Not enough tractor or bad strategy?

[bc realtor]

just for kicks I did a search and came up with what I would buy for the situation.
2006 LANDINI ALPINE 75 40 HP to 99 HP For Sale At TractorHouse.com
Just add aplow to the front and off to the races:thumbsup:

 

[Jerry/MT]

Had my first real snow and I failed to get out of my 1/4 mile lane. We had about 8 inches come down, I cleared that ok..then the wind came in. Overnight some parts of my lane piled up to 20-25 inches. I worked at it for about 4 hours and by time i got one spot clear the wind would cover it back up in a few hours. I had a hard time getting up my hill to try blading on the way down. After the wind died down I went back out and had a heck of a time. In the end I was bailed out by my neighbor with his Deere 8300 and massive rear bucket. It was very emasculating. Sitting there on my GC I felt like I just walked out of an NFL locker room shower.

I have a Massey GC2400 with an FEL and 4ft rear blade. The Blade would load up with snow and stop the tractor, the FEL was ok but I had nowhere to pivot and dump. I admit it, I am a city boy who just moved to the country and i have no idea what i am doing but I am willing to learn.

What am i doing wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Should I switch to a blower set up? Should I get a bigger tractor? Should I bribe my Neighbor with my excellent cooking?

HELP!!

That's a lot of snow to blade off. It's so deep it has no where to go.
Are you angling the blade so that you are pushing the snow to the side ? Drifting snow is hard to blade off and a snowblower is better under those conditions. As an alternative I'd to try to push that snow with the FEL but you have to have traction to do that. Do you have chains?

 

[Don87]

Get the front blower for the GC, load the tires with Rimguard, and put chains on the rear tires, you will be fine.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Gio]

Traction wasn't the main issue, i have rear wheel weights but i could use some chains. The chains from my dealer were a little pricey. Does anyone know of a good aftermarket source?

I will look into a front mount (not great working in reverse) blower for next year. How hard are they to get on and off the GC?

Gio

 

[Gio]

I'm also thinking about picking one of these up if they can offer me 100year 0% interest financing

 

[RADIUM]

As I'm sitting here reading this outside my window snow is flying a little clipper that was supposed to just pass through has just dropped close to 6 inches of snow and is showing no signs of stopping I'll be snow blowing again today . I lived in the country upstate New York my entire life so I'm used to snow. Your tractor in my opinion is fine you just need a snowblower front or rear that's your choice a rear snowblower will save you money it will take some getting used to backing up but it can be done, a set of chains, some kind of cab it will help keep you warm. Now if you still find that your tractor is overwhelmed talk to your dealer and tell him you need a larger unit, you wouldn't believe how may people have traded up including myself dealers love to make money on us ;-). One other quick note where I live now, my parents old house my father maintained the 1500 feet driveway and large back barn area for 20 years with a 432 gravelly basically a small lawnmower with a 40 inch front snowblower so it can be done the question is do you want to suffer or enjoy the winter its up to you personally I don't mind sacrificing money for the right things and be able to get out of my driveway and to work in the morning is pretty important, especially being so isolated from help and from where you're living I would think you would need it to it's one of those things you don't skimp on like the backup generator and large truck F350 4x4 take care PS a little picture of what it looks like today LOL that yard was clean

 

[wvpolekat]

Traction wasn't the main issue, i have rear wheel weights but i could use some chains. The chains from my dealer were a little pricey. Does anyone know of a good aftermarket source?

I will look into a front mount (not great working in reverse) blower for next year. How hard are they to get on and off the GC?

Gio

www.tirechains.com I have used them with good luck.

 

[JohninCT]

I'm with the front snowblower crew on this one,
I would put my X585 with blower, curtis cab, chains
and loaded tires out there and have a blast blowing the
snow and seeing it go go go gone!
then when i got done, i'd blow all that bank on the
windy side and make that gone too!

i have a tendency to widen the driveway where it drifts,
back as far as i can, if i have time, to reduce the bank
near the driveway that catches the snow. if you can get it
right, the wind can be your friend, look at a large portion of
your driveway that would blow clean if it weren't for the banks.

I'm with Dutch on this one. Small tractor and big snow = big headache trying to push it. Shoveling with the loader will be a real chore with that long drive. You need to get the snow out away from the tractor to keep it moving. MF front mount snowblower is what you need. good weight in back (filled tires) and tire chains.

Found a YT video of a GC2400 with blower. Not mine just an example video. Oh yeah with all that wide open land get yourself a CAB!:laughing: With a front blower and cab setup you'll probably enjoy clearing the driveway,

YouTube - MF GC2400 with snow blower

 

[JohninCT]

Traction wasn't the main issue, i have rear wheel weights but i could use some chains. The chains from my dealer were a little pricey. Does anyone know of a good aftermarket source?

I will look into a front mount (not great working in reverse) blower for next year. How hard are they to get on and off the GC?

Gio

Check out this site

Tire Chains by TireChains.com

I got some rear tire chains from them for a little Kubota I once owned. All different sizes and types. Worth a look to see how they compare price wise to your dealer chains.

 

[Gods Country]

I don't know what kind of winters you get in your area, but if snow is a regular
issue you are going to have a horrible time keeping that wind swept lane open.
Even if you have a large tractor youæ±*e going to be out there all the time keeping those drifts clear. Just a few inches of powder can burry you overnight.

Youæ±*e best solution IMO is a snow thrower, chains, and a wind block or snow fence.
The latter being very important. Just be aware that a snow fence or similar solution requires a large area to collect snow on the leeward side of the fence.

