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ebinmaine

Tell us about the most interesting or different snow removal rig you've ever had or seen.

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ebinmaine

 

I've lived in New England all my life so I've obviously seen some interesting trucks and tractors over the years.
Two that stick out the most in my mind are -
Back about 10 or 12 years ago there was a guy around the lakes region here in Maine with a mid 90s vintage Chevy 4 wheel drive with a 7 foot wide snowblower that he had adapted on to the front of the truck. Rumor around was he made a very good living cutting into one lane Camp roads where there was no room for a snowbank on the side.
The other one that sticks out in my mind was probably 30 years ago. I saw a Jeep CJ that had been modified by one of the colleges in Amherst Massachusetts for parking lot Duty.
They gave it a few inches of lift, mostly in the leaf springs. Added some tall skinny tires all the way around. The frames for the plow actually started somewhere around the back bumper. It was lifted near the rear and mounted at the rear. Putting the weight, in theory, at the back wheels.
The plow blade was enormous. I believe it was an 8-foot wide straight blade with a foil on the top.
Never been able to come up with a good reason to make something like that. One of my friends at the time thought maybe it would have been helpful with the very tight turning radius of a Jeep to get around a lot of the little islands and light poles that particular College had.
 

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PeacemakerJack

Look out Jim—you’re gonna get nothing but lumps of coal in your stocking and probably a couple of lumps on your head to match!:teasing-wedgie:

 

:ROTF:

 

My dad’s IH Scout, my Great Grandpas Case LA, and the Jitney (a multi purpose farm vehicle built out of a 1950 Chev sedan!). Vintage pics to follow when I get home tonight...setting a storm door in 3 degree weather right now!:occasion-snowman:

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ebinmaine

HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA 

Man oh man, don't be sorry! That was absolutely fantastic!

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AMC RULES
55 minutes ago, PeacemakerJack said:

Look out Jim—

:scratchead: More like...

frying pan lumps on his head.

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C-101plowerpower

i've seen this thing on the youtubes

 

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WHX??

Here you go EB ....not quite as snazzy  as C-101 but gets the job done. ...:lol:

MTC_0068 (0).JPG

Don't mind the tag bar.... was trying to catch the vagrant  hitting my bird feeders on a trail cam

Pay no nevermind to the 416 & tall chute on the trailer!

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ebinmaine
4 minutes ago, WHX12 said:

Here you go EB ....not quite as snazzy  as C-101 but gets the job done. ...:lol:

MTC_0068 (0).JPG

Don't mind the tag bar.... was trying to catch the vagrant  hitting my bird feeders on a trail cam

You're awesome. 

:ROTF: 

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WHX??

:thanks: EB just like to make people :)

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JERSEYHAWG /  Glenn

I never saw anything fancy or crazy looking, went from metal shovels, to plastic shovels, than walk behind snowblowers, than my YJ wrangler and plow, now wheel horse, plow or snowblower. They have been the very best, for me, to date. 

 

Glenn

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WVHillbilly520H

Maybe this green thingy...at one of the local dealers where I was trying to track down some parts for my JD to Kioti hydraulic blade.

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Sparky

I visited the Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor Maine thus summer.   http://colemuseum.org/. They had a few old, huge and definitely cool snow removal rigs. This snowblower truck was incredible!! There were plenty more old snow removal rigs I just didn’t get pics of em all.

 

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WHX??

Ohhhhh Jeffery ......I saw one today that would have kept you ...... well let's just say it was a JD But brand spankin new....I shoulda got pics :lol:

Nice Sparkeye  :thanks: for sharing!

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Aldon

Been up close and personal with a few of these back in the day when I rode rails around the country. Massive power! Last time I remember I think was between Rochester and Buffalo or Along the line to Chicago 

35847DD1-020F-46AB-8004-7671EC53817A.jpeg.d04be61880b6b3fc97d1e8fe85210b72.jpeg

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WHX??

Very cool Aldon ...my dad was an engineer for railroads  for much of his life and he always talked of big v-plows much like cow catchers mounted to the front. Those rigs were used out in the big mountain states like CO where that had really big mountainsto move.

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PeacemakerJack

These are some super cool snow movers guys!  What a variety of unique devices born out of necessity.  My earliest memories include this next snow mover.  Those of you who followed my 875 Iron Horse restoration thread saw this truck pictured in the background on many of the vintage slides.  Dad bought it in 1975 and it is a 1966 International Harvester Scout 800A.  It had the slant 4 engine with ALL WHEEL drive positive traction.  It came with a snow plow and dad put it to work.  Those winters in the 1970's were really bad in our area for snow accumulation. 

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That front porch is 8' tall and it faced the north.  It was nothing to get 6' snow drifts in that area across the front of the house.  

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There is a big difference between 4 wheel drive and All Wheel drive.  Dad found out that he could get through a lot of snow and mud that other 4WD trucks couldn't even though he had way less power!  He did learn however that you didn't want to have the front axles engaged when on dry pavement because you couldn't turn a corner without it chattering your fillings out!

