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Worst Winter Driveway in North America


Geoff_in_MN

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24 minutes ago, 65806 said:

I have exactly the same problem with my 1/4 mile long lane. 
I have a 1066 with 12’ dozer that works decent but I think I’m going to buy a heavy duty snowblower for next winter. 

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The worst thing about a blade is your just pushing the snow around, a blower will move it out of the way and with less passes. I get to the point here where a plow gets to be useless when I have 4ft snow banks, but I'm only using a quad to plow with also.

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It has been mentioned but your big problem is the brush on the shoulders and ditch.  It will not help this winter but get a brush cutter and cut right to the fields if they will let you.  Even that grass line under power line if he will let you in there.  The first year you are going to have a lot of cutting but not so bad after if you do it annually.  Don't blow one cut down the middle blow right to the edge of the ditch.  The yard site at the top of the hill is always going to give you problems but I suspect he will not move it for you.  Try and blow when there is a bit of wind and blow with the wind.  That 1026 isn't blowing that far, he is getting it up in the wind and it is doing a lot of his work.  Unless you have summer work for that blade trade it on a larger blower and tractor.  Pushing snow never works if you have wind, the snow you push this week will be double next week.  Snow fence will work but it looks like you need 1/4 mile of it.  Lots of money and an awful lot of work twice a year to put it up and down plus it will have to be way outside your easement.  Some dirt work will be money up front but a one time expense.  Sorry but it looks like this winter you are going to spend some time on your blower, grease those u joints, oil those chains and have a few extras of each on hand.  And don't forget sheer pins.  

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12 hours ago, 65806 said:

I have exactly the same problem with my 1/4 mile long lane. 
I have a 1066 with 12’ dozer that works decent but I think I’m going to buy a heavy duty snowblower for next winter. 

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Do you have any more pictures of the blade mounting to the frame?  How many weights on the rear?  thanks

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On 12/28/2022 at 12:12 PM, Geoff_in_MN said:

I'm cursed. Country life is good, but my driveway is prone to serious drifting. It's an easement and I'm responsible for the maintenance. The land on both sides is private farmland. The driveway is 1/4 mile long and maybe 14' wide running north/south. It would take massive amounts of fill to raise the bed even a couple of inches. Can't really move any snow until the winds have died. I've got an 8' blower and a 9' blade for the 656 and at times even that isn't enough. Just had to vent. I feel better now. Anybody think they've got it worse than me?

http://frontiernet.net/~geoffreywilliams/PXL_20221226_215536317.TS.mp4

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Got any pictures of the tractor?  thanks

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On 12/28/2022 at 6:57 PM, acem said:

Simple solution.

Move to the south.

We don't have those problems.

Miami is nice this time of year. High of 77F and low of 71F tomorrow.

I was thinking how tougher you guys are up there than I’d be with your winters.  I complain about any amount of accumulation we get in Bama, and a foot comes usually no more than once a decade here.  4-6” a time or two a year here may happen here and may not.  Y’all have some sweet equipment to do the jobs.  

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6 hours ago, redturbo said:

Do you have any more pictures of the blade mounting to the frame?  How many weights on the rear?  thanks

I will grab a few more pictures when I get a minute.  I have 4 sets on the inside and outside of each wheel so 16x150lbs=2400lbs. Could use more and really needs chains but I don’t want chip up my concrete floor and I don’t want the tractor outside. 

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Dad has a half mile driveway.   Open to the west. Two curves and a valley.   The best decision he made was to plant dogwood bushes west of the drive out in the field.  10 years later, they stop a big majority of the snow.  We just farm down both sides of the dogwoods. 

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A blower mounted in the correct orientation on the right machine ♥️

We deal with ice and snow 5 months a year but once your in it little changes, I still say you guys especially certain areas have tougher conditions with your periodic storms, our worst driving conditions is usually spring storms with moisture laden snow and winds, likely what you guys encounter each time?

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1 hour ago, hardtail said:

A blower mounted in the correct orientation on the right machine ♥️

We deal with ice and snow 5 months a year but once your in it little changes, I still say you guys especially certain areas have tougher conditions with your periodic storms, our worst driving conditions is usually spring storms with moisture laden snow and winds, likely what you guys encounter each time?

X2 I always say it's alot easier to move to snow than water. And we really only have to deal with muddy corrals and roads a month or two in the spring compared to other areas where it never really freezes. I'll take what we get compared to what alot you other guys get! 

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I was thinking of this thread yesterday when I was tasked with opening up the in-laws driveway.  Only 10 to 12 feet wide, sharp drop (20 feet or more) on the east, the west is a field that is 2 to 5 feet higher than the road.  
They try to use a 3pt snowblower, but either have it set up wrong or the blower doesn’t work well because it doesn’t scrape down at all.  Usually by the end of the year they have 8 to 12 inches of hardpack, which really sucks when it starts melting.

We have always plowed snow with either a bucket or a blade, so I don’t know what needs to change.  Do you guys with blowers have to scrape driveways with a rear blade or loader bucket occasionally?  

