snow removal methods

A related question, has anyone ever tried to build something for ice removal?

i

I guess it depends on your budget. I may just have the best unit of anyone one this NG: (you need it if you're dumb enough to live in MN)

JD 5310N tractor, That's a 60 hp compact tractor with a shuttle transmission and cab. Tire chains installed for extra traction.

Loftness 2 stage snowblower, 8 feet wide. IMHO, the best 3 point blower made. I added an electric spout turner.

JD hydraulic loader.

Blowing snow is *almost* fun.

Karl

When you add up the time and expense of equipment plus the chance of injury, I think a guy with a plow is the cheapest method. Form a relationship in the summer, usually landscapers do winter work. Some of my neighbors at the old house have heated driveways, they said is cost less than $5 to turn on the heat for a few hours and it works well if temps aren't below 20F.

I built this which works well for large open areas, not so well for paths:

This year it's down for hydraulic pump problems and I've been using a little 3HP snow blower for the path around the house and mostly a shovel for my short driveway. 3HP is at (below?) the very bottom end of adequate, though nicely maneuverable in tight places.

Most people around here buy a two-stage snowblower with enough power to clear the icy mess the town plow pushes into their driveway. But remember that you will be standing on slippery ice while you muscle it around.

JSW in NH

If it is quite thick an old roto-tiller can loosen it up pretty fast so you can shovel/shove it someplace else.

We always used an ice chopper when I was a kid, looked like a straightened out hoe on a wood shaft. Used mostly for cleaning drains and removing heavy patches on concrete stairs, the rest got sanded and salted. Could be had at the regular hardware store when there were such. Haven't had one or needed one since I moved here, snow is usually gone in a day or so, even a foot or two. If it's shoveled right away, no ice. Most we've had since I've been here was 4' over several days, that took mite longer to melt. Nobody went anywhere.

Stan

A tool that does the same job is named "The Big Mutt" by The Village Blacksmith. I bought one at a local hardware store.

The old hoe-like tool is also available, the Ames "Brute 7in Scraper": .

Joe Gwinn

the autotelephone dialer. :)

John

I have been thinking of running Pex under the driveway and then running water from the creek thru it. Not the same as heated,but should help. But I will probably never get around to that.

Dan

I have admired your front loader, and may make something like that for a little cub cadet. The drive is not so long that I can not shovel it by hand. But when we get a foot of snow, it takes me a couple of days to get the driveway clear. Meanwhile my wife has gone out with her car and I have to deal with two rows of ice that are sticking to the asphalt.

Dan

That would be overkill for me. Something about half that wide would be the bees knees. I could clear half the drive on the way out to the road and the other half as I come back to the house.

Dan

I picked up a floor scraper which might work in the same way, Joe.

've used it as a pry bar, shingle remover, scraper, shovel, cement trowel, and more than a few other things. It takes a licking and keeps on thrashin'. Highly recommended. I think I paid $12 on sale.

-- An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. -- Sir Winston Churchill

The backhoe works well.

Better living thry chemistry also works.

Pete Stanaitis

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Ignoramus17662 wrote:

The HF scraper seems a bit light for chopping ice, and the bent blade will tend to spring. This is why heavy steel shovels don't work all that well on solid ice.

The old hoe-like tool was the least work and wear-and-tear on the user: just lift it up and let it drop on the ice. Time after time.

Joe Gwinn

Get a used 4 wheel drive pickup with a plow already attached. They go for about $1500 and up in west central Wisconsin. Even cheaper if you don't need a plow with power angle.

Pete Stanaitis

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snipped-for-privacy@krl.org wrote:

"Joseph Gwinn" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.giganews.com...

The corner store here has a problem with ice build up at the gas pumps caused by the snowmoblies. The ice will build up in no time to about 6 inches! I made them a tool to break it up, a slide hammer type tool. Took the tapered end of a leaf spring and welded it to a 4 foot one inch pipe. Then I welded an eye to the side of one end of a 3 inch o.d. 2 inch i.d. tube 18 inches long and attached a short rubber bungee cord to it. This was dropped down the handle to hit the chisel end. To use all you gotta do is pull up on the bungee and let go! The guy using it is 6 foot 6 so he can really bang away! He said it works wonders..... ;>)) phil k.

My first go would probably be a bent showshovel:

on how long "longish" is. If it's like, 1/4 mile, I'd spring for the blower or work out a deal with the neighbor, maybe you do her driveway and yours, just for letting you borrow it. A self-propelled blower can make a world of difference, too.

Good Luck! Ric

I've used an ax.

Cheers! Rich

For some reason the Wall Street Journal had an article on snow clearing,

a couple of weeks ago. The "True Temper SnoBoss shovel" mentioned there looks pretty good. I've got a sheetmetal finlander version that's somewhat larger and good for initial clearing of heavy snow, like