Snow Equipment Buying/Pricing Dealing with drifts

[picklerick]

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.

Thanks. I had no idea such a thing existed. Makes the snow fence idea a lot more manageable without a doubt. I'll check them out.

 

[picklerick]

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.

Thanks for the advice. What is rimguard? An antifreeze you put in tractor tires for weight/ballast?

 

[picklerick]

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

hehehehe.. I think my wallet is going to be much lighter no matter what. I tried the build-your-own thing on the kubota site and it's like buying a porsche. Everything is it's own option. I tried spec'ing a comparable tractor from kubota and massey ferguson and kubota came out far more expensive. I'm hoping I wasn't comparing apples to apples.

 

[CalG]

hehehehe.. I think my wallet is going to be much lighter no matter what.

Keeping a ten foot high snow fence up in winter winds might run the bank dry. ;-)

Plant trees!

 

[leonz]

Thanks for the advice. What is rimguard? An antifreeze you put in tractor tires for weight/ballast?

Hello picklerick,

Rimguard is a waste liquid from processing the heavy Sugar Beet Liquor/molasses syrup. It is filtered etc., Some folks have had trouble with it. I have windshield washer fluid in my LA115 rears as it was beyond worthless even with chains and 82 pounds of wheel weights as snow banks stopped it cold as it is a one wheel drive mule.

You have time and you need to learn a lot more before you even build your decision trees.

Avoid the you build it sites like the plague as you are no where near ready and the prices can vary from dealer to dealer when you are dealing with iron.

Just wait and research things Rick.

 

[picklerick]

Keeping a ten foot high snow fence up in winter winds might run the bank dry. ;-)

Plant trees!

I was thinking about that. Those really tall cylindrical ones people plant for privacy. Might upset my neighbors quite a bit when their view turns to a wall of trees but might be worth taking the hit. So I guess I'll need a post hole digger.

 

[picklerick]

Hello picklerick,

Rimguard is a waste liquid from processing the heavy Sugar Beet Liquor/molasses syrup. It is filtered etc., Some folks have had trouble with it. I have windshield washer fluid in my LA115 rears as it was beyond worthless even with chains and 82 pounds of wheel weights as snow banks stopped it cold as it is a one wheel drive mule.

So when people talk about beet juice in the back tires I guess that's what they mean. I can't imagine going with anything that isn't 4WD around here. Too much wet ground and ice to not try and stack the deck in my favor.

You have time and you need to learn a lot more before you even build your decision trees.

Avoid the you build it sites like the plague as you are no where near ready and the prices can vary from dealer to dealer when you are dealing with iron.

Just wait and research things Rick.

Not to worry, my friend. I'm not going to burn any cash on this until I've done enough research to be sure I'm going to get everything I need in the end. Really appreciate the advice from all you guys and the people that build & maintain this site. It's a game-changer quality resource, IMO.

 

[Deere Dude]

What is the snowfall per year in your area??

In Wisconsin where I was from, a heavy snow year is about 90" and the average year is 40" approx. The giant walls in your article were in Wyoming with a lot of open plains and heavy snows. The theory of tall fences will be legit anyplace but unless you get the heavy snow quite often I would just put up cheapo 50' rolls of fencing every year. Then you can take them down and have a nice looking area again.

I stopped putting snow fences after a few years because I liked running the big snowblower through the drifts just to watch it fly 60' into the air

 

[LouNY]

From your posts I see that you are in Mass, you have received quite a bit of advice. So I'll go a tad bit different, if you have mostly flat ground two wheel drive with chains will do a very good job,
Do NOT get the heavy double ring chains that we used for years farming, i have used them as well as twist link, and bar reinforced none of them will hold a candle to the European studded.

I used two wheel drives for many years on an extremely steep and long driveway, you can get a canvas wind/weather breaker type cab for the winter. If at all possible buy cast iron wheel weights instead of filling tires, the initial cost will be more but the maintenance is much easier and a lot cheaper, around here to have a liquid filled tire worked on is at least $300. Also a narrow frontend tractor when used with rear implements or a mounted snow blade is NOT tippy unless used completely stupidly, I would not recommend one for a loader tractor although they worked for many years. That said my new one is cabbed, heated, AC, and 4wd.
A IH 560, 656, ALLis Chalmers, Case, White or Oliver in the 50 HP and up will do the job, and for an almost reasonable cost, any farm shop can work on them if need be.

 

[Rara Avis]

You need to have a lot of time to deal with a 140 ft drift...