amazing what the right tool can do..........

   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #1  

Dutch445

Elite Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2001
Messages
2,670
Location
Upstate NY
Tractor
JD X585
started snowing here about midnight saturday, hasn't quit yet (as of 9pm Monday), and probably won't till tomorrow mid day sometime.
forecasters mentioned something like 20 inches could be coming (yea right), more than likely that will be doubled in many spots around upstate NY. I read the Tug already
is over 4'.
we had 6" or so overnight saturday, but with the wind (30 pretty steady with higher gusts) it's impossible to really measure, but they are saying in my
neck of the woods we were about 24" this am, and it came pretty good all day. As Eric posted from his experiences, some of this snow is pretty heavy,
at least what is near the ground. The rest here has been light enough to drift. Have 1 drift behind my garage up to the eaves.

after living in this state for 54 years, and in this county (very rural and high elevation) for 27 of them, i have come to realize how important having
the right tools for the job are. many of you may know i sell green turf equipment, have been for 18 years, but that has nothing to do with the fact
that there are proper tools for certain jobs... and anyone without them today suffered. we had a family member get stuck in her work driveway,
no fun trying to dig out under a little korean car to try to find a place to hook a tow strap, not to mention shovelling (eventually snowblowing) an
area for my buddies truck so he could get some bit of traction to pull that little car out... oh did i mention the wind was blowing 30+ and it was
snowing approx 2 in per hour? not fun! soaked thru 2 sets of clothes and ended up back at work (tow job happened on lunch) in cold wet jeans
for the afternoon.

today's storm, always typical of the first big snow, was tough going for all. that wet slushy stuff freezes as soon as you push the snow off the top,
and that wet slushy stuff causes problems with all equipment trying to deal with it. there were a few deaths locally and a bus accident on I 81, among
hundreds of other incidents. we were lucky, all home safe and sound tonight, listening to the wind hit the house again, waiting to get up and do it
all again in the morning.

my tools of choice, nope, not a CUT, (maybe some day). but a great old (2005) HD shaft drive tractor, with 4wd, loaded tires, curtis cab, LED work lights,
chains and a front shaft drive snowblower. It's a tank, and can handle anything mother nature can dish out. I have 1 driveway that is paved, and 1 that is
stone. we don't need the stone driveway in winter, but i'll clean out so i can get to my shop if needed.

this tractor is awesome in this type of weather. it moves anything i throw at it, and it does it with a big grin on it's face. since not everyone has the desire/need/funds
to own this type of equipment, i took a lot of calls today at work form people needing belts, chains, weights, cabs, you name it, they were all struggling.
i am blessed to be able to own this equipment, and on days like today i wouldn't want anything else.

i didn't write this to brag, nor to sell anything, just to state that it is amazing what having the right tools in the garage/shop/toolbox can do when needed.

here's a pic from sunday am, and another from this afternoon, my back porch, not going to be a fun job to shovel that! but at least i know what will do the heavy
work once it's off the deck, the old girl will throw all that heavy wet packed crud out and away from the house and deck tomorrow nite. 20161120_161414.jpgpart0.jpg
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #2  
Flag on the play. Unnecessary bating of the reader. 10 yards and loss of down.

You can't brag about a machine like that w/o posting a picture of it! Park that bad boy next to a pile you pushed up and let us all ooo and ahhh properly!
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #3  
Flag on the play. Unnecessary bating of the reader. 10 yards and loss of down.

You can't brag about a machine like that w/o posting a picture of it! Park that bad boy next to a pile you pushed up and let us all ooo and ahhh properly!

:footballreferee: He's right you know... 'we' need pictures of these fantastical deeds and of the wonder-machine that performed them.

(of course I say this from the comfort of the Southern Hemisphere, where it is middle-late Spring with daytime temperatures of 20-29C :yes:)
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do..........
  • Thread Starter
#4  
worked on secondary drive this am again, (did it once last nite) and started working my way around the back of the house.

20161122_073644.jpg
20161122_073653.jpg
20161122_074136.jpg
20161122_074143.jpg
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #5  
Agreed! But you need some chains...... :D

 
   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #6  
Another unwritten rule is that any bragging about snow blowing of any kind must be accompanied with video. Still pictures just don't tell the story.
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do..........
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Agreed! But you need some chains...... :D

got rear chains, which works well with this setup...
i bet that unit goes anywhere!
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #8  
got rear chains, which works well with this setup...
i bet that unit goes anywhere!

My wife and I call them my "tree climbing chains".
Of course, I also have the "squirrel blinding lights".

I need both. My driveway had a hill that I could previously only blow going down hill. Now I can blow AND scrape going up the hill. I cut up horse stall mats to protect my garage floor.
Also, I work about an hour from home. It's dark when I leave and dark when I get home. The stock headlights are a scant better than worthless.

I hate the blower subframe and I hate having to find a place to stow the loader for the winter. Otherwise it's *great*. 2x as fast (900' driveway, open areas by the garage and to turn around) to clear with the tractor than with my old truck/boss plow. I've got an additional 20" width over you, but that doesn't increase capability, only decreases passes/time.

I love a good blower setup. Appears we both have one.
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #9  
We got maybe 8 inches of the heavy wet stuff in St.Lawrence co.I didn't put my front plow on because the ground isn't frozen and it just makes a mess when it's like this.So just used the front bucket and rear blade.I forgot what a real pain that is.Suppose to be in the 35-45 degrees in a couple days so it probably will all be gone.
 
   / amazing what the right tool can do.......... #10  
Those of you with blowers, front or rear, do you find that you need the chains to be able to get through the snow?

I have a 4035 with a Woodmaxx SB-84 but haven't gotten any chains. Our driveway is about 300 feet, mostly a 6% grade. Anyone think I'll have any problems going up (or sliding down)?
 

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