What have you done with/to your GC Series 2300, 2400, 1700 Tractor TODAY

[ray66v]

honestly if I were buying new would go 5ft or maybe 6ft on subcompact then weight it as needed. this light 7ft will drag me around when angled and blade full of wet stuff. do most of blade work backing though so it will bleed off w/o trapping rear tires.
am running 2" spacers, and mid mount mower is really close. didn't think 3" would work.
but 7ft is just too wide, however it was free so...

Have you tried using that blade, at less of an angle?

I have a 6' snow plow that fits on the FEL arms.

If I angle it 45 degrees, the tractor will want to turn some when pushing deep snow. But, if I angle it 22.5 degrees, it goes straight.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

My problem with anything less than max angle is the snow won't slide off to the side, and that is going near or at max speed in high range ... Of course the rusty surface may have something to do with that too?

Only time I've used 0° angle is cleaning up near the house/garage ... Otherwise it's at max angle.

And I turned it around to drag a path across the lawn to the barn ... Which still left about 2" of snow on the ground ... But at least it didn't tear up the grass!

 

[irvingj]

Well, not much moving around here this morning!

Everything is coated with a layer of ice, looks like we have about 1/4" here. I could probably get up the driveway with the aggressive chains I have on the rears of the LRB, but I'm not so sanguine about getting back down without sliding off to the side.

I purchased a Japanese Kei car -- a very cute little 4WD SUV-- through Hemmings last week... it's supposed to be delivered today (from Miami) but I doubt that'll happen!

Guess we'll just sit and wait (and hope) the temps rise like they're forecast to and stuff begins to melt.

 

[Dmacleo]

cool thing about KEI vehicles is you can toss them in a 7ft wide trailer and haul around with a crown vic
yeah dealing with the ice an snowfall right now at 0715 in central maine.
got 2019 silverado running to melt just in case.

 

[Dmacleo]

Have you tried using that blade, at less of an angle?

yes, many times. but at some point (basically length when going fwd) snow will collect enough to build up to point that it affects rear tires. generally around 60ft fwd in a 4+ inch snowfall.
when pushing backwards never happens.
its all a matter of knowing what to do.
when blower not on I nail it all with bucket then use rear blade to collect the bucket bleedoff. combo of fwd and rev works well.
I do most work at the 22deg mark, very seldom do I go beyond that.
and it is fast.
when blower on the whole removal plan changes of course

 

[ray66v]

yes, many times. but at some point (basically length when going fwd) snow will collect enough to build up to point that it affects rear tires. generally around 60ft fwd in a 4+ inch snowfall.
when pushing backwards never happens.
its all a matter of knowing what to do.
when blower not on I nail it all with bucket then use rear blade to collect the bucket bleedoff. combo of fwd and rev works well.
I do most work at the 22deg mark, very seldom do I go beyond that.
and it is fast.
when blower on the whole removal plan changes of course

It is an advantage for me to have the plow in front.

Beside not having a stiff neck, the snow doesn't build up under my tires. And, I can keep the backhoe on for ballast.

In 4wd, the pile I am pushing has to be the size of a small car, to stop me. It's impressive what that thing can move.

 

[kenmbz]

My tires were better today at breaking up the sheet ice than the plow blade was.
Worth a try I guess.
Was hoping it would get warm enough to melt the ice, oh well, 700+ feet of sheet ice down to the road, wish I had a salt truck.

 

[ray66v]

My tires were better today at breaking up the sheet ice than the plow blade was.
Worth a try I guess.
Was hoping it would get warm enough to melt the ice, oh well, 700+ feet of sheet ice down to the road, wish I had a salt truck.
View attachment 4644217

Ice with R4's has to be like lce skating.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

That's why I have chains, front and back, plus strap on ice cleared for my boots ... I've never taken to skating!

 

[kenmbz]

We only get ice like this every decade or so, usually snow where the tires do fine.
Only time I would have liked to have chains, but even so, I didn't slide, but did go uphill backwards to scrape ice going down hill.

