Well, I spent most of the day on a variety of tractors (a neighbor's John Deere with a bucket, my Ford with the blade), and I successfully got the car out. I think I'm good for another 6-8" of snow before I start narrowing down enough that it becomes a problem again. In a bit over a week, assuming a motorhome can get down the driveway, it becomes "not my problem" again. Unless it still is. My inlaws will be back, and my father-in-law handles the plowing when he's not south for winter.
I'd just get a nice, new 2-stage blower. Saving a couple hundred bucks by buying someone else's basket case it stupid. A nice newer $600 blower will be easier to keep running, start when you want it to, move snow just as well, be easier to store and last for probably ever.
That's a valid point. I'm considering the three stage ones, though - apparently they're somewhat better with really heavy snow, which is what comes off the end of the blade after a few passes. The stuff isn't solid ice, but it's wet, heavy, and very well packed.
Team that up with the (lawn?) tractor, and you should be pretty set. (Where I grew up a tractor was a farm implement that hauled equipment, bucketed snow up front and blew it out the back, moved hay, mowed lawn with a 48" deck and pulled people out of ditches. I think you're referring to a riding lawn mower thing?)
A 1939 Ford 9N is certainly more than a lawn tractor. :) Slightly less reliable, though. That's getting fixed this summer, one way or another.
Yeah, this winter has been bad for parts of the Midwest. And the need to get emergency services in is real - my parents (and a few other neighbors) had to hop in their tractors and blow/plow a few miles of road to get ems to a neighbor who was having chest pains. Heavy snow is serious business, but for if for 6-8 hundred dollars you never have to worry about it again? I think that's worth it, if the road out of your yard will always be drivable, I wouldn't invest in a plow, just a nice walk-behind blower.
That's a reasonable argument. I do think a blower plus the tractor would handle pretty much anything I'm likely to see out here.
Yes a plow on your truck can be hard on it. With a lane that long I would probably go with a tractor and snowblower if you have lots of drifting. Maybe a living snow fence along the lane would help with that.
800' of bushes or such in the high desert is a bit of a challenge. :) Certainly something to consider, though, as I plan where to put various things.
I personally would prefer a snowblower. But I think a tractor is valid. I just wouldn't spend 600 on tractor upgrades and also buy a 800$ snowblower. Pick 1.
At a minimum, the tractor needs about $150 of work. That's assuming I keep the rather worn and cracked tires, don't add weight, etc. A set of tractor chains, which would be very useful as I'm purely traction limited, is $350 unless I build a set. New tires are $300-ish, but a tractor with broken tire carcasses doesn't do me any good at all.
I'd probably either buy the snowblower new now, or hire a plow to finish out this winter, personally.
Too late. There's not a snowblower for sale within a few hundred miles of here - literally the only things I can find are tractor mount units, and my tractor is way, way too low on horsepower for that. Plus, no live PTO. And no overrunning clutch.
80$ a year over ten years seems cheap for snow removal once you are past the point of shoveling by hand.
And, if by spending the money, we don't get another heavy snow for a decade, that's a cheap win too. :D
You have to keep on the snow removal as it occurs, you can't wait until you need to get out of your driveway after a week. If it snows everyday, you shovel/plow everyday, because waiting makes removal much more difficult- it builds up, packs down, melts a bit and refreeze, etc. If it's a big storm that drops 2-3 feet in a few hours (like 2 weeks ago in my parents' area), you shovel/plow several times during the storm, to head off the pack getting too deep.
I try to run the tractor every day when it's snowing, but I don't have lights on it (another thing I should fix), and something in the ignition system gets really cranky when wet - I need to fix that as well.
Snow fences can help alleviate drifting snow.
If you have the patience a fun shelterbelt is berry bushes, long term you get fruit.
I'm considering building one next year out of scrap pallets or something.
Bushes would be fun, but I'm not sure I want to water 800' of bushes. :)
Snow fences don't do much for falling snow, not every situation is the same.
The direct fall isn't a huge problem - it's the drifts that are killing me.