Recovery

Darren Wright

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After digging a path by hand the length of the driveway in 10" of wet snow for my little tractor to take little bites at a time....
2013-02-26 17.38.19.jpg

Equals this....
2013-02-26 17.53.42.jpg

and this....
2013-02-26 17.51.26.jpg


It was one of those wet sticky snows that clung to the trees. Took out power all over, lost our cable/internet for about an hour this afternoon.
2013-02-26 18.10.23.jpg
 
If you would have just drank the regular instead of the light you could have skipped the ibuprofen!

Probably added that extra weight I needed to keep the tires from spinning too. :rofl:

I did have to get "crafty" as I still don't have chains for the tires. I found a small chain I had around and cut two lengths just long enough to bolt the ends together around the tire through one of the rim holes twisted the chain to take any slack out and they did the job. As wet as it was I just couldn't get any traction at all.
 
After digging a path by hand the length of the driveway in 10" of wet snow for my little tractor to take little bites at a time....
View attachment 74086
Bummer.

Bummer.

Bummer.

It was one of those wet sticky snows that clung to the trees. Took out power all over, lost our cable/internet for about an hour this afternoon.
View attachment 74089

Huge%20Manatee2.jpg




:rofl:
 
Bwahahahahaha.

I'd actually love to have that much snow. I think it'd be great to be snowed in for a few days. Not that it would change my lifestyle one bit.
 
Probably added that extra weight I needed to keep the tires from spinning too. :rofl:

I did have to get "crafty" as I still don't have chains for the tires. I found a small chain I had around and cut two lengths just long enough to bolt the ends together around the tire through one of the rim holes twisted the chain to take any slack out and they did the job. As wet as it was I just couldn't get any traction at all.
To bad you are not a whole lot closer I have 2 or 3 different sets of tractor tire chains.
 
To bad you are not a whole lot closer I have 2 or 3 different sets of tractor tire chains.

I appreciate that. :wave: I really haven't had a need for them. Most of our heavy snows have been under 3", these last two were just some record breakers we haven't seen in a while. I got lucky on the first one and only had one drift up by the shop, but this one was about 14" to 18" down the length of the drive.
 
Do your rims have holes in them? If you you can make some temp traction cords out of some rope, they certainly won't last a long time, but they will work, just keep looping the rope through the holes in the rim and around the tire, then use something like a piece of coat hanger bent up to finish the cord off. They will not work as well as chains, obviously, but they will turn summer tires into something that will get some traction in the snow. You could also use big zip ties.
I've done it on a motorcycle, but never on a tractor, I'm sure it would work, but I'm not sure how long it would last. Make sure it is a rope that you don't mind using up.
 
Do your rims have holes in them? If you you can make some temp traction cords out of some rope, they certainly won't last a long time, but they will work, just keep looping the rope through the holes in the rim and around the tire, then use something like a piece of coat hanger bent up to finish the cord off. They will not work as well as chains, obviously, but they will turn summer tires into something that will get some traction in the snow. You could also use big zip ties.
I've done it on a motorcycle, but never on a tractor, I'm sure it would work, but I'm not sure how long it would last. Make sure it is a rope that you don't mind using up.

Yeah, that's kind of what I did, but only have one on each tire as I've got 100 lbs in weights on each side and could only get the chain through in one spot, the other hole had the nipple for airing up the tire and didn't want it to get sheared off.

Used to wrap my bicycle tires with stoker chain so I could ride on the ice. Me thinks it is time for a bigger tractor or a snow blower on your tractor.

I had a small (but bigger) compact I was looking at in the fall, my wife wanted me to wait until at least spring as she hadn't been at her job for very long.

Was looking at the compact JD: http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US...ility_tractors/compact_utility_tractors.page?
 
Well i finished clearing our share of that wet sticky snow. But i have no back pain :) My secret weapon was buying a snowblower this year. :) Made sure to get a fairly decent size baby. In the beginning i was having second thoughts as to whether i did the right thing. Got it in Nov like a good boy scout. Then had loads of buyers remorse cause there was no snow to use it. I was not complaining, i said to Linda if it keeps the snow away it was worth it. Well come January it got used and more since then. Makes easy work of clearing the snow the plough puts at the bottom of our drive. Allows me to help out the neighbors with it too. Made sure to get electric start and a nice size engine. :)

But its only temporary. I like you have one of those John Deeres in mind. I always wanted to drive a tractor. :) Kinda like being a cowboy. :) Being a farmer in SA just was never an option in my mind given the crime and attacks they experienced. YOu could go to church on a Sunday in your pickup and come home to a land mine on your way back into your drive. Many a whole family wiped out. :( That John Deere had me hold off on buying one of the ride on mowers until i get to see how much land i get to buy next.
 
Keep an eye on the JD site Rob, typically have some pretty good financing offers. Currently have 0% interest for 60 months on the ones I'm looking at.

JD usually has a 'Spring Sale,' too. I bought an X360 last March, and got an extra $500.00 off the regular price. That was about a 10% savings at the time.

As I recall, one of our members here (can't recall who :doh:) is a Deere dealer. Maybe he'll chime in here with some more info.
 
Well i finished clearing our share of that wet sticky snow. But i have no back pain :) My secret weapon was buying a snowblower this year. :) Made sure to get a fairly decent size baby. In the beginning i was having second thoughts as to whether i did the right thing. Got it in Nov like a good boy scout. Then had loads of buyers remorse cause there was no snow to use it. I was not complaining, i said to Linda if it keeps the snow away it was worth it. Well come January it got used and more since then. Makes easy work of clearing the snow the plough puts at the bottom of our drive. Allows me to help out the neighbors with it too. Made sure to get electric start and a nice size engine. :)

But its only temporary. I like you have one of those John Deeres in mind. I always wanted to drive a tractor. :) Kinda like being a cowboy. :) Being a farmer in SA just was never an option in my mind given the crime and attacks they experienced. YOu could go to church on a Sunday in your pickup and come home to a land mine on your way back into your drive. Many a whole family wiped out. :( That John Deere had me hold off on buying one of the ride on mowers until i get to see how much land i get to buy next.


snowblowers are like insurance policies to me. Its the kind of thing you hope you never have to use, but alot happier if the need arises.

my snowblower is on its 16th year.(I have all my original receipts) I have to put a pull cord on it, but the electric start has worked fine. I just cant shut it down if Im not near an electrical outlet to restart it.
 
What do those JD tractors go for in the USA? Anyone know?


Yeah Allen electric start for me too, would not be without it. I can pull start but since my shoulder on the right took a beating I aint to comfy using that arm to do it. And i aint a lefty. :)
 
I had a small (but bigger) compact I was looking at in the fall, my wife wanted me to wait until at least spring as she hadn't been at her job for very long.

Was looking at the compact JD: http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US...ility_tractors/compact_utility_tractors.page?

Our neighbor at my last house had an older variant of that that was close to the 2000 series. Nice tractor, he had the backhoe, bucket and belly mower attachments. Having the ability to add a "built for it" backhoe (with swivel seat, easy mounting, etc.. instead of a thrid party 3 point) is pretty sweet. A buddy has a Kubota BX25D which is in about the same class as the JD 2000 - he got the same 0% / 60 months financing deal (which just seems crazy to me).

I ended up with a grey market Yanmar 1720D which is about the same size (a smidge more clearance but the HP is comparable), worked well for smaller bucket and box blade work.

If I was doing it over I'd go up one step in size even for a small property.. every so often there is that one rock... The limit would be more gate size and rollbar height. When we got really snowed in the neighbor came over with his case 580D and bucketed out the driveway, one of those would be nice :D but lots more $ in maintenance.
 
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