How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

[Bondo]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

yea, but those tractors have a limit. they won't go thru a 4 ft drift.

Ayuh,... It depends entirely on the snow grasshoppa....

4' of light dry powder is Nothing....
4' of wet heavy spring snot is a Killer with any piece of equipment....

I've got a Ford, 555E 4x4 TLB in the backyard for clearing the acre or 2 I've got here...
The 1 in the picture at the lake,...
It'll push Mountians of snow at 20?...
At 35? it'll only push rather large Hills....

 

[mphy98]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

I have a 14 year old son and a cub cadet!

 

[lowkee]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

Up north they don't wait until the storm is over to do anything about it, so those 4-7ft drifts normally aren't there. Otherwise, you just lift your plow high enough to skim off what you can and do it in layers. Some plow drivers (though this ruins the frame over time) do the ram-and-slam method.

I can't say I've ever seen a municipal plow truck overwhelmed.. ever (lived in Maine for many years.. our town had 10+ municipal plow trucks). Southern plow drivers must just be uneducated or they don't equip the plow trucks properly. Keep in mind, in real snow states, tons of people have tire chains.. something unheard of in the oh-my-word-we're-all-going-to-die-from-2-inches-of-powder states.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

yea, but those tractors have a limit. they won't go thru a 4 ft drift.

Oh, I don't know about that....Being a 1973, there ain't no plastic or other lightweight components on it. Wheel weights and fluid filled tires also help Weight is on her side.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

The tractors and the plow trucks can move a tremendous amount of snow............. the sole limiting factor regardless if the snow is fluffy or wet is traction........ no traction..... no moving. A simple layer of 1/4"-1/2" of "hard ice" (where a studded ice chain will not even penetrate) will stop everything dead.

Even the use of salt is severely limited since it does not work below zero degrees and calcium chloride is real expensive!

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

I drive one like this in the winter .
Mine's a 1999 John Deere Pay-loader with a 14ft pusher-blade

 

[Huron Angler]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

Sugar beets are now being used here in Michigan Environmentally friendly alternative to salt.

http://www.pp.msu.edu/content/features/snowplan_brine.html

 

[scoutabout]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

1952 Ferguson TEA 2085 with loaded rear tires and a 7 foot blade. When not launching the boat she's been known to push a bit of snow.

As has been said, tho - no traction, no go. Other than that, like the saying goes, it's like eating an elephant...one bite at a time.

 

[Bondo]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

can't say I've ever seen a municipal plow truck overwhelmed.. ever (lived in Maine for many years.. our town had 10+ municipal plow trucks). Southern plow drivers must just be uneducated or they don't equip the plow trucks properly. Keep in mind, in real snow states,

Ayuh,.... Buffalo,+ Chicago have been equiping Garbage trucks with plows for years,+ years....
I hauled 100s of blades to Chicago back in the late 70s, into the 80s...

 

[rbh]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

One foot at a time.

 

[bowman316]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

you see the problem here with the two blizzards we got was, once your wheels started spinning on the snow, it turned to pure ice.

You would plow the snow, till the tractor was about to stall out, or spinning, then you were on ice. We had to get up a slight hill, which was out problem, so we had to call in the calvarly to bale us out.
when the second storm hit, i plowed every 6 hours, and that let us get the tractor to the top of the hill, and plow thru the snow.

even thou there was a 4-5 ft drift on the road out of the farm, which the county had a front end loader get. our lane was in better shape than the road.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

When I lived in Ste Bonifacius, MN I had a long, sunken drive that accumulated 4-6' of snow regularly.

Medium tractor with a 50" plow and 4WD handled it in 4 sweeps; 2' on the first and second sweeps and 2' more on sweeps 3 & 4. If there was any left the AWD Grand Wagoneer handled it pretty well.

...and you were complaining about a couple of "light dustings" you got this year....??

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

you see the problem here with the two blizzards we got was, once your wheels started spinning on the snow, it turned to pure ice.

You would plow the snow, till the tractor was about to stall out, or spinning, then you were on ice. We had to get up a slight hill, which was out problem, so we had to call in the calvarly to bale us out.
when the second storm hit, i plowed every 6 hours, and that let us get the tractor to the top of the hill, and plow thru the snow.

even thou there was a 4-5 ft drift on the road out of the farm, which the county had a front end loader get. our lane was in better shape than the road.

Most snow removal vehicles around here would have chains; there is no traction problem then.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

Ayuh,... It depends entirely on the snow grasshoppa....

4' of light dry powder is Nothing....
4' of wet heavy spring snot is a Killer with any piece of equipment....

I've got a Ford, 555E 4x4 TLB in the backyard for clearing the acre or 2 I've got here...
The 1 in the picture at the lake,...
It'll push Mountians of snow at 20?...
At 35? it'll only push rather large Hills....

The saving grace is thatn the wet stuff tends not to blow around and drift....

 

[Stachi]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

I use my 1968 John Deere with 54" snowthrower,wheel weights and chains........even thru the 4' stuff, wet or dry...... its a horse of a Deere !

 

[eastont]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

My 23 year old Noma Canadiana has not let me down yet, no matter how much snow I get. The most I remember is about 3 feet, and all I did was keep it at full throttle and in low gear.....

 

[The_Kid]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

It used to be 1 bucket full at a time. I just added a 5' plow to the front of my tractor so it's a bit easier now.

 

[bowman316]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

that's not a tractor, that's a lawn mower on steriods

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

9'3" v-plow, 2ft, no problem...

 

[JRJ]

Re: How do you handle 2 ft of snow?

Nice setup WIMUSKI, I especially like the plow lights