Homeowners - Snow Removal?

[Phrost]

A lot of you own houses, and a lot of those houses are in areas that get a lot of snow. With "Winter Storm Allison" (I love personification) having just passed, I think we got a good 14" inches in one day over here in Wisconsin.

Having said this, nobody likes shoveling, and not having the right tool to clear the amount of snow presented to oneself in a given period of time can really piss you off.

So, I started 2009 with this

5hp Ariens dual stage snowblower. Very reliable and works good, but is tiny and only has one speed which I call "injured turtle speed". She is going in the corner of my garage and will now be a backup.

Today, I an the proud owner of

24hp with a 42" wide dual stage auger. Chains were a necessity, and I'm in the process of fabricating a tray in the rear that will hold a good 200 pounds of sand because traction sucks in this already 550 pound tractor. Here's the stupid "weight" that came with it

However, my buddy rode on back with me (hold your gay comments ) and I was plowing trough everything at a solid 6-7mph and shooting snow damn near 150 feet away. Most fun I've had in a while lol

Sooo? Anyone have anything crazier?


Modified by Phrost at 8:34 PM 12-14-2009

[spockcat]

Chevy Colorado with a 7' Boss plow. I do our 1000' driveway and parking area as well as two neighbors.

[Phrost]

You drive around with it, or is it just a work/plow truck?

[Bixmen]

congrats on the new tractor. are either of your blowers 2 stage?

I live in city, so it's shovel for me. I figure that's my exercise for winter...

[Phrost]

They're both 2 stage.

It would take hours to shovel driveways around here, especially with plow traffic or let alone a storm with more than 5-6 inches of snow at one time.

My driveway is 3 stalls wide and about 60 feet long so I almost need a snowblower to be in time for school and work. My last driveway wasn't too bad, but the 5hp Ariens took forever to clear just a one car path down my driveway last week

[Rockhead261]

Yeah, that 5HP machine wasn't going to be enough in your neck 'o the woods.

My 11 HP Yard Machine is in it's 11th (and likely final) season of service. The drive belt is slipping and the augers don't seem to keep up like they used to. The auger housing is also pretty smashed up, and rust is beginning to consume the underside. The Tecemsuh engine never fails, but I haven't used the pull starter in a couple of years now.

All in all, $60 a year ain't a bad deal.


Modified by Rockhead261 at 3:21 PM 12-15-2009

[spockcat]

Quote, originally posted by Phrost »

You drive around with it, or is it just a work/plow truck?

My son uses the truck to get back and forth to school. We use the truck to pick up stuff too large, bulky, heavy, dirty for our other vehicles. It has over 70,000 miles on it in the 4 or so years since we bought it new, so it isn't just sitting around.

[Phrost]

My old neighbor had a big tractor/attachment like this and I was always jealous how quick it worked.

However, even with chains on the rear tires it's very hard to get traction unless you can scrape down to dry pavement. We have a lot of ice/packed snow right now, so my 170lb friend rode on the back which worked out very well actually. I'm not paying almost $100 for a set of wheel weights...

So, today I'm going to make that back try larger via HomeDepot and I'll probably throw about 200lbs of salt bags back there. I know sand is heavier per volume, but I can't use sand and I'll eventually be able to spread 200 pounds of calcium chloride as winters come and go

More pics to come

[spockcat]

If the snow gets too high, I just pick it up and move it.

[BAM6I4]

01 Silverado 4x4 2500hd w/ plow and salt spreader. Gets the job done in a jiffy.

[unimogken]

Wow, what progress you're making with the snowblowers.

I've located your next snowblower/snowcutter for ya....

[Ben.Reilly]

Thats all I use.

[Arsigi]

We have been known to get up to 3' of snow in a single storm from time to time, and often several inches at a time. Last year my folks got me this for my birthday, for which my back is eternally grateful:

Out here at work (which is a home-based business) we are out in the boonies and my boss has about a 1/8 mile driveway. Just last week he picked this up:

[GT17V]

small driveway => shovel

[sixdoubleseven]

I've got that same Ariens 520, while it's better than shoveling for sure, it does take for ever to do even my average driveway. I'd love to get a small tractor with a plow attachment.

[redwe-in-wi]

I purchased a 44" two stage thrower for my John Deere X300 tractor a few weeks ago.

[883sportster]

After this weekend and the snow we got I thought I'd bring this thread back up.

