Snow blower wars

[KMinAF]

A couple of my neighbors bought new snow blowers this year. It would seem before the snow can reach the ground its a race to see who gets out there first to play with their new "toy". I can just imagine them pacing back and forth in front of the window waiting for the snow to get deep enough to warrant the need to fire up the B & S and get to work. I don't think anyone on our street has had to shovel their sidewalks once this whole year! As fun as it is to smile at them, I sure appreciate it.

 

[RivennHewn]

Anybody seen one of these tow plows going down the road?

 

[RivennHewn]

Snow plow drivers are know to have balls, but that takes it up a notch.

 

[Thumper68]

Anybody seen one of these tow plows going down the road?

I really don't see the point in a towable plow, most of the trucks around here have wing plows already.

 

[Hghgrad]

You can cut the amount of drivers and the time spent on the road.


When it snows, I generally wait until there's a few inches and run out with my quad and plow to take care of the drive and sidewalks. I used to do the entire neighborhood sidewalks (a few miles of sidewalks). Ended up stopping when I realized how many people are complete assholes when you're trying to be helpful.

I've resigned to my own drive, neighbors on both sides, and all of our sidewalks. After that I just sit and watch everybody shovel or struggle trying to get the blowers started.

 

[PCO6]

KMinAF - We had an ice storm last night and the snow blowers were going pretty much all day long in our neighbourhood today. There are only a few who don't have one. The lady across the street doesn't ... but she's in her early 80's! Someone always does her driveway for her. Today 2 of us were doing it at the same time which was a first.

 

[Steevo]

We have a lot of neighbors who rush out first thing after a snow to run their snow blowers back and forth, back and forth across their driveways.
I am more the turtle than the hare, so I get up a little later, and drink my coffee while I watch the snow-blower wars. A couple of the neighbors have ATV's with plows, and they will finish their driveway, then buzz around the 'hood, clearing the sidewalks.

When I finish my coffee, I go out and fire up my old Bolens tractor, and use the 54" plow to clear my driveways in a half dozen passes or so. If it ever gets really nasty and deep, I may hook up the PTO-driven snow-blower in place of the plow, and toss snow with that, but I haven't needed it yet.

 

[theoldwizard1]

... Ended up stopping when I realized how many people are complete assholes when you're trying to be helpful.

Sad. I do my neighbors and he does mine depending who gets to it first. No one keeps score.

He missed the treat the over day. After about 1/2-1" of snow my twin 4yo granddaughters got to try out their shovels for the first time. We even did his sidewalk.

 

[fatboy99]

Anybody seen one of these tow plows going down the road?

INDOT bought one in the Fort Wayne District.They showed it on the news last fall the one they have has a power unit on it to drive the wheels. I have not seen it in use.
I'm the snow mover in my neighbor hood.But I have the Steevo approach I wait til the snow lets up then hit it at my own pace. I do 6 of the 7 drives on our dead end street #7 Is an *** so he can do his own.

 

[signcrafter]

I live in a neighborhood where I'm surrounded by older people. One has lung problems, one is an older lady, another older lady, and others. I wake up early and do ours and then 6 others before everyone drives on them. That's a big pet peeve of mine, driving on the snow before shoveling it and packing it down. Makes a ten minute shovel or blower job a pain in the ****.

Then I go to my moms and do hers and her neighbors. Then go to another single female family member to do hers and her neighbors in hopes that they will do hers if I can't for some reason. There is also an older lady two houses down that must be 80-90 and husband is in nursing home and she can barely walk but will be out there shoveling if no one does hers. Three Christmases ago I drove by and saw her hunched over shoveling on Christmas day and felt so bad so always do hers now.

Makes for a good days worth of shoveling and/or blowing. I've been offered money from almost everyone but turn it down. I can only pray that when my body is shot and I'm not able to snow blow anymore I will have a younger neighbor that will do my drive.

 

[justanengineer]

I get a giggle out of the snowblowers here in Indiana. We only get more than 2-3 inches once or twice each winter, so the blowers are seriously overkill but are definitely plentiful. I normally use a shop broom to clean our driveway, it takes half as long as the chuckleheads with the blowers and is CLEAN after. Ironically enough, I get a lot of dirty looks from the blower crowd and one neighbor told me they think Im mocking them with my broom. I agreed with him.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I've found I may have to resort to a new snowblower purchase soon. My old 95 MTD 5hp 2 stage isn't quite cutting it. Here I need something with at least 8 or 10hp and about 30" wide as opposed to my 22 incher. It works like a champ, but it's laboring to say the least, and it needs an urban setting like it used to have. Didn't get much use at the old place, as like Steevo, I'm a late riser and coffee drinker, and normally mine was already done when I got up. Personally, I love those helpful neighbors. What I really need is a quad with a blade, more than anything.

