Dumb questions that deserve good answers.

[PhysAssist]

When I left home to go to work on Thursday, the "mercury" sat at -6 F, and although it wasn't snowing at that point, the skies were so clear and cold that there was an ICEbow.

That said, when I got to work, the temp was still well below zero, and visibility was terrible because it was snowing heavily.

 

[Pixguy]

These flat wheel dollies must be quite large to accommodate putting your fel on it. Any pictures of that dolly? Where do you get them or do you make them?

I just found this thread and figured I'd share my bh dolly build. I just took an inexpensive dolly and added on. I built a similar dolly for my fel which I'll post.

 

[AxleHub]

Well winter weather this year has been a bit more unpredictable than average. So let's say you keep your tractor outside in winter and other to cover it. Or like me, I stopped working for lunch and it starts snow storming with some wet slushy snow and then freezes.

He next day you come out to find a quantity of frozen slush on your seat and you don't want to mark up or damage your seat getting it off and you want to use the tractor as soon as possible. So I put a 1.5 inch seat pad on the seat and sat on it as I operated. Seat pad kept me from getting wet pants, and pad transferred some heat to the seat so it was transferred to warmed frozen snow to disappearing snow. Lol.

 

[AxleHub]

Something new as an issue developed on my Massey GC1715. We had an unusually wind driven rain and then it changed to light snow and cold. . . . And later when I went to start the tractor I couldn't get the key in the ignitionmore than half way. In western Wisconsin winters, you get used to lots of odd things including frozen locks. But my gc1715 has a weatherised ignition switch on it so it was hard to imagine it was possible; especially on a key that would go in half way. Also I didn't want to force anything.

So I "warmed" the key tip up a bit (note the term. No glow of the metal or color change). Put it in the ignition the half way and let it sit for 20 seconds and then I could move it in to 3/4 of the way. "warmed" turkey once more and put it in to sit for 10 or 15 seconds and then could push it all the rest of the way and turn it lol.

Why not use lock de-icer? Because weatherised switches may not like the chemicals that door locks can handle. And "warming" (not heating) the metal tip portion of the key is quick but painless to the switch or key.

 

[AxleHub]

I was doing some plowing of snow with my bucket and attached snow edge. Of course I was "floating" the fel and a neighbor had never seen the snow edge in use and was asking about the "floating" process. He understood using a float but he was unaware you could adjust the tilt or the downward pressure while having the float engaged.

So I showed him how the fel could stay in float mode yet raise or lower the bucket angle for either a cleaner plow push or a reduced pressure push when coming up to the grass edge or so you don't have to pre-adjust the bucket height or angle before engaging the float process. I had to learn that on my own because the manual sure doesn't talk about it.

 

[fried1765]

I was doing some plowing of snow with my bucket and attached snow edge. Of course I was "floating" the fel and a neighbor had never seen the snow edge in use and was asking about the "floating" process. He understood using a float but he was unaware you could adjust the tilt or the downward pressure while having the float engaged.

So I showed him how the fel could stay in float mode yet raise or lower the bucket angle for either a cleaner plow push or a reduced pressure push when coming up to the grass edge or so you don't have to pre-adjust the bucket height or angle before engaging the float process. I had to learn that on my own because the manual sure doesn't talk about it.

RE: your post #89
I assume that you are not going to offer me sympathy.
I too have a nice new Lock-n-Lube, and it is yet unused.
The unused Lock-n-Lube and I, are in Florida ..... until late April.
My tractors are locked in my barn in New England, with their Battery Tenders attached.
The tractors are cold.... The Lock-n-Lube and I are comfy.
Got to quit posting now though.....time to vacuum the pool.

 

[AxleHub]

Fried,

That's OK. Florida has already had snow this year. Think how you'll feel when a bigger snow comes and all your equipment is locked in the barn in New England. Lol. Let me put it another way. In our area f Western Wisconsin we've had less snow than Texas has had this fall and winter so far. We're in the lab of cold and dry lol. In fact we're have flooding just 20 miles south of us. Meanwhile a 100 miles west of us they just had 21 inches of snow and interstates closed with Minnesota National Guard rescuing people.

And there you sit . . . Defenseless. . . . No Diesel engine near by. But I can see why you are down there. . . . Gil darn Patriots are coming to our general area in a week. . . . we wouldn't want to be to close to them either lol.

 

[cdaigle430]

I bought and installed the Berco soft cab, had to cut 4 inches off of it and cut some holes in the back window so I could mount my switches for the LED lights and snowblower chute and deflector motors. I could technically leave it outside and almost had to cause cab was 4 inches to tall for garage door opening height.

 

[FTG-05]

Well I'm still learning. Despite decades of Western Wisconsin winters, I didn't know it could snow at a 4 degree Fahrenheit temperature or less (plus wind chill factor) and it did it twice in the last 3 days. Now this isn't the snow of puffy large flakes floating down gently for Christmas memories. This is the super fine wind blown lakes that are cold and make for slippery walking even at a quarter inch deep. And these type of flakes need to be cleared on any inclined driveway or sidewalk because they make for slippery traction and no cling to concrete or blacktop.

So here I am starting the tractor at a -8 degrees and a feels like temp of -24 windchill because full sun won't melt or soften a 1 inch snowfall of these super cold flakes. The Snow Edge attached to the fel bucket removes this light but unexpected snowfall easily as long as the operator is willing (but not eager) to go up and down the inclines. Turf tires on a GC1715 are excellent traction but it still isn't how the 1st snowfalls of our winter are supposed to be in the end of December. Lol.

And my brand spanking new locknlube coupler I got for Christmas sits warm and unopened in the house because it's too cold to be testing it out in the kind of windchill. lol. It's already been a unique winter here while Mexico and Texas and Louisiana got the snows. Good thing they changed the fashionable phrase of "global warming" to "climate change" because we certainly have no "warming" here. So for now I'm reading my new coupler literature and imagining how nice it will work when we get a heat wave back up into the 30s. Lol.

Screw that. At those temps, this is the only tractor I'm starting:

 

[Rocko]

Screw that. At those temps, this is the only tractor I'm starting:

Looks like a Englander NC30....Nice machine