Snow Hours moving snow

[ByronBob]

We have had a big snow year and I have logged ~35 hours on the tractor. I plow with the Chevy and haven't kept track of those hours. The tractor time is for the short walkway and then along to road (1 mile) to make room for more as it was too narrow and I could not throw over with the plow. Last weekend I was widening so we could straddle the ice ruts.

My wife and I love winter. Your pictures are awesome. I hope you enjoy living where you do. I know we'd move there in a minute if we could.

 

[smfcpacfp]

I have about 15 hours of total time from when I start the tractor for warm up until I shut it off after cleaning up the blower. We have had about 12 feet of snow thus far. I have been on vacation for 4 1/2 weeks of this winter so I guess my seat time isn't a true measure of what it would take to clean my 400 foot driveway. It seems to take me less time than the rest of you however.

During that 4 1/2 weeks of vacation I did 30 open water scuba dives for a total of 25 hours underwater.

I enjoyed all of hours in the tractor and underwater.

 

[offcamber]

Tractor was delivered yesterday afternoon the move up the date since itwas going to rain today....got about5 hours in so far then it started to pour...would have kpet going but don't need to be sick ( then I would really have to wait to play). I am very happy with this tractor. Feel like a kid playing with my Tonka trucks again

 

[Dyer retired]

Tractor was delivered yesterday afternoon the move up the date since itwas going to rain today....got about5 hours in so far then it started to pour...would have kpet going but don't need to be sick ( then I would really have to wait to play). I am very happy with this tractor. Feel like a kid playing with my Tonka trucks again

Congratulations! I think it was a BX 24 you were having delivered, so have fun! I don't care how new and novel a machine is, the rain sure knocks the fun out of it. I seem to remember you saying that you don't have a garage for it, do you have that standby tarp over that new machine? We got rain here in Maine all night, but it didn't freeze on the ground as they had predicted. They are predicting Round 2 for tonight, the local channels are playing the "Storm Center" music, people are clogging the aisles at the Grocery stores, so the end of the world is probably pretty near. I hope you get some snow to test the new rig out with, but only a little. Take care. Dyer, retired

 

[ChuckinNH]

Your post about the weather was so true John! It is raining hard here now too, so it will be coming your way. Isn't it funny how people have to stock up on stuff when it storms ........ every time. One would think we could get in the habit of generally being prepared for such things in this neck of the woods! If it's raining too hard though, you have to go out in it to get your bottled water. You have heard of Evian water? Spell Evian backwards....

 

[Dyer retired]

ChuckinNH,

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say that Hannaford Bros. and Shaw's Super Markets owned the News Stations up this way. It's all pretty funny, because the people that are the most panicked, have lived here their entire lives. You were right about the rain, it's just started in the last 5 minutes and seems to be coming down pretty hard. It is supposed to do whatever change-over it's going to do after midnight, but then clear off tomorrow afternoon and start improving. The temps. aren't supposed to be as warm though this coming week, so if it freezes, we'll be stuck with that mess for a while. Enjoy the new rig. John

 

[offcamber]

Yup pouring here too...all I can do is look out the window and admire the parts that are sticking out from the tarp lol....when the temps drop and all this stuff freezes solid I am going to have a stuff time breaking it up...I am impressed the fuel milage..5 hours and still on full

 

[Buckeyeman]

Does anyone spray a coating of something on the inside of their FEL to keep the snow from sticking?

 

[Dyer retired]

Yup pouring here too...all I can do is look out the window and admire the parts that are sticking out from the tarp lol....when the temps drop and all this stuff freezes solid I am going to have a stuff time breaking it up...I am impressed the fuel milage..5 hours and still on full

Weather update from Maine: Pouring rain and not yet freezing, but the weatherman is predicting bad things for the rest of the night with lots of ice on the ground by morning. The winds will shift out of the N.E. and keep things nice and cold, so it should be fun. The good news is that we set the clocks ahead tonight, so the days will start to seem longer. Hope you get some ride time on the new rig tomorrow. I think you'll be impressed with the fuel usage, as I was. I normally go down in November and fill two 5 gallon jugs with diesel, once they put the winter mix in the ground, and that will carry me almost to the same point the following November. I'm now working on 25 gallons of fuel used since November, but I'm really not complaining because of how unusually high snow amounts we've had this year. I still have an 8 hp 24" cut Troy Bilt walk behind blower that I used to do the yard, so I would still be clearing from our first storm of the year with that thing. The Kubota has been a real workhorse and work saver....you'll feel like it's paid for itself the first time you get to clear the mess away. Have fun and we'll be keeping the fingers crossed on the ice amounts tomorrow. Dyer, retired

 

[biffnh]

Most winters I average about 50 hours with the FEL and rear 5 foot snowblower. I use the F250 with an 8 foot plow as much as possible and then blow the banks back with the snowblower. We average about 80" of snow a winter

This winter, however I have logged 112 hours so far with 139 inches of snow. The FEL has been a big help as well.

