Re: Snow
Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2024 4:37 am
I had a March like that several years ago... This is before I inherited my place. My folks would go to Florida for 8 weeks or so in January/Febuary. The farm was set up to just drain and close up, so no big deal. I would go out just before they came back north in March, to make sure the house, and barn was dug out. Well that year, we got alternating snow and rain, with no real warm up in between. I knew it was going to be bad, so I had brought the 646 BH with me to just get through the berm, and get off the road. There's plenty of bigger equipment there to take care of anything else.
Not that year...
I ended up needing to use the hoe to get through the berm right at the street. Loader wouldn't touch it. I knew that would take some time so I planned to get in the barn, and get a couple tractors started to warm up. I made my way up to the main door, and the snow on the roof had slid off, and piled up naturally. It had flowed under, and around the big sliding doors, and then froze solid. That was the only way in to the barn at that time that had an exterior lock. Shovel wouldn't touch that mess. So I had to attack it with a crowbar to get it to open enough to sneak in. Started tractors, and opened different doors that they were behind. Back to the berm. ( have since added an exterior lock on a door 8' under an overhang in the middle of the other side of the barn)
Oil under the back of the 646. Thought it was a blown seal, but the side plate on the BH stack valve had cracked. (Wound up having to replace the whole stackas a result.) So I chained up the hoe, and bypassed it. Finished getting through the berm with the loader, and decided I needed a bigger machine. The snow behind the berm was really only about 12 - 16" deep, but real heavy/dense. So, head for the JD300 loader. Wrestle the chains on it in a cramped barn bay. Boom was cranky, but I knew it would settle down. Started out the door, and it fell on it's face. Engine just died. I could get it to idle, but that was it, and no power behind even that. So I limped that back to it's parking spot. (wound up being the injection pump)
Next option was the 8N. Not the ideal choice for this snow, but it's still more tractor than the 646... Well that was running ok, and it would move on/through the snowpack, but the back blade wouldn't touch it... Back in the barn.
Back to the sick 646... It did it. Took hours, and hours, but it got the job done eventually.
Up at the house end of the driveway, we had a nice steel, 2 car parking shelter. That was collapsed on top of the '88 Ford Ranger. Wrecked the ladder rack, twised the bed, and pushed in the roof. (pushed everything back kinda in to shape eventually and used that truck for several more years)
I was so beat by the end of all that, I didn't even turn on the house. Just made sure the doors opened, loaded the 646, and drove 2 hours home.
Missed last call by 15 minutes.
All in all a miserable day.
Futz - I feel your pain.
Not that year...
I ended up needing to use the hoe to get through the berm right at the street. Loader wouldn't touch it. I knew that would take some time so I planned to get in the barn, and get a couple tractors started to warm up. I made my way up to the main door, and the snow on the roof had slid off, and piled up naturally. It had flowed under, and around the big sliding doors, and then froze solid. That was the only way in to the barn at that time that had an exterior lock. Shovel wouldn't touch that mess. So I had to attack it with a crowbar to get it to open enough to sneak in. Started tractors, and opened different doors that they were behind. Back to the berm. ( have since added an exterior lock on a door 8' under an overhang in the middle of the other side of the barn)
Oil under the back of the 646. Thought it was a blown seal, but the side plate on the BH stack valve had cracked. (Wound up having to replace the whole stackas a result.) So I chained up the hoe, and bypassed it. Finished getting through the berm with the loader, and decided I needed a bigger machine. The snow behind the berm was really only about 12 - 16" deep, but real heavy/dense. So, head for the JD300 loader. Wrestle the chains on it in a cramped barn bay. Boom was cranky, but I knew it would settle down. Started out the door, and it fell on it's face. Engine just died. I could get it to idle, but that was it, and no power behind even that. So I limped that back to it's parking spot. (wound up being the injection pump)
Next option was the 8N. Not the ideal choice for this snow, but it's still more tractor than the 646... Well that was running ok, and it would move on/through the snowpack, but the back blade wouldn't touch it... Back in the barn.
Back to the sick 646... It did it. Took hours, and hours, but it got the job done eventually.
Up at the house end of the driveway, we had a nice steel, 2 car parking shelter. That was collapsed on top of the '88 Ford Ranger. Wrecked the ladder rack, twised the bed, and pushed in the roof. (pushed everything back kinda in to shape eventually and used that truck for several more years)
I was so beat by the end of all that, I didn't even turn on the house. Just made sure the doors opened, loaded the 646, and drove 2 hours home.
Missed last call by 15 minutes.
All in all a miserable day.
Futz - I feel your pain.