 

[RivennHewn]

I grew up in Alaska, and moved to Seattle.

The difference in approach to snow is amazing.

Seattle is the pussiest city when it comes to snow.

We had 1 inch the other day, and the plows where out.

 

[Aquaticbob]

I grew up in Alaska, and moved to Seattle.

The difference in approach to snow is amazing.

Seattle is the pussiest city when it comes to snow.

We had 1 inch the other day, and the plows where out.

We are the worst here! They salted the roads, and put down the de-icer BEFORE it snowed or got icy. Caused some good crashes too

The inch we got the other day was a joke, almost all gone from people driving around within a few hours. But it was enough to shut down the schools and everything

 

[dieselmaker]

Whats a snow blower?

Jason

 

[SMKS]

We are the worst here! They salted the roads, and put down the de-icer BEFORE it snowed or got icy.

That's normal in all the places I've lived. It's better to be proactive.

 

[JimVonBaden]

INDOT bought one in the Fort Wayne District.They showed it on the news last fall the one they have has a power unit on it to drive the wheels. I have not seen it in use.
I'm the snow mover in my neighbor hood.But I have the Steevo approach I wait til the snow lets up then hit it at my own pace. I do 6 of the 7 drives on our dead end street #7 Is an *** so he can do his own.

Pretty much tells the neighborhood what you think of him!

Jim

 

[ishiboo]

That's normal in all the places I've lived. It's better to be proactive.

No kidding. After they switched to liquid a decade ago, it's always done WELL in anticipation of the coming storm and has never been an issue.

 

[Robert Hall]

Anybody seen one of these tow plows going down the road?

I got caught between a few of those the other day. Kind of freaked me out when they started moving to the side. It was slow motion and I couldnt tell for a moment if they guy was sliding off the road!!

 

[BigGMC]

Anybody see the vid with the snowblower with a BB 454? I love it! That guy's crafty - the coolant pumps through the handlebars and the elec fan blows heat on the operator.
Can't link to it from work sorry (youtube's blocked)

 

[bygasper]

They are used in Kansas City on I-435 and I-29. I was slowed by one yesterday.

Anybody seen one of these tow plows going down the road?

 

[Jagmandave]

I love watching people looking for ways to pass the snow crews as they work on the roads, when they get close enough the salt spreader really slams them with rock salt! They'd have a hard time with the one in the video!

My neighbor had mine done by 8am yesterday, and I thanked him later in the day ......he said he did thirteen drives in our 'hood yesterday, and made a couple hundred $$$ for his trouble!

I'm old enough that while I can still do the drive, I'm grateful to have a neighbor who likes getting out in the weather to play with his toys. I do the stairs and walkways and back patio for the dogs by hand - that's usually enough for me.

 

[Farmall450]

I love watching people looking for ways to pass the snow crews as they work on the roads, when they get close enough the salt spreader really slams them with rock salt! They'd have a hard time with the one in the video!

My neighbor had mine done by 8am yesterday, and I thanked him later in the day ......he said he did thirteen drives in our 'hood yesterday, and made a couple hundred $$$ for his trouble!

I'm old enough that while I can still do the drive, I'm grateful to have a neighbor who likes getting out in the weather to play with his toys. I do the stairs and walkways and back patio for the dogs by hand - that's usually enough for me.

You need a lawnmower with a cab and a blower then!

 

[Davefr]

This one's the winner:

 

[Alex in Canada]

This one's the winner:

Imagine being in the way of the blown snow

However, it's much more fun watching a train plow through monster snow IMO

 

[xSoFx]

I get a giggle out of the snowblowers here in Indiana. We only get more than 2-3 inches once or twice each winter, so the blowers are seriously overkill but are definitely plentiful. I normally use a shop broom to clean our driveway, it takes half as long as the chuckleheads with the blowers and is CLEAN after. Ironically enough, I get a lot of dirty looks from the blower crowd and one neighbor told me they think Im mocking them with my broom. I agreed with him.

Ha, I also use a shop broom. I don't want to spend the $10 on a snow shovel, let alone $500 on a snow blower.

 

[csi123]

put down the de-icer BEFORE it snowed or got icy.

