Snow Equipment Owning/Operating SNOW! Seat time before dawn on a saturday.

[jas67]

My wife is a nurse, who happens to work today (and needs to leave by 6am), so I was up at 4:45, and in the seat by 5 (no cab, had to drink coffee first). We got about 12-14" overnight here near Hershey, PA, and looking at the radar history online, you don't have to go very far south and east to get a lot more. I'm sure those of you in Virginia, Maryland, and DC will get a lot of seat time today.

This is my second winter with the tractor, and finally snow worth using the blower for. I've been using the back blade until now, including the 8 incher we got in December, as I needed to get out mid-storm, so I did that one 4 inches at time.

I need to install the chains that I finally bought. I had some traction issues this morning, but got through. I had one pucker moment when it got 45 degrees sideways on the 25% grade portion of my driveway. I put the blower and the bucket down, and got off when it came to a stop. After thinking about it for a while, I got back on -- PUT THE SEAT BELT ON -- lifted the blower, but left the bucket down in the snow, and let the bucket pull it straight as I slide slowly down the hill. I was only 10 feet from the bottom, where it level off into the road. This is the steeper of my two drives (didn't intend on going down it, it was already cleared, but I slide from the upper part of my drive trying to get across. I'll post pictures a little later to explain better. Anyway, I just drove around to the other drive, and up it.

This was all after I was all done with the paved portion of the drive, and was going to put the tractor back in the pole barn until round two when the slide happened. I didn't realize how slippery it was until I tried to walk on it. The chains are going on for round two! The wife's at work, and I don't need to hurry, so I'm putting them on.

Be careful out there!

 

[polo1665]

Sounds like fun I bulldozed my way through 1400' of atleast 10" to 12" to get me and the the little woman to work this morning. That old Durango has got to be the best snow vehicle I've driven.
Still expecting 3" to 5" before its over at noon. Looking forward attacking it when I get home.
+1 on being careful out there.

Mark

 

[thatguy]

My seat time will be either late this evening or in the morning.. We have about 6" on the ground but it really got packed down due to sleet/rain.. We are suppose to get another 3" or so today..

brian

 

[flyingcow]

Well, it's sunny up here, a few high clouds, 0 degrees. You all in the mid-coast area are getting all the snow this year. We're well below season average.

Glad you took your time on figuring how to get the tractor out. Chains are a must with any kind of incline. But, once you get 'em on, you might not need to use 4-wheel drive very often. Just watch your pavement, and try not to spin. Hard on the hot top.

good luck with the snow, I've got to get my sunglasses on. Sunrise bright.

 

[Diamondpilot]

We got 10 to 12 here in North Eastern Indiana also. Its the wettest heaviest snow I have ever seen. I went out last night at 6 pm and did my drive and a few others when there was 8" on the ground. It was a lot of work, I could not imagine doing all 12" at one time with this wet slop.

Our last big dump was 18" but it was a cake walk compared to this wet stuff.

Chris

 

[Thomas]

Yep,easy pace and it doesn't seem like work...that was one quick coffee.

Partly cloudy here w/windchill 4F

 

[jas67]

We got 10 to 12 here in North Eastern Indiana also. Its the wettest heaviest snow I have ever seen. I went out last night at 6 pm and did my drive and a few others when there was 8" on the ground. It was a lot of work, I could not imagine doing all 12" at one time with this wet slop.

Our last big dump was 18" but it was a cake walk compared to this wet stuff.

Chris

Fortunately this is powdery stuff, but it is alway windy and drifting up to two feet in the open, more against things.

Post-storm cleanup with the back blade on a sunny, calm day is fun on an open (no cab) tractor, using the blower with 30 MPH winds at 5am while it is still snowing kinda sucks, as far as seat time goes. I gotta find my ski goggles and mask. I haven't seen them since we moved 3 years ago (haven't skied since then either).

It was 38 degrees here yesterday, so the initial snowfall melted as it hit, and then eventually froze. I didn't realize how slippery it was until I got off the tractor and fell on my a**. I thought it was just the R4's sucking on snowy blacktop. The turfs on my B7100 were much better. I'm watching CL daily for a set of used (but not used up) turfs. I've found a couple sets, but too far.

