Snow Stuck in the snow

stevevdw · Dec 4, 2007

I thought of this thread last Sat. night as I was pulling my neighbor's 4 WD plow truck out of a ditch at the bottom of our shared driveway. Boy these ice chains on the L35 dig nice on the 2" of ice we got in West Michigan. I bought the V-bars from tirechains.com with the tensioner for the center of the wheel. Nicest set I've ever had & they really grab. I highly recommend them to anyone. Winter's here, Have fun out there!

DesertRose · Dec 6, 2007

This is my first winter with my own tractor. Because our winters have been pretty mild in Eastern Utah for the last few years I didn't even consider buying a blade with the tractor.

I had the tractor delivered a week ago today and we were still having mild late fall weather. The day after the tractor was delivered, I had to travel to Phoenix, AZ. While I was gone we got about a foot of very wet snow. I have spent the last few days learning to operate my new L3400 in the snow.

I have had a Bombardier Quest 650 4-wheeler with a snow blade for several years but haven't had enough snow to use it much until this week. I have found the most efficient way for me to move the snow is to use the 4-wheeler to plow the snow with the blade set at an angle and then use the tractor's FEL to move the windrows of snow across the road or in the horse corals I pile it up in a corner.

I don't have a lot of snow time with my L3400 but I think I would consider chains if I was trying to plow snow with the tractor. I have R-4s.

One question I have: why do so many of the people who post photos here have the ROPS folded down?

Tom

davitk · Dec 6, 2007

DesertRose said:
One question I have: why do so many of the people who post photos here have the ROPS folded down?

Tom

Standard garage door height is 7' - 0". My L3240 height is 7' - 7". Add a few low-hanging tree limbs....

Northland · Dec 6, 2007

davitk said:
Standard garage door height is 7' - 0". My L3240 height is 7' - 7". Add a few low-hanging tree limbs....

yes, exactly. I take my pictures just before I put my tractor back in the garage. I have hit the garage roof line three times so far when I forget the ROPS.

I also left my parking brake on the other night when I had the rear blade and bucket down plowing snow. I smelled the brake and left it off. Not the first time I have done that either.

gotcha · Dec 6, 2007

Northland said:
I also left my parking brake on the other night when I had the rear blade and bucket down plowing snow. I smelled the brake and left it off. Not the first time I have done that either.

I use to do the same thing all the time. I put a switch on both the brake and the 4WD on the dash to tell me when they are on. Big help as one see's them as soon as you turn the key on.
The Gotcha Man

Greenfield Dave · Dec 6, 2007

DesertRose said:
One question I have: why do so many of the people who post photos here have the ROPS folded down?

Tom

Out of embarrassment, I didn't take pix of my $500 mistake in that department.., but trust the other poster, it won't fit in the garage! Mine was 1 1/4" too tall!!

DesertRose · Dec 7, 2007

davitk said:
Standard garage door height is 7' - 0". My L3240 height is 7' - 7". Add a few low-hanging tree limbs....

When I went looking at Kubota dealers I carried a tape measure with me. I had decided on a L3240 before I took along my tape measure. My garage doors have 8' clearance but my barn doors are 7'4" high. I really wanted the L3240 but I just knew the day would come that I would forget to lower the ROPS when entering the barn. I have doors on both sides of the barn and drive through it to get from the road to my horse corrals. I also can get through all of my narrow gates with the L3400 but just barely. The L3240 was just a little too high and wide for me. I decided to go with the L3400 and after 10 hours of operating it, I don't regret it at all. The L3240 would have been nice and I was very impressed with that tractor but I have been going through the barn five or ten times a day so I just knew I had two options if I had gone with the L3240. Lower the ROPS and leave it that way or leave it up and risk hitting the barn. My wife has a friend who's husband was killed in a tractor rollover so she went along with me each time I stopped to look at tractors. She made me promise I would leave the ROPS up and wear the seatbelt. The L3400 allows me to keep that promise without much effort.

Tom

Northland · Dec 7, 2007

That's a good story with a moral Tom.

I am going to build a 20x24" pole barn in the spring to house my tractor + implements as well as my tent trailer and other stuff. I will make sure I have it high enough to accomodate a 3130 sized tractor should I upgrade my B7800.

Keeping the ROPS up all the time would make my life so much easier. I hate moving my wife's car and the tractor around in the garage. She's hates my tractor ever since she tripped over the rear blade

rtdiggr · Dec 7, 2007

When i built my garage [pole barn] i put in 3 10x10' doors in the front and 1 10x10 door in the back, it can't hurt to over build. one of these days i will post pics of the barn i just finished the building [closed in].

Shane