If your tractor is well suited for your other chores then I see no reason you can稚 get by with what you have.

 

[JohninCT]

Of course you could opt for one of these.

YouTube - Toolcat blowing deep snow.mp4

A pretty pricey option for sure, but you could fill a thermos, pack the lunchbox and drive around snowblowing everybody around the town. With your Nebraska winters you might be able to pay the thing off by spring :laughing:

 

[Don87]

Traction wasn't the main issue, i have rear wheel weights but i could use some chains. The chains from my dealer were a little pricey. Does anyone know of a good aftermarket source?

I will look into a front mount (not great working in reverse) blower for next year. How hard are they to get on and off the GC?

Gio

The blower is very easy to install. Hook the mount on the front frame, tighten the 'wingbolt', hook up driveshaft, attach blower to mount, hook 2 hoses and go.:thumbsup:

 

[msb1766]

Get the front mounted blower and leave a few rows of corn up and use the corn as your snow fence.

 

[Chilly807]

The thing with farms, is that usually the farmer doesn't HAVE to get out in the morning to go to work, he's already there. I'm in the same situation, but my drive is all downhill to the main road, and the Kubota is sitting in the garage in case I need it to poke a hole out through the drifts.

There's a formula for snow fence placement, a lot depends on height, density, and expected snowfall amount. Google it and see what you find. Typically a 4 foot high 50% density fence needs to be about 140 feet from the protected area to be effective, as I recall.

Aquiline Talon chains are very good, I think they're made by Tellefsdal in Norway. Mine are made by Tellefsdal, marketed under the name Norse. Same chain as far as I can see. You may need wheel spacers if you have R4 tires, and weight is a good idea.

Sean

 

[Nitro-Fish]

I'm with Dutch on this one. Small tractor..............MF front mount snowblower is what you need. good weight in back (filled tires) and tire chains.

Found a YT video of a GC2400 with blower. Not mine just an example video. Oh yeah with all that wide open land get yourself a CAB!:laughing: With a front blower and cab setup you'll probably enjoy clearing the driveway,

YouTube - MF GC2400 with snow blower

JohninCT, have you ever been to Nebraska? It's not like the Eastern part of the US. They grow Soybeans as tall as some of the the corn we grow here in the Eastern states: IT IS WIDE OPEN! The Midwest is a different animal all together; I grew up with the Snow drifts in the Eastern states, 15' drifts not suprising to me. I now live in an area where I don't have to worry about that anymore. I know most people from around here can't believe when I show them pictures of a 1976 ford van with snowdrifts that are at least 5' taller than the van itself.....they think the photo's have been messed with! When you get out West, the snow fence's (snow breaks) look like what we in the Easern states would consider stadium bleechers! When they don't use fence's, they plant three rows of pine trees along sections of roadways to try and create a natual type of snowbreak along the highways. You will see a mailbox (and in several places line of sight is 5 miles plus) and never see a tree or a house! This part of the country requires as large of a tractor as you can afford just to make it through a winter. Granted, most of the "miles from the roadway" homesteads have the big equipment to deal with midwest winters, to try and get by with less than adequate equipment would be frustrating at best.

Buy the biggest you can afford and then buy the best attachments to perform the task at hand, the bigger the better in this case.

 

[Gio]

The blower is very easy to install. Hook the mount on the front frame, tighten the 'wingbolt', hook up driveshaft, attach blower to mount, hook 2 hoses and go.:thumbsup:

Thanks for the info Don and thanks for the vid JohninCT. I'm going to save my Pennies and pick one up for next Winter

 

[JohninCT]

JohninCT, have you ever been to Nebraska?

... This part of the country requires as large of a tractor as you can afford just to make it through a winter. Granted, most of the "miles from the roadway" homesteads have the big equipment to deal with midwest winters, to try and get by with less than adequate equipment would be frustrating at best.

Buy the biggest you can afford and then buy the best attachments to perform the task at hand, the bigger the better in this case.

Nope. I've never been to Nebraska. I can look at the OP's pictures and see how flat and wide open it is. In those conditions big snowdrifts can be a problem. Finding a way to minimize the drifting in his driveway obviously needs to be part of his solution. He may ultimately need to think about upgrading to a bigger tractor or more than one tractor for different purposes, but he's got the GC2400 now. Looking at the pics he posted it looked to me like the GC2400 with a blower would handle it.

 

[Dutch445]

here's a thread from today of my X585 in action,
wasn't a big snow by any means, but I am not flat
and the driveway is pretty much ice under the
snow now. this tractor goes anywhere i need to!
more X585 images/video - TractorByNet.com

 

[bstrom]

Jeez. get a pickup with a plow already for that road. You probably already have a 4wd pickup so get a plow. You can use the pickup for all kinds of things, like driving to town to get supplies and impressing Nebraska gals. If you get a blower for your tractor you are going to hate sitting on it in the freezing wind after 2 years with snow in your face unless you can get a cab for it too. If you get a big tractor with a cab you better be working that farm and doing all kinds of stuff with it.

 

[Mace Canute]

I remember back when I was in high school, a local gravel guy found a big honking V-plow and stuck it on one of his tandems; I suppose he thought he might pick up some work from the municipality clearing roads. He managed to clear a stretch of road one time with it, the next time it blew in, his unit wasn't big enough to clear the road again. Never seen him fool around with it after that. Fortunately, there was an alternative road that could be used, so that stretch was left for Mother Nature to clear in the springtime.