My little B7610 (24HP/18HP PTO) handles that 60" SB60 just fine. The only problem I had was traction, but that'll be fixed later today when I get the chains on. It gobbled up the full 60" swath and didn't bog down at all. I'm sure with wet/heavy snow, I'd have to slow down some, but overall, I'm pleased.

 

[RoyJackson]

We got about 22"-24" so far (about 25 miles north of the Mason-Dixon line in south-central PA. Snow is still coming down hard and we're looking at another 2-4 hours of it.
I got most of the 150' drive cleared, but I did get stuck at the end...fairly level. Ended up having to dig out a bit with a shovel to get out of that fix. This is one of the very few times I wish I had chains...but I don't. Although it's a hardpack drive, the R-4's still clog up with snow. Chains sure would have helped!
This is also going to be a snow in which find a place to put it is going to be challenging. No snow blower here, so there's a lot of FEL work.

I was dressed pretty well for this, but a ski mask would have been nice.

EDIT at 1100, Sat: Snow is still falling, in fact, it's picked up quite a bit...so has the wind. I got most of the initial clearing done...can't say there's much reason to do more until this is over.
This is one of the few times I wish I had a bigger tractor!!! Cab wold be nice too! ****, I must be gettin' old!

 

[ernemats]

Got about 20 inches so far, expecting another 3-5 today. Got the power trac out and plowed in front of the garage the drive will have to wait till the snow slows down.

 

[dcyrilc]

We got about 22"-24" so far (about 25 miles north of the Mason-Dixon line in south-central PA. Snow is still coming down hard and we're looking at another 2-4 hours of it.
I got most of the 150' drive cleared, but I did get stuck at the end...fairly level. Ended up having to dig out a bit with a shovel to get out of that fix. This is one of the very few times I wish I had chains...but I don't. Although it's a hardpack drive, the R-4's still clog up with snow. Chains sure would have helped!
This is also going to be a snow in which find a place to put it is going to be challenging. No snow blower here, so there's a lot of FEL work.

I was dressed pretty well for this, but a ski mask would have been nice.

EDIT at 1100, Sat: Snow is still falling, in fact, it's picked up quite a bit...so has the wind. I got most of the initial clearing done...can't say there's much reason to do more until this is over.
This is one of the few times I wish I had a bigger tractor!!! Cab wold be nice too! ****, I must be gettin' old!

Don't forget to get pix while taking a break. Be safe & stay warm.

 

[dcyrilc]

Got about 20 inches so far, expecting another 3-5 today. Got the power trac out and plowed in front of the garage the drive will have to wait till the snow slows down.

Drive? It looks like you might need to put a plow or blower on a snowmobile just to find it. LOL

 

[2720wes]

Have about 20" in northern Va and expect about 5" more before its done. Already over 50" for this winter.

 

[Gittyup]

We had about 24" this morning at 8:00. I went out to plow with my little JD. It was all she could do to move it. Biggest problem is where to put it. Had to clear room so I'd have a place to put it. Took me 2.5 hours to clear my 75' driveway. Hard to tell how hight it is. But, you can just make out my mailbox at the end of the drive.

I usually do all the neighbors drives too (about 4 or 5 others). But, this snow is just too much. Plus it's still snowing very hard here. Might have to get out the Kioti with the loader and help the neighbors out. But, not until it stops snowing. It's nasty out there!

Good thing I filled up the bird feeder for those little guys.

 

[jas67]

Well, as stated in the 1st post, I was up at 5am to clear the driveway so my wife could get to work. We have a 180 foot sorta-circle driveway (we're on a corner, goes from one road across the front of the property to the other), plus a 30x20 foot parking area in the front of the garage, all paved -- only took about 25 minutes with the 60" blower. I put the chains on after finishing that. I didn't clear the stone drive, and 36x30 foot stone area in front of the pole barn -- I'm heading out to do that how. In the meantime, I cleared about 6 neighbor's drives, including one that was a lot of FEL work, due to no place to even blow snow. Total seat time, about 4 hours today!

