[AT] Snow blower update

[Greg Hass]

First a thank you to Ralph for the pictures and video link. I really 
enjoy looking at that stuff. Yes, I have a 3020 with the front pto and 
have dreamed of a set-up like that. However, from a practical standpoint 
there is no way I could justify such a set-up. Yes I could do it as a 
fun project, but as my bones get older and my body gets stiffer, much of 
the "fun" goes out of the project. I never thought I would look at it 
this way but I guess you are where you are in life. One of the things I 
have grown to dread is all the set-up for each job; switching the 
combine over to various crops, mounting the bean puller on the 574 and 
similar jobs. 20 years ago I never gave these jobs a second thought. 
Although the front mount is all I ever dreamed about, it doesn't make 
since for the amount I would use it; even just from the standpoint of 
the amount of time it would take to mount it in the fall and remove it 
in the spring. Now to the update: today me and the wife drove 40 miles 
to the dealer to look at the Land Pride snowblower. First we stopped and 
again looked at the used one. As I mentioned before, it is a foot 
narrower than my tractor tires. We got to the dealers and walked through 
2 feet of snow a short ways to look at it. I was pleased to see how well 
it was built. The auger is spiraled  and quite thick. The drive also has 
a shear pin on it. One nice thing is that it has a hydraulic motor to 
turn the spout which I think is quite important. I don't like the idea 
of going in reverse but my drive is only about 300 feet and even with my 
stiff neck I think I could manage that amount. Also I think a mirror or 
two might help. The price is a little under $4000. I made no final 
decision on it as I always like to sleep on it, so to speak. As I said 
before, I always agonize over these things but tools and machines are 
sort of my hobby as I do not hunt or anything ( my brother just this 
fall bought a new cross bow for over $1400 because it was better than 
the 2 year old one he had) so I could just consider this my 2 crossbows. 
Personally I would enjoy this machine more, but each to his own-time to 
get down from the pulpit. Anyway, this is how it stands unless I stay 
with my skid steer.
                Greg Hass