[AT] 620 day

[Jim Becker]

I’ve had about 15” of snow so far this winter.  I’ve plowed 4 times.  Three of the four, driving through the accumulation was no problem, but we had the situation Steve described.  I was expecting a partial thaw and I didn’t want it freezing back on the drive.

Jim Becker

From: Stephen Offiler 
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2019 9:46 AM
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group 
Subject: Re: [AT] 620 day

Hi Ralph: 

That's a great answer in places where the snow arrives and then reliably hangs around until Spring.  The climate in my region (RI/CT border) is highly variable due to proximity of the ocean as well as the way the jet stream tends to bend in our general area.  In my 56 years there's never been a winter with continuous ground cover.  I've seen a winter where 4" total fell the entire season, and that was only two winters separated from the all-time record which was around 120".  One pattern that's fairly common is a heavy dense snowfall at just below 32F, with some changeover back and forth to rain, leaving several inches of maximum-density wet mess.  Our temperatures seem to cycle... warm up and snow/rain, followed by a dry cold spell.  If you drive thru that heavy wet mess, you leave deep ruts, and there's a strong chance it's going to freeze later.  It's less about the slipperiness of the ice, and more about the irregularity of those ruts that makes them hard to drive thru/over/around, and then if more snow falls, plowing is just a disaster as the blade catches on the irregularities of the ruts.

I modified a 7' Woods 3-pt back blade, adding home-made skid shoes and removing the steel cutting edge and replacing it with a heavy piece of rubber, 1" thick, 6" wide, 7' long.  (McMaster Carr if anyone is curious).  It's sort of like a giant windshield wiper blade.  I keep the shoes set up about an inch or so, which is my attempt to leave the gravel in place.  It sort-of works.

SO




On Sat, Feb 2, 2019 at 7:22 PM Ralph Goff <alfg at sasktel.net> wrote:

  On 2/2/2019 5:29 PM, Mike M wrote:
  > Problem I have is that our driveway is crushed asphalt, and we always 
  > get snow before it fully freezes solid. If I try to scrape it clean 
  > with my back blade, I end up with half of it in my yard.
  >
  > Mike M 

  It would be the same problem here with gravel, although my driveway is 
  getting seriously short on gravel anyway. I like to get a layer of 
  packed snow built up on it so then I can scrape with

  the blade or snow blower without digging up gravel. Sometimes I'll drag 
  a pair of old tractor tires up and down the driveway to help flatten out 
  and pack the snow.

  Ralph in Sask.
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