen in my area. At one point we were getting 8 inches an hour. That is a car underneath that snow pile...

 

[jim_wilson]

It was getting dark by the time I finished up - having plenty of light to see what you are doing definitely helps. It was really cold out today - I think what I really need now is a cab with a heater.

 

[jim_wilson]

What I really need to do is drive some stakes into the ground to mark the areas where I shouldn't go. The first time I got stuck (in the picture) one of the rear wheels dropped off solid ground in a hole that was filled with snow. When I put it in four wheel it just sat there and spun the tires because it was high sided on the tractor frame and one of the front wheels was levered off the ground. So I only really had two wheels that had anything near traction. The second time it got stuck I had one of the rear tires slide off the edge of the gravel driveway and the rear blade sliced into frozen snow from a previous snowfall. This time the tractor had plenty of traction because I easily dug holes with all four tires but the force of that frozen snow on the rear blade just held the tractor in place. Luckily some guy in a 4x4 pickup came by and we slung a chain to the front of the tractor and bulldogged it out. I need to learn to stay away from holes and the steep sides of my driveway.

 

[aardvark]

Man-oh-man. That's exactly the reason I moved out of upstate NY. We used to get snow like that in Rochester.

 

[Junkman]

Last fall I purchased a 100 oak stakes that are 4' long and 1" square. I staked out the driveway and the lawn area. My wife took out 3 of them after the first snow storm by backing up and not watching where she was going. My neighbor took out one when he decided that the driveway needed sanding. The propane truck took out one making a delivery. So far, I haven't taken any out, but the winter still has some more time to go. I put in about 25, so next year, I will double that and hopefully more of them will be in place by the spring. With the missing stakes, I already know that I will be doing some lawn planting in the spring. Getting stuck is a learning experience. Getting stuck in the same place twice is not paying attention to lesson learned the first time... Just remember, it is all seat time, no matter how long it takes to get the job done. Just be glad that it happened on a weekend when you have the time to get stuck and not loose time from your real job. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jim_wilson]

At least I havent gotten stuck in the same place twice - the first time I knew I had the potential to get stuck because I knew the holes were there. The snow was so deep though I misjudged where I was supposed to be by about 1 foot too far to the right and that was all it took to drop into the hole. The second time I wouldnt even have been stuck if the rear blade hadn't sliced into the packed frozen snow. The tractor just didn't have enough traction to pull itself out with the blade stuck like that.