After plowing out the drive way I plowed a huge pile just to see how much snow it could handle. My wife came out and told me to quit playing around.
The snow blower attachment is in my shed. <IMG NAME="icon" SRC="http://is.rely.net/2-64-38849-l-miLiM9RbflKgiExmFe7Gpw.gif" BORDER="0">


Modified by 883sportster at 3:30 PM 2-7-2010

[sixdoubleseven]

^ What is that thing? Looks mean.

[spockcat]

Quote, originally posted by sixdoubleseven »

^ What is that thing? Looks mean.

That is a Gravley. Think it is a model L.

[Hostile]

<-- shovel

[redshift]

Quote, originally posted by Arsigi »

Can I borrow that???

A co-worker and I who have kind of become the office handymen (I like to say "building engineer" ) have been trying to get my boss to get us something like that for the grounds here at the office. He keeps on paying these chuckleheads way too much to show up late, block the dumpster and gate opener access with snow, and generally destroy the pavement. Honestly, for the money he spends on one year of snow removal, we could get a nice 1-ton with a V-plow or an ATV or tractor with an auger attachment and do it ourselves.

On another note, hasn't this year been great? We got about 6" last week up here on the prarie and that was enough for me. Bring on 80+ degree temperatures now.

[883sportster]

Quote, originally posted by spockcat »

That is a Gravley. Think it is a model L.

Yep started out as a 1939 Gravely L that was in my Grandfathers spare garage. It sat for 30 some years then my dad and I rebuilt it. It's a mix match of various years from L Gravely's. It's a blast and pushes the snow around like no ones business. I'll have to hook up the snow blower and take a pic sometime.

[Roadkilled78]

I've always used shovels growing up...would do half the neighborhood to make $$.

Moved into our first non-rented house this fall, and one neighbor brought me over to his shed one day out of the blue and basically pointed to his snowblower, old 8hp walk-behind with 7 speeds (2 for reverse) and said it was mine to use whenever I pleased. I think he saw 2 20-somethings move in next door and figured we'd shovel a 10" wide path from the door to the car and leave it at that, but I don't care. Used it for this past storm and the friggin thing is AWESOME.


Modified by Roadkilled78 at 12:02 PM 12-22-2009

[ed rooney]

We got pounded with at least 2 feet of snow on Sunday. We just moved in to the house and we figured will just shovel out our 100 ft driveway...Yeah right..

Went down to Lowe's completely sold out on snow blowers..ran over to Sears they had a couple left. Quickest sales ever 10 seconds I'll take it. Got a Craftsman 26 inch with a 208cc motor/ 7 hp or something, 2 stage 6 speed, with power steering, electric start

Thing worked like a champ should pay itself off in a year or 2..Much cheaper than getting someone to plow at 50 or 75 bucks a whack.

[water&air]

i'm in the "snowbelt" of ct and i shovel, mainly because i have no room to put a snowblower and the fact that i seem to get finished before my snowblowing neighbors do. they always seem to be fighting with the things. looks like more work than it's worth.

[Cooper]

Finally bought a snowblower this year. Ariens Deluxe 27. Did the driveway very quickly on Sunday.

Finally got tired of shoveling, and we get enough snow here that the plow on a tractor isn't the best for pushing snow around.

[audi80Quattro]

I plow the driveway with this:

borrowed pic

I just posted this in the ATV thread too.

[deepspeed12]

Quote, originally posted by water&air »

the fact that i seem to get finished before my snowblowing neighbors do. they always seem to be fighting with the things. looks like more work than it's worth.

Same here, my neighbors act like I am the crazy one yet they are out there for two hours trying to get the snowblower to run correctly. I figure I would need at least twice the driveway to justify a snowblower. Then again in the summer I also enjoy using an unpowered push reel mower.

[spockcat]

Forgot I had these photos. Seems appropriate for this thread.

[peecee]

^ That's friggin' awesome!

[ChrisMD]

Quote, originally posted by Hostile »

<-- shovel

<-- not even

[kroutbrner]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGQsL9suvuM

I use this thing...

[GTiTOM]

my condo fee includes snow removal --- they plow the parking spots and shovel our walk and steps. I haven't shoveled snow in years

[mcsvt]

Currently a shovel left behind by the previous owner of my new house. All my neighbors say I'm going to need a snowblower... I'm at least going to pick up a better shovel for now, until I can find a snowblower for the right price. We haven't been hit too hard yet, maybe a max of 3-4 inches in one day, all of the big storms have just barely missed us so far.

[ssmuff]

I use the sun. My driveway faces directly to the south.