Not sure what you guys use down there, but the de-icer we typically use here is meant to be used before it snows. It is most effective when it is bonded to the road rather than sitting on top of the snow/ice.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

There used to be a self-powered rotary used in Rexton by the Mackinac County road commission in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where my mom grew up. It was famous for breaking all the windows in Rex, and it was slow, so eventually it was ditched in favor of giant V-blades on the WWII vintage Oshkosh trucks. When we were kids, if you didn't get at least 40 feet off the road when they were coming, you were buried.

 

[polexican23]

So I had been using the push broom for a long time, made me feel close to my polish roots. But when we bought our house 4 months ago, I was given a small MTD snowblower for free. It worked this past snow fall, 3-5 inches. My neighbor rolled out his big old bad a$$ blower. Instant envy on my part. Guess what I just go delivered. A blower that is even bigger than his. and free too. I will post in the what did you do in your garage thread when I get it fired up.

 

[CNGsaves]

Bigger snow drifts require BIGGER solutions !!!

Check out some of these monsters !!

Nice collection of snow plowing/blowing by train

Rotary snow blower on train cutting through deep snow

Rotary snow blower on front of train

Monster Canada train snow plow with sweeper arms

World's largest snow blower - - - - Norway

Streets of Montreal, Canada

9 Million Btu Snow Melting Machine

Dayuuum . . . .this is snow drifted highway in Newfoundland, Canada

1971 Walter Snow Fighter with 14' wings

 

[buildmyown]

I used to be like that but i liked to be nice and precise. Nice straight lines square corners make it all nice looking but having a 300foot long by 16 foot drive and a separate 30X30 parking area it got old. Now i go out start the truck let it warm up while im inside sipping coffee and then make about 4 passes with the plow and 20mins latter im done. I do take care of a friends mothers drive since he moved away she try's to pay me but i dont except it because of the tables were turned i know he would do the same. I also blow her walk ways with the snow blower he left in her garage. Then i have the lazy friend that cant shovel his small driveway so i hit that one real quick. Hes usually good for steak dinner and a few drinks and a bottle of good whiskey at the end of the season.

 

[PhantomEB]

Calgary, Canada has had only 3 days all of December when we haven't had it snow. I sure wish I had a snowblower! Sure intend to get one for when the GF and I buy our place.

And I will do the whole block if I can, not worth firing up the snowblower unless ya do!

 

[Tinner]

Whats a snow blower?

Jason

This is a snow blower.

 

[crazytrain]

Anybody see the vid with the snowblower with a BB 454? I love it! That guy's crafty - the coolant pumps through the handlebars and the elec fan blows heat on the operator.
Can't link to it from work sorry (youtube's blocked)

This is a snow blower.

Nope this ones bigger!

 

[themiller]

Anything worth shoveling is worth blowing for me. Takes 30 minutes to shovel .5-3 inches, takes <10 minutes to blow .5-3inches

 

[fatboy99]

Pretty much tells the neighborhood what you think of him!

Jim

I charge none of the neighbors a dime to do there drives 2 of them are veterans so there bill has already been paid ! The one I wont do had the nerve to come over and complain that I didn't do a good enough job . 2 years ago I had to clean the street also because the utility superintendent was mad because I complained to the town counsel president because he told the plow drivers not to salt our street. So I sent the town a bill for snow removal. The organic matter hit the rotary oscillator over that !!! LMAO

 

[cparcell]

maybe im just lazy but living in rural south central ohio on the edge of the app mountains we dont clear snow. Infact i prefer to have snow because after clearing my drive way it turns to ice from melting and snow drifts. I do clean my elderly neighbors drive for him with out plow as we use it to clean where our semis run in and out because of the low clearances but thats because our neighbors garage is 100 ft from his house and he goes out there to make beautiful wood creations every day and i would hate to see him slip.

 

[hedhunter9]

I get a giggle out of the snowblowers here in Indiana. We only get more than 2-3 inches once or twice each winter, so the blowers are seriously overkill but are definitely plentiful. I normally use a shop broom to clean our driveway, .

Justanengineer,
Not sure where in NW Indiana you are ? I live in northern Indiana (Near South Bend). Most of the NW corner of Indiana gets a LOT more than 2-3 inch twice a year snows. The average is about 50inchs a winter.. We had 15 inches for December already. The lake effect snow off lake Michigan adds a lot of snow to the area. You wouldnt broom off most of the snows we get.

Bob

 

[CARS]

Whats a snow blower?

Jason

Isn't that the reason snowmen don't bother to wear pants???

 

[burleyfarm]

Pretty much tells the neighborhood what you think of him!

Jim