Irrefutable imperical proof of how to handle snow

[blackd]

I live in the mid-Atlantic region, where snow can be bad or spotty. Having lived in this house ~20 years we've seen all conditions. We were the 1st into the neighborhood and road not yet under County maintenance. Of course within weeks of arriving we had our 1st major storm of ~15 inches. Tractor had no blade or FEL, so used the pull behind mower to clear to about 3" level. Went and got a blade.
1) Snow was tamed(easily handled by existing equipment) far a couple of years.
After the next major snow occurrence, I built a FEL for the tractor.
2) Snow was again tamed.
Then came Snowmageddon 2010-11. Bought a snow blower for tractor.
3) Snow was so tamed that the blower was nearly unused.
Sold the the barely used snow blower, and also had access to a professional snow plow. I actually did some Winter plowing fopr a neighbor's business, until that stress became too much. After which I completely retired. Then of course had a Winter with heavier snow. Built a snow plow.
4) Haven't needed it in two Winters.

Clearly, upgrading your snow removal equipment works to reduce/eliminate its need.

Smile it is a joke, but the history is mostly correct. Don't know if my solution of throwing $$s at it will work for you. It certainly is my solution. ;-)

 

[RNeumann]

I finally have someone to blame for the weather! Not to imply you are old but I’m thinking we can blame you for the ice age too....

 

[George2615]

Back in 2014 I was planning to upgrade my tractor and figured the 2013-14 winter season was almost over so I sold my 26HP tractor the 3rd week in February and started shopping. Less than a week later we had a major storm come through dumping 26" within two days and I had nothing to plow with. I had made my decision and had to drive through a blizzard to pick up my new tractor. The dealer would have delivered it for free but couldn't do so for another 4 days. Went and picked it up, got home and plowed snow with the bucket. After that I think we only got a few inches the rest of the season.

Then came the 2014-15 snow season. Now that I had the new tractor we had a very mild winter but still got some seat time. Then I converted a truck plow to fit my QA loader.

The 2015-16 season came and again seemed very mild and the plow did a great job.

I guessed we would get hit hard the 2016-17 season so I bought a 7' double auger 3 pt. blower. Again, right after I bought it the snow stopped, at least nothing major came down.

Now ready for anything in the 2017-18 season I have the plow on the front and blower on the back and had another mild winter. I think we had enough snow to use the blower once, the rest was plowed.

We may or may not have some more snow coming so I'm not taking the plow and blower off just yet. I haven't even needed to put my chains on the past 2 years.

So your theory may hold some truth. Throwing some $$$ at it seems to scare away the snow.

 

[js5020]

Yep buy a spendy piece of large snow equipment and you have just killed winter for a few years, never fails, get rid of it and it's needed again, seems it works that way in here also. You see winter is vengeful, if it cant get you with the snow and ice it will use buyers remorse to get you. With snow equipment I tend to cheapout, due to the area,, oh I have 2 blowers, 4 plows, chains, weights, ect. none of it is new and none of it was spendy, and if it all sits unused I'm good with that and if winter decides it wants to give it a tango, well then bring it, it will be put in its place!

 

[hawkeye08]

so true, my plan is to keep the walk behind blower in good working order and not need the tractor (our driveway is about 100' x 24', with a 20' parking area on one side maybe 50').. only takes about 20 minutes to get blower out and do whole driveway. If we get more than 6", I will do the parking area also, so maybe 20 more minutes.

 

[s219]

I have a friend in Idaho that moved from Boise into the mountains, and the first year he was completely overwhelmed with snow and only had a small Cub Cadet garden tractor with a basic plow. SO he went out and bought a Kubota MX tractor and big Lorenz snowblower. Next couple years they got peanuts for snow, and his wife sure let him know it. I think it took 3-4 years before they got hammered again and he could finally claim victory. Of course by then, his wife was unimpressed.