The chains made a WORLD of difference in traction. Was even able to blow snow going uphill (backwards, 3pt blower).

 

[polo1665]

My fun will start at about 3:30pm (when I get home from work). I'll probably be out moving snow atleast til dark. I'll get an official measurement when I get home and snap a couple pics of the progress. The sun is shining here now.

Mark

 

[jas67]

I took some snow removal pics today, and added them to this thread:
SNOW REMOVAL PICTURES - Page 8 - TractorByNet.com

 

[RoyJackson]

I took some snow removal pics today, and added them to this thread:
SNOW REMOVAL PICTURES - Page 8 - TractorByNet.com

Where abouts are you, Jas?
Just outside of Red Lion here.
Snow here was between 18"-20".
Nice pics, and boy, do I envy you for your snowblower and chains (especially the chains!!) for this snow.

 

[jas67]

Where abouts are you, Jas?
Just outside of Red Lion here.
Snow here was between 18"-20".
Nice pics, and boy, do I envy you for your snowblower and chains (especially the chains!!) for this snow.

I'm just outside Palmyra (about 6 miles East/North East of Hershey Park). My brother used to live not far from in York Haven, and my brother-in-law is the chief of police for North-East Regional Police dept. in Mt. Wolfe.

I found the snow blower on Craigslist this summer for $800! It has seen some use, the seller used it for a 1/2 mile gravel drive. The blower impeller is worn and has about 1/2 gap from the impeller blades to the housing. It still works well, but my 10HP walk-behind Simplicity 2-stage blows much further. I think I'm going to either buy those add-on rubber impeller gap-fillers, or have some steel welded on. It worked fine for this powdery snow that we got, but might not have done so well with the heavy stuff they got in MD. Watch craiglist. There are deals there all the time. Recently, I remember seeing another similar unit for about the same price.

I got the chains from tirechains.com. About $400 with shipping (ouch). They're heavy (about 60 lbs a piece for my 12.4x16.5 R4's). They made a world of difference yesterday, as the ground was above freezing when the snow started, and was quite slick under the snow. I JUST bought these chains a few weeks back, and this was the first I used them or the blower. Both performed quite well. My neighbors were equally impressed. I played neighborhood hero yesterday and cleared out several of my neighbors as well. Got to be a good neighbor and have fun at the same time!

Regards,
Jay

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well we have another 8" on the way and boy its cold, 3 deg this morning. We ended up with 12" of snow. The first 8" was wet and heavy and the last 4" was powder that drifted like I have never seen. All the cars and trucks outside have it up over the hoods. I spent 6.5 hours on the tractor doing my dive and 6 customers. Also spent a good 2 hours with my snow blower and a shovel taking care of my walks. Spent a hour with my Titan pulling out a F-150, GM 1500, and a GM3500 that the guy blew the tranny on trying to get out. It had fluid boiling out the dip stick. I think the drive was a Dip Stick. Anyway the Titan did a great job with the big tires and Detroit Lockers. It did what I know my F-350 could not have done.

The county plows are just now making it out. One big one got stuck a few miles from me. It had a V-plow and was a tri axle. A farmer got it out with a huge JD. The snow drift he was in was up to his mirrors. I am guessing 8' deep.

Made a little change so I went and got that 12 ga shotgun I had been wanting last night and bought the family some pizza. Now just sit back and watch my Colts tonight.

Chris

 

[polo1665]

Well, the official toll was 12'' here. Took me 5 1/2 hours to clear 1400" of drive, between yesterday afternoon and this morning. Normally I would have used the f-250 and plow, but the truck is down so I was left to using the Branson and the FEL. We generally get several inches of snow during the winter here, but not this much at once. I have to say, it was quite an adventure moving this much with the FEL. The Branson did a great job.
I'm looking forward to Tuesday and Wednesday. We are supposed to get a few more inches then.
Here are a couple before pics from yesterday evening and afew shots of when I finished up this morning.

Stay warm
Mark