I hate freezing rain!

[rpoage]

I blew it yesterday. Not only didn't my procrastination give me some much needed seat time but the junk that fell from the sky yesterday is now a good concrete substitute.

It would take a box blade with scrapers lowered to get through this stuff. I went out this morning and I lowered the blade to the point I lifted the front tires off the ground and I couldn't make a dent in this stuff. I now wish the BX had dual brakes as you can't steer real well with the front wheels off the ground.

This stuff is so hard the tractor didn't even leave tire prints. I attempted to break up the path to the shop by driving over it (gravel underneath) and had the pleasure of a nice long side ways slide off the path (path is < 5degree). Good news is pucker factor in not effected by temperature.

I guess I'm going to wait for the thaw. Moral of this story is if you got it use it.

 

[Bob_Young]

Tut, tut, rpoage. Gaia put it there, Gaia will take it away... If you set aside your Post Industrial impatience and pay heed to your hunter-gatherer roots, this will be less painful

Not being unsympathetic or anything; sure glad we didn't get that stuff up here. We've got enough to keep us occupied with Lake Effect.

If this be Global Warming, I'd hate to see the alternative.
Bob

 

[ragkar]

It wouldn't have done much good to plow yesterday either if your weather was the same as here. About noon I tried with a 54" blade and after four round trip passes up and down the driveway, it was still white. I went out again about 4pm for a last try and it was already too late, it had frozen.
I noticed that the the township trucks with their heavy blades took two passes to clear my road. Those of us with our light blades didn't stand a chance.
Still they won't all be like that one. I was really worried saturday night what with freezing rain and twenty degree temperatures I thought that we'd lose power for sure. I read that 100,000 pennsylvania households did lose power.

 

[rpoage]

Tut, tut, rpoage. Gaia put it there, Gaia will take it away... If you set aside your Post Industrial impatience and pay heed to your hunter-gatherer roots, this will be less painful

Thanks I really needed the good laugh, but I'm sure our UPS guy will be unimpressed with my driveway and any references to Greek mythology will be lost on him when he has had 8 hours of frozen roads and driveways under his belt.

 

[drtydeed]

I think you both missed your timing on this one. You need to get TIVO, so you can RECORD football games I plowed with a 6ft RB from 1-3pm (just after the lightening/thunder and rain). The rain softened it up quite a bit. No problem, just extremely heavy stuff.

 

[rpoage]

I think you both missed your timing on this one. You need to get TIVO, so you can RECORD football games

Busted

 

[AMR]

I couldn't believe it, out here in western CT it appeared that the snow had passed along with the freezing rain and stuff so I went out and scraped the driveway down with my new B3030 and 72" front blade, sweet, I thought no problem, down to black

then it started to rain and made a beautiful glaze out of my driveway, since I was enjoying driving around and it wasn't too cold I just kept driving up and down try to keep it from freezing, losing battle

 

[asylum575]

Well, Lets look at the positive. As a new BX24 owner, looking forward to my first winter. You have answered a question I was afraid to ask out loud. The effect of cold weather on the pucker factor as it aplies to tractors.

Down here in Southern NY, we only got about 2-3 inches. I was working yesterday and came home early. Since it was only 1pm and football had just started, I went out with the walkbehind snow blower and was done in an hour. Not really enough for the BX, waiting for the 6" fall.

Ed

 

[ragkar]

drtydeed I'm about a dozen miles from you and that can make a big difference. I didn't get rain, just freezing rain.
Also I'm using a lighter plow (54" FB vs. 72" RB) with a rubber cutting edge. Not good for plowing ice or near ice.

 

[DesertRose]

I can't even imagine freezing rain. Every year I see on the news that areas of the country are without electrical power for weeks following a freezing rain storm.

We either get rain because it's warm or snow because it's cold but never rain that freezes.

I really feel for those of you who live in areas that get freezing rain.

Tom

 

[ccsial]

I can't even imagine freezing rain. Every year I see on the news that areas of the country are without electrical power for weeks following a freezing rain storm.

We either get rain because it's warm or snow because it's cold but never rain that freezes.

