Winter snow pictures

[MikeOConnor]

Ah! We got a nice 10-incher last weekend, Marcie took some cool pictures and stuck them in her blog about the farm, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to kick off the (sometimes) annual winter snowplowing pictures thread this year.

Here's a link to Marcie's blog entry -- scroll down just a touch to get to the part about the Power-Track;

Prairie Haven - Articles - Weekly Journal - Journal for November 15, 2006

This was a great accidental discovery. I haven't used the PT for snow, up 'til now, 'cause I've gotten in the habit of using other machines instead. But last weekend all the other machines were feeling indisposed and, as I backed the PT out of the barn to get at one of them, I realised that it did a pretty good job -- especially given that I don't have a blade, I just have the grapple bucket.

So I went crazy and groomed a few walking trails after I finished the driveway (about a mile altogether). I've attached a picture of the driveway to this post to show you what's going on with that. There's another driveway view in Marcie's post, down toward the end.

The grapple bucket worked great for grooming, but I'm gonna buy a blade too -- since I was kindof abusing the bucket a bit. But I really got cookin' when i figured out that I could roll the bucket all the way back, put it on float and just let it ride over all the little bumps. Worked great.

Some fun! Anybody else pushing show yet? Got any pictures?

 

[MuncyBob]

Great pics!! I too was surprised in the good traction the little 422 had 2 winters ago. Don't send any of that white stuff here just yet!

 

[MossRoad]

No snow to talk about. I think we've only had an inch that was measurable so far this year.

If you like the bucket for plowing snow, you will love a power angle blade. Our little PT425 can stack snow 6' high. I love it. The plow was only $450.00 when I bought it new back in 2001. Best snow removal tool for the buck, I think.

 

[scott_vt]

Hi Mike,
Great pics thanks for posting them ! Beautiful country !

 

[Gatorboy]

Winter? We are still in Autumn.

 

[Trackks9]

Hi Mike
Very little snow on the this side of the state, Moss is right about the
power angle blade,

 

[MikeOConnor]

Yup, I'm pretty perky about the blade. Kristie gave me a wink and said I'd be well advised to wait until they got back from Thanksgiving vacation before completing the order. Later in the day I went to their site and sure enough, 5% off all next month.

Question for the gang -- the tires on the 1850 are 84" wide. There's an 84" blade. I was thinking about getting that one, but was thinking that I might be well advised to go one notch wider (96") so that when I angle it, the snow will still be swept away from the wheels. Any opinions about that?

 

[Bob999]

Question for the gang -- the tires on the 1850 are 84" wide. There's an 84" blade. I was thinking about getting that one, but was thinking that I might be well advised to go one notch wider (96") so that when I angle it, the snow will still be swept away from the wheels. Any opinions about that?

I have a skid steer that is 66" wide and have an 8.5' blade on it. At maximum angle and in deep snow the blade barely clears the width of the tractor because some of the snow rolls back in behind the blade. So a wider blade is definitely better when angled.

The flip side of the consideration is that the wider the blade the more you tend to get pushed to the side when working in deep snow. Also as the blade get wider you need more power to push, particularly on the first pass when you don't have the option of taking a smaller swath.

In the end it is a tradeoff.

I think that if I had an 1850 I would consider removing the outer wheel on both sides to reduce the width of the machine, use chains, and buy the 8' blade.

I am assuming that you have tires that will handle the load with single tires. My 1845 came with 2 ply tires that had a very low load rating. They were also prone to puncture so I replaced them with heavy duty tires that have a load rating up to 2200 lbs per tire so I can run with only four wheels if I choose.

 

[MossRoad]

Yup, I'm pretty perky about the blade. Kristie gave me a wink and said I'd be well advised to wait until they got back from Thanksgiving vacation before completing the order. Later in the day I went to their site and sure enough, 5% off all next month.

Question for the gang -- the tires on the 1850 are 84" wide. There's an 84" blade. I was thinking about getting that one, but was thinking that I might be well advised to go one notch wider (96") so that when I angle it, the snow will still be swept away from the wheels. Any opinions about that?

Our 60" blade on our 43" wide PT425 with turfs works well in any snow we've had. Deepest has been about a foot. If you end up taking too big a bit you can always stop and push it to the side or lift the blade and take the top 6 inches off the drive, then come back and get the next 6" etc...

It only takes me two passes with the 60" blade on our drive and I'm done. The 96" would be really sweet. One pass on any of your roads will be wide enough for most cars and SUVs. Two passes and it will look like a freeway.

 

[Barryh]

Beautiful pictures of your property. Winter wonder land for sure.

I used my small 42 inch snow blade last year for a while it did fine, then I needed to use my bucket for something. I tried it in the snow I felt it did just as well for my needs, so much that I am leaving the blade in the shed this year and just using the bucket.

I did my 150 foot + blacktop driveway and the neighbors during a couple of snow storms. One being 12 inches deep. I know everyone has different needs, but for me I just spray a little Pam in the bucket or silicon and it works just fine. One reason being that I could use the lip to strip up frozen ice with the bucket. That can be a little hard on blacktop and the bucket lip, but I took my time and was careful.