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41 minutes ago, Mudfly said:

I was thinking of this thread yesterday when I was tasked with opening up the in-laws driveway.  Only 10 to 12 feet wide, sharp drop (20 feet or more) on the east, the west is a field that is 2 to 5 feet higher than the road.  
They try to use a 3pt snowblower, but either have it set up wrong or the blower doesn’t work well because it doesn’t scrape down at all.  Usually by the end of the year they have 8 to 12 inches of hardpack, which really sucks when it starts melting.

We have always plowed snow with either a bucket or a blade, so I don’t know what needs to change.  Do you guys with blowers have to scrape driveways with a rear blade or loader bucket occasionally?  

We don’t ever have to scrape after using a blower. I have an older 7-1/2’ snowblower and it isn’t very heavy so this is what I do to get it to cut threw the snow, the first snow of the year I like to leave a inch or two to drive on and pack down on the gravel. Then after that I have my blower tilted so the cutting-edge hits the ground just a little bit before the skid shoes on the back of the blower do, you want a little pressure on the cutting edge. It will slide over the little bit of hard pack but scrape the rest clean into the blower. What kind of shape is your in laws cutting edge on their blower? If it is worn out it will be a battle to make it clean all the way down.

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1 minute ago, 806JR said:

We don’t ever have to scrape after using a blower. I have an older 7-1/2’ snowblower and it isn’t very heavy so this is what I do to get it to cut threw the snow, the first snow of the year I like to leave a inch or two to drive on and pack down on the gravel. Then after that I have my blower tilted so the cutting-edge hits the ground just a little bit before the skid shoes on the back of the blower do, you want a little pressure on the cutting edge. It will slide over the little bit of hard pack but scrape the rest clean into the blower. What kind of shape is your in laws cutting edge on their blower? If it is worn out it will be a battle to make it clean all the way down.

I haven’t specifically looked at it, but I would guess poor condition.  It sits outside heat round and is 12 to 14 years old.  So at a minimum it’s likely rusted and rough.  I will take a look at it next time I’m up there.

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This is my blower. It's an 8' Schweiss. I think the impeller is too worn down because it won't throw the snow very far. I run that D282 wide open. I have to creep along slower than a walk to keep it from clogging. Might have to fit some rubber paddles to it.

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When i snowblow after a a storm i scrape into a side windrow then swap to the blower after a few storms and launch it... unless it drifts then i blow more often.

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11 hours ago, Geoff_in_MN said:

This is my blower. It's an 8' Schweiss. I think the impeller is too worn down because it won't throw the snow very far. I run that D282 wide open. I have to creep along slower than a walk to keep it from clogging. Might have to fit some rubber paddles to it.

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I thought dual auger blowers were1000 rpm.

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15 hours ago, Geoff_in_MN said:

This is my blower. It's an 8' Schweiss. I think the impeller is too worn down because it won't throw the snow very far. I run that D282 wide open. I have to creep along slower than a walk to keep it from clogging. Might have to fit some rubber paddles to it.

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I am not doubting one way or the other about the condition of your blower but from my experience I am more inclined to think the discharge is not large enough to get rid of the amount of snow that the plow will take in.

I can't believe your 656 can come close to running an 8ft plow , I can make my 1256 work with a 7 ft and not particularly deep. I have to use the clutch lots to give it time to get out of the shoot and throw a decent distance.

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The best part of the front mount blower is, well, OK, seeing where you are going is a BIG plus, but the actual speed you are moving is a LOT slower in 1-L, than it is in 1-R.  In my opinion Reverse is geared way too high in most IH tractors.

Just my thoughts.

Mike

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

We had snow over night, I went out this morning and started plowing snow,  we got around a foot so far and it's still snowing. They are calling for it to possibly change over to rain. After an hour of plowing in the snow I might be half done. A foot of snow is alot to push with my quad. I'm glad I spent the money on the tire chains.

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On 12/30/2022 at 4:01 AM, 65806 said:

I will grab a few more pictures when I get a minute.  I have 4 sets on the inside and outside of each wheel so 16x150lbs=2400lbs. Could use more and really needs chains but I don’t want chip up my concrete floor and I don’t want the tractor outside. 

If you are looking to add weight, you might consider one of these. 

Plenty of weight to give traction for dozing. (and easy to take off when not needed)

Not sure what wheel weights are going for now but if you are patient, these can be picked on Big Iron for under $1K

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If snow is too deep to doze it can be used to dig through 

 

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And pile up out of the way

 

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...huh.... it got really bad here , it was sn'ow deep  that daughter  , Lorraines   Toyota RAV  nearly got stuck in it.....:rolleyes:

...Having a few  Xmas's up in Edmonton  , with my Brother's family , (Whilst working in the Caribbean )convinced me that all Canadians are either  complete nutters  ..or   hardy beyond belief.....  I guess you folk all get used to it....

I am   quite  happy to be in New Zealands   benign   climate ...:)   (NOT the political  climate , though..................   )

Mike

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