Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Tractor snow tales

[n8586m]

So with the snow season about over many of you must have had some adventures that occurred during plowing that would make for interesting reading. I will go first.

Just before New Years Day, we had already had about 90" of the white stuff. I live on an island with about 20 houses of which only 7 are full timer. The rest are weekenders. At this particular time there was about 24 to 30 inches of snow on the ground with snow plow banks about 36" of hard packed snow. My one neighbor Jim, a seemingly smart guy, comes up for the weekend. His driveway is full as describe above. So does Jim shovel it out? No, he puts his Durango into reverse and gets a good run at the snow bank. I gotta say he did a good job, he managed to get the front axle all the way to the middle of the snow plow bank. Now as you all can guess, all four tires are just suspended in air as the Durango just sits on the snow. It just so happens that I am driving back to the house and as I come up on Jim, while not being the brightest light bulb, I can see he ain't goining anywhere. I stop and ask the obvious just to give the needle, "Are you stuck, Jim". He misses the sarcasm and answers honestly. I tell him I can get the tractor and get him out. He likes this idea so I get to the house, suit up in the carharts, put the beeper collars on the dogs, (they watch my back to protect me from rabbits, squirrels and deer and they do a good job too) and head down to Jim's.

Now the road here is very narrow, so i can't get a straight pull. In fact, I am at right angle to the driveway. His car is North-South and I am East-West so the pull is going to be at a 45 degree angle. We hook up and I just spin the tractor tires on the ice and snow. So we unhook and i use the loader to scrap down to bare pavement for about 20 feet. We rehook, I put it in low range, 2000 rpm and ease ahead. I snatch him out so easy we couldn't believe it. My measly little 26 hp diesel tractor just pulled that Durango sideways through the snow. After that I did clean his drive way out and I would not accept any $ but I did accept a glass of Kesslers.

Let's hear some other stories of the great white adventures.

 

[Thomas]

Third week in Dec. I was slowly plowing one night,on thee the second run down of 300' driveway I notice something near the end of the run that didn't seem just right,when I closer there was young bull moose standing and staring towards me...yep time to take,good ten mins. before moose slowly walks off...good thing I wasn't in hurry plowing and not paying attendion...yikes.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

After reading several other post about tractors going for a slide I took the side of caution. Packed snow and Ice on Dad's driveway with about 14" in places. Kubota L3750 with bar tires. I just pushed the snow on the flat part out of the driveway. The rest was too steep for my kahoneys. I had already slid down the driveway in my 2006 Dodge 4x4 Ram long bed going forward with the tranny in reverse.. The rest of the driveway was cleared with my trusty dusty snow shovel Next year I will have put a set of chains on the tractor.

 

[fish6942]

Certain parts of my driveway have rather steep, tree lined banks. I was using the 3PH blower and got a little close to the edge. The tractor slid off just a little before I got it stopped. After lifting the blower I tried to slowly creep the tractor back up onto the driveway but ended up sliding sideways down the short bank. By the time I was done I had one tree in between the blower and the rear tire and another tree in between the back of the bucket and the front tire.

I sat for a while seriously considering getting the chainsaw to remove one of the trees (they were only 4" diameter). I ended up pulling it up the bank with the Suburban. No scratches, no dents, lucky...

I learned that chains on all 4 tires don't help much when going sideways.

 

[scott_vt]

$ but I did accept a glass of Kesslers.

Let's hear some other stories of the great white adventures.

Good Mornin Doug,
Good story and your a good neighbor !!!

Well after gettin to the bottom of my 800 ft long drive with the tractor, realizing I cant get back to the house because of all the ice on the steep section of the drive, even with FWD and chains on the rear !

The sand barrel saved me some immense embarassment !

 

[Zephrant]

This was from last season-
My wife called me from the driveway in tears- she was half way up and couldn't go further, in an AWD Forester with studs on, and was too afraid to back up in the dark.

So I suit up and head out, and promptly fall flat on my back- it was worse than an ice-skating rink. I had to slide down the 1000' road on all fours like a crab- I seriously could not even walk, and the snow in the woods was 2' deep or better.