Where I live in the mid-Atlantic, the rear blade on my tractor is enough to handle snow, but where I run into problems is installing it and removing it. Normally I will leave it on for weeks when I could be using other implements, and then when I finally give in and take the blade off, we'll get hit with snow. I've made it pretty easy to change implements in my barn with a concrete floor and dollies, but where I have problems is floor space for storage, especially in winter -- I often have to play a pretty good chess game to trade implements, so I tend to avoid it.

 

[shaeff]

Here's my story. Me and my wife had a modular home built in early 2015. House was set on 3/3/15. Winter SUCKED. I shoveled/snowblow the basement countless times. It got so bad that my brother had to bring his Kubota up to my property to clear the walk-out because I couldn't get the snow any further away. We finished the house ourselves, moved in early July. My brother also has a plow truck and offered to plow us the first winter. I agreed because in October 2015 I bought my '64 MF 35 Utility but the 3pt hitch didn't work. Took a long time (no time to work on it) to replace the lift cylinder/piston rings. Got it going for Spring 2016.

I modified a snow plow to fit the 3pt hitch, it worked well but gave me issues that I won't get into here. Used it winter season 2016/2017 with mostly good luck. Chains were a MUST.

Summer 2017 I decided that I'd start to prepare for winter 2017/2018. I bought a McKee Sno-lander 520. It's a 6' wide snowblower, 3pt hitch mount/PTO driven. I serviced it in August, ran it through some leaves and I was excited to finally have winter beat before it even hits!

FAIL.

First major storm we get was Christmas Day. The snow was 8" deep and wet. I've since figured out why, but the blower didn't move any snow at all! It just plugged up. Even when I got a big pile in front of it, it acted like a snow plow. To add injury to insult, I slipped a tire chain (hadn't happened in 2 years I had chains on), then when I went to put it back on I slipped on ice and tweaked my back! Talk about angry! I parked the machine and didn't touch it for weeks.

Meanwhile, the I finally got my '67 Economy Power King with it's 48" single stage blower all set up to run. I've done every storm we've had since Christmas with that machine and it works great so far. I was worried about being single stage but it'll literally blow slush/water down near my mailbox. Limiting factor is that it's only 12hp.

So, that's three winters in a row that I've kinda gotten my butt kicked. Plans for this summer- bucket mount my snowplow with a steel pipe over the cutting edge (gravel driveway). Snowblower on back. Power King for all the less than 12" storms. Wish me luck!

 

[PILOON]

I live in the mid-Atlantic region, where snow can be bad or spotty. Having lived in this house ~20 years we've seen all conditions. We were the 1st into the neighborhood and road not yet under County maintenance. Of course within weeks of arriving we had our 1st major storm of ~15 inches. Tractor had no blade or FEL, so used the pull behind mower to clear to about 3" level. Went and got a blade.
1) Snow was tamed(easily handled by existing equipment) far a couple of years.
After the next major snow occurrence, I built a FEL for the tractor.
2) Snow was again tamed.
Then came Snowmageddon 2010-11. Bought a snow blower for tractor.
3) Snow was so tamed that the blower was nearly unused.
Sold the the barely used snow blower, and also had access to a professional snow plow. I actually did some Winter plowing fopr a neighbor's business, until that stress became too much. After which I completely retired. Then of course had a Winter with heavier snow. Built a snow plow.
4) Haven't needed it in two Winters.

Clearly, upgrading your snow removal equipment works to reduce/eliminate its need.

Smile it is a joke, but the history is mostly correct. Don't know if my solution of throwing $$s at it will work for you. It certainly is my solution. ;-)

It is called INSURANCE !

 

[blackd]

RNeumann, can't be blamed for the Ice Age, but Global Warming.... maybe. I see many of us have common experiences. We should feel sorry for those in the real snowy areas. Right? Nah.

 

[Garandman]

In addition to buying two new sets of winter tires, we further guaranteed it wouldn’t snow much by buying a new walk-behind in Boston. I clear driveways and sidewalks for three widows plus our own.

Average seasonal snowfall in Boston ranges from record low 7” to record high 115”.