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Maybe someday I'll do a write up on this truck because dad did so much work on it and it was such a cool part of our family for around 15 years.  He got sick of early morning near misses with deer and so he built this awesome bumper.  Never had to worry about it after that.  

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This next shot is of my grandpas early 1950's Case LA.  These shots were taken trying to clear a section of back road after a heavy snowfall so that the milk truck could get through to pick up the milk from the dairy farms.  The people you see in the pictures are neighbors and family.  They all had dairy farms and the snow was so deep that no one was going anywhere if they didn't take care of clearing the road. The county had their hands full with more frequently travelled roads.  The snow in this area was between 5 and 6' on the level.  They would back up with the LA, put it in third gear, and slam into the snow...

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producing a terrific whiteout shot like this one!  Then the VAC loader tractor in the background would scoop out the chunks and then they would do it again!

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Little by little the broke their way through and were able to get the milk truck in and out!

 

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What do you do when you want a recreaional vehicle as a teen and you don't have one or the money to buy one?  You build one.  My dad's oldest brother Bob, bought this 1950 Chevy Sedan for $25 in about 1964.  He and my dad and my uncle Ken completely took it apart, cut down the frame and removed anything that they didn't need.  It made a great run around vehicle.

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However, they soon found out that it could also be quite useful as a farm vehicle.  Call it the original UTV!  That rare axle is bolted directly to the frame.  If you guys are interested I can start a thread on it because as they used it more and more, they kept breaking stuff and building it heavier and more utilitarian.  I learned to drive on it in the late 1980's and they still use it today. 

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One of the many duties that they have used it for is snow removal.  Put 8 bags of feed in the "bed" and go at it! Those are just a few of the Stertz snow movers through the years...

"Necessity is the mother of all genius!"

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ebinmaine
13 hours ago, Aldon said:

Been up close and personal with a few of these back in the day when I rode rails around the country. Massive power! Last time I remember I think was between Rochester and Buffalo or Along the line to Chicago 

35847DD1-020F-46AB-8004-7671EC53817A.jpeg.d04be61880b6b3fc97d1e8fe85210b72.jpeg

When I was a teenager I had a friend who with his dad was really into trains as a hobby. Full-scale and they also had a giant train set in their cellar.

I don't remember if it was spring or fall but there was no snow on the ground. One of those snow blowers went under a bridge at the exact time that we were walking over it. He said there was only two of them in all of New York and New England at the time. He was flipping right out sideways with happy excitement.

13 hours ago, Sparky said:

Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor Maine

I've driven by that place more times than I could even count. Never been able to stop because it was for work reasons. I really need to get up there someday...

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edgro

UP Michigan snow blowers. Red one is tall chute model?

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Da Big Louie Snowblower, one of many Yooper Innovations found at http://dayoopers.com

As it turns out, I now own one of the blowers used to build Big Louie, A Moto Mower Snow Shark

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1995 520H+96+97

 

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AMC RULES

 

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AMC RULES

 

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squonk
On 12/14/2017 at 8:28 PM, WHX12 said:

Here you go EB ....not quite as snazzy  as C-101 but gets the job done. ...:lol:

MTC_0068 (0).JPG

Don't mind the tag bar.... was trying to catch the vagrant  hitting my bird feeders on a trail cam

Pay no nevermind to the 416 & tall chute on the trailer!

BBBWWWAAAAHHHHAAAHHHHAAA! :ROTF:

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PeacemakerJack
On 12/16/2017 at 6:24 AM, edgro said:

UP Michigan snow blowers. Red one is tall chute model?

DCP_0794x.jpg

As it turns out, I now own one of the blowers used to build Big Louie, A Moto Mower Snow blower

IMG_1289x.jpg

 

If you zoom in on that red truck, you’ll see that it has the word “Oshkosh” on the hood.  That is made by Oshkosh Truck Corporation located in a neighboring city, Oshkosh.  They make tons of awesome and beastly rigs—civilian and military.  Most of the concrete mixers in the state of Wisconsin are made by them.  It is a great company that supplies a bunch of jobs in the Fox Valley. The one in the pic is very old but could probably still handle a regular work load. I can’t remember a winter where I didn’t see one of those (newer of course) around with a plow attached.  We don’t get enough snow here to necessitate the snowblower attachment.  Dad says he remembers seeing those with V-Plows around here back in the 1970’s blasting down the back roads clearing out the deeper snow. 

 

That walk all behind of yours is a beast. You’ll have to post a video of that thing in action!

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ebinmaine

@edgro:

12 hours ago, PeacemakerJack said:

That walk all behind of yours is a beast. You’ll have to post a video of that thing in action!

:text-yeahthat:

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Cvans

I've enjoyed this subject and hope more will post photos. 

 

 

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