Not enough tractor or bad strategy?

[JohninCT]

Of course you could opt for one of these.

YouTube - Toolcat blowing deep snow.mp4

A pretty pricey option for sure, but you could fill a thermos, pack the lunchbox and drive around snowblowing everybody around the town. With your Nebraska winters you might be able to pay the thing off by spring :laughing:

 

[Don87]

Traction wasn't the main issue, i have rear wheel weights but i could use some chains. The chains from my dealer were a little pricey. Does anyone know of a good aftermarket source?

I will look into a front mount (not great working in reverse) blower for next year. How hard are they to get on and off the GC?

Gio

The blower is very easy to install. Hook the mount on the front frame, tighten the 'wingbolt', hook up driveshaft, attach blower to mount, hook 2 hoses and go.:thumbsup:

 

[msb1766]

Get the front mounted blower and leave a few rows of corn up and use the corn as your snow fence.

 

[Chilly807]

The thing with farms, is that usually the farmer doesn't HAVE to get out in the morning to go to work, he's already there. I'm in the same situation, but my drive is all downhill to the main road, and the Kubota is sitting in the garage in case I need it to poke a hole out through the drifts.

There's a formula for snow fence placement, a lot depends on height, density, and expected snowfall amount. Google it and see what you find. Typically a 4 foot high 50% density fence needs to be about 140 feet from the protected area to be effective, as I recall.

Aquiline Talon chains are very good, I think they're made by Tellefsdal in Norway. Mine are made by Tellefsdal, marketed under the name Norse. Same chain as far as I can see. You may need wheel spacers if you have R4 tires, and weight is a good idea.

Sean

 

[Nitro-Fish]

I'm with Dutch on this one. Small tractor..............MF front mount snowblower is what you need. good weight in back (filled tires) and tire chains.

Found a YT video of a GC2400 with blower. Not mine just an example video. Oh yeah with all that wide open land get yourself a CAB!:laughing: With a front blower and cab setup you'll probably enjoy clearing the driveway,

YouTube - MF GC2400 with snow blower

JohninCT, have you ever been to Nebraska? It's not like the Eastern part of the US. They grow Soybeans as tall as some of the the corn we grow here in the Eastern states: IT IS WIDE OPEN! The Midwest is a different animal all together; I grew up with the Snow drifts in the Eastern states, 15' drifts not suprising to me. I now live in an area where I don't have to worry about that anymore. I know most people from around here can't believe when I show them pictures of a 1976 ford van with snowdrifts that are at least 5' taller than the van itself.....they think the photo's have been messed with! When you get out West, the snow fence's (snow breaks) look like what we in the Easern states would consider stadium bleechers! When they don't use fence's, they plant three rows of pine trees along sections of roadways to try and create a natual type of snowbreak along the highways. You will see a mailbox (and in several places line of sight is 5 miles plus) and never see a tree or a house! This part of the country requires as large of a tractor as you can afford just to make it through a winter. Granted, most of the "miles from the roadway" homesteads have the big equipment to deal with midwest winters, to try and get by with less than adequate equipment would be frustrating at best.

Buy the biggest you can afford and then buy the best attachments to perform the task at hand, the bigger the better in this case.

 

[Gio]

The blower is very easy to install. Hook the mount on the front frame, tighten the 'wingbolt', hook up driveshaft, attach blower to mount, hook 2 hoses and go.:thumbsup:

Thanks for the info Don and thanks for the vid JohninCT. I'm going to save my Pennies and pick one up for next Winter

 

[JohninCT]

JohninCT, have you ever been to Nebraska?

... This part of the country requires as large of a tractor as you can afford just to make it through a winter. Granted, most of the "miles from the roadway" homesteads have the big equipment to deal with midwest winters, to try and get by with less than adequate equipment would be frustrating at best.

Buy the biggest you can afford and then buy the best attachments to perform the task at hand, the bigger the better in this case.

Nope. I've never been to Nebraska. I can look at the OP's pictures and see how flat and wide open it is. In those conditions big snowdrifts can be a problem. Finding a way to minimize the drifting in his driveway obviously needs to be part of his solution. He may ultimately need to think about upgrading to a bigger tractor or more than one tractor for different purposes, but he's got the GC2400 now. Looking at the pics he posted it looked to me like the GC2400 with a blower would handle it.

 

[Dutch445]

here's a thread from today of my X585 in action,
wasn't a big snow by any means, but I am not flat
and the driveway is pretty much ice under the
snow now. this tractor goes anywhere i need to!
more X585 images/video - TractorByNet.com

 

[bstrom]

Jeez. get a pickup with a plow already for that road. You probably already have a 4wd pickup so get a plow. You can use the pickup for all kinds of things, like driving to town to get supplies and impressing Nebraska gals. If you get a blower for your tractor you are going to hate sitting on it in the freezing wind after 2 years with snow in your face unless you can get a cab for it too. If you get a big tractor with a cab you better be working that farm and doing all kinds of stuff with it.

 

[Mace Canute]

I remember back when I was in high school, a local gravel guy found a big honking V-plow and stuck it on one of his tandems; I suppose he thought he might pick up some work from the municipality clearing roads. He managed to clear a stretch of road one time with it, the next time it blew in, his unit wasn't big enough to clear the road again. Never seen him fool around with it after that. Fortunately, there was an alternative road that could be used, so that stretch was left for Mother Nature to clear in the springtime.