What works goood for me, as far as plugging in the tractor, is to plug it in as soon as I get home from work, before I eat supper. After about 45 minutes, on average, it starts smoother than it does in the summer, and I am ready to plow snow. I take a 4wd SUV to work that can get out thru almost any snow and my wife does not need to get out of the house during the day so this system works well for us. If she really needs to get out, there is a 4wd pickup in the barn that she can use. It seems like most of the snow usually falls during the day anyhow. Usually, once or twice each winter, a heavy snowfall occurs at night. When that happens, I go out and plug in the tractor right after I wake up, and in the half hour or so it takes me to get ready for work, it is plenty warm enough to start. I dont waste a lot of time and just knock out a quick path to the road when that happens however, leaving the thourough cleaning until the evening when I get home. I use the 4120 JD for heavier snows and for times when I got to get done quick. I have a gas-powered, Farmall Cub with a front blade that I use for lighter snows or when I feel like "killing" a little more time on the tractor, usually on the weekends. That little 10 hp, 4 cylinder gas motor starts exceptionally good in freezing weather without any type of starting aids. The Cub is also converted to 12 volts (stock was 6 volts) which really helps with cold starts. I do use an old, gas-powered Ford 8n once a week throughout the winter for fetching firewood. That tractor is still 6 volts and it also has never needed any starting aids. It has low hours and great compression which helps it start easy in the cold. There is no doubt, that gasoline engines are much happier starting cold than diesel engines. The easy way around that is a block heater so that you never need to start your diesel cold.
