Moving snow with real trucks

[ChrisNY]

Thought I would share a couple pictures of how we deal with snow here in the snowbelt. Town had a couple of their Walters snowfighters out pushing banks back and opening up. Sorry for the not great drone shots as I dont usually run the drone, my wife does, so I am not not that good at it but gave it a shot. The N Walters is a 1978 and the other one is a mid 60’s vintage. These are all wheel drive 4 point positive traction trucks that will move snow better than anything out there. The road behind my place was a challenge as you can see but they got it widened out enough for 2 lanes of traffic. They will have to bring the blower to finish the job though  

[766 Man]

  There are some Walters trucks around here that the townships buy used.  You up north of us see more snow by far but there have been times towns have needed payloaders to open up vulnerable roads around here.  

[Mike H]

we run Oshkosh trucks up here

and lots of blowers 

152.5'' so far [had a big melt off too]

[ChrisNY]

2 hours ago, 766 Man said:

  There are some Walters trucks around here that the townships buy used.  You up north of us see more snow by far but there have been times towns have needed payloaders to open up vulnerable roads around here.  

They have been a staple of the North Country for a decade. Getting to be less and less every year as Walters has been out of business since the mid 90’s and parts are getting scarce and very expensive but most towns have one or two tucked away for when they are needed. My town still has 3 and not afraid to use them. There is no replacement for them when you need them. There are quite a few Oshkosh around too but they do not push like a Walters. 
We don’t get the snow we used to so it is hard for Towns to justify costly repairs and they are not comfortable trucks. They are crude by todays standards, cold, and the guys today, half of them couldn’t start one let alone drive one. Fortunately there are still those of us that grew up with these and recognize the need and have the intestinal fortitude. 
Day to day plowing is done with tandems and with modern trucks that cover the miles faster and NYS bare road policies roads the need has diminished. However sometimes Mother Nature and Lake Ontario has the final say and you better be equipped to deal with what she dishes out. 

[acem]

I've seen snow pilled like that decades ago.  I was up in the UP driving down the road and noticed the scenery disappeared!

Quite impressive

[poor farmer/logger]

Just curious if they run graders with wings as well. I don’t know how heavy those trucks are but can’t help but think the newer heavy graders would work better. It’s pretty impressive what they’ll push through regardless though. 

[ChrisNY]

4 minutes ago, poor farmer/logger said:

Just curious if they run graders with wings as well. I don’t know how heavy those trucks are but can’t help but think the newer heavy graders would work better. It’s pretty impressive what they’ll push through regardless though. 

Not normally. New York State has some with wings they will use but mostly just to scrape hardpack. I know other areas use them and seen them with V plows but it has never been a thing here. Snowfighters and blowers are the tools here. 

[1256pickett]

I think most if not all in my end of ny are Oshkosh but I haven’t really paid attention to the differences. I don’t think there are any true V plows though. Only time the big ones come out is after the storm to beat back the banks. All highway crews are split into 2 shifts in the winter to keep roads open with the regular plow trucks. If it’s nice out it’s two 8 hour shifts and when the storms come in the go to 12s. Those big ones can really do a number on the banks but thats the only time a truck will get stuck, they go too far off the shoulder. 

[1256pickett]

Just now, 1256pickett said:

I think most if not all in my end of ny are Oshkosh but I haven’t really paid attention to the differences. I don’t think there are any true V plows though. Only time the big ones come out is after the storm to beat back the banks. All highway crews are split into 2 shifts in the winter to keep roads open with the regular plow trucks. If it’s nice out it’s two 8 hour shifts and when the storms come in the go to 12s. Those big ones can really do a number on the banks but thats the only time a truck will get stuck, they go too far off the shoulder. 

I’ll add most have one way plows with a heavy duty wing but some with blowers too. 

[pt756]

before my time our township had a D-6 cat, had all sorts of wings cables and plows on I remember, took at least 3 guys to run it, now for the last few years all wheel drive Cat grader, and the town does have 2 v plows to use in front,

[766 Man]

40 minutes ago, poor farmer/logger said:

Just curious if they run graders with wings as well. I don’t know how heavy those trucks are but can’t help but think the newer heavy graders would work better. It’s pretty impressive what they’ll push through regardless though. 

  They were more a thing around here when townships were running 1940's and 1950's vintage equipment.  They seldom were primary snow pushers but with a wing pushed banks back.  I would say that today a fair number of townships do not even have a grader and for quite a few projects townships share equipment.

[766 Man]

15 minutes ago, 1256pickett said:

I’ll add most have one way plows with a heavy duty wing but some with blowers too. 

