Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Where NOT to clear snow!

paccorti · Feb 2, 2004

Sometimes when working outside it is easy to get a little carried away when clearing snow. For example, this weekend I suggested to my son, "Hey you want to play some hockey on the pond?" So we get back there and there is 6"+ of snow on the pond. What the heck I figured, I'll just drive out a little and see if it cracks. So I put the front wheels out there and grab some snow with the loader. So far so good. I pull out further and grab a huge swath of snow. Hey this is working pretty good! Well its been so cold for so long and the pond is so shallow its probably frozen solid. Right? So I go out even further and... "Were those cracks there before?" As I gingerly try to back off, CRASH one rear wheel breaks through. Next thing you know I'm leaning at a 20 degree angle the entire right side of the tractor in the water (at least it is shallow). 4 wheel drive and no amount of bucket curl will save me. Time to get moving before the ice freezes and I need TNT to get the tractor out! Plus (even worse) the wife will be home soon. Luckily my neighbor was home and his Kubota 3830 saved me.

My wife now refers to this episode as a "dadsaster."

Peter

thcri · Feb 2, 2004

5 years ago my brother n law dropped my dad's Ford 861 through the ice only thing left was the muffler sticking out. They had to use chain saws to cut the ice and pull the tractor in. What a mess. Dad use to be a Ford mechanic and when the tractor finally was pulled back in the garage it was within hours he had the whole tractor apart.

We still laugh at him.

murph

JDgreen227 · Feb 2, 2004

NO PICS of your goof? They say a picture is worth a thousand words but when I make a dumb mistake I never seem to remember where I left the camera at.... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Very happy to learn you don't have to wait until springtime to haul your beloved machine out. And what did your son have to say about your attempt?

raynman · Feb 2, 2004

Good story, we all learn from stories like this one, the key is no one was hurt and you didn't loose the tractor /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I don't like going out on the ice at all, a few years ago my wife warned me while I was walking on our pond or muck hole, well she was right, my boot still stinks like the black muck that was all over it./forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

paccorti · Feb 2, 2004

I really should have taken a picture. Unfortunately, I don't have digital camera. What concerned me the most was the extreme lean of the tractor. 20 degrees is a lot! I'm glad that water was shallow where I broke through. Much deeper and the tractor might have gone all the way over. I think the ice was about 6" thick perhaps more (I was too nervous to measure while the ice was broken).

My son took it all in stride (he's 7 now). "Sigh... Daddy what are you doing NOW?"

NIXON · Feb 2, 2004

Great post,and even a better outcome ( no one was hurt ! )
All the best, John

PineRidge · Feb 2, 2004

It really surprises me that 6 inches of ice would give way to a tractor. I have seen guys put their trucks on the ice without being much thicker.

Glad it all ended well for you though. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

RonR · Feb 2, 2004

I saw a pic of some RVs parked on a frozen lake in MinnEsota a couple years ago. They had all come in for a snowmobile race and parked too closely together on the ice that evening. About 4AM, the ice gave way and ate about half the bodies of each RV. Fortunately, it wasn't that deep!

Ron

ronjhall · Feb 3, 2004

paccorti

<font color="blue"> his Kubota 3830 saved me. </font>

This would have been a good occasion to have a camera. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

<font color="blue"> My wife now refers to this episode as a "dadsaster." </font>

I don't know which will be worse over the long term. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Glad to hear that no damage was done except for pride. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

riptides · Feb 3, 2004

Wow,

Dude... It really surprises me that you have six inches of ice... I am down the road from you and it is one inch max around here. Glad your safe, and the tractor is out of harms way.

But, man, I'd say your lucky... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
-Mike Z.