 

[Dmacleo]

I deal with ice a lot, gravel private road and driveway. something I have been doing last 3 years or so is attach box blade with all 5 scarifiers down as far as they go. scratch the ice up. doesn't always remove it all but makes it a lot easier to walk and drive on.

 

[Dmacleo]

It is an advantage for me to have the plow in front.

Beside not having a stiff neck, the snow doesn't build up under my tires. And, I can keep the backhoe on for ballast.

In 4wd, the pile I am pushing has to be the size of a small car, to stop me. It's impressive what that thing can move.

got the tractor in Oct 2020 and has not been a snow season since then that I have not thought about putting plow blade on front.
but no quick attach, need to use bucket to correct town plow issues where private road meets town road on a hill with a 3+ft dropoff.
This may mean I suddenly have to fix issues for safety.
just no good answer.
but bucket with edge protectors works pretty well as long as its ok to leave 1" depth, then grader blade can remove that.
mirrors mounted on fel uprights (don't move with fel arms on DL100 fel) do help a lot with rear mounted stuff.
course could fix ALL this if I spend 8500$ and mount plow to silverado 1500. meh....I'll pass for now

 

[ray66v]

got the tractor in Oct 2020 and has not been a snow season since then that I have not thought about putting plow blade on front.
but no quick attach, need to use bucket to correct town plow issues where private road meets town road on a hill with a 3+ft dropoff.
This may mean I suddenly have to fix issues for safety.
just no good answer.
but bucket with edge protectors works pretty well as long as its ok to leave 1" depth, then grader blade can remove that.
mirrors mounted on fel uprights (don't move with fel arms on DL100 fel) do help a lot with rear mounted stuff.
course could fix ALL this if I spend 8500$ and mount plow to silverado 1500. meh....I'll pass for now

While I can change from the bucket to the plow, and vice versa pretty fast now, I certainly would not want to do it all the time.

Then again, I hate plowing with a little bucket.

Solution: You just need a second tractor. Problem solved. You're welcome.

Who's next?

 

[polarred21]

You guys can have all that snow.

How about a little mower deck maintenance.

 

[irvingj]

Well, see, that's why the snow is good.... When the deck comes off in November (so the blower can go on), that gives us a great chance to do MMM maintenance!

Likewise in spring, when the blower & chains come off...

Who'm I kidding -- it's work no matter what! (I think I'm gettin' too old for this #%@, ha-ha!)

 

[ray66v]

You guys are missing opportunity's here.

If you get a zero turn mower, the deck never has to come off.

If you get, another tractor, the blower never has to come off.

 

[Dmacleo]

have not moved mine in few days, single digit temps.

 

[not2old]

Mine is in the heated garage this morning. I'm trying to figure out the best way to fabricate two new brackets that hold the steering cylinder to the front axle. They were both bent out of shape and allowed the cylinder to flop around and wear the hole so that they shouldn't be reused. Fortunately, the cylinder it's self doesn't appear to be damaged. The edges that fit into the brackets seem OK. Rather than just buying new brackets, I plan to make my own out of thicker material and leave more material around the hole. This is the second time I'm fixing this at about 1000 hours. Anybody else had this problem and come up with a good fix?

 

[ray66v]

Mine is in the heated garage this morning. I'm trying to figure out the best way to fabricate two new brackets that hold the steering cylinder to the front axle. They were both bent out of shape and allowed the cylinder to flop around and wear the hole so that they shouldn't be reused. Fortunately, the cylinder it's self doesn't appear to be damaged. The edges that fit into the brackets seem OK. Rather than just buying new brackets, I plan to make my own out of thicker material and leave more material around the hole. This is the second time I'm fixing this at about 1000 hours. Anybody else had this problem and come up with a good fix?

Any way you can give us some photo's of this?

 

[not2old]

Any way you can give us some photo's of this?

I've been unable to figure out why my computer gives a message saying there are no new pictures on both of my phones when I try to download them. I will try using a borrowed camera or phone when I can.