A good old fashion blizzard

[jabbahop]

Have had my Toolcat for a month now and am facing our first real blizzard. We are getting whallopped here in Vermont today (well not like New York last week). We have probably 20 inches of light very light snow and it is coming down REALLY hard right now. I have been out to plow the driveway (1400 feet with a 15% grade)

Worked great but now the banks are so high that the snow keeps falling back in under the tool cat (need that blower!) It is getting really tough getting back up the hill even without trying to plow up the hill (with the wheels slipping). I have chains on order - they sure would come in handy tonight!

The one thing I don't like is the windshield wipers - when snow is coming down hard, they don't keep things clear.

Dumb me didn't refill my diesel container - hope I make it on half a tank!

 

[jmfox]

What I'm doing in Western New York is packing. I'm plowing 800 foot long gravel driveways and have given up on scraping them down to the base. By now there is about two feet of packed snow in the driveway. It makes a pretty good driving surface, and you don't feel like you're driving in a tunnel. Hopefully it will recede gradually, but I'm sure there will be some slush to deal with.

jmf

 

[brittgers]

Would love to see pics of your toolcats in the snow!

 

[Thomas]

Yup in a way it look and felt good to have such storm,but now part 2 of the storm has arrive...gusty winds which means snow drifting,kinda like plowing the storm all over again....oooh well it is the northeast.

 

[dsb5610]

I find the windshield is hard to keep clear when I run the blower and there is some wind. Never a problem when I am pushing with the bucket. Wipers build up and eventually I have to get out and clean things off. I've not had any problems with the side windows even in high winds. When the windshield starts to build up I smile and think to myself, that used to be my face.

The blower works really good. I don't have any pictures of it in use yet. Every time I start to get out to take a pic everything stops (just kidding). I will try to get someone to take a few.

dsb

 

[y3ll0w]

I find the windshield is hard to keep clear when I run the blower and there is some wind. Never a problem when I am pushing with the bucket. Wipers build up and eventually I have to get out and clean things off. I've not had any problems with the side windows even in high winds. When the windshield starts to build up I smile and think to myself, that used to be my face.


dsb

Do you think this would help, how can you go wrong at only $20? Electric Windshield Washers : JC Whitney: Auto Parts & Accessories

 

[jabbahop]

Here are a couple of pics of the TCat in the snow.


Our Vermont Home: Bigvalentinesdaystorm02

Our Vermont Home: Bigvalentinesdaystorm00

 

[dsb5610]

y3ll0w,

The Toolcat's have a washer incorporated into the wipers. It does help most of the time but when you are running the blower at low temps with a lot of wind it builds up.

dsb

 

[jmfox]

Nice pics. Anybody out there have some shots of a TC with a blower earning its keep?

jmf

 

[jabbahop]

I tried the washers but the problem was it was only about 5 degrees out and the fluid wasn't the ultra cold variety so it more iced over than melted the snow. Even though I wasn't using a blower (I wish!), the snow was coming down 2-4 inches/hour at the time and was just getting caught up @ the top of the windshield (where the wipers rest) and freezing up there.

My guess in most conditions they would have worked just fine - the combination of extreme cold AND hard snow made it too tough.

Another question - anyone figure out how to effectively defog/frost the back windows when it is really cold? I have the blowers going full but still get the back clouding up.