Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge

   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #61  
It's interesting how the possibilities the OP asked for advice on didn't involve clearing the road at all, and people are saying he's got a "critical" need to keep the road clear and insist that nothing less than a bazillion dollars worth of tractor will do.

I wonder what the county uses to keep the road clear today? Maybe he should just buy their surplus equipment at auction.

If it's a new bi-directional articulating ag tractor with 8 ft blower, I'll eat my hat.

<Skidoo with a towed sled.

The tractor/equipment required for the conditions prevalent in your area will be some expensive and a lot larger than you expect.

You'll also have to include a time factor to get the road serviceable if patrons are coming and going>

Note the mention of alternative!:)
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #62  
It's interesting how the possibilities the OP asked for advice on didn't involve clearing the road at all, and people are saying he's got a "critical" need to keep the road clear and insist that nothing less than a bazillion dollars worth of tractor will do.

I wonder what the county uses to keep the road clear today? Maybe he should just buy their surplus equipment at auction.

If it's a new bi-directional articulating ag tractor with 8 ft blower, I'll eat my hat.

Dear Fellow Tractor fans,
I live at 5,000 ft. Caretake a year round camp. I think the camp needs a tractor for 2 reasons.
1) We have a gravel road, a 1/4 mile loop from an asphalt road to the camp and back. It needs grading about once a year. What kind of tractor would be best for a job like this? Is a gannon box enough?
2) Our county may limit their snowplowing activities next winter. This means I may have to bring our guests up a 3 mile asphalt road in weather that can dump snow 5 feet or more on the road. Could I use a tractor and sled in such conditions or should the camp buy a couple of snowmobiles or a more expensive Snow Cat??
Appreciate any insight I can get here. Thanks!
PeatMoss

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Referring to the original post HE is asking about snow removal/disposal as well as ingress and egress from the location and the very real possibility that the county will abandon the road and make it a seasonal use only roadway.

My having lived with and dealt with seasonal roads the county where the hunting camp is located will eliminate its liability by converting it to seasonal use and also eliminate any possibility of gaining and having fire protection and EMS service on this road.

WE had a road above me that was restricted to seasonal use only and of course the signs were partially obstructed and many a person got stuck there during the winter months and after many people started buying building lots the county and town were forced to convert the road to year round useage.
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #63  
I feel like I'm trying to carry 5 gallons of drywall mud......without the bucket.
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #64  
Skiah - absolutely. A plow truck is the way to go.

Everyone here has hammers, so they're looking for nails - but the right tool is a full-sized truck with an 8 ft plow, not a tractor. Ask anyone who clears snow for a living what tool they want for 3 miles of paved road - and you'll universally get "truck."

You can buy a very reliable used plow truck for much less than the price of a 50HP closed station tractor and have enough left over for a nice used 25HP sub-cut and attachments to handle the maintenance of the 1/4 mile of gravel.

Hit the nail right on the head....When I plowed snow up North I had an International scout with a plow...4x4 and chains....lots cheaper than a tractor and for 3 miles of roads just the right thing...a good used 4x4 truck with chains and the plow...and then the smaller tractor...
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #65  
5 feet of snow for 3 miles? I'd go with a front mounted blower unless you want to kill your neck and back.
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #66  
It's interesting how the possibilities the OP asked for advice on didn't involve clearing the road at all, and people are saying he's got a "critical" need to keep the road clear and insist that nothing less than a bazillion dollars worth of tractor will do.

I wonder what the county uses to keep the road clear today? Maybe he should just buy their surplus equipment at auction.

If it's a new bi-directional articulating ag tractor with 8 ft blower, I'll eat my hat.

Hit the nail right on the head....When I plowed snow up North I had an International scout with a plow...4x4 and chains....lots cheaper than a tractor and for 3 miles of roads just the right thing...a good used 4x4 truck with chains and the plow...and then the smaller tractor...



The surplus equipment will have lived its usefull life and no longer be viable for use and the truck frames will automatically become suspect if plow frames are installed on them as they do crack and break.


A surplus Sicard Snow clearer will have the same issues simply because of the concentrated hours of use which affect bearing and chain life as well as the life of the manual or automatic transmission in use on the machine.




With snow falls approaching one foot per hour and having to deal with six and half lane miles of of road during a snow event the use of a basic plow truck with an 8 foot blade is limited as the banks created by a five foot accumulation would be impossible to deal with as it would turn into a narrow trench due to the total accumulation.

Snow that has freshly fallen has a weight of 10 pounds per cubic foot. Snow that has compacted has a weight of 30 pounds peer cubic foot. Cascade Range snows are much heavier.

SO examining it in this way tells us that if they have a snow event that has dumped 5 feet over night it has at least 50 pounds per square foot of roadway surface area being 6.5 lane miles and being 16 feet wide we have 55,000 square feet of road surface including both paved and unpaved area(rounded).

55,000 square feet times 50 pounds of fresh snowfall(minimum) gives us 1,400 tons(rounded) of snowfall to remove or overcome. if the snow fall continues over a 24 hour period the snow will also melt and compact and may triple in weight per square foot over a 24 hour period.

There is a lot more to the examination of this than many folks realise as Lt. Cheng has explained so well.

The county is examining its options simply because it is GOD and having only one taxpayer on this dirt road off a paved is simply an issue of economics for them and liability. By declaring the dirt road "Seasonal Use Only" road they limit thier liability to ZERO AND THEY CANNOT BE SUED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


It would be nice to see a Google Earth picture of the area I suppose, but a trrain map is useless until the amount of money available is known.

They could lease a new snow cat with a maintenance contract and buy a small four wheel drive tractor for use around the property and also use it for road repairs in the off season.
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #67  
Cascade Range snows are much heavier.
How much heavier? 2x? 3x? 5x?

the snow will also melt and compact and may triple in weight per square foot over a 24 hour period.
It must be magic snow that triples in weight per square foot from melting and compacting.

Think about it.
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #68  
I wonder what the county uses to keep the road clear today? Maybe he should just buy their surplus equipment at auction.
If it's a new bi-directional articulating ag tractor with 8 ft blower, I'll eat my hat.
If its like most places clearing snow in they use large trucks, wheel loaders or graders with plows until they cant push the banks back any more, then they use snowblowers (either standalone or mounted to a wheel loader with a power pack), wheel loaders and (if needed) dump trucks to remove the banks.
See The City of Calgary's Snow Removal program - YouTube for how Calgary does it and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpxQPPIKdy4 for how some other sity does it. A tractor would just be a scaled down version.

Aaron Z
 
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #69  
   / Newbie with a 3 mile snowplow challenge #70  
Nope, didn't see any magic snow that gains weight on that page or any of the linked pages.

PS - How much denser is "Cascade Concrete" than regular snow? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
 
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