Snow Equipment Buying/Pricing Dealing with drifts

[picklerick]

I never saw a 10' snow fence but putting a fence 350' away from the driveway seems ridiculous. Just get rolled 4 or 5' snow fence and put it 40 feet away or so.

I agree it's counterintuitive. I read a pretty comprehensive study by either a state or the federal government. According to the study, there are variables like relative elevation on the windward and leeward sides and the like, but the upshot was that all wind-blown snow exists in a band from 2' - 16' above the ground. If you assume a unit is 1 foot and your fence is N feet high, then a 50% porous fence placed 35 * N feet upwind of the object to be protected causes enough air turbulence to cause the snow to be dumped before it reaches the driveway. The bottom 2' should be completely open. My initial plan was to build a snow fence that was high enough to use the entire field as a dumping ground for wind-driven snow. A 4' fence only grabs 2' of the total 14' band worth of snow in the wind. A 10' fence grabs 8' worth (10' - 2' gap) and should pull a TON out of the wind. I'll see if I can find a link to the study. It was interesting reading.

 

[picklerick]

Welcome to my world! Leon has exposed a lot of the key issues, one of the main ones he brought up is how much you can afford to spend to solve this problem. Snow fencing is one of the most cost effective tools.

I would like to suggest a 40 to 60 Hp tractor with a plow on the front and rear 3 point blower, or a front loader mount skid steer blower with a hydraulic power pack on the rear 3 point. And tire chains. And a cab. If you don't have a cab, you'll be reluctant to get out there during or shortly after the wind event. Getting those drifts cleared before they finish setting up makes it a lot easier. And I agree with Deer Dude, we protect part of our driveway with snow fence, I have the standard 4 foot fence and it is effective from about 30 feet out to about 100 feet or more. We have it set about 60 feet from our driveway. 350 is just not practical for most situations, nor would it be effective in many.

If you can place the snow fence where the leeward side is accessible by a tractor, when the drifts reach the height of the fence and start to broaden out you can get in there and plow the drifts up to 6 or 8 feet (using FEL mounted plow or even the tractor's bucket) and then the fence becomes effective again.

I'm probably willing to deal with being outside on an open platform now but ten years from now I'm going to feel very differently so a cab is probably a necessity. In my case, I've got a copse of trees that would make it difficult for me to clear out the fence so in my case it's likely to be a one-shot. So either a really tall one or a series of shorter ones as (I think) Leonz suggested. My plan is to try snow fences this year and use the time to get educated on tractor options. That'll give me time to save up and buy as future proof a solution as I can afford. Thanks very much for the advice. It's a big purchase and I appreciate all the help/advice I can get.

 

[picklerick]

Lots of threads over the years on this topic...SEARCH.

Snow blower vs plow both have there pros and cons.

You're not kidding. I'm on it. Thanks.

 

[FatTire]

Be sure to keep us informed...

 

[picklerick]

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A John Deere 3020 or 4020 is simple easy to maintain and has none of the pollution gizmos/crap to deal with and parts are still available. cleaning the radiator with a water hose in warm weather and clearing the chaff screen is a must do item.
The intake air filter is a 2 cartridge system with a safety element and they both need to be changed regularly as the safety element is designed to stop all the really fine dust that gets through the folds of the primary element.
If you can find one with a cyclone pre cleaner you will be in heaven as long as its not damaged.

This sounds far more doable than I had expected. When you said I needed power earlier I guess you weren't kidding. I can't imagine anything I'd be dealing with causing an 80-100hp pto to bog down. That seems positively huge compared to what I've looked at so far.

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The axles on these things are beasts and are designed for row crop work. The Getman Brothers Company uses John Deere row crop tractor axles for most all its rubber tired underground mining machinery.

So if I hit a rock it won't be game over. Probably a good thing given I can't see bupkis beneath the wall of weeds.

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As far as maintenance goes its filters, greasing and oil changes and checking the oil level in the rear axle occasionally.
The shuttle shift transmissions were designed for the 30, 40 and 50 series of John Deere row crop tractors in the early 1960's. I do not remember if the 30 and 40 series diesels are direct or indirect injection.

I'll pick up an reproduction of the owners manual and read through it to see what I'd be up against.

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I am going to suggest that you call Wengers of Myerstown, PA to ask about where they might know of a 30 or 40 series tractors with a front end loader or if they have one that they have not broken up for parts. I would also call the John Deere dealers with a one hundred miles distance of you and ask the same questions.

I'll do that. I'm not sure how crazy the local dealers will be in dealing with someone that's as clueless as I am since they're mostly dealing with commercial outfits, but it's worth a shot. I'll need to start building a relationship with a dealer anyway so it can't hurt to start.

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Avoid the tricycle row crop tractors as you can flip one before you realize that you turn too sharply-BUT in saying that though you can have a tricycle front end converted to an adjustable front row crop front axle too.

I would also suggest that you subscribe to farm show magazine as they have plenty of links to older john deere mules.

I'll grab myself a subscription. I looked at some photos of the tricycle models and wouldn't want one for that reason. I also watched all the obligatory "how your tractor and it's PTO and kill you" safety videos. Yeesh.

 

[leonz]

Hello picklerick,


In order to save you a lot of time, aggravation and pain in driving fence posts I would like to offer you a suggestion.

You can purchase a propane powered fence post driver to drive T posts and also pull them out of the ground.

A steel tube fence post pounder will work for you but it will be hard to drive straight into the sod and not be affected by rocks where the powered unit will work very well for you when driving and pulling posts.
The propane fired fence post driver has been highlighted in Farm Show several times and is also on the Farm Show CD's
which are something you should also invest in as you are jumping into tractor ownership with both feet.

You can also purchase a manual T post puller from northern tool.

 

[Fallon]

I ran a 7' old Ford 918 flail on my 32hp (25pto) Kubota L3200 & a 5' 3pt blower. My main reason for upgrading to the L4060hstc was the cab. The L4060 is twice the cost of the L3200 (now L3301), but the extra weight & cab are worth it.

No plowing experience with the L4060 yet but the L3200 did well. Got the blower to deal with drifts I couldn't plow. Plowed 75% of the time as it was faster but needed the blower to bat cleanup on drifts & windrows.

 

[tcreeley]

Get a 40hp with a snow blower and cab. Front snowblower is easer on the neck. 4x4. The snowblower can clean up what drifts.

Fill the rears with rimguard. Use chains on the rear.

 

[leonz]

Stop that!!!!!!!!!!! I am already spending his money!!!

 

[picklerick]

I agree it's counterintuitive. I read a pretty comprehensive study by either a state or the federal government. According to the study, there are variables like relative elevation on the windward and leeward sides and the like, but the upshot was that all wind-blown snow exists in a band from 2' - 16' above the ground. If you assume a unit is 1 foot and your fence is N feet high, then a 50% porous fence placed 35 * N feet upwind of the object to be protected causes enough air turbulence to cause the snow to be dumped before it reaches the driveway. The bottom 2' should be completely open. My initial plan was to build a snow fence that was high enough to use the entire field as a dumping ground for wind-driven snow. A 4' fence only grabs 2' of the total 14' band worth of snow in the wind. A 10' fence grabs 8' worth (10' - 2' gap) and should pull a TON out of the wind. I'll see if I can find a link to the study. It was interesting reading.

In case anyone is interested, here is a link to the study I was talking about.

https://www.extension.iastate.edu/forestry/publications/PDF_files/SHRP-H-320.pdf