How's everyone doing with the SNOW

[Mendonsy]

Looking4new: You're partly right. The deck stairs baluster wipeout was because I was a) too close to begin with and 2) watching the blower and completely forgetting about the FEL bucket. But there have been 3 occasions now - the propane tank excitement, the dryer vent wipeout and the shed door today - where I lost track of the front edge of the bucket under all the snow. Because I can't see it, I don't realize it's as close to an object as it is. This is compounded by the fact that the distance the bucket sticks out in front is dependent on the angle of the bucket and the height of the booms.

I'll get the feel for it eventually I'm sure. I just hope my house is still standing when I finally do.

-Mark

It's called "3 dimensional awareness" and most people (including me) learn it the same way you are. By next winter you'll be able to put that tractor anywhere you want without hitting anything.
One good thing ... when you hit something with the snow blower it usually puts the evidence a long way from the scene of the crime so you can plead a lack of knowledge as long as you clean it up when the snow melts.

 

[MaineMark]

Mendonsy: Thanks for the encouraging words. I hope you're right about next winter - the repair bills are really starting to mount up...

-Mark

 

[jix]

Hey MaineMark:
T think that you and I must be kindred souls with tractor snow blowing. In my fiest three times out with my Kubota I digested a big plastic road cone. an aluminum driveway marker, and the doorway to my portable shelter. I also ate a hunk out of my wifes Toyota Venza car bumper and broke the glass in one of my brand new cab doors.
After that I called wolf on the tranny gears, but it turned out to be my failure to properly engage the range lever. Oh yes,I let the chute rotator control go too far around and tore up some wiring
I thought that something had to be done, but I find that I cannot walk very fast with the horse shoe wedged up my *****.:duh:

 

[jix]

Hey MaineMark:
T think that you and I must be kindred souls with tractor snow blowing. In my fiest three times out with my Kubota I digested a big plastic road cone. an aluminum driveway marker, and the doorway to my portable shelter. I also ate a hunk out of my wifes Toyota Venza car bumper and broke the glass in one of my brand new cab doors.
After that I called wolf on the tranny gears, but it turned out to be my failure to properly engage the range lever. Oh yes,I let the chute rotator control go too far around and tore up some wiring
I thought that something had to be done, but I find that I cannot walk very fast with the horse shoe wedged up my *****.:duh:

 

[Mendonsy]

Mendonsy: Thanks for the encouraging words. I hope you're right about next winter - the repair bills are really starting to mount up...

-Mark

Here's a tip: Pick up a bunch of those reflective driveway marker sticks and mark all the obstacles in your yard next fall before it starts snowing. That way you'll know where they are hiding under the snow next winter.

 

[jix]

Boys, This has been the worst winter that I have ever seen anywhere, including the high arctic. So far the weather has been directly responsible for about twenty-five thousand dollars in damage to my equipment5 and property As I write I see that the sno0w in my yard is 4 feet deep of compacted frozen snow, not counting any areas where it has been piled up. In my front yard are about 20,000 sq feet of snowbanks ten feet deep. Those snowbanks are too big and too hard for the tractor to even nibble at. I estimate that here will still be snowpiles until mid June at the earliest.

So I am hoping that we get a thaw before the middle of april. To be proactive next fall, I am going to dig a grave before freeze up.
A Guy can only do so much to be ready for such winters as we are enduring here. I figger that is the only way.:banghead:

 

[MaineMark]

Hey jix: Thank god I'm not alone. Based on some of the comments my Kubota learning adventures have generated on this forum, you'd think every member was an expert. Well, I guess most are at that. But it's nice to see someone else have a rocky start, even though I feel your damage.

Mendonsy: Thanks for the tip. I was also thinking about getting some of those plow blade markers - the yellow flexible ones mounted on both sides of the blade. Mounted on hungry Big Red, those may help eliminate losing track of the blower under all the snow.

-Mark

 

[jix]

Hey Mark. I agree. The blower kicks up a lotta snow and the wind turns it into a total white-out. I easily get disoriented in that. I find it necessary to stop and wait for returning visibility quite often because I have no idea where the heck I am at with the tractor, within 20 feet. The markers would help, but if I don't know what county I am in, then a stop is the only safe thing to do...and I have both a back up camera AND a school bus drivers rear-view mirror. I can alawys see the blower, but not the horizon on windy days. Flying blind is too dangerous in my topography, gets me into big trouble, like fatal.
Jix

 

[dragoneggs]

Mark, I sure hope you stick around the forum, you have a great sense of humor:thumbsup:.. I am sorry about the house and shed, but hey, you will learn. Hang in there.

Yeah... I second that motion, please do continue to keep us posted (with pictures please!) well done. When I first put the Piranha tooth bar on my bucket, I took out a couple slats from my fence, badly scarred a deck post but it's still standing. That's after the first time I pulled my tractor into the garage with the ROPS up and dang near tore the trim off! My BX reaches out and bites stuff despite me! :laughing:

 

[MaineMark]

dragoneggs: Thank goodness another 'less than expert' operator.

I too had the ROPS problem with my garage THE VERY FIRST DAY! It was a harbinger of things to come.

I was so excited when the dealer delivered my Kubota. I'd been thinking about nothing else for days. You'd think I was 8 years old and it was Christmas. When it shows up, the sales dude spent about 2 minutes on 'familiarization'. That was OK, I'd downloaded the owners manual and memorized it already. I probably knew more details about the tractor than he did. I blew my driveway even though there was no snow on it, I poked the bucket into a few banks of snow and generally made a mess of things but had a ball. It was dark, so I had the rear work lights on thinking 'this is sooooo cool'. It was somewhere around 8 or 10 degrees, I was getting cold and I finally decided to pull it into the garage and park it. Uh oh.

I had moved the 'Vette over to make plenty of room. As I pulled in I was ever so careful to make sure the bucket stayed well away from the 'Vette. As I crept into the bay, the tractor started to slow down a little and it felt like a big hand pushing down on it, so I just gave it more pedal. That was probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. Then there was this huge CRACK sound right over my head and the tractor leaped forward almost 2 feet, causing the bucket to ram my workbench. My first thought was 'oh *****', followed by 'Oh man, I broke it already'. A few seconds later I thought 'OH GOD THE ROLL BAR'.

Yep, I discovered you can't fit an 85 inch high roll bar through an 83 inch high opening, unless you break something.

To my credit, I checked the tractor for damage before I checked the garage. A little rubbed paint on top of the ROPS was it. I gave a 3 second look at the garage opening and didn't see any obvious cracks in the trim or anything. I tested the garage door and it opened and closed just fine. To this day I don't know what the huge crack sound was. I can't see any damage on the outside or inside of the garage, at least from this incident. And the garage door isn't bowed down in the middle or sagging. It's a mystery.

-Mark