I really feel for those of you who live in areas that get freezing rain.

Tom

The way the weather has been changing you may get your day yet. We don't get freezing rain much here but this year has been different. I takes a nice warm air mass over the cold one on the ground. The rain does not freeze until it hits something cold, like a driveway or airplane.

I don't like freezing rain on my drive but that is much better than flying through it. It about killed me once.

 

[rpoage]

Spent a couple hours fighting the ice today. Took the front blade off and put the FEL back on. Using the bucket edge on the path to the shop was a waste of time. The Markham tooth bar I put off buying would sure have come in handy on this. I could pick the wheels off the ground and not even a dent the ice. Looks like there is salt in my future. I did make some progress on the main driveway which is paved. Best results were had by using the FEL bucket at a 10 to 15deg angle of attack and putting the FEL in float and giving it the gas. I had to be ready to knock it out of float to put a little more pressure on the front wheels if the tractor required a direction change. Like making a big shaved ice cone. Still can't get it down to asphalt but at least I made a dent in the ice so mother nature can undo what she did.

 

[ccsial]

I'm getting mine slowly. I salted several times. The rear blade on the 1910 skips over it. So does the end loader. I'm using an 8" wide ice scraper by hand and getting that way. What a bunch of work. It's been warmer here the last few days, about 30, so that helps.

 

[PAGUY]

Wimps - I used my Gravley with a 48 inch blade to remove the snow/ice mixture. When it wouldn't cut down to pavement/macadam I just backed up and rammed it again. Two days later I got out the BX2200 and cleaned up the piles the Gravley made.

Voila - now ready to tackle the next storm that comes my way.

 

[hdbikercouple]

i welded 3/8 bolts on the bottom of my weight box in a checked pattern. i just lower the weight box and drive. it takes a couple of passes but . got most of the ice and it was ruff so walking on it was safer. and the sun did the rest.

 

[ccsial]

Wimps - I used my Gravley with a 48 inch blade to remove the snow/ice mixture. When it wouldn't cut down to pavement/macadam I just backed up and rammed it again. Two days later I got out the BX2200 and cleaned up the piles the Gravley made.

Voila - now ready to tackle the next storm that comes my way.

I tried that. I had about 1/2 inch of ice and the 6 foot rear blade on the Ford just kept jumping over the edge. I couldn't get a bite on the ice. Maybe I need to add more weight.

 

[davitk]

We are beginning to actually enjoy living on top of a glacer at my house.

Looking forward to another ice storm this weekend!

 

[AMR]

SALT! What a difference. Our driveway was pretty icy after the last couple storms and mama is 34 weeks with our 2nd and is on modified bed rest, but she still needs to get out and has our 2 year old in tow.

So I was desparate the other night and had to hit the feed store about a minute before it, and everything else, closed. I paid $6.99 for a 50 pound bag of salt. Can you believe that, salt, it made me sick, but I needed it for her to get out, even with my truck I don't want her to have to worry about making it up.

I put the salt in my walk behind fertilizer spreader and give it a couple passes, it really does make a big difference. I spread 50 pounds over about a 400 x 10 foot area. Way below the recommended application rate but it works good enough. We can get free salt/sand mix at the dump but I have to admit that this is way cleaner and more effective.

I had to do the same this morning, I get up early and walk the spreader up and down with the salt in it, start my tractor, take a shower and get ready for work, then I run the blade up and down once to scrape off the slush, right down to black. The sun will do the rest. Terribly expensive but at least I don't have to get a call at work hearing that she is sliding on the driveway.

I thought about using my spreader on my tractor, but I am sure that salt in solution with some condensation will make short work of eating my spreader.

 

[drtydeed]

drtydeed I'm about a dozen miles from you and that can make a big difference. I didn't get rain, just freezing rain.
Also I'm using a lighter plow (54" FB vs. 72" RB) with a rubber cutting edge. Not good for plowing ice or near ice.

Yes, It certainly can make a huge difference. The slush here began to hard freeze again in two hours. I'm actually in Bushkill twp about 5 mi S of Windgap. I had thought of putting on a rubber cutting edge, but glad I didn't.