  Very few blowers around here but we do not see the big lake effect storms like you and Chris do.

[pt756]

our township has about 55 miles of road to clear, most of it is gravel roads, going to grind up another 2 miles of blacktop this summer and return to gravel, anyway it takes 2 guys with graders at least 6 -8 hours to do it, 

[Tad Wicks]

What is all that white stuff?????

[ChrisNY]

1 hour ago, poor farmer/logger said:

Just curious if they run graders with wings as well. I don’t know how heavy those trucks are but can’t help but think the newer heavy graders would work better. It’s pretty impressive what they’ll push through regardless though. 

What does a grader weigh out of curiosity?  A Walters with V and double wings and ballast weigh around 50-60,000#. They are true 4 wheel positive traction drive machine and with chains on you can put them right in the ditch and they will just keep pushing. They do not have the weight of a loaded tandem but will go places the tandem would never think of going. I know we scaled a tandem with loaded sander, one way and double 14' wings and scaled at 88,000#

[Absent Minded Farmer]

2 hours ago, Mike H said:

152.5'' so far

Sounds wonderful! It's been brown here since after Christmas.

Mike

[1256pickett]

1 hour ago, 766 Man said:

  Very few blowers around here but we do not see the big lake effect storms like you and Chris do.

It’s probably 50/50 plows/ blowers with the state and county. As far as townships it’s all plows but not every township has an Oshkosh. They share with other towns and the county. The state doesn’t share. 
Road graders are almost nonexistent. Again a shared deal with county and couple towns that do have them. They would never think of putting a plow on one. 

[766 Man]

16 minutes ago, 1256pickett said:

It’s probably 50/50 plows/ blowers with the state and county. As far as townships it’s all plows but not every township has an Oshkosh. They share with other towns and the county. The state doesn’t share. 
Road graders are almost nonexistent. Again a shared deal with county and couple towns that do have them. They would never think of putting a plow on one. 

  Running a road grader would have to suck this time of year.  I would imagine that very few came from the factory with heat and were not terribly tight to hold off the wind.  I would guess as of 2025 less than 20 percent of rural townships here have a Walters or Oshkosh.  They don't get called out unless the conditions are extreme.  It's plows everywhere for day to day snow cleanup.  I would imagine that the further east from Lake Erie the townships are less invested in snow cleanup other than plows.

[poor farmer/logger]

1 hour ago, ChrisNY said:

What does a grader weigh out of curiosity?  A Walters with V and double wings and ballast weigh around 50-60,000#. They are true 4 wheel positive traction drive machine and with chains on you can put them right in the ditch and they will just keep pushing. They do not have the weight of a loaded tandem but will go places the tandem would never think of going. I know we scaled a tandem with loaded sander, one way and double 14' wings and scaled at 88,000#

 Newer deeres are in the 50-60,000 lb range I believe depending on how they’re equipped. Front wheel assist was a fairly big game changer for them as well I believe. Highways pretty much all use standard tandem plows here but everything in the country on municipal roads is done with a grader.  For a while they all went away from v plows but a couple years back we had a real nasty winter with lots of snow and wind. Was unreal how high the snow was getting piled on the shoulders. They actually brought cats and quad tracks with blades to push the snow back. Worst winter I’d ever seen for that.  Was using my cat to clear ditches so the water could run. 

[poor farmer/logger]

I would imagine your snow is a lot heavier and wetter than ours as well. Ours is quite dry. Not a lot of water in it. 

[ChrisNY]

Even the newer trucks can battle snow pretty good with the weight…until they can’t. 

[ChrisNY]

3 minutes ago, poor farmer/logger said:

I would imagine your snow is a lot heavier and wetter than ours as well. Ours is quite dry. Not a lot of water in it. 

Depends, lake effect is pretty light, the heavy wet crap are the nor’easters. I would take 3 feet of lake effect over 1 foot of wet stuff any day

[dale560]

Yes here they use blades with plows on front. The old v plows they had on the mid 70s cat 12 graders would push through a lot if they chained up rear wheels. If it gets bad though I have seen big blowers and cats come in to clean. A few years ago when snow was bad. A couple construction outfits mounted old loader buckets on medium size excavators. They could sit out in ditch and through snow behind them. They worked faster than a cat pushing they said. Dig snow from ditch bank and deposit it 20 feet the other way

[KWRB]

Never in my life have I been fortunate enough to see a V-plow in action...

[Matt Kirsch]

The only 4x4 plow the Town of Orangeville NY has now is an F550. They seriously plow the roads with a pickup truck.

Every town does keep a V plow or two around, usually as lawn decoration out in front of the town buildings.