So I crawl in to the car and promptly slide it sideways backwards in to the ditch. I spend another 1/2 hour making sure it is really deep in to the ditch, then we walk up to the house though the woods.

I come back down with a shovel and after an hour and a half manage to get car all the way off the road. Unfortunately, I was trying to go the other way but down-hill is down-hill and I was not getting that thing uphill at all.

At the time I didn't have my tractor yet or the chains for the Jeep, so I ended up calling AAA. They send out a kid a few months in to his first job. He does a 360 on the paved road in his tow rig about 1/2 mile from my driveway, I could hear him spinning around then about 5 minutes of dead silence as he checks his cahonies. He had thrown his chains earlier in the day, so had nothing but duals in a rear-wheel drive tow-truck.

It takes him three attempts it back in my driveway far enough that his winch will reach, and then he promptly ratnests his winch by running it in reverse without it spooling out the cable. Nearly an hour later we have the winch cleared out, and he was able to pull the car out in a few minutes. I had hand-spread some sand by then, and was able to drive back up to the house. The next day I slid down the hill and my brother-in-law met me, and we went out to get chains for the Jeep.

When it got nasty again this season and I started tearing up the Jeep trying to plow, I bought the tractor. When we got our second sheet-of-ice again for this year, I took the Jeep, bought the sander I had researched for a month and had 6 yards of wet sand delivered.

I was able to sand, but not well- this summer I'll build a lean-to to protect the sand, and get some more delivered so it will be nice and dry for next season.

 

[Willl]

My one neighbor Jim, a seemingly smart guy,

I come up on Jim, while not being the brightest light bulb,

I see you haven't quite made up your mind about Jim's intelligence level.

 

[LBrown59]

Here is how I keep some of my dirt and sand dry

So I suit up and head out, and promptly fall flat on my back- it was worse than an ice-skating rink. I had to slide down the 1000' road on all fours like a crab- I seriously could not even walk, and the snow in the woods was 2' deep or better.

I come back down with a shovel and after an hour and a half manage to get car all the way off the road. Unfortunately, I was trying to go the other way but down-hill is down-hill and I was not getting that thing uphill at all.

I was able to sand, but not well-
this summer I'll build a lean-to to protect the sand, and get some more delivered so it will be nice and dry for next season.

 

[Zephrant]

Thanks for the picture- I don't yet have the funds for the shop I want to put in, so was thinking of just a three-sided concrete-block structure with a lift-off top, and a weighted flap in the front. Something a little wider than my bucket that would hold about 6 yards.

 

[Johndeere3720]

my most interesting story was when I took my Dads brand new CT322 track skidsteer out to remove snow from the driveway. I cleared the small parking lot that he keeps the horse trailer and utility trailers in and noticed that I slid a little on the gravel. I didnt think much about it so I started going down the driveway which is a little steep. I made a large pile of snow in front of the new fence and I would back up and push some more snow. The last time I went down the driveway, I dumped the last scoop and tried to back up. I quickly realised that the tracks were spinning on the ice. then the skidsteer turned and I started sliding down the 3/4 mile long driveway. Thing is, the driveway decends into a small area with a steep decline to a creek bellow. Then the driveway climbes 100 feet to the house. I quickly lowered the bucket (the teeth were'nt on at the time) and dug into the gravel. I decided that i wasnt going down the driveway so I made sad attempts to back up. then I got grip on one side and I got the skidsteer turned around. I decided it was'nt safe to slide backwards so I parked the skidsteer and ran up the hill to the barn. I reported the situation to my dad who took action and got in his new F350 whick had highway tires otherwise known as slicks. He backed up and almost slid into the skidsteer. Then my step mom Cindy got into the skidsteer, put it into high gear and spun in the driveway. then I told her, "lift the bucket off the ground", and she slid onto the unplowed area. then the skidsteer flew up the driveway and I finished plowing. The next day, I used the Johndeere 3720 tractor with FEL and had no problems at all. luckly, it had chains on rather than slick rubber tracks. ( dont use rubber track machines in hills with icy conditions.) some people say that girls cant drive. well when it comes to tractors, they sure know what to do.