Snow removal thread

[Spike188]

The first big snow of winter 21-22 fell for 18 hours, hard packing, would plug the shoot when pushing to fast.

Out of gas, check
hydraulic fitting leak, check
low air rear tire on left side, check
snow sticking to rear window, uhg
2 hours of play time, check

Spike

[Eugen]

Yet you had fun in the snow for two hours! Nice! We got only about 10". The 444 had no trouble at all with the fresh snow.

[propane1]

Did you do something to fix your 444 Eugen. You had said it didn’t throw snow very well.

Noel

[DavidBarkey]

The first big snow of winter 21-22 fell for 18 hours, hard packing, would plug the shoot when pushing to fast.448 first snow 2022-1.jpg
Out of gas, check
hydraulic fitting leak, check
low air rear tire on left side, check
snow sticking to rear window, uhg
2 hours of play time, check

Spike

How do you find backing up for long periods of time . I am finding it more and more difficult .

Dave

[Eugen]

Did you do something to fix your 444 Eugen. You had said it didn’t throw snow very well.

Noel

Noel, I didn't do anything. The fresh snow it can throw about 20 ft. The old heavy snow from last week it could throw only about 3-4 meters. I still plan to improve it but it does the job even so.

[Spike188]

@DavidBarkey I do find stiffness setting in quicker as age plays knick knack paddywhack on my bones. Years ago in a driving course, the instructor claimed that as a person ages, they turn their head with less rotation. His claim was that older drivers do not look over their shoulders enough when changing lanes. One of the exercises to slow that process down for the head and back rotations is a simply twisting as far you can, then try twisting a bit more. A week of doing these a routines a couple of times daily will make a noticeable difference. Guys half my age have seen some of the spaces and positions required to reach a bolt or control cable and ask how old I am.

The short answer is yes, backing up is a bit more difficult but the 448 has a seat with fold up arm rest. Sitting at 40 degrees with feet planted on one step works best. The cab makes putting clod-hoper shoes on the same foot rest tight so any quick movements will be out of the question.

My drive is about 200 feet long with turning around on the high traffic road out of the question. The parking landing at the top of a hill has limited space. Because of turning limitations and traction issues a rear mounted blower works best. Prevailing winds also plays a huge roll in the direction of travel. Pushing up hill with the wind and directing the thrower shoot to create a ridge along the down wind side of the driveway takes less clearing. Another advantage to the ridge is to prevent driving off of the hill and into the farmers field.

For flat drives with room to maneuver, a front mount would be preferred.

Spike

[Spike188]

Jan 18, 2022, the day after the big dump doing cleanup. The cutting edge of the Burco is bent and ripped loose on the right-hand side. It caught on a rock protruding out of the frozen drive. It was definitely felt when the blade caught. Small rocks were also a problem getting picked up and jamming the impeller.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/3LpTFRPrDFw[/youtube]
At 0:52 a stone lodges in the blower. Merri even recorded herself laughing at me for not raising the blower enough on forward travel. For Merri's enjoyment the blooper is left uncut.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/pcsDhKpfQTU[/youtube]

She played with fast motion video on this one.

Spike

[Timj]

it's good you can be so entertaining.
nice train catch, is the videographer a railfan, too?