Winter...

[Earl Ohl]

Ok, so I am having a bit of a conundrum here. I will be using my tractor for snow removal this year. I am currently keeping it outside, because I am using it for VERY muddy chores every few days ever since I purchased it. (I practically live in a swamp, and I have been digging ditches to correct that). I have my mustang stored in the garage, and it will of course remain there all winter(I live in Northeast Ohio). I have room to park the tractor in the garage, but I am worried about the snow when it melts off the tractor after using it this winter. have no floor drains in the garage. Instead, the floor is pitched about 1/8" per foot to drain the water to the front towards the door. The problem with this, is it will hit my door seal and pool to the sides, which will then hit the wooden base of my work bench which is simply not acceptable...

The garage is not heated, however it is attached to the house and remains around 40 degrees most of the winter. At the plumbing company I used to work for, we stored a Kioti 4wd tractor, a CAT skidsteer, and an IHI trackhoe outside in one of those metal framed tarp covered car port things you can buy for 300$ or so. All of this equipment was used in the winter, and none of it was hooked up to engine block heaters. We simply let the glow plugs warm for 30secs or so and they all would fire right up. But....of course I am a scaredy-cat, as this tractor is my baby, and I am worried about leaving it outside all year in one of these carport things.


So-the real question here-is there any harm in leaving the equipment outside during below freezing temperatures? I got below zero last year quite a bit as well. I am worried about the hydraulic lines, the oil, and honestly just the severe heat cycling that everything will experience going from ice cold to full operating temps...

This brings another question, would a block heater be beneficial? And if so, where can I get one/which type/brand should I get?

Pretend I know nothing at all, and school me on winter usage here. I promise I will not be offended!

:confused2:

I also have a garage & a pole building with no heat & no floor drains. We're not allowed floor drains in garages here. A box fan, if it can be placed safely on a dry area of the floor, works good for helping to evaporate water off the floor. In my pole building I had a large variable speed ceiling fan installed & this works alot better than the box fan. By circulating air, you're helping to keep things dry & to keep them from rusting. Just keep it on low or medium speed is all you need.

 

[JohninCT]

I've got two of the tent garages as I call them. The single one is 10+ years old and is still going strong. Bought it to store my first tractor. Bought a double wide tent garage a few years later when we got a second tractor. Both stored in there now. Keeps the sun, rain, and snow off them. Fairly cheap and super easy and quick to put up. If you pay a little more to get one with the heavier tarp fabric it will last a long time. My father in law bought some real cheap ones... they went away real fast.

 

[devongarver]

Thanks everyone so far for the replies! I think We may try to get some stone delivered and make a small pad to put a "tent/carport/garage/thingy" on lol. I will get a magnetic block heater, and definitely look into those electronic mice repellers. Does anyone esle use them with luck?

 

[lungdoc]

We've had good luck with these for mice - Oust-a-Mouse: Better Than A Mousetrap! - seems to keep them outside more and out of buildings fairly well.

 

[Dave5264]

last year mine sat out all year, under a Tarp, since I didnt have the new garage built yet. Kept the rain and snow off.

always started (didnt use the blockheater, too far from the house to plug it in).

this year it will be inside.

the portable garage would work well, the big thing is to keep it out of the rain and snow

 

[Danno1]

Thanks everyone so far for the replies! I think We may try to get some stone delivered and make a small pad to put a "tent/carport/garage/thingy" on lol. I will get a magnetic block heater, and definitely look into those electronic mice repellers. Does anyone esle use them with luck?

Make sure you get one that's advertised as "snow rated" (for obvious reasons!). A lot of them aren't.

I learned this the hard way!!!!

.

 

[arrow]

If you layed some plastic sheeting on top of a 5x10 piece of ply wood (or whatever size you need to cover the tractors footprint) that has 2x3 edging along its sides, you can park the tractor in the garage right on top of that w/o cleaning it and have any melt off be contained right there. Alot cheaper than putting up a shelter. Stall mats could also work placed upside down they could catch melt run off within their grooves. Stall mats come 4x6 and are around $50 per in N.E.