I love snow, but now I am ready to see the ground again!

 

[Dyer retired]

biffnh,

You got me thinking about logging my hours each season....a lot of people do and I haven't been. I do keep fairly meticulous logs in Excel on the work I do on the BX 1800 with the engine hours listed at the time of the service. I went back and took a look at my log where I listed the day I hooked the front end BX2750 and mounted the 6 foot rear blade....which is normally just before the snow flies, but it was late November this year, so I think I might have done it early for once. Since November, I've logged a little over 45 hours. That surprised me because it seems like I was on that thing every day clearing snow or cleaning up some more in the days following a storm. Of course, my yard isn't really that big, so it wouldn't take forever, but I kind of do with the Kubota what you described doing with the truck mounted plow. I push the snow into piles at one end of the driveway or the other and then blow the piles into the woods. If we have 12 inches of snow on the ground, I just skip the blade and snow blow the mess into the woods. I have to bundle up pretty good because I don't have a cab and finally figured out that doing the way I do it now, prevents snow face. I'm with you, ready for bare ground. Dyer, retired

 

[Jadd]

I have to dig out Sun morn. The weather experts were predicting the end of the world for three days, finally got the storm only 12 hours later than they forecasted. The Laneway is blown in w/ a NE wind and all, it fills up pretty deep w/ the winds off the lake. My wife, sons & mother in law are going to
Niagara Falls for March break. Come **** or high water I want to make sure the lane way is clear so they make it out. It will be just me, the dog and peace and quiet for a few days. AHHHH. Total hours on the bx (16.5) , all snow removal hours.

 

[artfull dodger]

We are pretty well snowed in here in Erie, PA as well, I plowed for about 2 hours with the B6000 earlier today, and it looks like I didnt do a thing now. Guess I will be back out plowing in the morning again. Cheers Mike

 

[ChuckinNH]

Well John, it didn't cool off here as much as predicted, and it must have done it slowly because the ice situation isn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. There's a snow squall going on now, and I'll send it along up to you. Looks like it's going to clear off soon.

 

[Dyer retired]

ChuckinNH,

Go ahead and send the squall. We have a very thin dusting looking coating on the truck this morning, but certainly not a 2 inch base of ice that they had predicted and the sun looks like it's trying to poke through (that isn't supposed to happen until this afternoon.) I have an image in my mind of the poor weathermen sitting around the news room consoling each other on how they could have missed the mark so badly. We got heavy rains most of the night, but it never did end up freezing on the ground and, amazingly, didn't all flow into my basement. Depending on the rains, temps., and snow banks close to the house, I can have some water seepage in the basement, but it's normally confined to a small area that I can easily keep up with. I didn't even get that, so I'm feeling pretty good about it all. The winds are really howling right now and I'd guess that we are getting 50 mph gusts here and there.

 

[offcamber]

Bright sunny and cold..no reall ice build up but al lthe slush and soft snow is rock solid.....no pile moving today....unless I want to spend a lot of time breaking it up with the BH. I think I will just enjoy the race to day and hit the piles when the snow is softer. Ok I am sure I will play with theh BX a little..

 

[slofr8]

Weather update from Maine: Pouring rain and not yet freezing, ....

Maybe in your Maine but this was mine this morning.

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[Heywood Jannockitov]

This is why I need a cab. The 5425 is supposed to getting built this Wednesday. I guarantee when it finally arrives, hopefully by next week, we will get no more snow

 

[Dyer retired]

slofr8,

Sorry to see that! Where in the Country are you and how often does it fall like that? I've attached a couple of pictures from last week, so we kind of know what it's like, but have had a bit of a reprieve the last couple of days. Dyer, retired

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

Some more shots from the 3 hour extravaganza this morning. It was -14C when these were taken. Note that the IH454 2wd, no chains, does pretty good traction-wise. When it is REAL cold, the snow isn't slippery. Might I add though, that my left foot is firmly planted on the diff. lock pedal!