G174 to the rescue

[Rod in Forfar]

The season's first snowstorm hit Eastern Ontario over the last couple of days. In anticipation I had fitted tire chains onto my TAFE 351DI whose loader I use for snow removal until things get really deep. Then I add a snowblower to the back.

First trip out the 600' driveway with the TAFE went well. I picked up and drove back up the hill for another run. But as I turned around the steering failed. A king pin broke off the pitman arm, immobilizing the tractor. ULP!

My Massey Ferguson dealer is a wizard with online parts lists, and he can find parts for the Indian Massey Ferguson clone he sold me without much trouble. I sent photos. He didn't have the part in his back room and would have to order one. Over Christmas. He suggested I press a backup tractor into service for snow removal. But the old Massey Ferguson 35 has a heavy timber winch on it and it's a pain to remove.

I decided to see if the Bolens G174 could handle the scraper blade abandoned in the corner of a field. I hooked up, pried the thing free of the frozen ground, and it lifted o.k. It seemed a little wider than the 5' I remembered. 7' overall, and very heavy. Yikes!

It's a game little tractor as long as the snow isn't too deep. I used the differential lock more this morning than in two years of previous ownership, but it did the job.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

It's a game little tractor as long as the snow isn't too deep. I used the differential lock more this morning than in two years of previous ownership, but it did the job.

The trouble with a blade is that at some point there is no place to put the snow. As it accumulated it became painfully obvious that the little Bolens didn't have the weight to move more than a few inches of snow. It did, nonetheless, provide a narrow track down which I was able to bore with my 4WD pickup the next morning on a run to the dealer's for a king pin for the TAFE. It was a great relief to have the heavier machine back in operation.

For all its foibles the 5' blower on the 35 hp tractor can remove snowbanks and thus reduce drifting on our long driveway. Now I have to dig my way back to where I stored the TAFE's winter cab and rescue it for installation.

Funny how it's so hard to believe when it's still green that the snow will eventually come and sock us in.

 

[NHmitch]

I wonder if chains would make a big difference? I am usually able to push about a foot of dirt, and scoop it with my dirt scoop. Weight is an issue since the tractors are somewhere around 1200lbs. I found two pretty good snow videos on youtube. Hope the snow slows down for you a bit, we have about 14 inches of fresh snow, with another 8 on the way today.

 

[NHmitch]