Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Pictures of your snow weapons

[MossRoad]

Hello from Massachusetts. I love looking at all the pictures posted and wanted to add one. My wife has named the machine "Little Boy" and it is the first tractor I have owned. It blows the snow from my driveway in the winter and mows my lawn in the summer so it is always working. It is a Kubota B76 and when I take the doors off in summer and mow the lawn, I feel like I am sailing.

Welcome to TBN! :thumbsup:

 

[Thomas]

shpegel
Hello from Massachusetts. I love looking at all the pictures posted and wanted to add one. My wife has named the machine "Little Boy" and it is the first tractor I have owned. It blows the snow from my driveway in the winter and mows my lawn in the summer so it is always working. It is a Kubota B76 and when I take the doors off in summer and mow the lawn,
………………………………………..
Welcome to TBN.
Okay gotta ask,you sure your wife meant the tractor not you because you act excited happy when using the tractor.

 

[KubotainNH]

Hello from Massachusetts. I love looking at all the pictures posted and wanted to add one. My wife has named the machine "Little Boy" and it is the first tractor I have owned. It blows the snow from my driveway in the winter and mows my lawn in the summer so it is always working. It is a Kubota B76 and when I take the doors off in summer and mow the lawn, I feel like I am sailing.

Looks like a nice rig, welcome to TBN neighbor.

 

[shaeff]

i remember the years of looking like a snowman after blowing the snow ..... thats why my better half told me to buy a cabbed tractor.

Heh, I'd love a cabbed tractor. I can build a cab for mine pretty easily, I've got all sorts of fabrication equipment. The problem is time. Always time! Ideally, I'd like to get a 4x4 tractor.

Yeah, been there and eaten enough snow over the years blowing snow without cab. Now I do in the comfort of my heated cab. My wife also suggested a cab after watching me get covered with blowing snow. Best investment I ever made.
While writing this message it is -24 C out there and about 9 inches of snow that needs to be cleared so I will be heading shortly and blow some snow

It was about 6° this morning and we got a fresh 12", lucky we had zero wind. I did a proper tuneup on the tractor over the weekend, figured out my hard start issue, and my crappy running issue. I had my tractor wired that in order to start it, you had to pull a kill switch out (think oldschool light switch from a truck), and turn the key. Either the key OR the kill switch would turn the tractor off. It was a kind of "emergency" thing, in case I needed to kill it I could just slap that switch without fumbling the key..

Well, it turns out that BOTH the keyswitch and the pull switch/killswitch were faulty! I'd sometimes get spark, sometimes not! Replaced keyswitch with the original push-button start, and the killswitch with a random on/off switch I had laying around. Turn on gas, pull choke, flip switch, press button, FIRE!

I pulled all four plugs, one was way fouled, the other three weren't far behind. Replaced with some Autolite 3116 gapped at .050, runs like a dream. I readjusted the carb, idle, power jet, and governor. No more bogging. Greased everything up and hoped I'd be ready for this storm.

And I used the blower almost exclusively. 12" of fresh powder, moved it like a dream. Definitely need to fabricate a paddle kit for it, there's a good 3/16-1/4" gap between the fan blades and the housing. Losing a lot of snow through that, as well as some distance. It'll still throw most of the snow 10-15', but a decent chunk of it just drops out the chute. The paddle kit will help with that. I may eventually fabricate a whole new 4-blade fan for it to replace the factory 3-blade.

I feel for you! It's been a frustrating 4 year process for me to get the solution that works best as well. PVC on the bucket kept cracking. Rear blade was a pain having to twist around to use, and the tractor seems to have less power in reverse to push snow. I tried a rubber mat on the cutting edge to save the lawn and contour to the sagging asphalt, but that seemed to add friction making it harder to push. Then I put the blade on the loader via the SSQA. I had more power, could face forward, and lift it higher than the 3pt allowed. Unfortunately without a trip edge it would catch a lip on the sidewalk and cracked welds twice. Then I found a 4ft ATV blade with trip edge on Letgo for $200. I thought that was my final setup, but this storm was too much for it. It was too light, and kept riding up over the snow instead of pushing it. So then I was forced to go back to a light material bucket I picked up a couple years ago. It's about 400 lbs so it doesn't ride up, and 5ft wide so it scoops up more than the OEM 4ft bucket. After this storm I'm seriously considering getting a front or rear mount blower. Seeing so many others with a blade or pusher of some sort on the front with a rear blower makes me nearly ready to drop the cash for one. The most frustrating part is the sidewalk up front, especially if I help the neighbors who also struggle with the wet, heavy snow from the plows. No room to turn and the concrete doesn't provide a lot traction to the R4's. Here's a short video of that BS. Between the 3 houses there's probably 200ft.

GC26�� light material bucket moving snow - YouTube

Yep! I definitely need to replace that PVC with a steel pipe. I don't know what I'm waiting for! I can cut a slit in the pipe no problem, it'll take 10 minutes! Just procrastinating! I think I'm a glutton for punishment. I still need to convert my machine to SSQA. I already have the kit to do it, again, just no time to actually do it. Once I do that, it'll be real easy to fabricate a mount for the plow to SSQA plate. I've even got an extra set of spool valves to power the plow's left/right angle. Hoping to install that this coming summer, too. I see your frustration, it gets to ya after a while!

Also forgot to mention, my machine leaks oil out the rear main seal like a seive! Need to split it to replace that. Lastly, I'll jump on my phone quick and attach a few pics since I didn't last time.

 

[Piston]

This is my 2nd winter with full studded chains on all 4 tires. It still amazes me how much more capable my tractor is now. You can see the sheet of ice under the snow (sometimes referred to as my “driveway”). She just keeps digging and digging!

 

[Rustyiron]

You can see the sheet of ice under the snow (sometimes referred to as my é›»riveway?. She just keeps digging and digging!

I know exactly what you mean on the ice. Some folks scrape down to bare pavement and some (like us) scrape down to bare ice.:laughing:

That's what an inch and a half or rain did to my nice smooth snow pack. And boy was that slick under Tuesday night's snow!.

 

[MossRoad]

I gotta ask.... did the dog stop ok? :laughing:

 

[KubotainNH]

Also forgot to mention, my machine leaks oil out the rear main seal like a seive! Need to split it to replace that. Lastly, I'll jump on my phone quick and attach a few pics since I didn't last time.

You might want to try ATP AT-205 to limit your rear main seal leak. Some folks have good luck with it but I would assume if you have a bad crack it probably won't help much.

 

[KubotainNH]

Does the snow weapon have to be a tractor?

 

[shaeff]

You might want to try ATP AT-205 to limit your rear main seal leak. Some folks have good luck with it but I would assume if you have a bad crack it probably won't help much.

Never heard of it, I’ll look into it. Not sure if it’ll work for my machine, no real seal, it’s a rope seal. (1964)