Glare Ice Solution

[Wyobuckaroo]

Earlier this fall I got a Piranha tooth bar. There are 10,000 posts about them. About 60% of the reason I got it was to be sacrificial and not ware down the cutting edge on my FEL bucket moving snow on our long gravel drive. It works well moving snow AFTER you do some learning curve of how to set the working angle and remembering it is out in front of your usual bucket edge. It is easy to have it gouge the driveway until you learn to use it.

So now we have a good solid base of frozen ground and packed snow to work with for the rest of winter.. Problem is it went to glare ice on a bit warmer day a while back. A real broken hip type of dangerous.

With the tooth bar on the loader bucket, I tipped it at about a 45 degree angle and back drug it on the glare ice of packed snow on the driveway. It seemed to work well. It worked best to go 2 directions with this pattern at 90 degrees down and across the drive and yard.

Today I did this procedure again. This time I tipped the cutting edge about 60 or more degrees from flat. As I have a more solid base frozen down now this worked well. Again dragging both ways down the driveway and across the driveway making a checked pattern of grooves in the ice.

The secret to making this work is to not take too much weight off the front tractor wheels so you still have some steering control. Better to make multiple passes.

DO NOT, repeat DO NOT go fast. Take is slow and easy as a ridge in the ice or a low spot will make the tractor front end skate sideways. You don't want to be going fast if/when this happens.

Traction is not a problem as I have heavy duty V bar ladder chains on loaded turf tires.

I still plan next summer to build a clip on bucket attachment with more ice cutting edges than the 8 edges on the tooth bar. I'm thinking 24 - 25 or so edges 3/8 thick across the bucket front.

My 5 cents of experience.

 

[oosik]

I have one 150 foot section of my driveway where snow melts from a big field - runs down this section and makes a real skating rink. Add to this, its a fairly steep section coming out of the valley on my driveway. 37+ years of trying and I still can't keep this drainage off my driveway.

I've used just about everything - except salt. Pine needles, ancient pellets left over from my pellet stove, shredded pine cones, old composted lawn clippings, sawdust from my work shop. The best is if there is still a soft shoulder here or there on the driveway - I just might be able to scoop some sand/gravel.

When this section ices up its best not to play games on this slope. One could easily slide off the side and its a ten foot drop.

Sounds like you have figured a good solution. An icy driveway is the pits - I've fallen in this spot many times.

 

[jbrumberg]

I use my box blade with the scarifiers down to achieve similar results with the glare ice on my gravel driveway. I may change the box blade's angle of attack by adjusting the top link or extend the scarifiers as needed.

Then come the wood ashes from the wood stove. Ugly looking, but effective.

I agree. I do not think falls are a good thing for anyone of any age.

 

[ruffdog]

I use a pair of stretch-on rubbers for boots that have steel teeth on the bottom. I'm not falling with these....they work great for gifts too. I also use sand on ice.

 

[oosik]

When we had a wood stove I tried ashes one year. Like jbrumberg said - effective but ugly. However - some slew footed individual managed to leave big nasty ash foot prints on our beige livingroom carpet. Not a winning day for the slew foot - me - or for my wife.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I had a large one way disk, maybe 5 or 6 disks, 30 or so inches for a 3ph. It was great at attacking the ice and making it walkable and driveable.

Unfortunately, I was using it for some earth work, a cotter pin came out of one end of the axle, and long story short, I broke a bearing housing and scrapped the whole thing.

 

[crazyal]

Ice can be a real pain. I try to not let snow get packed down as it'll sooner or later rain on it then freeze. I'll use the rippers on my land plane and I've even used my tire chains (they have 3/8" spikes on them) by spinning the tires. What my plan to make is a 3pt hitch mounted drum roller with spikes on it. I've seen them used on loaders and with enough pressure on the spikes they will break up the ice. I just need to find time to make it and a source for the spikes (would like carbide so they last). I've even thought about making a PTO driven vibrator and a weight bucket so I could add pressure to get the results needed. But for now I have a large pile of sand and with just a little practice I can spread it out pretty easily with the loader.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Ice isn't the pain. The pain comes when your bones hit the ice!

 

[jbrumberg]

"..... some slew footed individual managed to leave big nasty ash foot prints on our beige livingroom carpet. Not a winning day for the slew foot - me - or for my wife."- oosik I can relate. I need to learn how to levitate. I do not spread ashes near the entrances I use CaCl2 in those areas.

IT- I am sorry to read how your disk became high grade scrap metal.

 

[Ford850]

I drag a thin layer of snow back onto the packed slick ice when needed. It gives some instant traction, it's clean, is usually available along the whole drive, and it freezes in place for good traction until we get a longer warm day when it melts with the ice. It sounds counter productive to scatter snow on top of an ice problem, but try it sometime. :thumbsup:

 

[ning]

Would a chain harrow help - at least before the ice forms?

