4wd and snow

[Freds]

So, how deep of snow will an L3130 with loaded R4s on solid ground go through?
Can I finesse it enough to hook my rear blade back up that is also under the heavy, wet blanket we got hit with last night and navigate my way from my pole barn, a couple hundred feet to my driveway?

Man did we get hit last night and me with my pants down, so to speak, and nothing within reach but a shovel. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
I noticed the neighbor had taken his plow off his old M-F and put it away also, and I moved the plow for him from his daughter's S-10 back to the rear of his yard just Thursday night with my FEL.

1-2" my aaaaaaaaa

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Your tractor should be fine. Here is a pic of the current snow fall in WNY along Lake Erie. It was some fun driving last night which didn't let me get home till 3am. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

This area was all clear two days ago

 

[Freds]

Seriously. No one has a good guess or firsthand knowledge of how well I can expect my tractor to chug along through a foot of heavy snow without having to plow it out of my way? I was hoping for a [x inches of snow = y inches of mud] formula /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Guess there's nothing to do but to find out myself and let y'all know. At the worse I'll have a "tractor stuck in snow" post to go along with the recent posts of guys getting their tractors stuck in mud. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Freds]

Yep. That's pretty much what it looks like here except judging from the roof of your shed, you didn't get as much.
Thanks for the inspiration. I'm gonna give it a go.

 

[CTyler]

The most we have had at one time has been 16". Of course you get drifts deeper than that. I hold the bucket up a foot and drop the rear blade if going through heavy stuff.

The drifts haven't been to bad 3-4' max other than the 8' drifts I had in front of most of the shop last year. Thought I lost the small dorr on the shop. Just dig it out with the loader.

The only time I have a little trouble is plowing up the 600' drive, its a 6-7 deg slope. Generaly I just drive up and plow down for the initial pass. My rears are not loaded and I'm sure it would help of they were. The rear blade doesn't weigh that much so its a tad light with the loader on there.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

We have around 4-5 inches.

 

[RoyJackson]

"So, how deep of snow will an L3130 with loaded R4s on solid ground go through?"

That really depends on your property...hilly might be tough, especially if you're going up hill.

It would also depend on what's under the snow. I don't think I'd want to run my tractor over a finished lawn knowing I'll probably be spinning the tires somewhat.


I have taken my 790 through snow that was 10"-12" deep with no problem at all. However, this was just for a short distance of maybe 150'. This was on a gravel drive. The reason I did this was instead of pushing with the rear blade, I made the the first passes driving forward with the blade about an inch off the drive. It worked fine... Also, since I did my neighbor's drive using the same method....that was probably 300 or more feet driving through 10" to 12" on snow. No chains on the rear tires, by the way.

 

[Freds]

Yep, no problem. I was really surprised. I was a little concerned because of the snow being so wet and heavy and the ground, which is pretty level by the way, being solid, but the sod a little mushy. My neighbor headed out back to reattach his plow at the same time and he wasn't too sure about his situation either. He's got a big 2WD M-F, but had taken his chains off. It didn't look like he had any problem either.
The object was to drive up to my drive before I had to lower the blade or FEL and she never missed a beat, even going up the slight grade to get on the drive.
The snow was at least 14" in many spots and no less than 10"anywhere.

I then proceded to tear up my drive that I had been so careful with all winter. The snow just peeled the top layer of gravel off and rolled it up with the rest of the snow /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif . Many times the snow was being pushed at least 6' in front of the rear blade even though the blade was angled before any of it would roll off.

This is exactly why I upgraded to the L3130 last summer. My B7500 would have been struggling too much and I'd still be out there. I just didn't want to plowing snow in April /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[SPIKER]

yep lake erie was a heack of a snow mach last n ight & yeaterday. we only got 4~6" here with a pretty good wind. it was heavy enough to not drift much though. it is melting fast enough to not worry about wasting the fuel at 245/gall its getting so I only do the 100% requred things but sure eats into the seat time...anyhow off to wtch the short track rasing. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Markm

 

[coachgrd]

Freds:
Wasn't that storm a nice surprise from Mother Nature? My deck here in Waterford must have a good 30" on it. This was the worst snow I have ever seen...so heavy that my JD 455 barely did the job. Here's hoping that this cruel joke is her last of the season...

coachgrd