Ready for snow?

[Bill D 2,535]

Ice always scares me more than snow.  I'll take 3 feet of snow over an inch of ice any day.  Forecast here is 12-24 inches of snow.  My driveway is too small for a plow or blower on my tractor.  I use an older Toro Powermax 1028 LXE.  Stay safe everyone.

Edited 6 hours ago by Bill D

[SylvanLakeWH 30,288]

7 hours ago, wallfish said:

I beat on that thing hard since it's pretty boney with rocks around here. Ripped the stabilizer arms off and had to beef those up afterwards. But that tractor definitely proved itself capable again and again since we did many projects like a few retaining walls and big stone steps.

Wait a minute...

 

the classified add @ebinmaine responded to said "gently used on sunny mild days by an elderly grandmother to plant petunias in nice, soft sandy loam soil ". 
 

[ebinmaine 76,764]

7 hours ago, wallfish said:

@ebinmaine Eric has it now and I hope it serves them well

 

It certainly has and will many more times. 

We have plans for a complete restoration on a new C Series chassis with upgrades! 

 

[OutdoorEnvy 1,790]

Well we are finally getting real snow here in Oklahoma.  They’re calling for 12-15” by tomorrow morning.  Supposed to be lighter powder snow.   416-8 is ready and waiting!
 

Question, first time I needed to wonder, what is the snow height where the plows start having trouble?  

[ebinmaine 76,764]

2 minutes ago, OutdoorEnvy said:

 

Question, first time I needed to wonder, what is the snow height where the plows start having trouble?  

 

Feel free to watch a few of my or Trina's videos. See how we move snow. 

 

We have a gravel drive and keep the plow angle forward to the third hole down. That helps it roll off the ends.  

Lots of folks use a wax or spray lube. We rarely do. 

 

DRESS WARM.  

 

If it's heavy snow you'll want to plow a lot more often so you're moving less. Or, take very small bites. Maybe a 1/4 plow width. 

If it's light fluffy snow you can move a good strong 8 to 10 inches off to the angles side with decent speed. 

 

Do NOT let the snow get piled up and come over the top. That'll bury the plow frame and get you stuck. Stop. Back up. Take a smaller bite. 

 

 

 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 30,288]

[adsm08 4,070]

4 hours ago, Bill D said:

I'll take 3 feet of snow over an inch of ice any day.

 

To be fair, an inch of ice is some serious business. You can't plow it, you can't blow it, its 10x the work to break it up, you almost have to melt it at that thickness.

 

 

Last storm we took the dogs out to run the day after. The roads were fine, even the one through the game lands seemed OK. I pulled into the parking lot, got out, and was laying on my back before I even realized the ground was icy.

[adsm08 4,070]

2 hours ago, OutdoorEnvy said:

Question, first time I needed to wonder, what is the snow height where the plows start having trouble?

 

What @ebinmainesaid is very correct. This is a question with a lot of variables, like temperature, weight/wetness of the snow, the plow, the tractor, the unladen weight of an African Swallow.

 

The general rule of thumb I have been using is 3/4 the height of the blade is doable for your initial cut, but don't stop for anything until you break free into the road (be sure to clean up after yourself there), or you get it to where you want to leave it, of you will make a lot more work. After my first pass up the middle I angle the blade and don't ever take more than a 1/2 blade width, less if the snow is deep, or heavy.

Edited 2 hours ago by adsm08

[Treepep 986]

On 1/21/2026 at 10:58 AM, Ed Kennell said:

 

  

Whatever transpires we (North Carolina) here specifically WILL lose power.  It hasn't been persistently cold,  the ground is not frozen, and these DIPS here brined everything.  Bridges

 

overpasses and my roof will be icy... Briefly

 

I have food and perishable food. Folks get crazy here when any weather event happens.  I do not know an actual percentage however I would guess mericans in general have enough

 

food water etc.  I own a generator.  I have been searching for 3 years for a human to make it run my house.  12v makes sense to me.  10 or 20 times that  Stay safe boys and girls!

 

 

[ebinmaine 76,764]

12 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

the unladen weight of an African Swallow

 

I always forget about that part! 

[lynnmor 8,423]

3 hours ago, OutdoorEnvy said:

Well we are finally getting real snow here in Oklahoma.  They’re calling for 12-15” by tomorrow morning.  Supposed to be lighter powder snow.   416-8 is ready and waiting!
 

Question, first time I needed to wonder, what is the snow height where the plows start having trouble?  

The last snow we had was just under 6 inches but was rather sticky.  I could see the snow pushing in front of me as much as 8 feet and bringing me to a stop.  I had to push that to the side to continue on several times.  The point is that no two snows will be the same, just don't leave much come over the top of the plow and back off before it brings you to a halt, it sounds like this snow will max out your plow and you will need to take smaller bites, kinda like eating an elephant.