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have one and as aggressive as it might be in the proper mode, I would say it just isn't heavy enough.

 

[Thomas]

Don't walk with your hands in your pockets on ice BELEIVE me. :confused2:

 

[Industrial Toys]

There was an ice storm in Rockville MD in the 80s. My friend slid down a hill in his Big Full size Caddy bounding off parked cars. A beautiful young woman boarding at his place smashed out her front teeth, walking with her hands in her pockets. When I catch myself with hands in pockets on slippery ground, I think of her fate.

 

[jbrumberg]

I have one pair of lightweight boots dedicated to my YakTrax. So I do not have to got through the hassle of taking them on and off. They definitely help walking on ice. They work very poorly indoors on hard surfaces.

At times I wish that my ~500# box scraper was heavier.

 

[cdaigle430]

Earlier this fall I got a Piranha tooth bar. There are 10,000 posts about them. About 60% of the reason I got it was to be sacrificial and not ware down the cutting edge on my FEL bucket moving snow on our long gravel drive. It works well moving snow AFTER you do some learning curve of how to set the working angle and remembering it is out in front of your usual bucket edge. It is easy to have it gouge the driveway until you learn to use it.

So now we have a good solid base of frozen ground and packed snow to work with for the rest of winter.. Problem is it went to glare ice on a bit warmer day a while back. A real broken hip type of dangerous.

With the tooth bar on the loader bucket, I tipped it at about a 45 degree angle and back drug it on the glare ice of packed snow on the driveway. It seemed to work well. It worked best to go 2 directions with this pattern at 90 degrees down and across the drive and yard.

Today I did this procedure again. This time I tipped the cutting edge about 60 or more degrees from flat. As I have a more solid base frozen down now this worked well. Again dragging both ways down the driveway and across the driveway making a checked pattern of grooves in the ice.

The secret to making this work is to not take too much weight off the front tractor wheels so you still have some steering control. Better to make multiple passes.

DO NOT, repeat DO NOT go fast. Take is slow and easy as a ridge in the ice or a low spot will make the tractor front end skate sideways. You don't want to be going fast if/when this happens.

Traction is not a problem as I have heavy duty V bar ladder chains on loaded turf tires.

I still plan next summer to build a clip on bucket attachment with more ice cutting edges than the 8 edges on the tooth bar. I'm thinking 24 - 25 or so edges 3/8 thick across the bucket front.

My 5 cents of experience.

I gave up on forcefully removing ice as last year I ended up pulling a huge chunk of asphalt with it Now I just buy bags of sand from Home Depot and spread it. I also wear cleats when I go out to feed the ducks and chickens.

 

[Industrial Toys]

ASHES work great, but are extremely messy! I worry more about others than me, so I have a sign proclaiming limited or no winter maintenance and basically stay the #$#$ out!

 

[oosik]

For the walkway to the house( poured in place paving stones ), the steps up to the entryway and the entry porch - I use sawdust from my workshop. A lot cleaner operation and much easier FOR ME to vacuum off the living room carpet. 'OL twinkle toes - my wife - never knew a day where she ever needed traction material. It simply could not be her that would track sawdust into the house - humph.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

I gave up on forcefully removing ice as last year I ended up pulling a huge chunk of asphalt with it Now I just buy bags of sand from Home Depot and spread it. I also wear cleats when I go out to feed the ducks and chickens.
====
My intention is not to remove the ice, but to make it safe to walk on. A certain amount of ice along with frozen ground and gravel surface is an OK base to work from when blowing snow and such for the bulk of winter. But not acceptable when dangerous to walk on. The combination of the cross hatch pattern, salt, sand, ashes all help to make the surface more manageable. We also use boot cleats and ski poles for stability.

Funny thing kinda sorta. Years and years ago I was the "crash test dummy" as it were for my big brothers karate classes. I learned to "fall down" without being hurt. Or at least minimal hurt. There actually is an art to that. It has helped many times over the years.

What ever it takes to keep safe.

 

[LouNY]

When we had a wood stove I tried ashes one year. Like jbrumberg said - effective but ugly. However - some slew footed individual managed to leave big nasty ash foot prints on our beige livingroom carpet. Not a winning day for the slew foot - me - or for my wife.

I use the ashes from the coal I burn, also I get a tri-axle load of winter mix sand every two or three years.
This unit does have a plow that very seldom gets used, I prefer the tractor mounted plow and or rear blade for snow.
I load the sand then dump on my ash, and sand in front of the house first save the ashes for further down the driveway.
Sand leaves foot prints that cleanup easier, or so I have been informed :confused3:

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