Snow Equipment Owning/Operating SNOW! Seat time before dawn on a saturday.

[jas67]

My wife is a nurse, who happens to work today (and needs to leave by 6am), so I was up at 4:45, and in the seat by 5 (no cab, had to drink coffee first). We got about 12-14" overnight here near Hershey, PA, and looking at the radar history online, you don't have to go very far south and east to get a lot more. I'm sure those of you in Virginia, Maryland, and DC will get a lot of seat time today.

This is my second winter with the tractor, and finally snow worth using the blower for. I've been using the back blade until now, including the 8 incher we got in December, as I needed to get out mid-storm, so I did that one 4 inches at time.

I need to install the chains that I finally bought. I had some traction issues this morning, but got through. I had one pucker moment when it got 45 degrees sideways on the 25% grade portion of my driveway. I put the blower and the bucket down, and got off when it came to a stop. After thinking about it for a while, I got back on -- PUT THE SEAT BELT ON -- lifted the blower, but left the bucket down in the snow, and let the bucket pull it straight as I slide slowly down the hill. I was only 10 feet from the bottom, where it level off into the road. This is the steeper of my two drives (didn't intend on going down it, it was already cleared, but I slide from the upper part of my drive trying to get across. I'll post pictures a little later to explain better. Anyway, I just drove around to the other drive, and up it.

This was all after I was all done with the paved portion of the drive, and was going to put the tractor back in the pole barn until round two when the slide happened. I didn't realize how slippery it was until I tried to walk on it. The chains are going on for round two! The wife's at work, and I don't need to hurry, so I'm putting them on.

Be careful out there!

 

[polo1665]

Sounds like fun I bulldozed my way through 1400' of atleast 10" to 12" to get me and the the little woman to work this morning. That old Durango has got to be the best snow vehicle I've driven.
Still expecting 3" to 5" before its over at noon. Looking forward attacking it when I get home.
+1 on being careful out there.

Mark

 

[thatguy]

My seat time will be either late this evening or in the morning.. We have about 6" on the ground but it really got packed down due to sleet/rain.. We are suppose to get another 3" or so today..

brian

 

[flyingcow]

Well, it's sunny up here, a few high clouds, 0 degrees. You all in the mid-coast area are getting all the snow this year. We're well below season average.

Glad you took your time on figuring how to get the tractor out. Chains are a must with any kind of incline. But, once you get 'em on, you might not need to use 4-wheel drive very often. Just watch your pavement, and try not to spin. Hard on the hot top.

good luck with the snow, I've got to get my sunglasses on. Sunrise bright.

 

[Diamondpilot]

We got 10 to 12 here in North Eastern Indiana also. Its the wettest heaviest snow I have ever seen. I went out last night at 6 pm and did my drive and a few others when there was 8" on the ground. It was a lot of work, I could not imagine doing all 12" at one time with this wet slop.

Our last big dump was 18" but it was a cake walk compared to this wet stuff.

Chris

 

[Thomas]

Yep,easy pace and it doesn't seem like work...that was one quick coffee.

Partly cloudy here w/windchill 4F

 

[jas67]

We got 10 to 12 here in North Eastern Indiana also. Its the wettest heaviest snow I have ever seen. I went out last night at 6 pm and did my drive and a few others when there was 8" on the ground. It was a lot of work, I could not imagine doing all 12" at one time with this wet slop.

Our last big dump was 18" but it was a cake walk compared to this wet stuff.

Chris

Fortunately this is powdery stuff, but it is alway windy and drifting up to two feet in the open, more against things.

Post-storm cleanup with the back blade on a sunny, calm day is fun on an open (no cab) tractor, using the blower with 30 MPH winds at 5am while it is still snowing kinda sucks, as far as seat time goes. I gotta find my ski goggles and mask. I haven't seen them since we moved 3 years ago (haven't skied since then either).

It was 38 degrees here yesterday, so the initial snowfall melted as it hit, and then eventually froze. I didn't realize how slippery it was until I got off the tractor and fell on my a**. I thought it was just the R4's sucking on snowy blacktop. The turfs on my B7100 were much better. I'm watching CL daily for a set of used (but not used up) turfs. I've found a couple sets, but too far.

My little B7610 (24HP/18HP PTO) handles that 60" SB60 just fine. The only problem I had was traction, but that'll be fixed later today when I get the chains on. It gobbled up the full 60" swath and didn't bog down at all. I'm sure with wet/heavy snow, I'd have to slow down some, but overall, I'm pleased.

 

[RoyJackson]

We got about 22"-24" so far (about 25 miles north of the Mason-Dixon line in south-central PA. Snow is still coming down hard and we're looking at another 2-4 hours of it.
I got most of the 150' drive cleared, but I did get stuck at the end...fairly level. Ended up having to dig out a bit with a shovel to get out of that fix. This is one of the very few times I wish I had chains...but I don't. Although it's a hardpack drive, the R-4's still clog up with snow. Chains sure would have helped!
This is also going to be a snow in which find a place to put it is going to be challenging. No snow blower here, so there's a lot of FEL work.

I was dressed pretty well for this, but a ski mask would have been nice.

EDIT at 1100, Sat: Snow is still falling, in fact, it's picked up quite a bit...so has the wind. I got most of the initial clearing done...can't say there's much reason to do more until this is over.
This is one of the few times I wish I had a bigger tractor!!! Cab wold be nice too! ****, I must be gettin' old!

 

[ernemats]

Got about 20 inches so far, expecting another 3-5 today. Got the power trac out and plowed in front of the garage the drive will have to wait till the snow slows down.

 

[dcyrilc]

We got about 22"-24" so far (about 25 miles north of the Mason-Dixon line in south-central PA. Snow is still coming down hard and we're looking at another 2-4 hours of it.
I got most of the 150' drive cleared, but I did get stuck at the end...fairly level. Ended up having to dig out a bit with a shovel to get out of that fix. This is one of the very few times I wish I had chains...but I don't. Although it's a hardpack drive, the R-4's still clog up with snow. Chains sure would have helped!
This is also going to be a snow in which find a place to put it is going to be challenging. No snow blower here, so there's a lot of FEL work.

I was dressed pretty well for this, but a ski mask would have been nice.

EDIT at 1100, Sat: Snow is still falling, in fact, it's picked up quite a bit...so has the wind. I got most of the initial clearing done...can't say there's much reason to do more until this is over.
This is one of the few times I wish I had a bigger tractor!!! Cab wold be nice too! ****, I must be gettin' old!

Don't forget to get pix while taking a break. Be safe & stay warm.